Your content strategy isn't just any plan; it's about finding the right way to conduct your content...
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Being a B2B marketer, you've likely encountered the terms "content marketing" and "content syndication." However, distinguishing between the two can be far from straightforward, and striking the right balance is critical to your success.
Consider this scenario: You're tasked with increasing your company's online visibility and engaging potential clients. You invest resources in content marketing, meticulously crafting blog posts, eBooks, and infographics. Yet, despite your dedication, your content reaches only a fraction of your target audience.
Here's the sobering fact: 60-70% of marketing content goes unused. The question is, "Why?"
It’s because most marketers cannot differentiate and find the balance between content marketing and content syndication. By establishing the proper equilibrium, you can maximize the impact of your content efforts.
This guide aims to empower you with a clear distinction between these strategies. We'll provide practical insights and offer tips to help you navigate the complexities of B2B content precisely.
What’s the Difference Between Content Syndication and Content Marketing?
Content marketing involves creating and disseminating informative, entertaining, or educational content. It is done to connect with and influence your target audience.
It's a foundation for:
- Building brand awareness
- Establishing authority
- Fostering lasting relationships with your customers
You can effectively draw audiences into your sphere of influence by providing value through content.
Meanwhile, content syndication is a part of content marketing with laser-focused target and personalization – for one sole reason – increased lead volume.
Primarily used to generate demand, it involves distributing your pre-existing content resources to specific customer segments.
This approach effectively accomplishes dual objectives:
- It widens the reach of your content towards potential new prospects
- It extracts more value from your established target audience on alternate platforms
– resulting in a comprehensive business expansion.
Here's an example as shared by Abhi Bavishi, Growth Marketer and Automation Expert:
“We had a client. They had a good whitepaper. But its reach was limited. We shared it on many platforms. Some were paid. Some were free. The results were fantastic. In three months, downloads rose by 267%. Web traffic grew by 77%. Leads went up by 33%. This shows syndication's power. It gets the right eye on content and boosts vital numbers.”
Let’s now check out a detailed rundown of the key differences between these two approaches:
| Content Marketing | Content Syndication | |
| Focus | Create and promote original content | Distribute existing content to new audiences |
| Ownership | You own and control content | Content may be on third-party sites |
| Reach | Target your audience | Extend content reach to diverse audiences |
| Customization | Highly customizable | Limited on 3rd-party sites |
| SEO and Traffic | Focus on SEO and organic traffic | Leverage authority and backlinks |
| Lead Generation | Primarily lead generation | Wider audience, lead volume |
| Content Investment | Regular creation and promotion | Distribution effort |
| Brand Authority | Build brand authority through original content | Enhance brand exposure through syndication |
| Cost-Effectiveness | Long-term cost-effective strategy | Initial investment, long-term efficiency |
| Metrics Focus | Engagement, brand perception, lead quality | Reach, platform performance |
| Adaptability | Adaptable to current trends | Adaptation focused on platform selection |
| Content Lifespan | Prolonged with evergreen content | Varies depending on platform |
Next Up…
Should You Include Content Syndication in Content Marketing?
Integrating content syndication into your content marketing strategy can yield numerous advantages, making it a decision worth considering. Let's explore the benefits of combining these approaches:
5 Pros of Including Content Syndication in Content Marketing
1. Targeted Reach: Content syndication allows you to amplify the reach of your carefully crafted content. How? By distributing it across reputed 3rd-party platforms, reaching a broader audience.
2. Enhanced Visibility: Syndicating content on leading channels can boost your branding and authority – exposing it to a larger and potentially more engaged audience.
3. Cost-Effective Approach: Syndication can be cost-effective for increasing lead volumes. Here, you can reach a wider audience without generating new content.
4. Targeted Exposure: Choose syndication platforms that align with your target audience. Then, you can ensure your content is exposed to the right people, improving the quality of leads generated.
5. SEO Benefits: Syndicated content can contribute to your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts. It helps generate backlinks and enhances your brand's overall online presence.
Here's an example from James Smith, Founder of Travel-Lingual – to give you some insights on making the best of content marketing and syndication:
“Here’s a tip: Posting our travel-related stuff on business-focused sites got us in front of many people who were also travelers.
Let's talk about the results in a word: amazing. We got 30% more leads in the first three months of rolling out our strategic content syndication strategy. We repackaged and shared our expert travel guides on industry blogs and forums to make Travel-Lingual the go-to source for corporate travelers.”
Are There Any Disadvantages?
As with any approach, even the combo of content syndication and marketing has its downsides. However, we have come up with their solutions as well. Check them out:
| Challenges | Solutions |
| Duplicate Content: Syndicating content on multiple platforms may lead to concerns about duplicate content, which can impact your search engine rankings. |
- Use canonical tags: Implement canonical tags to specify the original source of the content, indicating to search engines which version should be indexed. - Modify content: When syndicating, modify the content slightly on different platforms to avoid strict duplication while retaining the core message. - Use no-index tags: Utilize them for syndicated content on your website to prevent it from competing with the original content. |
| Loss of Control: When your content appears on third-party sites, you may have limited control over its presentation, affecting brand consistency. |
- Choose reputable platforms: Select syndication platforms that maintain high standards of content presentation and allow for some customization. - Establish clear guidelines: Create guidelines and agreements with syndication partners that outline your expectations for how your content should be displayed. - Monitor and adjust: Continuously monitor how your content is presented on third-party sites and make adjustments as needed to maintain consistency. |
| Content Quality: Maintaining the quality of your content across different platforms can be challenging, as each platform may have its standards and requirements. |
- Adapt content to platform standards: Tailor your content to meet each syndication platform's specific formatting and style requirements. - Perform regular updates: Keep a close eye on the performance of syndicated content and make necessary updates to maintain quality and relevance. - Edit: Employ professional editing and proofreading services to maintain content quality across platforms. |
| Content Relevance: Ensuring syndicated content remains relevant to the target audience on each platform can be a complex task, requiring careful planning. |
- Segment audiences: Carefully segment your audience and create content variations that are specifically relevant to each target group. - Maintain platform alignment: Choose syndication platforms that align with your content's relevance to their audience to ensure a good fit. - Follow periodic content review: Regularly review and update syndicated content to ensure it remains timely and relevant to your target audience on each platform. |
As you can see, integrating content syndication into your content marketing strategy offers numerous advantages. However, be aware of and address potential challenges to reap the full benefits of content syndication.
Design a Unified Strategy: A 7-Step Approach
Here’s our systematic guide to merging content marketing and syndication:
1. Content Assessment: Evaluate your existing content assets. Identify pieces suitable for syndication and those that align with your content marketing goals. This assessment sets the foundation for your integrated strategy.
2. Audience Segmentation: Categorize your target audience into distinct groups based on demographics, interests, and behavior. It allows you to tailor your content to each group's preferences.
3. Platform Selection: Choose syndication platforms that resonate with your segmented audience groups. Some examples are cold calling, email newsletters, cold email marketing, LinkedIn, and paid ads.
NOTE: Each platform should align with the interests and habits of the specific audience you aim to reach.
4. Content Optimization: Adapt your content to meet the standards and preferences of each chosen platform. Ensure it resonates with the unique audience on that platform.
5. Synchronization: Create a content calendar that syncs your content marketing and syndication efforts. It should outline when and where content will be published and promoted.
6. Targeted Distribution: Utilize your audience segmentation to guide content distribution to the right audience on the selected syndication platforms. This targeted approach enhances the chances of engagement.
7. Monitoring and Analytics: Implement robust tracking and analytics tools to track the performance of your content. Measure key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the impact of your unified strategy.
Measure the Impact of Your Combined Content Framework
When combining content marketing and syndication, you must know how to measure success and ROI for optimizing your approach.
4 Methods to Assess the Effectiveness of Your Integrated Strategy
1. Lead Generation: Track the number of leads generated through your content and determine which sources or platforms contribute the most to lead conversion.
2. Conversion Rate: The conversion rate measures the percentage of leads that convert into paying customers.
Monitor the conversion rate for content generated from both marketing and syndication. It will help you evaluate the quality of leads generated and the persuasiveness of your content.
3. Lead Volume: Specify a timeframe and quantify the quantity of new leads generated within that period through your campaign.
4. Lead Quality: Assess the ratio of high-quality leads to unsuitable ones within your acquisition.
Define the 4 KPIs to Track Your Success
1. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Calculate the cost of acquiring a new customer, factoring in expenses related to both content marketing and syndication efforts. Lowering CAC indicates more cost-effective customer acquisition.
2. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): Determine the value a customer brings to your business over their entire relationship with your brand. Compare CLV to CAC to gauge the long-term profitability of your integrated strategy.
3. Return on Investment (ROI): Calculate the ROI by comparing the revenue generated from content marketing and syndication to the total costs incurred. A positive ROI indicates that your integrated strategy is financially viable.
4. Customer Retention: Assess the ability of your integrated strategy to retain existing customers. High retention rates indicate that your content resonates with and continues to engage your audience effectively.
Automation Tools for Increased Efficiency
Automation is pivotal in streamlining your marketing efforts. It makes your strategies more effective and frees up time and resources for other critical tasks:
1. Content Distribution: Automation tools allow you to schedule and distribute your content across various platforms at optimal times. It ensures your content reaches the right audience when they are most receptive.
2. Social Media Management: These automation tools help schedule posts, monitor engagement, and respond to comments. They can also provide insights to improve your social media strategies.
3. Email Marketing: Email marketing automation streamlines the process of sending targeted emails to your audience. It can segment your email list, send personalized messages, and track open rates and click-through rates.
4. Lead Nurturing: Marketing automation platforms enable you to create automated lead nurturing campaigns. These sequences guide leads through the buyer's journey, providing them with relevant content at each stage.
5. Analytics: Automated analytics tools collect and analyze data on the performance of your content marketing and syndication efforts. They provide valuable insights that inform your strategy.
Platforms and Software for Enhanced Efficiency
1. HubSpot: HubSpot offers a comprehensive suite of marketing automation tools, including email marketing, lead nurturing, and analytics, to streamline your content marketing efforts.
2. Buffer: Buffer is an efficient social media management platform that allows you to schedule and manage posts across multiple social media channels.
3. Marketo: Marketo is a powerful marketing automation platform designed for B2B marketers, offering lead management, email marketing, and analytics capabilities.
4. Mailchimp: Mailchimp is a user-friendly email marketing content syndication platform that offers automation features for segmenting, targeting, and engaging your audience.
5. Google Analytics: Google Analytics provides in-depth insights into the performance of your website and content. It's a valuable tool for tracking the effectiveness of your combined content marketing and syndication efforts.
6. Hootsuite: Hootsuite is another social media management tool that allows you to schedule, monitor, and analyze your social media activities.
7. Pardot: Pardot, by Salesforce, is a marketing automation platform with robust lead nurturing, email marketing, and lead scoring capabilities.
Build a Holistic Strategy with Revnew
When you aim to build a comprehensive, result-driven content marketing and syndication strategy, we advise you to connect with Revnew. Our content syndication agency has an extraordinarily unique and sophisticated process to ensure you get your desired outcomes:
- We let you choose the content type you want to syndicate.
- We ask you if you want to target contacts or accounts.
- Remembering your target audience, we pick the best syndicating channels.
- You get a list of highly interested leads based on their actions toward your syndicated content.
This targeted approach enables you to find and nurture only high-potential leads.
Final Thoughts: Elevating Your Content Game
When combining content marketing and syndication, your success hinges on precision, strategy, and adaptation. You can navigate this landscape confidently by understanding the differences between these approaches, addressing challenges, and measuring ROI.
Crafting a unified content strategy, embracing automation, and building a comprehensive content plan will elevate your content game. Plus, it will unlock the full potential of your digital marketing efforts.
Now, it's your turn to apply these insights and shape a content strategy that sets you apart in this competitive market. Any further questions? Contact our team at Revnew today!
