5 Ways to Re-Purpose White Paper Content for Multi-Channel B2B Marketing

Content marketing spending increased to $44 billion in 2013, according to a report published by the Custom Content Council. We see many B2B marketers sinking their money into content without using it to its fullest potential. The Content Marketing Institute found that the average B2B marketing campaign utilized five social media platforms. We recommend re-purposing long form content, such as white papers, instead of pouring your B2B marketing budget and time into creating unique content for every channel. We found shifting your content marketing strategy to put content to work also frees up resources for improving the content’s reach. Authoritative content based around similar keywords also helps your search engine marketing strategies.

BLOG SERIES

Cut down your white paper into short segments perfect for your business blog. Each section works as a self-contained blog post that builds upon the other posts in the series. Expand and update any white paper topics that need freshening up. Include a call to action at the end of each blog post linked to the rest of the series or to a sign-up form to download the white paper.

AUTOMATED EMAIL SERIES

Delivering useful content to your email list is one way to grow this important marketing resource. Look at your white paper and pick out pieces that work as small form content for an automated email series. Use email marketing tools to send these emails out on a daily or weekly basis. Your audience gets useful content, growing brand awareness of your company, and a call to action to go to the full white paper, your website, or a sales funnel page.

WEBINAR

Have a popular white paper that generates interest from your audience? Expand the content into a free or paid webinar series to build your industry authority, generate leads, and create interest in your products or services. The audience interaction during the webinar provides you with feedback and questions to improve the webinar and shape future content.

VIDEO

• The Next Web reports that over 60 percent of Americans viewed almost 400 online videos in a single month. Video content continues to increase in popularity, making it an essential part of any company’s marketing strategy. Bring in the experts behind the white paper to express the topics in a visual form. Give hands-on examples of the concepts, utilize presentations to emphasize white paper points, or consider a workshop style video that goes step-by-step through the process.
  

SOCIAL MEDIA

Re-purposed content cuts down the amount of time you devote to social media marketing. Social media and network sites have their own styles, restrictions, and voice. For example, Twitter’s 140 character restriction requires quick quotes and facts pulled from the white paper. Facebook works well with 50-150 word teasers of the content, followed by a call to action to a squeeze page, lead generation page, or another on-site location.

Re-purposing your existing white paper library provides a wealth of content for your other marketing channels. Reach B2B clients who don’t read your white papers by bringing the information to the channels they frequent. You cut down on content creation costs, improve your audience reach, and step up your SEO game