Repurposing content—despite what it may sound like—is the act of transforming existing stuff to reach different audiences, like summarizing a blog post as a YouTube video.
You spend hours perfecting your content—agonizing over every word in every blog post, editing and re-editing every frame in your videos, A/B testing your email marketing campaigns to death. All in an effort to drive quality traffic to your site and, hopefully, make a sale or two.
What if we told you there was an easier way to reach your target audience, on a regular basis, without wondering, “what in the world am I going to talk about next?”
Repurposing content is the professional marketers best friend! In this article, We’ll cover what repurposing content is, and seven viable strategies to repurpose content for email. Because we all know that coming up with email newsletter topics ain’t for the faint of heart.
What is repurposing content?
Repurposing content happens when you take one piece of content, a blog post, for example, and use it to create a second, separate piece of content.
Let’s say your blog post is highly data-driven. It contains loads of interesting facts and statistics about the topic you’re covering. You could repurpose this blog post into an easily shareable infographic by copying the stats you’ve already collected and inserting them into an infographic template (Canva has some really good ones) that’s visually pleasing.
Now you have a second piece of content that you can use to promote your business. And the best part is, it took way less effort to create because you already did the heavy lifting when you wrote the blog post.
Repurposing content has other benefits as well. It can help you reach new audience segments, since not everyone likes to read blog posts, for instance.
On the other hand, anti-blog-post-people might be pro-infographic-people. And some people strictly prefer YouTube videos. Everyone like their own thing. But by creating an asset they want to consume, you have a much better chance of connecting with them.
Additionally, repurposing content can aid your SEO efforts by helping you drive more traffic to your site and acquire new backlinks. Again, other website owners may not link to your blog post on topic X. But they might include your infographic in their next piece.
As you can see, repurposing content is a highly effective strategy. So in the next section, we’ll talk about ways you can repurpose content for your email marketing campaigns—a laser-focused form of repurposing content that utilizes the incredible potential of email marketing.
7 ways to repurpose content for email
Having trouble coming up with email newsletter topics on a regular basis? Content repurposing can help! Here are seven ways you can take current pieces of content and refashion them into engaging email campaigns that boost your business:
1. Create a “roundup” newsletter
One of the easiest ways to repurpose content for email is to create a roundup newsletter, i.e. a newsletter that links to a bunch of your content pieces on a specific topic. Here are three different ideas for your next (or first!) roundup email:
Type: You could create a roundup newsletter based on content type. For example, you could send an email to your list on June 30th that contains links to every blog post your company published that month. The same goes for social posts, videos, etc.
Theme: You could also send a roundup newsletter that centers on a specific theme. Maybe a lot of your content is focused on SEO. Find a few of your best performing blogs and videos on this topic; then compile them into a single email.
Updates: Company updates can make for a fun roundup newsletter, too. If you’ve recently created content to announce new products, locations, or hires, create a newsletter that links to these pieces so your audience can get the full scoop.
Roundups are awesome because they require very little work, but can still be effective. If you have a lot of quality content on a specific subject, create a roundup email and share it.
2. Broadcast the results of a social poll
Most social media platforms allow users to poll their followers. This is a fun form of content that can give you important insight into your target audience. To get even more out of the social polls you create, incorporate them into your email campaigns.
There are a few different ways to do this:
Share the results: You could simply tell your audience about the poll you ran on [insert social platform] and ask them if they agree with the results. This is an easy way to engage your email subscribers and create new content for them.
Poll your subscribers: If you’re looking to generate more interaction, send your social poll to your email subscribers, too. Your list will get to share their opinions and you’ll get access to additional data you can use to improve your company.
Compare your audiences: Or, you could combine the two tactics above, poll your social media followers and your email subscribers, and create a newsletter that compares and contrasts the results. Who knows? When your subscribers see how much fun you’re having on social media, they may decide to follow you there as well.
Audience polls are handy—they’re fun for audience members to participate in and give you valuable data. Why not repurpose them for email campaigns, too?
3. Share user-generated content
User-generated content (UGC) is the 21st century equivalent to word of mouth marketing.
You sell something to a customer, they love it so much they post about it online, other people see their social post or review and think, “well if they liked it so much, maybe I’ll like it too!” Before you know it, you have a bunch of new customers itching to buy your products.
The content your customers generate for your brand is powerful. In fact, 79% of people say that UGC impacts their purchase decisions in a BIG way.
So it definitely makes sense to repurpose this kind of content into email newsletters, which can be done in a variety of ways. For example, you could send a “Customer of the Month” email and highlight the best UGC piece of the past 30 days (with permission, of course.)
Or you could tie UGC into specific sales or promotions you’re having.
Let’s say you own a cosmetics brand and decide to discount a popular lipstick for Memorial Day weekend. You could search your Instagram mentions to find customers who’ve posted about their love for said lipstick. Then you could include these images, captions, etc. in the email you send to inform your subscribers about the sale.
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When I say “repurposing content,” you probably think about turning old blog posts into new ebooks, infographics, slide decks, and YouTube videos. Am I right?
This is one of the most common forms of content repurposing. Simply find a piece of content that performs well, then use it as the foundation for another, new piece of content. Blog posts become slide decks; slide decks become infographics; the list goes on.
How does this strategy relate to email marketing? Once you create new content, promote it to your email subscribers via a newsletter blast!
Here are a few more ideas you can use to refresh old content:
Create an ebook from top blog posts: If you have multiple blog posts on the same or similar topics, combine them into a well-designed ebook.
Create case studies from internal data: Use customer data to put together an engaging case study. Alternatively, use industry data to create a unique report.
Turn your webinars into youTube videos: Have you hosted a webinar recently? Post the recording to YouTube and engage folks who couldn’t attend the live event.
It doesn’t matter how you repurpose old content, just make sure that you promote the new versions in your email marketing campaigns.
5. Embed videos in your emails
Video marketing is huge, which means you probably create videos on a regular basis. There’s no reason why they can’t be repurposed into amazing email campaigns as well.
Have a tutorial video laying around? Did your last Instagram story get a ton of engagement? Maybe you’re wondering what to do with your video catalog on YouTube. Craft email campaigns around this kind of content! Doing so could boost your open rates by 19% and your CTR by 50% according to Vidyard. Ummm… Yes, please!
We should mention that videos don’t have to be embedded in your emails. You can share links if you’re more comfortable with this strategy.
6. Create a “best selling” newsletter
You probably don’t think of the product descriptions on your website as “content,” but they are. This means that they can be repurposed into email newsletters just like your blog posts, videos, and other, more traditional forms of content marketing.
For instance, you could create a “best selling” newsletter. Choose three to five of your best selling products; then copy and paste pictures of them into your email marketing software, as well as the product descriptions from your website.
Pro Tip: In each email, include the best selling products that are relevant to each segment of your list.
You can flip this idea on its head and do an “also bought” newsletter, too. When a customer buys a product, send them an email that includes related products they might also be interested in. The process is the same: just copy and paste pictures and descriptions.
7. Create an email course
Finally, you can use old pieces of content as the foundation for an email course.
If you’re not familiar with the term, an email course is a series of emails, delivered over a predetermined amount of time, that teach recipients how to do something specific.
Email courses are similar to traditional online courses, students just receive lessons in their inboxes rather than having to login to a website to access course material.
Search your content database for top-performing blog posts and videos on a specific topic. Then use each piece as the basis for a lesson. You may need to rework some of the material so that it flows from one lesson to the next, but the heavy-listing should already be done.
Better email marketing campaigns
Repurposing content is your ticket to sending better types of email marketing. By using your best blog posts, videos, etc. as the foundation for your campaigns, you’ll be able to reach your audience on a regular basis with content they actually want to consume.
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