Market Smarter, Not Harder
Why You Should Repurpose Content.
In a world with Amazon Prime, on-demand streaming services and the internet in the palm of our hands, consumers have grown accustomed to instant gratification.
Businesses across all industries have been plagued with finding innovative ways to meet this expectation — a conundrum largely responsible for the disconnect between those in traditional sales roles and those in marketing.
Business owners and sales staff want to see results fast. They want more in-store foot traffic, more website traffic, more social media followers and ultimately, for all of those to convert to additional sales. But the key to successful marketing is consistency over time.
The Rule Of 7
For decades, marketers operated based on the Rule of 7 — a principle developed by the movie industry in the 1930s. The Rule of 7 states a prospect needs to “hear” an advertiser’s message at least seven times before they’ll take action to buy a product.
But thanks to the rapid rise of the internet and social media, the Rule of 7 has gone entirely out the window. Your company’s message will likely need to be seen more than seven times just to cut through all the noise filling people’s newsfeeds.
Every minute of the day, users conduct 5.7 million Google searches, share 65,000 photos on Instagram and 240,000 on Facebook and stream 694,000 hours of video on YouTube.1 Additionally, 6 million people shop online, including Amazon customers who spend $283,000 every minute of the day. And those are only a handful of the existing digital marketing channels.
So the question is, how can businesses possibly create enough content to cut through the noise and reach potential customers on all of these platforms?
The answer is simple: Work smarter, not harder. Focus not only on consistency, but on quality over quantity, too.
Benefits Of REPURPOSING Content
Many small- and medium-sized businesses often fall into the trap of always trying to come up with something new — a new sales promotion, their next social media post, another video they’re hoping will go viral. Creating that much new content all the time isn’t sustainable. And when it doesn’t tie in with the overall marketing strategy, it’s an ineffective and inefficient use of your time.
Try repurposing content instead.
Repurposing content is about using the resources you already have in new ways. It allows you to provide the content your audience is searching for, in all the places they search.
Done correctly, repurposing content offers multiple benefits. It can not only help you reach a new audience, but it can also provide an SEO boost, reinforce your message and strengthen your position as a subject matter expert.
How To Repurpose Content
Start by combing through the data you have from past marketing initiatives. Have a blog on your website? See which posts have had the most views. Do you actively market your business on Facebook or Instagram? Look back at what posts have had the most engagement. Have you invested resources into growing a YouTube channel? Find out which videos have received the most views. This will tell you what information (and products) your audience is most interested in.
While doing this, make note of any topics you might be able to improve on. Maybe something has changed or you’ve learned new information since it was published. Also make note of opportunities to alter something for a different platform.
The important thing to remember is content repurposing doesn’t just mean you reuse an old piece again and again. It requires you alter it to make it fresh and appealing to a new audience.
Blackstone Shooting Sports in Charlotte, N.C., is a great example of how to implement multi-channel marketing.
On their website, you’ll see a page in the main navigation for booking a private party at their range. The page includes a bulleted list of occasions, such as birthday parties, bachelor and bachelorette parties, team-building events and even holiday parties, for anyone who might be interested in hosting the type of experience Blackstone offers.
”Your company’s message will likely need to be seen more than seven times just to cut through all the noise filling people’s newsfeeds.“
Then, when you go to their blog, you’ll see a post about private events. They take the same bulleted list from their webpage and expand on each of them with a short paragraph. The blog also explains more in-depth about the benefits and what’s included.
On Blackstone’s YouTube channel, there’s a short video just over 1-minute long about why you should host your next event or private party at their facility. This same video was also uploaded directly to their Facebook page. It could also easily be trimmed down into even shorter 15- to 30-second video clips to be shared on Instagram.
Here’s why this matters. Someone could have scrolled past Blackstone’s blog post when they saw it shared on Facebook because it looked too long to read. But, watching a 1-minute video with virtually the same information could have been more appealing. Similar audio could even be recorded and repurposed for a local radio advertisement to reach someone who doesn’t follow Blackstone on social media at all to hear in the car on their daily commute to work.
The point is one single piece of content can be used in a dozen or more ways.
Has your store or range been wanting to start an email newsletter, but think you don’t have the time or resources to put one together? Highlight a paragraph and link back to a recent blog post, embed your most recent YouTube video, share a customer testimonial you received on Facebook or Google. Leverage the assets you already have.
Create Divisible Content
When you do have a new marketing idea, do yourself a favor and think in terms of divisible content up front. Divisible content typically involves a longer, more in-depth piece of content that can be chopped into smaller sections capable of standing on their own.
Get yourself a designer, marketing team or outside help from someone who can whip up a supporting network of infographics, blog posts, social media content or video clips. Rather than going back to an idea and trying to do this after the fact, you can already schedule these out across all of your platforms over the course of a few weeks or months depending on the length of your campaign.
Remember, successful marketing is all about the long game. Whether it’s your website, a YouTube channel or other social media accounts, one of the worst things you can do is start something, but not invest in its maintenance. Repurposing content and creating divisible content are some of the most cost-effective and efficient ways your store or range can prevent going dormant, continue engaging with existing customers and reach new ones.
Footnotes:
1: https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/what-happens-on-the-internet-every-minute-2021-version-infographic/607586
Dealers, have repurposing content tips? Let us know!comments@shootingindustry.com.
