One of the reasons marketers fail to achieve their return on investment (ROI) with content is that they focus more on volume instead of value.
And that's a big mistake.
Having too much content that doesn't offer value will not help your brand.
It's why you should consider the 3 R's of content marketing — Reduce, Resurrect, and Repurpose.
The idea here is to check what valuable pieces you already have in your content arsenal and leverage them for thought leadership and better ROI. It also involves identifying content pieces you already own to cost-effectively maximize their benefits for more revenue.
And while you may want to always offer unique perspectives to various facets of your industry, many other brands are trying to do the same. In fact, 82% of marketers actively use content marketing, making it hard to stand out.
82% of marketers actively use content marketing, making it hard to stand out. Image: HubSpot.
For this reason, it's important to leverage the 3 R's of content marketing to save the time needed to create and make the most out of your content without your budget shooting off the roof.
But what's the best way to go about maximizing the 3 R's of content marketing? Find out below as we discuss what the 3 R's of content marketing entail, why you should use them, and how to leverage them for better ROI.
What are the new 3 R's of content marketing...and why should you use them?
According to a recent content marketing study, marketers find it challenging to find ideas for new content. They also find it difficult to create content that generates leads or traffic.
Marketers find it challenging to find ideas for new content. They also find it difficult to create content that generates leads or traffic. Image: Semrush.
But that's not all.
The content marketing process from ideation to publishing can take time and drain your team.
For these reasons, you want to ensure that each piece of content produced helps you drive traffic, awareness, and conversions.
Cue the 3 R's of content marketing — Reduce, Resurrect, and Repurpose.
These 3 R's of content marketing help you save on the time it takes to develop an idea, research, write, edit, and publish content.
Best of all?
They help you reach new audiences.
But how can you integrate the 3 R's of content marketing into your strategy?
How to Use the 3 R's of Content Marketing to Boost ROI
To identify content that you can include in your 3 R's of content marketing strategy, you should audit existing content.
Review each published content piece and find those that fall under the evergreen or popular category. These are the ones you can optimize.
The reason? This is the content that received the most interaction from your audience and one that's timeless. It should also be relevant and must offer value.
Then, apply the 3 R's of content marketing in the following ways:
Reduce
The first part of your 3 R's of content marketing strategy will involve removing content that does not help your brand. Yep, you read that right.
Having fresh, relevant, and quality content is a requirement if you want to offer visitors great experiences and rank high in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Leverage tools such as Google Console and Google Analytics to analyze your traffic data and backlinks. Do you have underperforming content that's purposeless, drives no traffic, or is no longer relevant?
This is content that's outdated, thin, unpopular, or that lacks timely value. It's also content your audience does not find meaningful or valuable.
Guess what? A lot of the content you may have created may be harming your brand due to this reason.
According to 48% of consumers, the content brands produce is not meaningful. The study also reported that nearly half of content created by brands doesn't deliver.
According to 48% of consumers, the content brands produce is not meaningful. Image: Meaningful Brands.
So, does your content deliver? If it doesn't, you need to remove it.
Having it on your site affects your ability to rank since Google insists on fresh and quality content that's relevant and adheres to EAT (expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.)
And that’s not all.
This kind of content makes it hard to crawl your site. Google has a limited crawl budget and you may end up wasting that on these pages.
That’s why pruning content makes it easier for Google bots to index more of your pages.
And now to the next part of the 3 R's of content marketing — resurrecting your content.
Resurrect
You've done your content audit and gotten rid of content that's bogging you down and preventing you from ranking.
It's now time to resurrect or update content that has the potential to rank.
But how do you go about this step of the 3 R's of content marketing? There are various strategies you can take, including:
- Changing Headlines: Find new keywords you can incorporate into your title or include numbers that draw the audience's attention.
- Update Statistics: Have you used statistics from research conducted more than two years ago? Change and update them to reflect recent findings.
- Include Testimonials: Did a key opinion leader or influencer recently interact with your posts? Include their reviews or commentary to help elevate the credibility of your content and tag them while resharing it on social media.
- Interlink Content: Create internal links to your most recent and relevant blog posts or service pages.
- Remove Outdated Information: Ensure each post gives practical strategies that the reader can apply.
- Update or Add Media Content: If your content has too much text, include relevant visuals that break it up. If you already have visuals, ensure they are up to date.
- Optimize Keywords: Ensure your titles, meta descriptions, and headings include your target keywords. Additionally, distribute the keywords across your post without overstuffing.
- Add Content: Analyze other posts ranking for the same keyword and see if you can add more information to your content to make it valuable.
- Improve Readability: Make it easy for readers to skim through your content by reducing the number of words in sentences, using bullet points, shortening paragraphs, highlighting important text, etc.
After you've done this, it's now time to apply the third R in the 3 R's of content marketing — repurposing.
Repurpose
In this stage of the 3 R's of content marketing, you transform existing content into other formats.
For example, you can use podcast creation tools to transform your blog posts into a podcast episode that explains the topic further.
But are there crucial points to consider when leveraging this final R of the 3 R's of content marketing?
Yes. Some of these include:
- The Channel: What channel will you post the repurposed content on, and what kind of formats do they recommend? For example, if you repurpose your content into video, what channels can you use and what’s their recommended length?
- Your Audience: Are they on the channels you want to post on, and do they enjoy consuming content in the format you wish to repurpose it?
- Your Repurposing Goal: Do you want to reach new audiences, save time, or increase your content arsenal?
- Type of Content: You can't just repurpose each piece of content you own. Instead, consider the freshness of the topic, its popularity, and the number of updates you will need. Also, check if it’s feasible to repurpose the content.
Not sure how to go about this?
Well, a degree in marketing communication can help. With it, you get the skills needed to effectively collect and analyze audience data from your audit using advanced tools. Additionally, it becomes easier to identify content that helps your brand generate more revenue and increase reach.
Then, once you've got all these figured out, repurpose your content into different formats.
Some of the transformations you can apply are:
Repurpose Blog Posts Into Social Media Posts
Get in front of a much bigger audience by extracting bite-sized information from your blog post and sharing it on social media.
For example, extract a quote, create a visually appealing image for it, and share on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
However, remember to add a creative caption and direct readers to your blog post with a link.
Extract a quote, create a visually appealing image for it, and share on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Image: Twitter.
Other formats you can leverage for social media posts include:
- Blog post to a long-form video you can share on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
- Short, bite-sized videos taken from long-form videos to share on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
- Blog posts to carousels for Instagram
- Blog posts to infographics to share on Facebook and LinkedIn
- Newsletter created from blog posts that talk about one broad topic
Republish Content to Other Sites
Leverage syndication sites to republish your content and reach a wider audience.
Alternatively, once you've modified your blog post, you can ask sites that accept guest posts to publish it. However, ensure it offers a unique perspective and is not plagiarized from your blog.
Another option is to turn current and newsworthy posts into press releases and upload them to sites that accept them.
Repurpose Content From Ambassadors
If you run an ambassador program, ask for permission from the creators and reshare their content in various formats on different channels.
These can include influencers, audiences, affiliates, or employees who've created content on behalf of your brand or reviewed your products.
Ask for permission from content creators and reshare their content in various formats on different channels. Image: Instagram.
Combine and Break Up Blog Posts
Break up long blog posts into smaller parts and create a series.
Alternatively, combine blog posts under the same broad topic into an ebook, downloadable guide, or roundup list.
Make the 3 R's of Content Marketing Work for You
With the 3 R's of content marketing, you can give your content a new face while expanding your reach. It also gives your content team time to research and create new content pieces without the fear of falling behind deadlines.
Implement the 3 R's of content marketing and let us know how they work for you. Additionally, if you've got questions on implementation, don't hesitate to ask.