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3 Mistakes ALL MARKETERS Make In Their Distribution Strategy
Episode 772nd July 2024 • Distribution First • Justin Simon
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In this episode of Distribtuion First, Justin Simon walks you through the three biggest pitfalls of choosing the wrong distribution channels and how you can avoid them.

Justin shares his personal experiences and lessons learned the hard way about spreading himself too thin across multiple platforms. We'll also explore three major pitfalls of picking the wrong channels and how you can avoid them to maximize your content's impact. Plus, you'll get actionable tips to help you focus on the channels that truly matter for your business and audience.

In this episode, you'll learn:

  • Why focusing on key channels prevents burnout & boosts impact.
  • How understanding your audience drives better channel selection.
  • Why mastering a few channels is crucial over spreading too thin.
  • How aligning channels with personal preferences sustains consistency.
  • Why a content floor of easy wins ensures long-term success.

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Transcripts

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Hey everybody. Before we get started, I want to thank my friends hatch for producing

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this episode. You can get unlimited podcast editing and strategy for

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one flat rate by visiting Hatch FM.

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All right, let's get in the show.

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Welcome to distribution. First, the show where we flip content marketing on its head

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and focus on what happens after you hit publish. Each week I

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share playbooks, motivations, stories, and strategies to help you repurpose and

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distribute your content because you deserve to get the most out of everything you

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create.

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Hey friend. Unfortunately, I've learned the value of

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focusing on a few key channels the hard way. I used

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to try and be active on multiple platforms, whether it was

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Facebook back in the day or using X and now LinkedIn and

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doing email and YouTube. But I found

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myself spread way too thin. Even when I had a team. The

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more channels we tried to focus on, the harder it became. And I

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honestly, I hated what I was doing. I ended up hating what

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I was doing. And it came through in the content I was sharing with

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the audience. So that's when I knew that I had to make a

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change and really start to focus on the channels that

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mattered, not just the channels that I thought I should be on, because

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somebody told me I should be there. And so that's what we're going to talk

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about today on this episode of distribution. First, we're actually going to go through three

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pitfalls of bad channels. What are the three main things

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that cause you to pick the wrong channel and then how

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you can focus in and get better on the channels that you're actually

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using. And so that's what we're going to get into today. I'm super excited about

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it. Let's get into the show. All right, so three pitfalls

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of picking the wrong distribution channels. What I

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realized back, and this wasn't that long ago, honestly, and

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I've ebbed and flowed through this as I was creating content both for my

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own and honestly, when I was working as an in house marketer, too. There's a

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lot of pressure to try and do a lot of things, to try and get

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as much attention, to get as much reach, to get as much eyeballs

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on that content as possible. And I think it's a little bit.

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The irony is there, though, that when you actually spread

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yourself across all these channels, it actually doesn't always help you. It actually

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can be a hindrance to what you're trying to do. And it's not the

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type of the decision that you just make once and you

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set with it. It's actually the type of decision that ripples out across your entire

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content strategy. Because when you go to

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pick one channel, as soon as you add on another channel, what you're doing is

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you're committing to that channel not only for you, not only for your team,

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but you're committing to that channel for your audience. What we do when

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we add another channel on the back of our mind is we say, hey, awesome.

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Hey audience, here's where we're going to be at now. Here's what we're going to

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be doing, and here's what you can expect from us. And it puts a ton

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of pressure not only on you and your team to be able to create

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that content, but to keep up with that over time.

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How I like to think about channels is narrowing your focus down into the ones

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that truly make an impact and what you're doing. So let's get into

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these pitfalls and see how we can avoid them. So pitfall number one

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is not knowing your audience. And this is such a big one. Your

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audience, they're probably all over the place. Your

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audience is probably on multiple channels doing multiple things. They

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might be on LinkedIn, they might be on YouTube, they might like

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podcasts, they might like reading newsletters. The reality

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is they probably like consuming a lot of types of content and

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like consuming it on a lot of different channels. The key for you though, is

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to figure out which ones work for you and which ones are going

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to make the biggest impact on your audience over

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time. It's a tough balancing act, it really is, because the temptation is there

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to be on those, but you don't have to be on them all. Instead, what

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you want to do is focus on the channels that align with your strengths

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and you can be consistent and engage with without feeling

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overwhelmed. Because the last thing you want to do is jump

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from one content hamster wheel. Creating content, doing all this to another

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constant hamster wheel of distributing is the last thing we want to

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do when we're creating our content strategies. Knowing where your audience hangs out

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is so key. Are they more likely to be on one

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place than another? They probably are. It's just on you to figure out where

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those places are going to be. Are they more likely to hang out in

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communities where you can actually interact with them and spend time with

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them? It's a longer term play, and none of this is overnight.

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As far as being able to distribute this content and become sort of

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overnight, all your entire audience is going to want to buy your products and your

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services. That's not how it works. Figuring out where are your best long term

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bets to distribute that content across for your audience

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and different channels are going to represent different opportunities. For

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example, if you're creating content on YouTube, if you're creating content

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for Google, that's going to hit one part of the funnel and one group of

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folks who are looking for a very particular thing. If you're creating content on

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LinkedIn or X or Instagram, it's going to hit a

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completely different type of person, buyer and stage at where

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they're going to be at. Just coming up with a decent mix to be able

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to know where your audience is at and hit them over time. All

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right, pitfall number two, not understanding the

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channel and this ties back into some of the things we just talked about. But

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this is one of the biggest problems I see in particular inside of

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companies, is not understanding the channel. But honestly, even as an

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individual creator, again, the more channels you add, the

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more channels you're going to have to learn. It's not as simple as just

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posting and expecting growth. How LinkedIn

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works is completely different than how X works, which is completely different than how

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YouTube works. And you better know the ins and outs and the nuances, or

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at least be in the process of learning all of those nuances

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to see success in the content that you're creating. Just posting on a

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bunch of channels you don't understand is not going to help you in the long

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run. But if you can master a few channels, deeply,

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understand them, understand what works, what doesn't work, what type of content, and

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this all ebbs and flows and changes over time. So what worked

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on LinkedIn two years ago does not work today. What worked on

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x two years ago does not work today. But unless you're

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constantly learning the channels, unless you're constantly evolving with what you're

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doing, it's going to be very, very hard for you to be able to stand

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out and to be able to make a real impact when building

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audience. It's one thing to post content, it's one thing to hit

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publish. It's another to actually understand why

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you're there, what you're doing, what the purpose is

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of being there and actually creating content

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that makes your audience want to do something. Whether that's

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learn something new, buy something, hang out, just enjoy your

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content. But just posting stuff and ghosting out

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of there is no way to build an audience. It's no way

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to grow your channels. It's no way to actually do

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effective content distribution. I think my advice in this

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would be, again, mastering a few rather than, and going really deeply in

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what those things are. So at any given time, you're only going to be able

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to learn so many things unless you have a team. For example, when I was

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at Techsmith, I had a team of folks who were focused on SEO and blog

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content. I had a team of folks who was focused on YouTube content. I had

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a team of folks who were focused on social media content. And when

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you have different groups of different people who can focus on each one of those

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channels, absolutely. Let's figure out how to use those best and be able to spread

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ourselves across each of those channels and do that in an effective way. And actually,

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it was really, really helpful to be able to do that. We got to

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510, 100 x the amount of views and in depth things

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we were able to do with the content because we were able to spread those

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across different channels. But we were only able to do that because

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we had experts figuring out the nuances of each channel. Social media

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team did not have to figure out how to rank things in Google

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and at the same time figure out what was the best thumbnail and

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headline to put on YouTube. We had experts for each one of those places. And

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I think that's a very subtle nuance, that whether you're an individual

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or you're working with agencies, or you've got your own team in house

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figuring out how to use those people and those

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resources in a way that allows them to really focus in on what they're

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doing, I think that is how you start to scale up and add channels and

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build upon channels as having dedicated people who can come in and focus

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on those specific things. So unless you're able to actually

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dive into a channel, learn it, spend time with it, be

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consistent on it, I would be very hesitant to be able to add that into

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your distribution mix. So number three, choosing channels

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you don't enjoy, it's such a low key

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thing that we don't think about. But unless you enjoy

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distributing content on a particular platform,

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you're probably not going to do it. People don't talk about this enough, but

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passion does matter. It matters in content creation

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and it matters in content distribution as well. Because all you're doing when

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you're distributing content is creating micro versions of

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really good content and just doing it in a different way.

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Unless you're passionate about creating that type of content, it really

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doesn't make sense for you to keep on doing it. You're going to

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a get bored, b get sick of it,

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c just stop doing it all together because you're burnout. If

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you don't like making videos, you're not going to create

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videos very long again. Unless you're hiring this out and you're going to have other

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people do all the work and da da da like, then potentially that can make

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sense. But most of us don't have that option. Most of us in

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some way, shape or form are going to be having our hands in the things

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that we're creating and distributing. Unless you like the

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channel, unless you have some sort of passion for

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writing, then a newsletter probably doesn't make sense.

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Unless you have a passion for video. Being on

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a video heavy channel probably doesn't make sense. Unless you have a vehicle

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to create video content, it probably doesn't make sense for you to try and be

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on there because you're not going to be able to do it consistently and do

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it at a high enough level and scale to compete with

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everybody else. Because that's the other thing with these channels. It's not just

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you out there in a silo. It's not just you talking to your

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audience, it's everybody talking to your audience.

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And probably in some ways creating better content than you

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are. That's why we have to be balanced. You don't want to just show up

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and have really bad content. If that is the gateway into your business. If

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somebody shows up to your. If you say you're on X or you say you're

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on Instagram and somebody and you post a few times on there, but somebody shows

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up there and the content is kind of just boring or it's not great, that

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could be their first and only impression of you and your content. Even though you

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post really good stuff every single day on LinkedIn,

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as you think about what you're showing to your audience, or even your

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potential audience and your potential customers, just keep that in mind. It's actually

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better in some ways for people to type in your company or your brand and

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not find you, because then they have to figure

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out where you're actually at, or you can figure out ways to use those

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channels to try to get them over to where you're actually at. So if you

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have an x account but you don't really use it, you could put something in

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your bio about that and be able to get them over and say, actually, I

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post every day on LinkedIn. Or hey, we are active over here. If you're looking

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for help and you're a business, hey, here's where you can actually go get that

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and a lot of that. Again, to tie it back to choosing the channels that

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you don't enjoy. You have to be genuinely interested

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in the channel, because again, these things change all the time. What

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works in any single distribution channel, even a

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more historical channel that's been around for a long time, like

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email, what works in email now is

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completely different than what worked probably ten years ago. Everything

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is changing so much. Unless you have the time not only to learn that

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channel, enjoy that channel, but to be able to

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continue to learn that channel, you're going to struggle to be able to

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keep that channel afloat and make sure it actually succeeds for your company. And

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again, this is true of every single distribution

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channel across the Internet, whether you're talking

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Google, email, social media,

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forums, Reddit, any single thing

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that you choose, where you want to distribute, paid ads, anything, whatever you're

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doing, there's those levels of understanding that you have to have, where you are going

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to commit, you're going to learn, and then

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you're going to continue to learn, ongoing as

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you build that channel out of just a few key takeaways here

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as we wrap up this episode, and this is just a short, kind of off

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the cuff episode that I wanted to get out here for you all. So a

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few key takeaways here as we wrap up to avoid these

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pitfalls, I just want to give you three things to try, because

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there's three pitfalls, and let's come up with three things to try to be able

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to avoid these. So as a wrap, our three pitfalls. Not knowing your

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audience, not understanding the channel, and choosing

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channels you don't enjoy. As we try to avoid these pitfalls, here are

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three things that I think we can try. Number one, focus only on

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channels that work best for your business and your

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audience. So understand your audience and

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the channels they're using and focus only on those

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channels. And I would even go a step further and say, focus on only one

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of those channels. Like I said, there could be lots of

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channels that your audience are on. There could be lots of places where they're hanging

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out. So I would pick one, learn that channel, understand that

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channel, be able to be consistent on that channel, build an audience on that

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channel. You would be far better off building an audience on one channel than

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building small, teeny little audiences that probably

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don't really take off across many, many places at once. And

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if you're early, maybe you test out a few things. Maybe you take and say,

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all right, for the next three to six months, we're going to test out multiple

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channels and just see where our people are at and what's working. But after a

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certain point, start to focus in on where you want

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to build that audience. Number two, choose channels

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that align with your goals and your preferences.

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So this takes nuance, but understanding what your

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goals are is greatly going to determine which

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channels you choose. So if your goals are conversion,

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if your goals are we need people in the door now.

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Your channel should be conversion focused channels,

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Google, email, maybe YouTube.

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With search, there is only a certain

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finite amount of people within your audience, probably less than

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3% that at any given point are ready to buy. So

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if your goal is conversion, you better figure out how best to get in

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front of those people. And typically that is a combination

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of search and email to be

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able to gather that information, pitch them a product, nurture them down the

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line. If you want to build a brand, shoot, you could do

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a multitude of things depending on who you want to get in front

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of, but that goal is going to be completely different in the channels you

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choose or in the frequency and what type of content. All of that is going

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to be completely different than if you're goals were.

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Hey, for this amount of time, we got to get as many people in the

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pipeline as possible. It's just a different goal. Understanding where your

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goal is at and how that aligns with the channels you choose.

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Massive. Number three, don't try to do too

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much at once. When you spread yourself in and

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across anything. When you're trying to learn something new, when you're trying

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to build a new habit, when you're trying to start a new strategy,

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the more things that you try to do, the worse you're going to be at

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it. You're going to get overwhelmed immediately.

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You might start really, really hot, you might, you know,

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first week, bam, we're going. But second week, third week, fourth

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week, all that starts to dwindle. And now you're feeling not only

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overwhelmed, but you're actually feeling discouraged. Because in your

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mind you thought you were going to be able to do something that now you

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can't even do. Rather than make yourself go down

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that road, pick something that's actually

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you're able to accomplish and pick something without spreading

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yourself too thin, without spreading yourself across multiple channels. Set up

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some goals for those things and then work your goals and you will be able

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to find success in what you're doing that way. So again, focus

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on only the channels where your audience is at and probably out of that, the

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best channel for you. Choose channels that align with your

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goals. And don't try to chew too much to spread

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yourself too thin. Because if you spread yourself too thin, too fast, you're going to

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burn out. And finally, before we wrap, one last

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tip here, save the best for last because I think this will help

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you be able to truly pick the right channels and to be able

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to make sure you're able to distribute your content without burning

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out. And that is to create what I call a content

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floor. And a content floor is just creating a

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consistent rhythm of creating and sharing your

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content. What you need to do is prioritize

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your easy wins, which are high value, low

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effort activities that drive results. So what are your easy

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win channels? For me, easy win channels are

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LinkedIn and email. I'm pretty good

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at creating content consistently when it's in written

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form. I've been writing content on the Internet for

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15 years. For me to come down, sit down and write content for LinkedIn or

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for an email, not that difficult. That's an easy win. That's my content

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floor. What that looks like for me as a very basic example of

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my content floor would be I am going to post on

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LinkedIn every single day, Monday through Friday,

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and that's what my audience will learn that I have

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to be able to provide to them. Oh, Justin, you

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know, even if I don't say it, people will come to learn Monday through

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Friday. They're going to see me in their feed with emails. I

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send a newsletter. Shout out if you want to get the newsletter. And yeah, on

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the newsletter, go to news dot Justinsimon dot CEO you can get on the newsletter.

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I send a weekly email every single Saturday morning. I

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have sent that email consistently since 2022.

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I don't even know how many emails were on at this point, but it's just

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become part of my rhythm. Even when I was a full time employee, I was

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writing an email every single week to send it out as a

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newsletter and it just became part of my rhythm. Recording these podcast

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episodes has become part of my rhythm. It's just something that I have started to

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do and got used to and enjoy doing at this point to go back, if

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I don't enjoy doing these things, that's when I know I have to start either

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rethinking the channel or the content itself. Or maybe

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I just have to rethink how I'm doing it. Because if it's not fun, if

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it's not enjoyable, I'm not going to do it. These are the activities

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that they're not going to require a lot of effort. Your content floor,

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your easy wins, but they're going to bring in the majority of your results.

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It's classic 80 20. Think about the things that are going to bring

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in 80% of your results with 20% of your

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actions. And that's true of channels, that's true of content, that's

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true across the board. So hopefully this episode was helpful

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for you as we think about creating channels, as we think about picking the

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right channels for your content. If this is something you're interested in, I have

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an entire workshop about picking the perfect

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channels. It's inside the distribution first membership, which you get as a

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part of the monthly group workshops.

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Every single month we do a group workshop together inside the community

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and we also do a q and A at the back end of the month

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as well. If you're interested in watching that workshop, getting all the

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past workshops, potentially getting all the future workshops, and you want to join the

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distribution first community, I would encourage you to do that to check it out today.

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If you go to distribution first club and get all the information,

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would love to have you in there as well. So friend, it's been

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awesome to have you listening to the show. I'm excited about this

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episode and I really think it's going to help you a lot. So until next

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week, I will talk to you later.

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All right, I hope you enjoyed this episode of distribution first

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and thank you for listening all the way through. I appreciate you so,

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so much and I hope you're able to apply what you learned in this

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episode one way or another, into your content strategy as

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well. Speaking of strategy, we have a lot of things going on this year that

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are going to help you build your brand ten x your content and transform

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the way you do content marketing. Make sure to subscribe to the show and sign

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up for my newsletter at Justinsimon Co. So you don't miss

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a thing. I look forward to serving you in the next episode as well. And

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until then, take care and I'll see you next time.

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