Michael Epps Utley 
Are you looking for cost-effective ways to expand the reach of your contracting business’ blogs and other marketing content? Most smaller contractors with limited budgets are!
This guide reveals popular ways to distribute your content for free and on the cheap.
Turn to Social Influencers
Social influencers are people with platforms who are respected by prospective clients. They could be architects, interior designers, realtors, or anyone associated with the building trades industry who also happen to have the attention of a lot of people.
When developing content, it’s wise to work with influencers. Get quotes from them or ask them for unique takes on what you’re writing about. Including influencers in your materials will make it more likely they will want to pass it on to the people in their networks, significantly expanding the reach and the possibility of attracting clients that are seeking to hire a contractor.
Take Advantage of Employee Distribution
While you can’t require employees to share your content, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Equipping your team with training and tools to enable content sharing can be a smart investment. This is a solid strategy for contracting businesses that want to expand the reach of their design ideas, customer success stories, images and videos of completed projects, and more on Instagram and other social platforms that skilled trades enthusiasts engage with.
Leverage Managers and Leaders
One of the most overlooked free content distribution channels comes from company managers and leaders. Publishing a post on a business’s social media channels will generate some activity. However, if recognized company representatives publish personalized versions of the same post, it will likely generate comments and conversations. This will not only increase reach but also improve engagement.
Play the Public Relations Game
Leveraging public relations can be a stellar way to expand content reach at a low — or no — cost.
Think about the content you are creating. Are there pieces that would be an excellent fit for a building trade publication or contracting industry blog? Consider things like customer success stories or original building and design ideas.
Trade publications and blogs often seek fresh content with original perspectives and insights. If you package your content so it reflects the style and tone of the publications and then send it to their editor, they may publish it. This helps you gain additional visibility for content that may just be growing stale on your blog. Plus, when your piece gets published, you can extend its reach even more through social media and email.
Look Into Content Syndication
Content syndication is a leading channel for extending reach. It puts you in control, allowing you to put your material in front of consumers where they are already engaging.
Content syndication involves publishing repurposed variations of a piece of content on one or more websites. Publications like syndicated content because it helps them provide fresh information to their readers with little cost or effort.
People engaging with syndicated content might not be ready to purchase right away. However, they may be prepared to learn about the topics you cover, which should tie to the goods and services you sell. They have questions and needs, and your content can respond to them. It’s a great way to increase brand awareness, bolster your authority, and drive more traffic to your website.
Get Active on Forums
Spend time on forums associated with the contracting industry and share your content with participants who could benefit from it. It’s an easy way to get more people engaged with it and demonstrate how knowledgeable your company is about contracting. Be careful not to get too sales-y, though, because it could get you kicked out of the forum. Be there to help, not to promote.
Create Superior Content
If your content is better than that of your competitors and demonstrates experience, expertise, authority, and trust (EEAT), Google will likely serve it up to interested users on its search engine results pages (SERPs). Over time, superior content will earn extended reach.
Launch an Email Newsletter
Sharing your content with the people on your email list is a free and relatively easy way to extend content distribution to people interested in your business. It will keep your organization top-of-mind when they need contracting services.
Repurpose Content
Repurposing long-form content into short-form videos, social posts, charts, graphs, tips, lists, and other forms can increase the reach of your key messages. People engage with different types of content, so repurposing will get it in front of a wider audience. And, with today’s limited attention spans, short-form content is more popular than ever.
Ask People to Share Your Content
Does your content earn high engagement with people in your audience? Then why not ask them to share it? You can’t expect people to pass along your content if you don’t prompt them to do so. Even if a tiny fraction of your audience heeds your request, that’s a no-cost win for your brand.
Free Content Distribution for Contracting Businesses: The Bottom Line
Free marketing tactics are rare these days. That’s why it’s wise to maximize the reach of the content you invest in. Leverage the tips in this guide to make the most of your materials and get them in front of more prospective clients for little or no cost.
