This morning at the office, we sat down to a nice cup of coffee and some freshly made banana bread. What does this have to do with content marketing? Hear us out.
As all of you expert chefs out there know, you can make banana bread by using old, less-than-ripe bananas. Instead of throwing them out, you put them to work. It's a beautiful concept. And as strange as it may sound, the same logic applies to your content: before you consign old blog posts to the dustbin of history, take a second look. This content can still work for you if properly re-purposed. Here's how to do it.
Can the Content Be Refreshed?
First off, it's important to recognize that not all content can be repurposed. Ask yourself, is this content still timely? Does it still resonate with buyer personas? Can it be reformatted relatively easily? And lastly — though not entirely critical — can it be tied to a product or service?
Let's look at an example. Let's say you're a financial services firm. You've dug through your blog's archives to determine what content, if any, can be refreshed. When you do this, remember: the goal is less about making a hard sales pitch and more about exuding experience and professionalism which can, in turn, attract visitors to your brand. With this as your goal, you'll look for blog posts that reflect your firm's financial acumen.
The Blog "Insight Update"
During your search you uncovered a post from the summer of 2014 written by one of your financial analysts, called "Is Stagnation the New Normal?" As you may recall, the American economy was still stuck in neutral at the time. Economists theorized that the US economy would stagnate for decades. Well, seven months later, things have changed. The economy is on the upswing. Jobs are coming back. Gas prices are low. It's a great opportunity to revisit the previous post and spell out why things have improved. We call it the "Insight Update."
Repurposing Blogs (With a Dash of Newsjacking)
But there's more you can do beyond simply revisiting old theories and assumptions. The improving economy, after all, has profound implications for your customers and buyer personas. What does it mean? How will the improved economy affect interest rates or savings goals? How can customers parlay lower gas prices to help them save more? Use this news as a springboard to repurpose content and create, for example, a white paper entitled "Four Savings Tips for an Improved Economy." Similarly, since increased interest rates will affect customers' pocketbooks, build some urgency around the importance of refinancing. Perhaps a previous blog post looked at reasons why customers refinance. Use this data to great a compelling infographic.
Tying Blogs Posts Together (And Breaking White Papers Apart)
At the same time, your blog has probably addressed a single issue from multiple perspectives throughout a longer period of time. For example, let's say you're a solar provider. Your blog frequently addresses the various steps involved in going solar, from vendor selection to financing to installation. As standalone pieces, these posts work. But consider tying them all together to create a larger and comprehensive white paper guiding prospects across the entire solar purchasing process. You'll find most of the content is already there; you'll simply have to arrange it properly and add the occasional unifying text. And of course, the opposite process can work as well. Take an existing white paper and break it apart into smaller, more digestible blog posts.
What do you think? Does your team actively try and repurpose content? How does this play into your content marketing strategy?
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