Last week I had the pleasure of sharing the virtual floor on the #SMTLive content marketing webinar with the wonderful Chris Boudreaux (@cboudreaux) and Lee Frederiksen (@hingemarketing), moderated by the one and only Paul Dunay (@PaulDunay). Check out Paul's summary here.
For those of you who missed this session, I covered content operations through the lens of the "4Ps of Content Marketing", a framework I had created. I received a lot of questions in response to my comment about taking a piece of content and extending the life and reach of that idea. Due to the interest in this topic (and the audio challenges on my end at the end of our session), I started a list using long-form content, such as a white paper or brochure, as the inspiration. Of course, your options will vary depending on your budget, time and resources.
Since I tend to think in frameworks, I've organized these ideas into 4 categories: Read It, Hear It, Watch It, and Experience It.
READ IT:
- Develop a short version of the same content with the key points. Use it to intrigue readers to learn more
- Create a blog series based on your content
- Deliver the story as a slide deck and post it on a slide sharing platform (you may add an audio track)
- Tell your story with the help of pictures and quotes from your original content or inspired by your original content
- Repurpose your charts as infographics, mini-infographics or take advantage of other data visualization tactics. You can even turn this idea into a series of bite-sized visualizations
- Print online content and hand it out at trade shows, use it as an event giveaway at your booth, or encourage customers to take it with them after a visit to your executive briefing center
- Leverage the original long-form content (or a modified version of it) as gated content on your event website to pique interest in your breakout sessions, speaking engagements, etc. at the event of your choice
HEAR IT:
- Develop a short audiobook version of your content
- Use the original content as the baseline for a podcast interview with the author
- Use the original content as the baseline for a podcast or webinar with subject matter experts and thought leaders
- Use your long-form content to seed and inspire speaking opportunities
WATCH IT:
- Create an animated video to visually tell your story
- Record a video interview with the author based on the original content
- Use the original content as the baseline for a recorded or live video event with thought leaders and subject matter experts
- Create short video clips covering different aspects of the original content, maybe invite subject matter experts to participate with you
- Ask your employees, advocates and/or influencers to read and summarize your long-form content. Create a video montage or a series of clips, highlighting key messages
EXPERIENCE IT:
- Use the original content as basis for discussion and engagement on/with your community, ask for your community's thoughts, perspectives and ideas
- Create polls and other surveys inspired by the original content, tally and share results. Then use the results to draw parallels with the original content and/or as inputs into future content and even business ideas
- Make your content interactive
- Gamify the experience
- Create a game based on the original content
By no means is this list complete, so feel free to add your own ideas. And if you work for a company that likes to push the envelope, you might even turn that long-form content into a song, a short film, a cartoon or something else out of the ordinary.
Good luck!