Remember that movie Hocus Pocus? Of course you do. It’s October after all, so you’ve probably seen it playing non-stop on TV.

There’s one scene in which Winifred raises her old boyfriend Billy from the grave. Here’s a clip to jog your memory:

 

Unfortunately for Winnie, who had grand plans for Billy to help her capture the kids, he turns on her. I guess after being dead for 300 years (and being resurrected by the person who actually killed you), your loyalties might lie elsewhere.

Believe it or not, there is something to be learned here (besides the fact that Hocus Pocus is a cult classic).

Marketers spend a lot of time and money on creating useful and engaging content for their target audience.

But what eventually happens to those resources?

They end up in the marketing graveyard. They either fade into the abyss on your website or are taken off your pages, never to be seen again.

Some pieces of content should stay in their graves. These are the ones that didn’t get a lot of traction because your audience wasn’t interested in them. They didn’t do you any good when they were alive, and they most likely won’t do you any good now.

However, for other resources, you need to work some magic and revive them from their dead state. This is the content that performed well for your brand – the pieces that your audience found incredibly useful.

Why wouldn’t you want to utilize a proven content resource to further drive your strategy?

You’ve got to resurrect and repurpose the best content you have. Otherwise, you’re going to have a graveyard full of marketing materials that will turn into the ghosts of content past.

Why do I need to repurpose?

Only 29 percent of brands are repurposing their content into different forms for their prospects. That’s a very small and, frankly, sad number.

Why aren’t more marketers jumping on the repurposing bandwagon?

It’s mainly because they aren’t aware of the benefits that it offers. This article will fix that. By developing a smart repurposing strategy, you can significantly boost your company’s marketing efforts.

Let’s look at why you need to make repurposing a core component of marketing:

1. It saves you time:

Time is a precious resource for marketers. You don’t want to waste your working hours creating content just for the sake of creating it. That’s why you spend days, weeks and sometimes months crafting the best marketing resources you can. You know you can’t afford to develop a piece of lackluster and uninspiring content, as it can hurt your brand.

With repurposing, creation and distribution are already taken care of.

Sure, you’re going to spend some time turning, let’s say, a blog into an infographic, but the majority of the work has already been completed.

2. It saves you money:

If there’s any resource that’s more valuable to marketers than their time, it’s money. And for good reason. You don’t want to develop content just to get it out there. That’s a quick way to hurt your bottom line.

Repurposing makes the most out of your money.

For example, you may have already invested money into creating a video asset. Turning that video into a detailed blog or graphic takes that initial investment and stretches it even further. Basically, you’re getting more bang for your buck when you make repurposing a part of your strategy.

What marketer – and business – doesn’t want that?

3. It’s a proven success:

If you’re doing it right, repurposed content will bring you success. Choosing to repurpose resources that got a lot of traction guarantees that continued success.

Do you have an infographic that significantly boosted social engagement?

It only makes sense to drive that success even further by repurposing it. Turning older content that resonated well with your audience into new engaging and educational forms is a sure bet for your brand.

Tales from the crypt: Reviving your content from the marketing grave

How can I repurpose?

You can’t go about repurposing just any piece of content. It takes a dedicated and creative approach if you want to realize the full benefits. The following methods are surefire ways to bring success with repurposing:

1. Analyze your best-performing content:

Which pieces did your target audience respond to the most? What got the highest levels of engagement or conversion rates?

Look at the metrics to determine the content that your prospects are most interested in. This is the most effective way to ensure that audience interest stays high when you’re repurposing your resources.

2. Study your audience:

Once you’ve figured out which pieces you want to repurpose, you’ll still need to do more analysis on your audience. But this time, look at the other types of content they want.

If you’re repurposing an infographic, for instance, what other resources have users consumed? If they read your blogs, turn that graphic into a written asset. If they prefer videos, go that route.

This step is crucial, as it ensures you reap the benefits of repurposing – time, money and success. If you’re choosing the wrong content type, your audience will lose interest and you won’t get any traction. Then your repurposing efforts have essentially been wasted.

Go for those pieces of content you know for a fact your prospects will want.

3. Measure your results:

You know that without looking closely at the data, there’s no way of knowing how you’re performing. And what’s the point of going through all of that effort if you aren’t going to look at the outcome?

Carefully analyze the data that comes in from your repurposed content.

If a blog-turned-video isn’t getting views, or an infographic-turned-eBook isn’t being downloaded, go back and figure out why. Revise and test new forms of older content until you finally find that repurposing sweet spot.

Not sure where to start with your repurposing strategy?

Begin with your blogs. Why? They require minimal extra effort to revive. Cobble together your best-performing blogs into an eBook. Or turn them into a video for users who like more visual content.

From there, you’ll be able to see which repurposed resources are going to bring you the most success.

When should I repurpose?

You’d be wrong to think that you should be repurposing all the time.

Instead, focus on taking only your strongest pieces and turning them into a new form when it makes sense. If you’re not able to do that as often as you’d like or expect, don’t fret. Just like you wouldn’t create content for the sake of it, adopt the same mindset when repurposing.

Also, don’t put the cart before the horse, meaning don’t develop brand new content with a clear intent to repurpose it in the future.

Why?

Well, you never know how well a particular piece of content is going to perform when you first create it. Sure, you can make an educated guess, but it’s still just a guess. You shouldn’t invest time and resources into an unknown quantity.

Don’t be like Winifred Sanderson.

Resurrect your content resources from the grave and make them work for you by developing a smart, detailed and effective repurposing strategy.

Tressa Sloane is the Sr. Manager of Editorial Development in Boston. Born a Southern belle, she now resides in the chilly (but wicked awesome) Northeast, and when she's not learning everything she can about content marketing, she's obsessing over Elvis, Auburn football and France.