Please Recycle...Your Content! B2B Firms Can Make Their Valuable Content Work Harder.

If you’ve read our previous blog, Inbound Marketing, you know that helping yourself “get noticed” by those already interested in learning about your industry is an effective strategy.   What do we do to get noticed?  Deliver consistent, valuable information.  You also know that through this act of giving (vs. self promotion) you will be rewarded with a higher level of credibility, and eventually business and loyalty.  Good content makes a person stop-read-think and behave differently.  This is especially true for B2B professional service firms .  You are the experts in your field.  Your product is your knowledge.   

Let’s take this idea a step further.  I love those home improvement shows where the house looks like a disaster, and by creatively repurposing the very items the person already owns or can get inexpensively, the designer creates an entirely different experience on a tight budget.  We encourage our clients to do a similar thing. 

Every marketing dollar counts and especially for professional services firms, including Marketri, time is money. Putting together solid content to deliver via email blast (to an opt-in list), for example, is a great step toward efficient inbound content marketing.  But you can do more and without spending more.   Typically, an email marketing campaign results in an open-rate of about 20 percent, and that's if you have a really solid/current recipient list.   CRM maintenance is a topic for another discussion, but if you send a blast with some valuable information to 300 people, you are likely reaching fewer than 60 people. 

GET THE MOST MILEAGE OUT OF YOUR MESSAGE

Remember, not all contacts are fully engaged with every promotional effort.  Don’t assume that if a message has been shared in one channel that it needs to be retired.  Also, individuals and prospects may need to see or hear your message up to 7 times before being influenced to take action.  The reasons:

• Noise.  There is a lot of information out there, and you may not even be on someone’s radar.  Your message may have to show up several times before they even notice.
• They may not need you…yet. They may not need your product or service today, and when the time comes, they have probably forgotten about you if you don't remind them.  Out of sight can be out of mind.
• Building trust takes time.  Seeing your message on multiple channels over time and producing great content, can lead to trust and the building of a relationship.

START WITH A PLAN

Just like anything else, when getting started, it’s great to start with a plan in mind.  Conduct an audit of all thought leadership from the past few years.  Find topics that are “evergreen” or still timely and organize by topic and pinpoint how the content was delivered (presentation, whitepaper, email blast, newsletter article, etc.).

REPURPOSE/REPACKAGE YOUR CONTENT IN ENTIRELY NEW WAYS

Let's explore how to expand your reach through repurposing and repackaging content.  Take the same content from your email blast (mentioned earlier) and share it in other ways.  Tweet about it, Facebook it, share it with your LinkedIn groups, blog about it.  You can also use a single interesting topic to pitch an article, a speaking topic, or a seminar.     

It's a super idea to connect with current and prospective clients by hosting a lunch and learn event.  Clients appreciate it, but, depending on the date, location, and conflicting events, you are getting a limited audience.   Here's an idea...video tape the presentation or reuse the information in a webinar and expand your audience.  Then, make use of social media channels again to spread the video content further.  (Who says social media takes away the personal touch in business?  You just have to think creatively.) 

Recycling content maximizes your investment and often attracts whole new audience. We would love to hear how your firm “recycles” content!