Spread your content far and wide—it sounds like great advice. However, in practice, you might struggle to make it happen.
Content distribution helps you reach new audiences and perpetuate your brand message. If you’re facing the following six common obstacles, use our advice to conquer them.
Putting Together the Cash
The term “go for broke” doesn’t mean you should actually spend all your cash.
Marketing costs money. That’s a fact you can’t escape, but you don’t have to deplete your entire budget to get your content in front of readers’ eyes. The goal is to put your money where it will make the most impact.
Consider your audience. Does your target market spend lots of time on social media? Do your customers read high-profile news sites or niche blogs? Who’s the loudest voice in the industry?
Answering these questions will allow you to spend your money wisely.
How to Conquer Cost
Create a firm marketing budget. From the available cash, distribute it among channels that will get you the most ROI.
If you’re targeting Millennials, for instance, you might want to focus on mobile campaigns. Run retargeting ads on Facebook, for instance, that link back to your responsive website. You could also reach out to social media influencers who generate mobile-friendly content.
Making Time to Prepare
On your mark … Get set … Create!
Content generation takes time. Before you ever decide what to write, you need an editorial calendar, a list of topics that interest your audience, and a place to publish your content.
If you wait until the last minute to scribble down a blog post, you’ll not only waste time, but you’ll also irritate your audience. Sorry to break the news, but annoyed customers don’t buy things.
How to Conquer Time
View content distribution as a long game. It’s not something you cross off your to-do list overnight; in fact, many companies spend years building content archives.
If you never start, though, you’ll never reach your goal. Choose a channel on which to focus, such as your blog, then select a secondary focus, like your email newsletter or a desired influencer. Focus on connecting those two channels, then move on to other possibilities.
Generating High-Quality Content
Shoot for the stars with each piece of content you publish.
Do you read every article that appears on your screen? Of course not. There aren’t enough hours in the day.
You’re competing against millions of other pieces of content, some of which prove extremely engrossing. Your job is to beat your competition with high-quality, riveting content.
This is the other side of the time coin. The longer you spend crafting a content strategy, the better the rewards.
How to Conquer Quality
You might need a partner to help with quality control. If you don’t have the time to build a content campaign, trust experts to do it for you. The top media companies can not only create compelling content, but also help you promote and syndicate it.
Professional writers don’t just research your industry and come up with interesting topics. They also double-check their grammar and spelling, select fitting images, and employ meaningful language. Working with a media partner costs less than hiring an in-house team, but you get the best of both worlds.
Finding New Ways to Get Creative
Don’t be afraid to be the blue banana.
It’s true that there’s no such thing as true originality. No matter what you come up with, someone else has done it before.
However, you can make content feel original by giving it your own spin. You know your industry better than anyone else, so what can you add to the conversation to make your content more desirable?
Even if you work with a writer or media company, you can still add your own spin to your content. The more creative you get, the easier content distribution becomes.
How to Conquer Creativity
Read widely in your industry. Find out what your competition has already said and done, then take your content in a completely different direction. Choose a different tone, voice, or spin to make your content seem unique.
Amassing a Decent Audience
If you give a speech in the woods and nobody hears it, did you ever actually say something?
You can’t buy an audience at the grocery store. There’s no Amazon for audiences; no eBay for readers. You have to earn your target customers’ attention.
Whether you’re publishing content on your own blog, syndicating it on a major media website, or recycling it via social media, your content can’t help your business unless other people find it.
How to Conquer a Lack of Audience
Borrow an audience from someone else. This is why influencers have become so popular; they automatically give your brand more exposure.
We’ve worked with more than 1,000 influencers to help our clients spread their messages. You can find your own influencers or work with content distribution companies. Either way, you get access to a built-in audience without having to build it over months and years.
Selecting the Right Channel
Think of your audience as channel surfers. They’re always looking for something better on the screen.
Business owners and marketers often suffer from analysis paralysis. They have so many options for content distribution that they get stuck in a state of perpetual inaction.
In other words, they can’t choose where to distribute their content, so they do nothing at all.
Avoid this trap. If you choose the wrong channel, you’ll learn from your mistake and select a better one next time. The worst thing a marketer can do is nothing.
How to Conquer Analysis Paralysis
Pick a channel out of a hat.
Okay, not really. However, you can take a similar approach. Make a list of all the available content distribution channels, then write an idea next to each one. Choose the one that seems the most appealing, or put it to a vote amongst your team members.
All content distribution channels—from press releases and influencers to social media advertising and syndication—offers benefits. You can’t do wrong if you take action.
Regardless of your industry or the size of your business, you don’t have to let these obstacles destroy your chances at success.
