What Is Content Syndication? Lead Generation At Velocity
What Is Content Syndication? Lead Generation At Velocity
In the ever-evolving digital marketing landscape, founders and marketers constantly seek effective ways to expand their reach, attract a target audience, and grow revenue. One powerful strategy that is deployed by virtually every technology company is B2B content syndication. So what is content syndication?
This guide will delve into the concept, explore its benefits and challenges, and provide insights on leveraging content syndication services to achieve your marketing goals.
Understanding content syndication
Content syndication refers to distributing and republishing your original content on third-party platforms, websites, or media outlets, such as articles, white papers, and eBooks.
It allows you to extend the reach of your content beyond your owned channels and tap into a new audience of target buyers to generate leads, bolster branding, and create content that resonates with your target buying audience.
Instead of confining your content to your own blog, website, or blog post, content syndication enables it to be discovered and consumed by a broader group of readers or viewers.
The mechanics of content syndication
Source: Content Marketing Institute
When engaging in content syndication, you typically partner with content syndication partners, platforms, media companies, or agencies with established networks and audiences in your industry.
These platforms act as intermediaries, helping you distribute and syndicate your content to their network of publishers and making it available to their audiences. There are two models for content syndication: Free and paid.
Free content syndication
This most often takes the form of placing a guest blog post on relevant sites where your buyers visit. Free content syndication usually involves much effort in the form of outreach to find a site willing to post your content, then negotiate the terms.
The site may agree to publish your content because it helps build up their site's content profile and referral traffic, or they may request a backlink in exchange for publishing your article. Each deal is somewhat unique and requires personal interaction with every site that agrees to publish your content.
Paid content syndication
As the name implies, paid content syndication involves paying a fee to distribute and share your content on third-party platforms or industry websites. It typically involves partnering with content syndication networks or media outlets with a broad reach and various industries and roles they can target.
For B2B marketers, the typical cost model is Cost Per Lead (CPL). You or your agency pre-negotiate CPL with third-party sites before the campaign launch. Your total budget = CPL x the number of leads you need.
If you need to reach marketing directors in the U.S. at companies greater than 200 employees in the automotive industry, a good syndication partner can find that audience for you quickly. Let's say you want 100 targeted, qualified leads, and the cost to get a buyer to complete the registration form is $60 (the CPL). Your budget would be $6,000.
Target audience at scale
Paid content syndication lets you publish your content quickly and reach a large segment of your target audience with much less effort than free content syndication. It leverages an established website property's reach and credibility to tap net new potential buyers and generate leads and conversions at predictable levels. The cost of paid content syndication varies based on factors such as the platform's audience size, targeting options, and the desired exposure level.
Benefits of content syndication
Source: Content marketing institute
Expanded reach
Content syndication gives you access to established networks. By leveraging content syndication platforms or partnerships with media outlets, B2B marketers gain access to established networks of publishers and websites.
These networks have their own audience base, which extends beyond the marketer's existing reach. Syndicating content on these platforms allows B2B marketers to further tap into these networks and expose their content to a larger, wider audience.
Increased brand awareness
Content syndication associates your brand with trusted platforms. Syndicating content on reputable industry websites or media outlets lends credibility to a B2B marketer's brand. Being featured on trusted platforms helps establish the marketer as an authoritative voice in their field and builds trust among potential clients, partners, and industry influencers.
Here is a good illustration of how content syndication efforts help with branding
Improved SEO
Content syndication can contribute to B2B marketers' search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. When syndicated content includes backlinks to the marketer's website, blog post, or specific landing pages, it signals to search engines that their content is valuable and authoritative. This can positively impact organic search rankings, further strengthening the brand's online presence.
Credibility and trust
By leveraging content syndication to share valuable insights, establish thought leadership, and consistently deliver high-quality content, B2B marketers can build credibility and trust with their target business buyers.
Building trust is essential in the B2B landscape, where decisions are often based on long-term partnerships and complex purchasing considerations. A strong reputation for credibility and trust can influence business buyers to choose and engage with a particular brand over competitors.
Lead generation
By leveraging content syndication as part of their lead generation strategy, B2B marketers can extend their reach to a targeted audience, capture valuable leads, and nurture them through the sales funnel. The combination of targeted content distribution and lead capture mechanisms on syndication platforms provides a powerful means of generating qualified leads and driving business growth.
Speed and velocity
Content syndication networks typically have millions of opt-in email subscribers across various industries, companies, and roles. For lead generation, one of the key advantages of paid content syndication is that you often get access to web content syndication partners' targeted, opt-in email lists.
Using email to deliver syndicated content offers into your buyer's inbox is the best and fastest way to deliver targeted leads. It's why 65% of B2b technology companies in a Content Marketing Insitute report from 2021 used content syndication partners as a key part of their demand generation and content marketing strategy.
It may take two months to get 250 leads via Google paid ads. Content syndication could generate those leads in a week.
Challenges and considerations
While content syndication offers numerous benefits, it is essential to be aware of potential challenges and take them into account.
Duplicate content
Content syndication across multiple platforms raises concerns about duplicate content, which can negatively impact your SEO efforts. To mitigate this, ensure that syndicated versions include canonical tags or use a content syndication platform that employs measures to address this issue.
Maintaining consistency and branding
Content syndication should align with your brand's voice, messaging, and quality standards. Establishing clear guidelines and maintaining consistency across platforms is crucial to preserve your brand identity.
Negotiating agreements for syndicated content
Reviewing and negotiating agreements carefully is important when working with content syndication partners or media companies. Consider factors such as exclusivity, content ownership, and how the platform handles lead generation and attribution.
Bad actors
In recent years dozens of overseas entities have said they offer syndicated content services. However, they are scrapped email factories that don't own an engaged audience of B2b buyers in your industry. They take their scrapped emails and spam the recipients with your offers. Then, they don't even give you back legitimate leads who have filled out a registration form. They sell back any email that appears to have been opened, even if an email security appliance opens it.
Vet the properties where your leads will appear and ensure the third-party sites are legitimate, major media publications in your industry, or confirmed influencers with the right audience.
Best Practices for Successful Content Syndication
To make the most of syndicating content, keep these best practices in mind:
Create insightful content
Writing insightful content holds immense importance. In a sea of information overload, the insightful and valuable content stands out and captures the attention of syndication platforms and your target buyers. Insightful content goes beyond the surface level, delving deep into a topic, offering unique perspectives, and providing actionable takeaways.
Insightful content resonates with readers, encourages engagement, and compels them to seek more of your work. So, prioritize quality over quantity, consider original research, and deliver insightful content that adds value to your audience's lives.
Choose the right platforms
Research and select content syndication partners or agencies that cater to your target audience and have a strong reputation in your industry. Ensure they align with your goals and provide transparent analytics and reporting.
It's critical to ensure they place your content on various major media publications in your industry. Be aware of scammers and spammers who scrap email addresses and then claim to own an audience. Only legitimate industry publications and influencers own an audience
Optimize content for syndication
When syndicating content, optimize it for maximum impact. This includes creating compelling headlines, engaging introductions, and incorporating relevant keywords for SEO purposes.
Monitor and measure performance
Regularly monitor the performance of your syndicated content. Track metrics such as click-through rates, engagement, and lead generation to assess the effectiveness of your syndication efforts and make informed decisions.
Engage with your audience
Actively participate in discussions and respond to comments on syndicated platforms. Engaging with your audience demonstrates your expertise, builds credibility, and fosters a connection that can lead to increased loyalty and conversions.
Conclusion
Content syndication presents a valuable opportunity for businesses and content creators to amplify their reach, increase brand exposure, and engage with new audiences. By strategically selecting the right platforms, optimizing content, and monitoring performance, you can harness the power of syndication to boost your digital marketing efforts.
However, navigating potential challenges with careful consideration and implementation is essential. When done right, content syndication can be a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal, unlocking the potential for exponential growth and success.
TechGrowth has built a content syndication network to deliver your content to your target buyers and generate hundreds or thousands of leads in weeks, not months. Please tell us how many targeted, qualified leads you need to make your number, and we'll build a content syndication campaign that guarantees the results. Get started here.
