New research from loyalty and marketing agency Customer Communications Group (CCG) shows marketers three ways to recycle content marketing and conserve resources while keeping the content funnel full.
“Even with a solid team of content creators, it can be a challenge to develop original pieces for every single content marketing need and channel,” said Sandra Gudat, president and CEO of CCG, according to a news release. “The solution is to repurpose. Marketers can take existing content, make some tweaks and create content for new channels. It’s one of the most efficient ways to fill content channels without overwhelming financial and personnel resources. These three steps will help businesses get their own ‘content recycling’ program underway.”
Step 1: Run an Audit
Take an inventory of your company’s existing content. It often surprising how much is already available to repurpose. Here are some common sources to pull from:
- Website
- Product information sheets and other sales collateral
- Testimonials
- Training materials and video tutorials
- Proprietary surveys and studies
- Press releases
- Direct mail campaigns
- Existing newsletter articles
Step 2: Review Your Plans
Keep content inventory in mind as you develop your content calendar. What topics on your calendar are already addressed by existing materials? Start mapping out the connections.
For example, if you’re planning a newsletter article about identity protection, can you base it on security information from your website? If you want to do a series of social media posts on fall fashions, can you pull from product information sheets or a recent commercial?
For each existing piece of content—and for any new, original material you develop going forward—try to identify three to five different ways you can re-use it. This will create even more efficiency in your content development efforts.
Step 3: Revise and Reuse
Now you’re ready to start tweaking the existing content you’ve identified so that it’s appropriate for the calendar topics and channels you’re aiming at.
For instance, if you’re re-purposing a training video into a customer-facing blog, you’ll need to adjust the voice and terminology so that it’s consumer-friendly. If you’re turning website content into an infographic, you’ll need to hone the message down to its most engaging points and add meaningful graphics.
Content Made Easier
Obviously, repurposing content still takes forethought and time. But particularly as marketers get in the flow and start identifying re-use opportunities upfront, they find that filling their content marketing demands isn’t nearly the challenge it used to be.
Find out more about recycling content and many other content marketing tips and strategies that build loyalty and boost the bottom line by reading CCG’s Guide to Content Marketing.
