Digital marketers frequently talk about the importance of publishing regular, new content to build your brand authority and draw traffic to your business. But what about your existing content? Does this make content marketing a fire-and-forget strategy, or do the articles, guides, and landing pages you’ve published in the past still have the pulling power to make more sales?
We are very happy to say that, yes, it’s very possible to generate new leads, traffic, and sales from older content, and businesses do so all the time. It’s why we refer to digital content as assets – every blog article, social media post, YouTube video, and infographic you publish has the potential to draw new customers to your business indefinitely, often years into the future.
As a writer, it’s gratifying to hear customers talk about new sales leads coming in every month from ebooks created by JDR Group several years ago, and when researching new blog topics to discover previously written content still riding high in the Google search results, and suggested by the Google Algorithm as a favoured answer to key questions.
Creating new content can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, so by leveraging your existing content, you can effectively generate more leads without constantly producing new material, increasing your ROI from content marketing and the value of each asset. Here are some strategies to help you repurpose and promote your existing content to drive lead generation for your business.
1. Update And Review Your Old Content
Review your past content and identify articles that performed well or are still relevant to your target audience. Don’t rewrite or remove material that is already been published, but you can make these popular posts more relevant by updating them with current statistics, trends, or examples. You can also optimise them for SEO by incorporating new keywords, improving meta tags, and adding internal and external links (e.g. to other landing pages and articles on your site). By refreshing your content, you can boost its visibility on search engines and attract new visitors.
As a related exercise, you can refresh older content by writing a continuation in popular articles. For example, if you’d written an epic article about “5 Washing Machine Trends For 2013”, you could look back and write about the ways in which you were right and the ways that things turned out differently, with plenty of internal backlinks to support your brand authority, or add more to the existing article and update the date to be the present year instead, leveraging the existing content.
2. Repurpose Content Into Various Formats
Transform your existing content into different formats to reach a wider audience and cater to varying consumption preferences. For instance, many businesses successfully turn blog articles into an infographic, video scripts, podcasts, or slide presentations, and in-depth guides often make good webinars, training courses, or onboarding videos for new customers. Share these new content formats on your website, social media channels, and email newsletters to maximise exposure and engagement.
3. Create Content Upgrades And Gated Content
Add value to your existing content by offering content upgrades, such as free checklists, templates, or ebooks, which provide additional information or resources related to the original piece. This additional content can be gated, requiring users to submit their contact details to access these upgrades, turning your old content into a powerful lead generation tool. Some long-form and ‘X things’ articles can also be expanded into informative ebooks in their own right, cutting out a lot of the time required to research and write brand-new material.
4. Promote Evergreen Content Through Social Media And Email Marketing
Not all content stands the test of time. Some newsy articles peak quickly in terms of views and leads before fading into the background, whereas other articles, called evergreen content, contain information that is valid from year to year. Regularly share your evergreen content on your social media channels and through email marketing campaigns.
If you wrote about something in 2019 that is now being discussed on LinkedIn, great, let your connections know about it. Chances are that your current customers and network won’t have read it before. This will increase the visibility of all your content, drive traffic to your website, and attract new leads.
5. Guest Posting
Reach a broader audience and generate more leads by republishing your existing content on third-party platforms such as industry blogs, or online publications. Include a compelling author bio with a link back to your website or a relevant lead magnet/incentive content to capture the interest of readers and encourage them to learn more about your business. It's important to note that each website will have their own guest blogging guidelines to follow if this is something you are considering for your existing content, so read those through carefully before going through with any guest blogging opportunities.
6. Use Older Content Assets In Your Sales Process
Incorporate your existing content assets into your sales process to provide value to prospects and demonstrate your expertise. Share relevant articles, case studies, or whitepapers with potential customers to address their concerns or answer their questions, nurturing leads, and building trust along the way.
Find Out More
By strategically repurposing and promoting your existing content assets, you can extend their purposeful life and generate more leads for your business now and into the future. To find out more about content marketing and the value it can drive for your business, please contact JDR Group or download our free Content Marketing guide today.
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