Doing semi-focused or negligent work is a surefire path to failure, regardless of industry or position. However this is especially true of any work that requires content creation, or when you are trying to start and build a business.

Let’s look at content marketing: it is imperative to put as much effort as possible into strategy and planning. Who is your target audience? What are their interests? Where are they currently going for their news and information? What are the best channels to focus on?

That isn’t all, of course. Consider what you want to happen after your content, all shiny and fact-checked, has been published. Sometimes, the sad truth is that there’s nothing left to do. After publishing to social media and blogs, all a lot of marketers can do is cross their fingers and hope for a jackpot. The good news is, there are additional steps that can usually be taken for a wider reach.

ClickZ writer Kevin Lee divulges that the best strategy he’s found for combatting “content oblivion” is incorporating shareability right into your articles as you write them. Some natural ways to do this is to write content that prudently stir people up, make them laugh, or provide new information. Basically, give your audience something that they can’t help but send to friends or colleagues for one reason or another.

Another very simple way to catch a reader’s attention is with an image. “One mistake that’s often made in content marketing teams is to insufficiently allocate resources for image generation/curation,” Lee writes. “Articles with good images in them travel much better than those that don’t have them.”

Speaking of resources, paying for promotion can be a very effective way to gain or grow an audience, and there are cheap avenues to do it if funds are tight. The most important thing to remember is that paying for viewers is just step one of the process. Once they arrive, you have to keep them there, or your investment is wasted. A reader should feel an inexplicable drive to dig deeper into your world of content once they arrive on your landing page.

Lee also strongly suggests planning to have guest bloggers, as well as adding some form of syndication to your work, “which can give your content prestige and access to audiences who would otherwise be unaware of who you are and what you do.”

Get more helpful advice from Kevin Lee by visiting ClickZ.