Monday Morning Marketing Tip – "Steal from Yourself for Better Marketing"

This week’s focus:

When I consult with authors, non-profits, and businesses about marketing issues, a common complaint arises about the need to generate a lot of content for free resources, newsletters, and social media pages. This need to write articles, blog posts, or updates gets labeled as a nuisance, because the client thinks it will be difficult to continually come up with new information. However, generating new content doesn’t have to be difficult. The simplest way to stay resourceful is by stealing from yourself.

When you steal from yourself, take old material that you’ve already written and re-purpose it. For instance, take past articles, blog posts, or newsletters and reuse them. Or, modify the original material by putting a new spin on it. Take parts of a book and break it into smaller chunks of content. Turn videos into written articles. Or, take written material and turn it into an audio or video podcast. In addition, steal from interesting experiences in your life or organization to generate new information. For example:

Authors – Steal from yourself:

– Break your non-fiction books into short articles

– Break your novel into short stories or create back stories.

– Give sneak peeks into your upcoming manuscripts.

– Write about the challenges you face as an author.

Non-Profits – Steal from your organization:

– Use your inside perspective on current events to stress the need for your service.

– Take old newsletters and modernize the content.

– Ask recipients or donors to provide success stories for articles that highlight the importance of your cause.

Businesses – Steal from your internal intellectual property:

– Use the history of your company to write about the longevity or strengths of your business.

– Ask customers to provide success stories for articles that showcase the use of your product.

– Ask employees to rotate providing new articles that examine your industry; Reward them for participation.

Stealing from other people is illegal and a bad reflection on yourself. However, stealing from yourself is a legitimate way to generate plenty of content and keep your marketing plan on easy street.

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© Rob Eagar 2012. All rights reserved.