Content is the head, distribution is the neck

I come to this world through the lens of a writer: I love words, had a comma addiction I’m still fighting to kick and am committed to the fact that “word nerd” is not a derogatory term.

When I was purely a creator, I made a lot of things you can see here.

I even got peak millennial and got paid to create a cat quiz! (Take it, it’s fun. I promise!)

But then I realized something …

If your content falls in a forest, will anyone hear it? Or maybe it was if a tree falls in the forest, will you get enough shares on your Facebook post to keep your job?

Either way, I knew that there was more to content than just its creation. It’s all about distribution.

This realization coincided with doing a lot more work in earned and owned distribution models — reporting ROI on media pitching, analyzing social media metrics — and expanding from topics everyone loves to read about (puppies, kitties, recipes) to ones that are drier and harder to turn viral (profiles of real estate agents and op-eds on conditional probability and its impact on your investment portfolio).

Why spend all that time and energy creating content without spending that energy distributing it as well? This is where I find many SMBs and nonprofits best laid plans go awry. Your content job is not done when you hit publish. In fact, it’s only just beginning!

This created my new mantra: content is the head and distribution is the neck. It’s a spin and a loving nod to a movie about a big ol’ wedding that I’m sure you’ve seen.

Got a different head and neck analogy you think is better? Drop it in the comments below!