This blog originally appeared on Whittington Consulting's Online Results blog.
I know that you spend significant resources fueling your company’s marketing needs. Writing social media posts, blog posts, emails, white papers and more can be incredibly time consuming, even confusing!
The Content Marketing Institute reports that 28 percent of B2B marketing budgets go to content marketing efforts.
This makes sense when you think about it – companies handle multiple channels, all requiring different content lengths and styles, resulting in a content creation budget slowly taking over your marketing expenses. If you do it all, then costs can get out of control.
Instead of reinventing the wheel every time you create a piece of content, look at your current content assets. One white paper can form the foundation of an entire month’s worth of inbound marketing content. Here’s one way to break down your content library:
1 Infographic
Is your white paper filled with pull quotes, statistics and other data relevant to your audience? Create a visually attractive infographic incorporating a distilled version of your white paper findings. Readers are more likely to share visual content across social media sites, increasing your chances of getting more viewership. The infographic can also illustrate a blog post.
3 Case Studies
Did you reach out to others in your industry or existing customer pool to gather data for your white paper? Follow up with them to get additional information so you can spin the white paper into three or more case studies. Case studies are useful for companies who want to know more about real-life applications of your products or services.
5 Newsletter Articles
Email marketing provides good reach to an interested audience, especially mobile-heavy readers. Create five short newsletter articles elaborating on topics from the white paper or using edited excerpts directly from the white paper to attract interest. You can send readers looking for the full white paper to an appropriate targeted landing page.
10 Blog Posts
Many company blogs have frequent posting schedules — as much as 2-3 times per week — usually making them the single biggest drain on a content budget. However, instead of creating fresh blog material and becoming overwhelmed at the amount of ideas you or your content creation person has to generate, use the white paper to fuel a series. The blog posts can tackle a particular finding or white paper topic, giving it additional context and generating interest in the white paper.
20 Social Media Posts
Social media posts are short, but the sheer number of posts you need for your social channels can mean big stress. Key pull quotes, especially those that are shareable or generate engagement from your audience, provide excellent repurposing possibilities.
Work smarter, not harder, at content creation by putting existing assets to work. Combine these content pieces with a well-organized editorial calendar to meet your audience’s content needs for an entire month.
Pulling It All Together
By basing all of your content creation efforts on a single white paper, the different tactics you use will work together. You’ll generate more interest in your whitepaper and generate more leads as a result. You may want to check out our Marketing Activity Planner or our blog planner template if you need a quick way to organize your thoughts.
