A digital marketing agency owner discovered a powerful alternative to traditional SEO by leveraging content amplification and media exposure.
The results were dramatic: his income increased tenfold, and one client’s loan volume surged from $7 million to over $100 million.
From E-commerce to Digital Marketing: A Journey of Discovery
The agency owner’s digital marketing journey began around 2012-2013 with an Amazon store. Initially unfamiliar with SEO, he quickly recognized its potential for driving traffic and discovered a natural aptitude for keyword research and search result optimization.
While successfully helping clients increase revenue through SEO, he grew increasingly frustrated with the approach:
“As I started providing SEO services to clients, I realized that I didn’t really enjoy it that much. It was just a lot of work. There’s so many different things that you have to look out for, so many pitfalls. There’s more ways to go wrong in SEO than there are to go right. And it was just a constant battle with other competitors and websites, making sure that we’re not doing anything that violates Google’s terms of service.”
Convinced there had to be a more effective way to promote businesses and drive traffic, he began searching for an alternative approach.
The Hollywood Connection: Understanding Media Power
Drawing on his experience as a Hollywood executive, he understood that public relations fundamentally revolves around media exposure and press coverage:
“We had to constantly be putting out content, getting in the right magazines, getting the right placement. A big component of that is always announcing to the public and to the entertainment industry what we’re doing.”
This insight led to a crucial realization about how search engines actually work. After attending a webinar about content amplification across high-traffic media sites, the pieces fell into place:
“It dawned on me that Google doesn’t make the news. It actually takes what the media is reporting and shares it in their search results. Google and search engines get their information from the media, not the other way around. So it occurred to me that SEO wasn’t the top of the food chain—the search engines were aggregating content that has already been put out there. SEO is working the other way around.”
A New Approach: Content Amplification Through Media Distribution
The key insight was understanding that Google is unlikely to share information from unknown brands unless there’s something exceptional about them—or unless they leverage media distribution strategically.
“What’s really powerful is using the influence of the media to get information out there about our clients. Whether you’re promoting a local business, a plumber, a web design agency, a restaurant, or a politician launching a new book, the power comes from connecting the content we have about those businesses and using media distribution to amplify it.
It goes much deeper than just SEO. It’s everywhere—communicating to the public, to end users, to search engines, to the internet. It’s just getting that information everywhere, and it’s extremely powerful.
Once I figured this out, my business changed. I didn’t have to do 10 hours of work a day trying to influence search engines, worrying about Google penalties, keeping up with updates, and doing all this other stuff.”
Results: From Feature Placements to Revenue Growth
By securing placements for clients in top publications and media outlets, the agency owner helped businesses reach significantly wider audiences. The media exposure approach proved to be transformative, not just for his agency’s bottom line, but for his clients’ growth trajectories as well.
The shift from traditional SEO to media-driven content amplification represents a fundamental change in digital marketing strategy. It’s an approach which recognizes the media ecosystem’s role as the true top of the information food chain.
Contact DFYContentMarketing.com to discuss how a content amplification program can change the way you promote your business and reach a wider audience.