The economic impact of COVID-19 has been a trending topic in both social and political discussions in the past few weeks and is bound to continue as the pandemic persists.
The $100 billion SaaS market has taken a hit. Businesses have scaled-down operations.
Google, for instance, has slashed its marketing budget by half. Other companies have laid off workers while others are cutting salaries.
And to top it all off, 57% of businesses are spending more on collaboration tools as they move towards remote work and less on marketing software which got a huge chunk of marketing budgets before the pandemic struck.
And if you’ve lost customers right now (or making fewer sales), this isn’t a sign that you should stop investing in content. Here’s how to adjust by implementing a growth marketing strategy on a budget using your old content to double your results:
1. Audit and Update Your Best Content
Buzzsumo’s analysis of the best B2B content reveals some interesting insights:
In 2018, evergreen content received an average of 415 social media shares and five backlinks. Quite impressive numbers here given that the median number of social shares of all content (both B2B and B2C) is four while the median number of backlinks is zero.
And there’s still hope because popular content that Buzzsumo analyzed has headlines that you’ve used in your blog posts too:
Now, here’s the thing: Evergreen content has a longer shelf life as compared to any other type of content because people don’t care about how often you publish anymore. It’s about the quality of content you publish so you have to make each post count.
And instead of putting your marketing activities on hold, look at the content you already have and find ways to make it count. For example, you might decide to update an ultimate guide, then split it into smaller posts then use bylined guest posting to boost your authority, earn more links and traffic in the process.
Alternatively, convert it into different formats (more on that later) for your audience. The options are endless, but first, let’s talk about how to conduct a content audit.
Since not all content deserves an update, you’ll focus on auditing your best content then identify where it needs improvement to help you get better results from it.
Head over to your Google Analytics account, and under the Behavior report, look at your top-performing content. Sort it by the highest amount of organic traffic then pay attention to content with the worst exit rates.
Now that you already have the content you need to update, you want to make sure that you’ve aligned it with the searcher’s intent to make sure that readers stay around longer.
And here’s what experts suggest you do:
(…) pick a content style and length to match or better the sites you’ll be competing against.
If the top results for a search term you’re targeting average 1500 words per page, then you would want at least 1500 words of well-optimized content – ideally more.
While looking at the top results for your search term, pay attention to related search terms, and people also ask and make sure you’ve optimized your post for the same. For example, the primary search term on Savvy Sleeper’s review on memory foam mattresses is “Best Memory Foam Mattress.”
A quick search on Google reveals the following insights on related searches and people also ask sections:
Here’s where the search term appears in the post with a link to a review of the best mattresses for side sleepers:
And then there are searchers asking for affordable mattresses in the people also ask section:
So the post has included a variety of mattress prices to make it easier for them to choose a mattress that fits their budget:
Take this a step further by using SEMrush to identify terms in the top-ranking posts that you should include in your content to help you align it better with the user’s intent.
The readability score indicated there helps you know what to aim for to make it easier for readers to consume your content. The higher the score (>85), the easier it is to consume.
2. Convert Your Content into Different Formats
You’ve spent a considerable amount of time updating your best pieces. You’ve aligned them to the reader’s intent, added more visuals, updated old statistics and facts, and linked to newer and better sources.
And once you’ve republished these pieces, your work is as good as done, right?
Wrong.
Simply hitting the publish button and waiting won’t give you the results you’re looking for. At best, you might see a spike in organic traffic, but that’s it if you choose not to take things further.
Besides, no matter how great your content is, not everyone in your audience enjoys reading it. So turning this content into different formats is going to boost your reach and help you earn more traffic, links, and conversions in the process.
But don’t take my word for it.
More people want to consume content on their terms, and that suggests why 32% of Americans are tuning it to listen to a podcast each month. As if that’s not enough, they’re tuning in to listen to their favorite shows as they go about their day. Take a look:
Breaking into podcasting to expand your audience reach isn’t as hard as it seems. As one of the benefits of podcasting is that it is easy to get started, even with little or no experience. Before you launch your podcast, start by appearing as a guest on podcasts where your target audience tunes in to listen. Podcast production work well for your Awareness stage content.
Since you’re interacting with a new audience for the first time, start this relationship by sharing content that you’ve used to build awareness to help you connect with them and keep them interested in wanting to know more about you.
Besides, you only need to prepare your notes, show up, and deliver value to your audience. Doesn’t sound like too much work as a guest on other podcasts, right?
In return, you’ll get links to your content from show notes and the podcast transcript, and once you launch our show and submit your podcast to popular podcast directories, you’ll get more exposure as listeners look for content.
As you do this, you’ll be earning credibility and building a passive audience because listeners recommend podcasts to one another, and showing up on such podcasts helps them know that you exist. Here’s what I mean:
Quite a ton of comments recommending podcasts but here’s one that stood out:
54% of podcast listeners are more likely to consider buying from brands they hear being advertised on podcasts. Again, check the highlighted comment and see this in action.
Need I say more?
Create Infographics
Infographics make it easier for you to pass your message across in a memorable way. The images, fonts, and colors you use help you grab a reader’s attention as you illustrate concepts that require blocks of text to explain. To make an infographic that converts, Wepik offers you a range of fully customizable templates. You can easily change the images, fonts, and colors to suit your brand identity. Wepik’s infographic templates are also responsive, so you can be sure they will look great on any device.
We remember 65% of the visual content we see and 10% of what we hear after three days.
This means that our brains process visual content faster than audio or written content. In fact, 80% of readers are willing to engage in content that includes visual content.
And that suggests why content with visuals gets 94% views from readers. With infographics, you’re turning up the ante to get more views, shares, and traffic to your site. Look at this infographic in this piece on online trading tips from Hosting Data.
This blog post contains a lot of information about trading and how to start your financial journey. But with this infographic, readers can easily understand key points and retain the most important information.
In addition to converting your content into an infographic and sharing it on your site, go ahead and share it on other sites as a guestographic just like Venngage have done:
The same infographic appeared on Impactbnd and Social Media Today as a guestopgrahic, all with links pointing towards the original page.
And the best part?
They’ve already updated their content for 2021 (remember point #1?), so they’re likely to have these new visitors stick around to read more content. Infographics also work well for your Awareness and Consideration stage content.
What we have from Venngage is a list of statistics that helps readers know how visuals are affecting their content marketing efforts. That’s Awareness content.
You may decide to create a comparison infographic (if you’ve got comparison posts) to help you visualize this content. You’ll be capturing key ideas that help your readers know what product to buy that meets their needs.
Host Webinars Often
45% of internet users spend at least an hour or more watching videos online every day. Video has already earned its place as a preferred method of content consumption.
And if you’re looking to convert more leads into trial users and customers, then turning your Decision stage content into videos is your best bet. 50% of buyers are already relying on videos to decide what products to buy.
And since you’re doing this on a budget, you’re better off creating a webinar for your users. They’re still going to be effective at helping you reach more subscribers and leads at the same time, as you connect with and convince them to convert to paying customers.
This post on optimizing a pricing strategy has a webinar on the same topic. While both came at different times, but since they’re under the same topic, you can easily see the possibility of turning a blog post into a webinar;
Here’s the webinar sign-up page:
Once you’ve converted your content into these formats, remember to promote it on both social media channels and via email to help more people see it.
Conclusion
Repurposing your content is still a viable way to increase your traffic, sign up for more leads, and boost your conversions.
And given the situation we’re in, it has become more important than ever before to look at your content, update it and make it count.
On the surface, it doesn’t look exciting. After all, why don’t we let sleeping dogs lie?
But we don’t know when all this will end and how badly it will affect businesses in the SaaS space.
Instead of holding off your marketing campaigns till all this is over, start by doing a content audit and identify your best pieces then update them. Convert your Awareness content into podcast shows and infographics. Boost your conversion rates by using your decision stage content in your webinars.
And lastly, remember to promote your content via email and social media to get more people to consume it, expanding your reach in the process.
Trust me, once all of this is over, you’ll be glad you did it.
Read More: botsify blog
