Content marketing is hard to do right, and it needs to be thought through carefully. You shouldn’t spend any time or money producing content if you don’t have a really good idea who you’re trying to reach, what the messaging should be and what you want to achieve. So if you don’t have a comprehensive strategy yet, stop reading this and go and build one and stop random acts of content creation.
We just said content marketing is hard, but luckily, content production needn’t be. You’re sitting on a pile of really great content – you just need to know how to leverage it. The following hacks will show you how.
Content Repurposing Hack #1: Talk the talk, then make the talk walk
You, or any number of colleagues have probably spoken in front of an audience at some point. If that audience was similar to the personas you’re trying to target, you’ve got a ready-made Slideshare and the basis for an eBook. If you’re properly savvy, you might even have recorded the talk, in which case you’ve got a webinar ready to go. Add a series of blogs around the topic of the talk, mix in some social media promotion, and voila! Instant conversion assets.
Content Repurposing Hack #2: Be a trainer (it’s a no-brainer)
All those boring training manuals that show people how to use your products? They might be boring to you, but presented in the right way they make great ‘How To’ content. Simple infographics, small screen captures with a video (which is easy to record on free software, like Loom) or video explainers offer great value to someone interested in buying your product as well as those customers you’re trying to keep loyal. And if potential customers can interact with the product, so much the better. Tie all that ‘How To’ content together with a pretty bow, and you’ve got a course that customers can subscribe to (and possibly even pay for).
Content Repurposing Hack #3: The magic of sales and marketing collateral
The bigger your organisation, the more content you’ll already have. From brochures, event pamphlets and flyers, to correspondence, training manuals and everything you have online, it’s all potential gold. The trick is to understand what resonates with the people you’re after… and make sure you put your customer hat on.. It’s not about you or how fabulous your products or services are.. It’s about them. What are their pain points, problems and concerns? Structuring your content messaging around their needs and making sure your conversion assets and supporting content address these at every stage of the buyer journey is how you make the magic happen.
Content Repurposing Hack #4: Building rank through repurposing the right content
Some blogs will perform better than others. If you can update some of your better performing blogs and keep them relevant, the rank of those blogs will improve, which is great for driving traffic to your website and conversion assets. For instance, you might turn a ‘quarterly review’ blog into a ‘six-month review’ blog, and then into a ‘year in review’ blog. Changing the title and keeping things fresh will increase the blog’s appeal, and Google will love you for updating it. Which means better rank, and more traffic.
Content Repurposing Hack #5: For the best view, you need to review
Once you’ve got a ton of great content out there working for you, it’s time to understand what’s working the best. Track the performance of your content in as much depth as possible, and you’ll know what to produce next.
Now, if the above isn’t enough and you’re still struggling to wrap your heads around content production, luckily for you we’re not finished being helpful just yet. We built this wonderful Content Mapping Template for just such a scenario, and we’d love you to try it out.