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.
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?
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:
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.
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:
After you've done this, it's now time to apply the third R in the 3 R's of content marketing — repurposing.
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:
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:
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
