It is clear, in the world of Marketing, content is STILL king and naysayers are in for an uphill climb. Those involved in content marketing know the importance of diversified strategies to expand reach, increase sales leads, and generate brand awareness. Content Syndication is a critical technique that can re-energize your digital marketing campaigns.

Syndications’ roots begin in broadcast television. Syndication was used by television networks to continue generating revenue from concluded series by licensing rights to to other networks. Digital content syndication follows a similar principle – web content is distributed across multi-channels. Third parties republish content, it may be shorter or have slight edits however, always credit the original author. Through syndication, content is transformed to operate as a promotion mechanism that will introduce you to new targets at a faster pace.

The Realities of Content Syndication

Before employing a new marketing strategy, it is important to know the realities that lie ahead. While syndication offers benefits, there are likely to be consequences if you are not strategic with your approach. Understanding the pros and cons of content syndication will help in developing appropriate strategies that will ensure you maximize the platforms available to you.

Pros of Content Syndication:

• Wider Audience: republication expands your potential client base. The larger the platform you partner with, the larger the visibility for your firm.
• Low Cost Marketing: content syndication is cost-effective because you are maximizing existing content which is less costly than creating new content.
• Lead Generation: syndicating to websites that cater to your target personas can boost your qualified leads significantly.
• Enhanced SEO: Syndication allows for author bylines and hyperlinks that will guide readers to your site where they will take desired action.
• Increased Promotion: Syndicated content that carry inbound links from re-published content to your website and social media accounts leads to name recall and increased viewership.

Cons of Content Syndication:

• Less than Reputable Syndicate Websites: Without proper research, site owners may find themselves associated with questionable, smaller sites that may affect your reputation.
• Repurposed Content: Some may believe that republishing equates to repurposing content; untrustworthy third parties may ‘beat-around’ proper citation and credits. It’s important to emphasize that syndications must always credit original sources.
• Decrease in Lead Quality: While lead generation may be at an all time high, it’s possible that the quality of your sales leads may be suffering. Increasing audience reach always carries the risk of attracting unqualified leads.

Effective Content Syndication

CMI & MarketingProfs reports that only 27% of B2B marketers are using content syndication promotional tools. Noting the discussion above, it’s clear that your marketing strategy must account for the quality of your partnerships, target market and proper lead management.

One of the significant steps a firm needs to make is choosing the right Content Syndication Partner. It is best to consider well-established syndication networks that cater to the audience you are targeting. It is important to question if their syndication program is flexible enough to meet your lead generation goals in terms of promotion and scale.

For content syndication to be a success, there are four (4) key areas you need to focus on.

1. You must plan the message and content you want to syndicate. This should be integrated into your marketing and sales objectives based on what product or service you are prioritizing.
2. Syndicate carefully as content syndication is related to duplicate content. It’s important to coordinate closely with your partners to ensure that they are using the appropriate no-follow links, canonical tags and other strategies to minimize the chances of penalties from search engines. 
3. Syndicate on a regular basis. Writing fresh content that is relevant will attract more people to your site and provide your syndicate network with content to republish.
4. Monitor and measure your performance and adjust as necessary. Analytics will provide insights on how content is performing and give you feedback on which partnerships are working and which are not.

Content syndication is an effective strategy that relies heavily on great content and partnerships. By properly defining your business goal, developing positive working relationships and creating quality content, you can expand your client-base, lower your marketing expenses and develop quality leads for better sales results.

Develop Successful Content with PureSyndication

With guaranteed predictable lead volumes from our global audience of more than 62 million technology buyers, PureSyndication places your content directly into the hands of your target personas.

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