This article is intended as a practical exercise. Why? Chances are, you already know that you need to send more content to market to grow your business, but this idea seems overwhelming to you. So I have a challenge for you, here today. Take a piece of content you’ve already created (could be statistics in your industry, a newsletter article, a blog post, a case study, etc.) and ACTION each step below as you read them.

Step one – Let’s start with an easy one. Put it on your website. Make sure you have some common search terms so that Google can index them and increase your relevancy for these terms.

Second step – Send it in your newsletter. Don’t have a newsletter? Set one up now. Constant Contact offers a free 30-day trial and has pre-built templates.

Step three – Post it on your blog. Don’t you have a blog? Set one up now. WordPress is by far the leading blog software and will have you setting up one for free in 5 minutes. You can also get help and have it integrated directly into your site.

Step four – Send it to publications in your industry or region and to the media. Don’t have a list of relevant publications or media contacts? Call your library and ask if they have a recent copy of the Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media or if they have a local listing of such publications (if your focus is the local market). Gale directories cover media and publication listings from around the world. See if the library can create a list; if not, make time now in your calendar to go there and compile the list yourself.

step five – Submit it to online article sites like http://www.ezinearticles.com. It’s free to sign up and it doesn’t take long to submit and link the article to your site.

step six – Take 5-10 small sentence fragments and create small posts. Post these snippets on Facebook and/or your business page on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and Google +. If you don’t have any of these profiles, set them up. If you want to make it easy to post to these sites, set up a tool like HootSuite (again free) to send posts to all your social media sites with a single click.

step seven – Insert it into a Word file titled “MY Book” or “MY eBook” or “Another Great Free Report.” Put it in the chapter where it would belong so that over time you have created a larger post and also so that you start to topic around future content (to fill in the blanks).

step eight – Create an online announcement: this could be in a Chamber, Google, Linked In or Facebook online newsletter. Relink the article on your site and have a call to action at the top and bottom, such as signing up for your Free Tips or a Free Evaluation or trial product or service. Set it up for just one week and put a small budget on it like $40-$50 and then watch the traffic to your site and measure the results.

step nine – Mail it to prospects. Include a good cover letter outlining your interest in serving businesses like theirs, a special offer, and this very helpful article. Don’t have a mailing list? Try InfoCanada or InfoUSA and create one today. Dun and Bradstreet also has great lists.

step ten – Use it at your next live event (networking, trade shows, sales presentations). Think of it like a great business card and include your contact details and a call to action on the back.

Content is valuable. It takes you time to create and is designed to help your current and future customers. Be sure to take advantage of ALL avenues available to you or you will not be marketing as effectively as possible.