Content Marketing without an audience?

When you don't have an audience of your own, you need to try to tap into other peoples'. Guest posting is a good way to do this and it was a big part of Buffer's early content marketing strategy, not just because it gives you exposure to that site's audience one time, but also because it helps you build relationships with publishers who can continually help spread your content. In Buffer's case, that led to syndication deals with many of those publishers. Here's a post about it: https://buffer.com/resources/how-to-become-a-columnist-guest-posting-syndication/

For the content you place on your own site, particularly when you are still building an audience, try to include things that give influencers a reason to share it with their followers. Roundup posts, where you get a bunch of influencers to answer a specific question, is a great example. Most people will share content they're featured in. You could also include information that confirms what they've written or stated before. Brian Dean gives an example here: https://backlinko.com/increase-website-traffic#influencers

Of course non of that will replace building your own audience. That takes time, but all the hard work and momentum will build on itself. I wrote a couple of articles on the subject you may find helpful. Check them out here:
http://www.seankirbycopy.com/drive-blog-traffic/
http://www.seankirbycopy.com/content-promotion-guide/

this is a problem that always occurs, the tip I give is to follow great fitness influencers, comment and collaborate on their posts, try to partner with them to promote your product, so you gain visibility

in general, I call it climbing on the shoulder of giants (48 laws of power for those who don't know), you don't have an audience yet, so the best thing to do at the beginning is to lean on the big names and partner with them

Content marketing without an audience is like fishing without bait - you might get lucky and catch something, but it's unlikely. In order to be successful, you need to have a clear understanding of who your target audience is and what they're interested in. Once you know that, you can create content that is designed to appeal to them and draw them in.

@dweb178 there is some excellent info below. What I can offer from my perspective was Guest Posting was the biggest bang for our buck. So I hope that strategy is paying off.

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