Have you ever tried finding an authentic restaurant in a foreign city? You know, the non-touristy kind that is frequented by locals and doesn’t charge you double for a never-see-you-again-anyway service? They are often a bit hidden, right?
Finding your content on the internet can be a similar adventure for web users if you don’t have the right b2b content distribution strategy.
Because ultimately even the most beautiful blog post with the most amazing alliterations or helpful how-to (see what we did there?) won’t generate any new enquiries or inbound leads if it doesn’t get in front of the right audience.
So how do you make sure that your amazingly planned and produced content gems get served to people exactly when they need it, if you don’t already have their email address to send it to them directly?
Don’t worry: we’ve got you covered. Here's Bc’s ultimate guide to an effective b2b content distribution strategy.
Use different platforms
Having your own blog on your website is great and will help boost organic search results in the long-term. But it’s a bit of a slow burner.
You need to access another publication's audience so that you can attract new leads to your site. Guest blogging on a syndicate website and publishing your content on LinkedIn can help generate interest quicker and get your content in front of the right audience by tapping into the power of community. It’s a simple equation: the more users on a site, the better your chance for exposure.
However, don’t get too carried away and guest blog just for the sake of it. It has to be worthwhile your (and your potential readers) time. Make sure the content you are pitching to a syndicate is genuinely interesting and helpful to the audience.
Pay your way
Have you written an amazing whitepaper that every CEO in the country should read? The good news is that you can now reach them (well, maybe not all of them, but you know what we mean).
Paying for advertising, like LinkedIn sponsored updates, lets you target your content at exactly the audience you’ve written it for, so it’s worth including a small monthly budget in your marketing planning for this.
You can specify location, job role and even company names in your targeting. Including a form on your landing page will ensure that you capture their data for future emailing. What’s even better: the more people love and share your content, the more it will spread organically to their networks, giving your content added exposure at zero additional cost.
Don't forget user journeys
It’s not enough to have a calendar that says how many times you’ll be publishing blogs and social media posts, and then publishing them on those dates, and promoting them through your social media (paid and unpaid channels). You've taken the first step, which is getting them to visit your website.
But the next step is thinking through your user journeys or conversion paths, because content cannot be created in a vacuum - it is part of a larger ecosystem of tactics that must work together.
Source: HubSpot User Group Adelaide [our presentation]
We love a good flowchart here at Bc - so that’s how this would look like if you put the process into a flow-chart. You might drive all this traffic to a blog post you created - you might even be paying for that traffic - but it leads to nowhere. You can see that the pages that lead to Sales are disconnected from these top-of-funnel awareness pieces.
There’s no easy way - unless the user goes looking - for your lead to contact Sales.
So instead of creating a lot of content dead ends, you need to ask yourselves the question: what are all the ways I can bring users on their buying journey - all the while making it a seamless and fulfilling experience for them?
Bc’s tip
Planning and producing great content takes a lot of resources. When you put together your content strategy make sure it also includes a solid plan for distribution, and make sure you review the results every three months or thereabouts. After all, nobody wants to be the Where’s Wally of the content world: great fun, but incredibly hard to find.
To learn more about how to execute a brilliant b2b content distribution strategy, get in touch with us today.
Brand chemistry is a b2b marketing agency winning your customers' hearts and minds through inbound, brand, content, lead generation and digital strategy. Our marketing specialists achieve stellar results with the latest lead generation techniques.