The Promotion Matrix: Engines of Growth
"You are bored of your message long before your audience has even heard it."
The most dangerous lie in content marketing is the "Field of Dreams" fallacy: "If you build it, they will come."
They won't. We live in an attention economy where 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Great content doesn't rise to the top automatically; it rises because it is pushed.
This week I'm going to cover stage 3 of the Digital Content Flywheel. Promoting your content.
- Create content in many formats based on the audience, the objectives and the messages.
- Publish that content on the various platforms. But it will languish if you don't push it.
- Promote that content. You've laid the fire, now fan the flames.
"You are bored of your message long before your audience has even heard it."
Publishing is making your content available. Promotion is making your content unavoidable.
To succeed, you must shift your mindset from "Creator" to "Promoter." You must spend as much time amplifying your work as you do creating it.
The Promotion Matrix: Engines of Growth
Just as we have formats for publishing, we have engines for promotion. To build a robust strategy, you must leverage three distinct engines. Most entrepreneurs rely too heavily on just one, leaving them vulnerable to algorithm changes or rising ad costs.
See No Content, Hear No Content, Say No Content....unless you do all three of these...
OWNED Provides Control & Retention
• Email Lists ConvertKit [archive] AWeber SMS/Text Twilio Website/Blog Substack, Ghost • Communities Skool Mighty Networks
The objective here is deepening relationships, direct sales, and "distribution insurance."
Value Exchange. You must give more than you take to keep them subscribed.
Owned Media: The Foundation of Independence
Owned media is the channel you control. No algorithm can take it away from you. No billionaire can buy the platform and change the rules. It is the only direct line to your audience.
If you build your entire business on "rented land" (social media), you are a tenant, not an owner. Owned media is your mortgage—it's an asset that appreciates over time.
Characteristics & Nuances
Control: You decide who sees what and when. There is no "reach throttling."
Data: You own the user data. You know who opened, who clicked, and who bought.
Intimacy: An email or text message feels personal. It lands in a private inbox, not a public feed.
Channel Strategy
Email: Still the highest ROI channel in digital marketing. Use it for your "core" narrative—newsletters, product launches, and nurturing sequences.
SMS / Text : The highest open rates (98%). Use sparingly for urgent, high-value alerts (e.g., "Webinar starting now" or "Flash sale ends in 1 hour").
Communities: Private groups (Slack, Discord, Circle) where your "superfans" gather. This is where retention happens.
When to use: Every piece of content you create should be distributed here first. This is your "distribution insurance."
EARNED Gives Trust & Authority
• SEO Rankings Semrush • Press/Media Coverage PR Newswire • Social Shares Buffer • Word of Mouth | Reaching new audiences with high credibility (social proof). | Shareability. Content must be so good or useful that people feel compelled to pass it on. |
Earned Media: The Trust Accelerator
Earned media is when others talk about you. It is the hardest to get but carries the highest credibility. When you say you are great, it's marketing. When The New York Times (or a trusted peer) says you are great, it's truth.
Characteristics & Nuances
Credibility: Third-party validation is powerful. It bypasses skepticism.
Unpredictability:You cannot force it. You can only influence it.
Virality: This is the engine of exponential growth. Algorithms reward content that keeps people on their platform.
Channel Strategy
SEO (Search Engine Optimization): The long game. Create definitive guides that answer specific questions so Google sends you free traffic for years. Now we need to think about optimisation for 'clickless search" via sites like ChatGPT and Gemini...but that's another topic altogether.
Public Relations (PR): Getting featured on podcasts, guest blogging, or industry news. Borrow other people's audiences.
Social Shares: Create "share triggers"—data visualizations, contrarian takes, or relatable memes that people want to identify with.
When to use: To build authority and reach new audiences who don't know you yet.
PAID Delivers Speed & Scale
• Social Ads (Meta, LinkedIn)• Search Ads (Google) • Sponsorships• Influencers
These provide guaranteed reach, precise targeting, and scaling winning ideas.
ROI. You must know your numbers (CAC vs. LTV) or you will burn cash.
Paid Media: The Amplifier
Paid media is when you pay to bypass the line. It is the only way to guarantee reach. While organic reach is free, it is slow and unreliable. Paid reach is instant and precise.
Characteristics & Nuances
Speed:You can turn traffic on and off like a faucet.
Targeting: You can show your message specifically to "CEOs in London interested in Golf."
Scalability: Once you find a winning message, you can scale it to millions of people simply by increasing the budget.
Channel Strategy
Social Ads (Meta/LinkedIn): "Interruption marketing." Catch them while they scroll. Great for awareness and lead generation.
Search Ads (Google): "Intent marketing." Catch them while they are looking for a solution. Great for capturing demand.
Retargeting: Showing ads to people who have already visited your site. This is the highest ROI form of paid media.
When to use: Never pay to test content. Only pay to amplify content that has already proven itself organically.
The "Spark & Gasoline" Framework
How do you combine these engines? You don't just throw money at everything. You use the Spark & Gasoline framework to minimize risk and maximize impact.
1. The Spark (Organic Test): Publish your content to your Owned and Earned channels first. Watch the data. Does it get clicks? Do people comment? Is the retention high?
2. The Signal: Identify the piece of content that outperforms the others. This is your "winner." It has "organic traction."
3. The Gasoline (Paid Scale): Take that winning piece of content and put budget behind it. Don't guess what works—let the audience tell you, then pay to show it to more people like them.
Example:
You write 5 LinkedIn posts. One of them gets 10x the comments and shares of the others.
Wrong Move: Boost all 5 posts equally.
Right Move: Take the "winner," turn it into an ad, and target a "Lookalike Audience" of your existing followers.
Conclusion
Promotion is not about shouting louder; it is about shouting smarter.
By building your Owned audience, earning trust through Earned media, and scaling with Paid amplification, you create a system where every piece of content works harder for you.
You are not "spamming" your audience by sharing your work. You are ensuring that the people who missed it on Tuesday see it on Thursday. And again on Friday...and so until they remember your name and want to work with you.
It's an old adage, but "you are bored of your message long before your audience has even heard it."
Keep on communicating!
If you'd like to talk with me about your content strategy, or even putting on together for you, then just reach out to me here
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