As the owner of a small or medium-sized business, it's often challenging to devise new marketing concepts, however, repurposing content is a trusted method in driving traffic to your website and a simple way to bolster your message without investing additional time or effort. 

The last bit is most valuable, as a small business owner you're more than likely managing every other process of your company, including marketing. 

Repurposing content increases business ROI as it utilises each original asset and spins it into several new pieces of content. You'll be able to reach additional clients as you publish the content on different websites (as a guest contributor), various social media platforms and your business website will benefit from an SEO boost due to new content being added. 

As it's often the case that multiple steps need to happen before someone becomes a lead, or makes a purchase, repurposing content helps reinforce your brand message. Furthermore, it increases your authority and credibility as you're positioning your small business brand as a thought leader by freely distributing industry knowledge. Your business will be the one remembered by consumers when the time comes for them to ask questions or complete purchases.

In this piece, we take a look at several best practices that small business owners can implement when repurposing their marketing content to increase website traffic, offer industry thought leadership and of course, increase profits and sales. 

1. Syndicated blog posts. 

Content-syndication networks enable businesses to get their blog posts in front of readers who are reading related material. Websites like Business.co.za, or Medium, offer free syndication of your blog posts which is a great place to start as a small business owner. 

2. Use excerpts for social media content. 

Perhaps you've been using social media to drive traffic to your business, and you've needed a pipeline of content. Consider repurposing your blog posts by extracting excerpts and publishing them as posts on social media with an appropriate image. 

3. Change up your content medium. 

Marketing collateral takes many forms, so it's wise not to restrict your valuable information to one channel. Here are some ideas on change up the format of your content:

• Repurpose a blog post into an infographic.

• Repurpose a blog post series into a welcome email autoresponder or email newsletter.

• Turn a presentation to a downloadable PDF lead magnet. 

• Create a podcast from a valuable blog post by reading it out loud, recording it and publishing it on iTunes, Spotify or SoundCloud.

• Turn a video or speech into a slide deck and publish it on SlideShare.

• Convert a How-To post into a screencast video and publish it on your site with an embedded YouTube link if you have a channel. 

  
  

4. Update your current blog posts. 

To effectively update a blog post and call it repurposed, you need to do more than changing a few words. Consider updating pieces with new stats, entirely new sections, original images, video links and infographics. Consider linking several posts together to form part of a series. Ensure that you update each post with additional information and link them to each other to entice readers into clicking on the next piece. 

5. Write a case study based on past customers. 

Consider taking the topic of an old blog post and develop a case study from it based on an experience with a past customer. Write about any problems your customer might have experienced, and the problem you solved with your products or services. Publish the post as a case study on your business website and remember to link back to the original article. Potential customers love reading case studies as they're often relatable. 

6. Write guest blog posts. 

Writing guest blog posts on related websites is excellent for your small business. They commonly lead to increased traffic, demonstrate your expertise and help in establishing your name as a thought leader. Consider using older posts as inspiration for new ones, or  republish them as is, often other blogs allow this. 

7. Create transcripts from videos. 

Videos are wonderful sources for repurposing content. The easiest way to do this is to create a transcript of the video. You can utilise paid services or free resources like Google Doc's, which has a voice typing option. Moreover, Speech notes is another fantastic free option to consider. However, these free services are simple transcribing tools which write word for word for you. Still, often you'll need to clean up any communication breakdowns, i.e. misheard phrases, spelling and colloquialisms. 

Conclusion. 

Repurposing content is an excellent way of time-saving marketing content creation for small businesses. It requires minimal effort and is cost-effective. Decide on which methods work best for your company and start repurposing now.