Content syndication – the process of republishing your original content on third-party websites or platforms – is a crucial strategy for any B2B business looking to expand their reach and generate high-quality leads. Almost a third (30%) of B2B firms consider content syndication to be one of their most effective lead generation tactics.
However, just 42% of B2B marketers consider their content distribution efforts to be effective, highlighting the need for a strategic approach to syndication. This is where choosing the right content syndication vendor is essential.
Here are several factors you should consider before deciding to work with a content syndication partner:
1. Identify your needs
Before partnering with a vendor, you should make sure your needs and objectives are clearly defined. This will help you select a provider that aligns with your goals and can deliver the results you’re looking for. Ask yourself:
What are your business objectives?
Consider your primary business goals. Are you looking to increase brand awareness? Do you need to drive more traffic to your website? Or is your focus generating more leads?
You should also consider how content syndication fits into your overall marketing strategy, and what specific outcomes you hope to achieve through this practice.
The ideal syndication vendor for your business will vary depending on your specific goals, so having a clear understanding of these can help guide you through the selection process.
What are your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)?
Once you’ve established your goals, it’s time to define the metrics you’ll monitor to measure the success of your syndication efforts. Some of the most common content syndication metrics and KPIs include:
- Number of leads generated
- Quality of leads
- Engagement rates
- Lead conversion rates
- Sales cycle length
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Cost-Per-Lead (CPL)
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
By setting clear, well-defined KPIs, you’ll be better equipped to evaluate potential vendors and track the success of your content syndication strategy.
2. Evaluate content syndication vendors
With your needs and goals clearly defined, you can start assessing potential syndication partners. While this process may produce a lot of candidates – B2B buyers tend to evaluate multiple vendors when choosing new technology solutions – you can narrow this down by considering:
What experience and expertise do they have?
For starters, you’ll want to partner with a provider that has a proven track record. Ask each vendor:
- How long they’ve been in business: The longer a track record they have, the more mistakes they’ve likely learned from.
- What types of clients they’ve worked with: Do they have experience working with businesses similar to your own?
- What experience they have within your specific niche: How familiar are they with your target audience and their interests?
A vendor with an impressive portfolio will have a better understanding of the nuances of content syndication programs, and can provide valuable insights to optimize the performance of your campaigns.
Do they have success stories with previous customers?
Did you know that two-thirds (65%) of marketers can’t quantitively demonstrate the impact of their marketing efforts?
Don’t just take a vendor’s word for it when they say they’ve been successful – ask for case studies, testimonials and references from customers that illustrate their previous successes. This will give you a better idea of their capabilities and the results they’ve achieved for their clients.
Do they understand your industry?
Choosing a vendor with knowledge and experience of your industry means they’ll be well-equipped to tailor their strategies to your specific needs. For instance, do they know what types and formats of content your target audience prefers?
If a vendor understands your audience, competitors, and the unique challenges you’re facing, you’ll have a much better chance of standing out in your market.
3. Assess each vendor’s capabilities and reach
One of the key advantages of working with a content syndication partner is their ability to help you reach your ideal audience. Many vendors have sophisticated targeting capabilities and well-established reach with particular audiences, so make sure these capabilities align with your objectives. Consider the following:
Who is your ideal customer?
If you’ve not already defined the characteristics of your ideal customer, a vendor can help you map this in the form of buyer personas and an ideal customer profile (ICP). These profiles will list crucial information that can help you and your syndication partner target your audience more effectively, such as:
- Demographics: Company size, industry, vertical, location
- Firmographics: Annual revenue, technologies used, maturity stage, budget
- Psychographics: Pain points, goals, role in the decision-making process, sales cycle
The more detailed and defined an ICP or buyer persona, the more likely it is that your content reaches the right people and the right companies.
What targeting capabilities does each vendor have?
A vendor may be able to help you identify your ideal audience, but can they actually help you reach them? When assessing syndication partners, ask them about their targeting capabilities. Do they have access to the right data and channels to reach your audience? How granular can their targeting get? And are they able to reach decision-makers in specific roles or industries?
The more precise your syndication vendor’s targeting, the more of a chance you have to generate high-quality leads that align with your ICP.
4. Review lead quality and qualification criteria
With lead quality the ultimate goal of content syndication, you need to make sure your vendor is in a good position to help you generate the kind of prospects you’re looking for. Here’s what you can ask each vendor to understand this:
How does your lead generation process work?
Get vendors to explain their lead generation process, as this can give you insight into the quality of leads that they can deliver. The way they attract and engage potential leads, along with the methods they use to capture lead information, will give you a good idea of what to expect.
Another crucial element to understand is how a syndication vendor ensures the accuracy of the data they collect. Ultimately, a vendor that can be trusted will be transparent and happy to share a well-defined process for how this works.
How do you identify and validate MQLs?
Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) are leads that have shown a higher likelihood of becoming customers, but the way these leads are qualified often varies from business to business.
One of the best ways to ensure a vendor is right for you is to make sure their definition of an MQL aligns with your own criteria and sales process. This will mean that, once you start working with a vendor, they’ll have a far better chance of helping you to generate qualified leads that match your ICP.
5. Understand their content syndication process
How a vendor approaches content syndication can be the deciding factor in whether or not you decide to work with them. As with their lead generation process, reach and capabilities, you’ll want to make sure their practices are in sync with those of your business and the expectations of your audience. Ask each vendor:
How do you approach content publishing?
Inquire about each vendor’s content publishing strategy. Which platforms and channels do they use for syndication, and are these channels aligned with those of your ICP? If not, how can they ensure your content reaches the right audience?
You should also consider how they approach publishing content on multiple platforms. One of the biggest pitfalls in content syndication strategies is failing to optimize content for different channels, so make sure this is part of your vendor’s approach.
A good vendor will have a diverse network of high-quality publishing partners, along with the ability to tailor content for maximum impact on each platform.
What are your lead generation methods and strategies?
It’s also critical to have visibility on their tactics and methods for getting leads in the first place. If their preferred strategies are, for instance, using lead magnets like gated content and webinars, do you have the necessary content pieces to fulfil this?
Try and get a sense of what happens when they capture leads, too. What is their approach for prospects that need nurturing, and how do they balance lead quality with quantity? The ideal vendor will utilize a combination of these strategies to capture and nurture potential customers as part of their approach to content syndication.
6. Measuring success
To ensure you’re getting maximum value from your content syndication efforts, it’s critical to have robust measurement and reporting processes in place. Ask potential partners:
How do you report ROI and what is your typical CPL?
Another crucial element of any partnership with a content syndication provider will be their typical Cost-Per-Lead (CPL) for businesses similar to your own. This will help you to benchmark each vendor against their competitors, set realistic expectations, and project potential return on investment (ROI) from the campaign. It’s also important to understand how they report ROI, as you can compare this to your own calculations to gauge their transparency.
Furthermore, you should ask them if they offer any guarantees regarding the quality or quantity of the leads they produce. This will be another way of assuring quality and protecting your investment in content syndication.
What performance metrics and KPIs do you track?
Vendors that offer detailed reporting and provide frequent performance updates can help you make tweaks and optimize the performance of your syndicated content in real-time, boosting your chances of generating high-quality leads from your syndication efforts. It can also help both parties address potential issues quickly before they have a chance to significantly impact the campaign.
Go into detail with a vendor about the specific metrics and KPIs they track as part of their service. With comprehensive, clear, and easy-to-understand reports that align with your own KPIs, it’ll be easier to determine the success of your syndication efforts.
7. Communication and support
One aspect of a syndication partnership that is easy to forget is the strength of the working relationship and the level of support on offer. Be sure to ask potential partners:
How do you communicate with clients?
A vendor with a dedicated account manager can offer a personalized service, and with their knowledge and familiarity with your business help to optimize the performance of your content in line with your goals and objectives. Having a single point of contact for queries and issues also makes communication simpler and more consistent, instead of having multiple people contacting you all at once.
Ask potential vendors whether they offer a dedicated account manager and how responsive they are to queries and concerns. Be sure to look for feedback on their communications in case studies and testimonials, too.
How sophisticated are your reporting and analytics capabilities?
Along with the exact metrics and measurements syndication vendors track, you should also look into the reporting and analytics tools they use to share this information. If a dashboard isn’t user-friendly or doesn’t provide the right insights and data for you to monitor, you’ll be less inclined to use it and assess the impact of your partnership.
Likewise, sometimes you can be flooded with data, but left wanting when it comes to actionable insights. Make sure that someone at your chosen partner is available to explain what is happening in your campaign and make adjustments with you.
Conclusion
Selecting the right content syndication provider can make or break the success of your B2B marketing strategy. By carefully considering your needs, analyzing potential vendors, and focusing on key factors like lead quality and performance measurement, you can make an informed choice that aligns with your business objectives.
Take the time to thoroughly vet potential vendors, ask the right questions, and find a partner that can help you maximize the impact of content and drive meaningful results.
