Make your content work harder by tackling all your marketing channels. Maximise investment in your content whether it’s blogs, newsletters, social media or guest opinion articles.
The knack of efficiency is to make the most out of your investments, particularly when it comes to content. Content can be a resource killer: you need time to brainstorm the theme, plan the piece, decide the channels, check your message and call to action, consider the reader - and that’s all before researching and producing the content!
It’s important to have a repurpose plan for content assets so you can find ways to make your investment go further. But repurposing content isn’t simply copy and paste. It’s essential to consider the buyer persona, the channel and the response you’re hoping for - all should feed into your core marketing KPIs.
Having value frameworks that feed into your marcomms plan enables you to identify opportunities where you can repurpose content and ensure it is being done for the right purpose. Repurposing content also means you can capitalise on past investments in content to make sure nothing goes to waste.
Why is content so important?
49% of B2B buyers said they now rely more on content to research and make purchase decisions (Content Preferences Survey)
62% of customers want content that speaks to needs and pain points (CMI)
Prior to engaging with a salesperson, 40% of respondents said they consumed between three and five pieces of content (Content Preference Survey)
Key content for buyers ahead of purchase include Case studies (64%), Infographics (62%), Webinars (61%) and Third-party/analyst reports (55%) (Content Preferences Survey)
Challenges of content - what is repurposing content?
It’s all about putting a new perspective or spin on the content. Especially if you target different buyer types and influencers, it’s worth considering a version for each type of recipient. You should spend time having clear buyer personas that give insights to the audience as this will help content writers develop new spins.
Content can be a real organic traffic driver, especially if optimised for search engines. However in time you may notice that organic traffic has become stagnant, and this is why refreshing content can give your website a new lease of life.
When you translate content to different channels it’s important to be clear with your message and how this resonates with the intended audience. The results can be different depending on the context of the content. A communications framework will keep you focused and bring your proposition to life, and it’s important to remember that it often takes six or more interactions with a product or brand for a customer to bite.
Timing can be everything, so be calculated about when you release content. If you’re sharing a press release, make sure that goes out before sharing the insights on social media or in a blog - as this could cannibalise media coverage opportunities. However, in repurposing content you can grab opportunities you may have missed the first time round.
How to repurpose content - Advice on investment
We advise investing in one piece of high quality, well-researched and informative content - a piece that the industry can refer to. It needs to be better than any other content out there, filling gaps that are not answered elsewhere. This is where the initial research comes in.
From here, refer to your core marketing brand guidelines to ensure you address the right buyer, the right messages, tone of voice, key words and reference markers - and build an outline of the content piece that includes all your proof points.
It’s important that this one piece of content is substantial, and offers something unique or different that cannot be found elsewhere. This provides you with a lead magnet to draw people to your website and engage directly with you.
You can then repurpose the content to maximise opportunities across your channels:
A blog series delving deeper into aspects of the report or highlighting key insights
Video promotion pulling out the key talking points
Podcast interview discussing the content findings
Press release (or several) announcing the findings
Social media posts using infographics and visual representations of the findings
Presentations for events and conferences, or webinars
Email newsletters and promotions highlighting the content and its findings
Roundtables to discuss the content and people’s perspectives
Advertising campaigns highlighting findings
Before deciding on your repurpose plan, go back to your communications framework and make sure the channels you select are relevant and that the content you produce has a purpose.
The type of content repurposing projects we have recently worked on include:
1) Podcast series turned into a downloadable e-guide, blog posts, social media quotes, and well-placed media articles.
2) Industry market report sent as three separate press releases (securing 18 pieces of trade coverage), converted into four opinion articles (securing 12 pieces of coverage), used in lead generation campaigns and a blog series.
3) Customer video interview series provided as a newsletter, social media posts and blogs
Examples of how to repurpose content
Case studies and Use cases - with real-world data points and named clients
Turn these into press releases to shout about the success of your customers
Invite your customer to participate in a podcast or video interview
Host a roundtable discussion with successful customers
Compile case studies in a whitepaper to act as lead magnet
Pull out the quotes and use the testimonials in advertising campaigns or on social media
Internal behaviour data
Turn this into market insights and send a press release commenting on industry activity
Turn your market insights into a downloadable insight report
Create a series of infographics to visualise the data
Make a video explaining the detail behind the data
Blogs
Update blogs with new information to give them a new lease of life
Compile blogs into a downloadable ebook
Turn blogs into thought leadership and opinion pieces to be pitched to the media
Offer your blogs as guest articles on partner websites
These are just some ways to repurpose existing content, but there are many options depending on the channels you are utilising, the messages you need to convey and the audience you’re looking to reach.
Taking the time to have a communications framework will help you spot opportunities. We also advise taking the time to speak to your customers and understand the pain points that your solution addresses, as well as the sales team to find out where the purchase barriers are.
Content should reduce the sales cycle by informing, educating and convincing prospects - and when used across multiple channels, there are numerous buyer touchpoints helping you build credibility and reinforce key messages and the value proposition.
We can give you some immediate tips and hints on how to repurpose your existing content, so why not drop us a line to arrange a quick call.