Google has been issuing some pretty effective scare tactics lately, advising marketers against engaging in link-building practices. Strategies for building links at scale, including tactics previously considered acceptable, like guest blogging, are increasingly being categorized as unethical. Google suggests focusing on brand building through exceptional content creation instead of obsessing over links.

However, the content marketing field has become extremely crowded, with everyone and their closest companion jumping on board. This already bustling arena is becoming even more saturated! There are over 90% of B2B marketers use content marketing contributing to this phenomenon, and the reasons are clear:

• A significant majority of consumers, about two-thirds, report feeling more positive about and more likely to buy from businesses that provide tailored content.
• Engaging content is a primary top 3 reason that motivates individuals to follow brands on social media platforms. With everyone adopting similar approaches, the challenge arises: how can you differentiate yourself and stand out?

While crafting compelling content is crucial, it represents only one stage of the process. Once you’ve created your content, promoting it effectively becomes essential. This involves strategically positioning your content to reach the appropriate audience at the optimal time, a principle sometimes referred to as content advertising. Surprisingly, a large number of marketers lack the knowledge and skills to promote their content effectively. Consequently, their content reaches only a small portion of its potential audience, fading into obscurity without making a significant impact.

As the contest for attention intensifies, marketers must embrace innovative strategies to maintain a competitive edge. Despite the widespread adoption of content marketing by both B2B and B2C marketers, a mere 32% of B2C marketers report consider themselves effective with their efforts. Given that a strong brand significantly influences sales, mastering the art of content promotion and amplification for brand building is more critical than ever.

This very challenge formed the core of my presentation at Pubcon New Orleans 2014: How can content promotion be leveraged to enhance brand building?

This article aims to debunk prevalent misconceptions surrounding content promotion and present a structured framework for successful content promotion, ultimately strengthening your brand.

Before delving into specifics, it’s crucial to acknowledge a fundamental truth.

SEO’s Limitations in Brand Building

Content promotion is paramount because relying solely on SEO for brand building is ineffective. While SEO effectively targets individuals actively searching for specific information, it does little to cultivate brand recognition. It primarily focuses on visibility rather than establishing a brand presence.

This realization emerged from a personal experience. Over six years, I witnessed an 8% monthly growth in organic search traffic to my blog, which currently attracts nearly 600,000 visitors per month. This seemingly impressive statistic masked underlying issues.

Problem A: Lack of Visitor Interaction

The nexus-security blog suffered from low user engagement. Visitors spent an average of only 94 seconds on the site, with approximately 80% never returning.

Problem B: Absence of Brand-Specific Searches

Another significant issue was the low percentage of organic traffic (3%) originating from branded searches. This indicated that 97% of visitors lacked prior familiarity with the brand.

Despite strong SEO performance and soaring traffic numbers, the company remained relatively unknown. This situation presented a substantial challenge.

The following section outlines the strategies employed to address these issues.

Leveraging Content Promotion for Brand Building

At nexus-security, we undertake a major content promotion project every quarter. My Pubcon presentation detailed the strategy and outcomes of one such project implemented a little over a year ago. This initiative generated over 10,000 press mentions and attracted more than 10 million unique visitors.

These results were not accidental. The following section will explain our approach and guide you on replicating it.

A Goal-Oriented Approach to Content Promotion

Most content promotion endeavors falter because they neglect a fundamental principle: effective content promotion begins long before content creation. Strategizing promotion only after content creation is counterproductive.

At nexus-security, we employ a reverse funnel approach to content promotion.

Identifying Desired Media Coverage

Our process starts with defining clear objectives:

• What specific publications do we aim to feature our story?
• What types of narratives resonate with those publications?

Instead of trying to persuade media outlets to cover our chosen topics, we focus on developing content that aligns with their interests, thereby increasing its inherent promotability.

For instance, it’s widely known that many reporters gravitate towards impactful, breaking news stories, particularly those encompassing visual data elements. Coverage of prominent brands like Google or Facebook further enhances their appeal.

Conceptualizing a High-Impact Idea

Reviewing the calendar revealed that the Facebook IPO was approaching in a month. This presented an opportunity to create a comparative analysis of Facebook ads versus Google’s display network.

Releasing this analysis shortly before the highly publicized IPO allowed us to capitalize on the extensive media coverage surrounding the event.

The Significance Factor

Compelling content promotion hinges on a strong hook. Given the diversity of publications, tailoring your hooks to resonate with their unique interests is crucial.

For instance, a financial publication like the Wall Street Journal might be interested in whether Facebook’s advertising platform can drive revenue for businesses. However, a general technology magazine like Wired might be more intrigued by the demographics of users who click on Facebook ads.

This element is referred to as the “So What” factor. It involves uncovering a unique angle that sets your content apart. By addressing the question of “So what? Why should anyone care about this?”, you pique the audience’s interest.

After fulfilling these criteria, we finalized the content and published our analysis a mere three days before the Facebook IPO.

Content Promotion Requires Diligent Execution

Contrary to common assumptions, our content didn’t magically go viral on its own. Achieving significant reach required implementing various content promotion and distribution strategies.

Utilizing Twitter for Effective Pitching

Reporters frequent Twitter to stay abreast of breaking news. Directly messaging relevant individuals, like a reporter from The Guardian covering the Facebook IPO, yielded positive results. In this case, the reporter published an article based on our pitch within minutes and shared the link.

Engaging Influencers

Early outreach included industry peers like Danny Sullivan and Rand Fishkin, who amplified our content’s reach by tweeting about it and submitting it to inbound.org. Beyond industry connections, leveraging the support of social media super-connectors with substantial followings can significantly expand your content’s reach.

For example, reaching out to Tim O’Reilly, the publisher of O’Reilly Media with over 3 million Google+ followers, proved fruitful. His post linking to our content garnered over a hundred re-shares and drove tens of thousands of visitors.

Creating Shareable Visuals

Incorporating visually appealing and easily shareable visual assets enhances content promotion efforts. In this particular instance, we created a comprehensive infographic. However, smaller, professionally designed charts and figures can also be highly effective.

Leveraging Pinterest for Content Dissemination

Given the visual nature of our data-driven content, Pinterest emerged as a surprisingly potent platform for promotion.

Simply incorporating a pin button resulted in over 1,000 pins, amplifying the content’s reach considerably.

Strategizing Follow-Up Content

Instead of treating content as isolated pieces, we approach content projects as multi-faceted campaigns. This involves pre-planning a minimum of three follow-up stories. Essentially, we break down long-form content into digestible parts. For the Facebook IPO campaign, follow-up stories explored various angles, including reasons to buy or sell Facebook stock and General Motors’ decision to discontinue Facebook advertising. These interconnected narratives extended the lifespan of the original story, capitalizing on the initial momentum and amplifying its impact.

Utilizing Paid Promotion on Social Media

It’s no secret that organic reach for Facebook posts is dwindling. Allocating a budget for paid promotion on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, alongside organic efforts, is essential. While not free, paid promotion is a worthwhile investment, just like content creation itself.

Harnessing the Power of Remarketing

Remarketing stands out as a vital content promotion channel. Remember, building brand awareness is central to your content marketing and promotion efforts. By using cookies to track visitors who engage with your content and strategically implementing image ads across the Google Display Network, you ensure your brand remains top of mind.

Remarketing through the Google Display Network offers significant reach, enabling you to connect with 84% of your website visitors for 5-10 days each month across various websites. This consistent brand exposure contributes substantially to brand building.

The effectiveness of remarketing is undeniable. Out of the one million dollars allocated annually for search marketing, more than half is dedicated to remarketing to individuals who have already engaged with our content.

Repurposing and Syndicating Existing Content

Developing original research requires substantial time and effort. To maximize its value, explore repurposing opportunities. Connect with blog managers and offer to provide concise summaries of your findings tailored to their audiences. Syndicating your blog content on platforms like Yahoo Small Business Advisor and republishing it on Medium expands your content’s reach and visibility.

Exploring Radio and Television Opportunities

Search marketers often focus primarily on online publications, likely because of their link-building potential. However, it’s easy to overlook the fact that TV and radio stations, similar to online publications, employ journalists and editors actively seeking compelling narratives.

Securing coverage on platforms like NPR, BBC radio, and Fox Business television, which boast massive audiences of millions, provides invaluable brand-building opportunities and fuels further press mentions.

Targeting International Media Outlets

Approximately 50% of the 10,000 press mentions generated stemmed from international publications. Effectively targeting international media involves focusing on outlets that translate content, such as AP, AFP, Thompson Reuters, Dow Jones, and IDG. Additionally, internationalizing your content on platforms like TechCrunch and Wired broadens your reach. Often, local news reporters discover and disseminate these stories organically.

The Domino Effect

Content promotion follows a domino effect. To break through the noise and gain traction, you need a critical mass of activation energy. Once achieved, your efforts gain momentum, leading to accelerated results. Therefore, strategically aligning all promotional efforts for a simultaneous launch is crucial.

Finally, leverage all available in-house resources for promotion, including email campaigns, blog posts, and social media channels. A comprehensive approach is key to successful content promotion.

Cultivating an Influencer Network

Nurturing relationships with influential individuals in the media is paramount. Simply pitching stories when you need something isn’t conducive to building strong connections.

For instance, Dan Barker’s viral tweet garnered 35,000 retweets.

What’s less known is the significant role played in propelling media coverage for that story. Being one of the first to retweet it and subsequently sharing it with media contacts resulted in widespread coverage and gratitude for the valuable tip.

Regularly sharing intriguing stories unrelated to your business positions you as a valuable resource and thought leader. Consequently, media professionals are more likely to reach out when seeking quotes or compelling narratives.

Prioritizing Quality over Quantity in Content Creation

The importance of quality content cannot be overstated. A prime example is the observation that a mere 4% of articles on our site generate almost half of the traffic.

Similarly, 4% of our content accounts for 85% of social media shares, and 5% drives 95% of high-value links.

These statistics highlight the significance of investing in high-quality content over churning out mediocre pieces. Allocating 80% of your effort to promoting fewer, exceptional stories, rather than spreading yourself thin on mediocre content, yields superior results.

Establishing Expertise: A Pathway to Content Promotion

Consistently engaging in content promotion efforts fosters strong relationships with influential figures in the media. As they recognize your expertise, you might be invited to contribute to their publications.

Evolving into a Columnist

Currently, I contribute as a columnist to nearly a dozen publications. This evolution highlights an important lesson: achieving such recognition is attainable. Starting with no established platform, I diligently pitched high-quality content to industry publications, gradually gaining recognition for valuable contributions.

This recognition led to invitations to contribute as a columnist, eliminating the need for pitching. This illustrates how strategic efforts can transform you from a content seeker to a sought-after expert.

Feasibility and Effort: Can You Replicate This Success?

The strategies outlined might seem daunting. The question arises: is this achievable?

The answer is a resounding YES!

Consider this: Do you use Facebook? Do you or your clients utilize Google advertising? Could you have designed and executed a study comparing Facebook and Google ad performance? The answer is likely yes. The key lies in generating a compelling idea and diligently executing it.

The Tangible Benefits of Content Promotion

What concrete impact does content promotion have, and is it worth the effort? Here’s how content promotion has positively impacted our brand:

Increased Repeat User Rate

The previously mentioned 80% bounce rate has significantly decreased to between 40-70%.

Enhanced User Engagement

The average time visitors spend on our site has tripled from 1:33 to 4:35!

This improvement is consistent across the entire website, with the blog boasting an average visit duration exceeding 8 minutes.

Elevated Direct Traffic

Direct traffic serves as a reliable indicator of brand recall, as it reflects users directly typing in a URL. This metric has nearly tripled since implementing these strategies.

Embracing Content Promotion: A Necessity, Not an Option

Many companies dedicate significant resources to content creation, operating under the flawed assumption that great content inherently attracts an audience. However, this approach rarely yields desired results.

The sheer volume of content available today means even exceptional work can easily get lost in the noise. Instead of solely focusing on content creation, prioritize building your brand by strategically promoting valuable content, integrating promotion from the initial brainstorming phase.

If you have any questions or comments about the content promotion tactics and strategies discussed, please share them below!