6 Ways to Get Your Content Seen

Digital is a highly competitive space, no matter what industry you’re in. To cut through the noise, you must carefully assess, test and analyze each distribution channel and refine your strategy as you go. Here are 6 ways to get your content seen by the right people – and at the right time. 

1. Build awareness through advertising

The early stages of demand generation are crucial for raising the profile of your brand. Display and native advertising techniques can help you boost awareness in a non-intrusive way, laying the foundations for your content delivery. You can use biddable/RTB media and programmatic advertising to target customer segments at critical touchpoints in the buying journey.

But before you move forward with your advertising strategy, be sure that your target account list (TAL) is up to date. This is something that needs constant review as contacts change constantly. According to research, 25% of the average B2B database is inaccurate. The same article tells us that 30% of people change jobs annually and 43% of people’s phone numbers change every year – so staying on top of account data is vital.

But ads shouldn’t be used as a stand-alone tactic. By combining ads with social media and other channels, you can accelerate the prospecting stage and nurture leads through the funnel more effectively.

2. Leverage email marketing

A lot has changed in email marketing, with old hat techniques no longer effective. This can lead businesses into thinking that email marketing itself is no longer as valuable as it used to be. But if you look at the stats, email is consistently high performing compared to other channels.

There’s no getting away from the fact that email is integral to business. In fact, 99% of people check their email every day according to HubSpot. Additionally, SalesForce claim email is over 40 times more effective at acquiring customers than social media, with every $1 spent on email garnering returns of $45-$50.

Email marketing is also a channel that offers easy personalization for the sender. You can create your own subject line, body copy, design your own layout and add in links and imagery without needing technical knowledge of HTML or other skills. This type of micro-targeting makes it a widely accessible tool for sales and marketing teams in your business.

The use of email newsletters is great for building relationships too, giving businesses a way to stay in touch with their customers and reinforce company messaging.

3. Optimize your website 

As well as finding ways to send your content out to the world, your website also plays a key role in securing the attention of visitors. A badly designed or poorly written website can turn people off and cause your bounce rate to rise. Ensuring your site usability is optimized is an essential part of creating a positive customer experience. It shouldn’t be clunky or difficult to navigate, and your content needs to be presented clearly.

Search optimization techniques should also be leveraged by every company. With more buyers searching for suppliers online, it pays to be high in the rankings. Regular content uploads will cause Google bots to crawl your site more frequently and this can help your ranking position, but there also needs to be a solid SEO strategy in place. This will need to include in-depth keyword research, keyword-rich content, and a mix of both on-page and off-page tactics.

4. Make time for social media

While email marketing has great ROI, social media is brilliant for branding. It is the most widely used B2B content marketing tactic, used by 83% of organizations. And it’s clear that B2B buyers are similar to retail buyers when it comes to social recommendations. Real reviews shared by their peers or well-known influencers is important when placing trust in brands.

More importantly, content shared on social media sites is a way for companies to connect with their customers and build rapport over time. They may not convert straight away, but they will take interest in your company and interact with you, giving sales and marketing quality leads to follow up on. Plus, by linking to fresh content on your site, you’re positioning your business as thought leaders in the industry while generating traffic and increasing readership.

Don’t just stick with organic social either – paid ads can help you target the right people and reach them at the right time. You can also use social data to understand audience behaviors and preferences, and improve your campaigns going forward.

5. Contribute to blogs and publications

In addition to publishing content on your own websites, blogs and social sites, it can be beneficial to tap into large audiences that already exist. Collaboration in digital is one of the most important concepts for success, and it’s worth checking out what organizations you can partner with. This can be another company that doesn’t have conflict of interest, online magazines, established business blogs and other publications.

Guest blogging can be a good way to generate links back to your website, and not only does this boost site traffic, it also aids your SEO efforts by adding authority to your domain.

6. Don’t ignore traditional channels 

Finally, don’t forget the basic channels, such as print advertising, events and face-to-face marketing. A joined up approach is important if you want consistent messaging for your entire brand. Today’s B2B buyer no longer wants to communicate with their favorite companies in silos; they want a multi-channel or omnichannel experience where all touchpoints are linked.

It can be easy to forget about the traditional marketing methods when there’s so much buzz around digital technology. But the human touch of a simple phone call or meeting contacts in person can make a huge difference to how personable and authentic you appear. 

If you can back up all the wonderful work you do online with on-brand messaging in person, your content will go much further.

Further reading:

• Account-Based Marketing Research Report
• The Importance of Visuals in An Effective Content Marketing Strategy
• 5 Essential Content Types for Sales Enablement

Optimizing your content distribution strategy is just one of the 7 Pillars for Successful Demand Generation. To discover the 6 remaining pillars for demand generation success, access the full guide here: