B2B content marketing is a unique challenge. You have to post content regularly, insightfully, and uniquely, which can be very difficult given that many topics are constantly rehashed or restated by your competitors.
How can you make your B2B content marketing as effective and useful for your readers as possible?
In some cases, you can do so through your old or previously published blog content. Let’s break down how you can turn unloved blog content into a marketing jackpot for your B2B company now.
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Why revitalize and republish old content?
For many brands, revitalizing old content is a good tactic because they have a lot of it! A full-fledged digital marketing campaign often results in dozens of old or unused blog posts and other written content.
That unused, unloved content can still earn your brand money or bolster your current marketing campaign. You’ve already created it, so why let it sit uselessly in the depths of your website’s blog? Think of it as a resource that shouldn’t be underutilized or ignored.
B2B marketing can be tough since you need to post a lot to stay relevant, but old content can fill in gaps for your current digital marketing campaign. Imagine that you need a few extra blog posts to fill out a posting schedule, which demands one post per week on your website. If you don’t have enough new posts, old content can sometimes fill in for new content if you tweak it correctly.
This, in turn, saves you time and money and can help you meet your marketing goals with more flexibility than ever before. With that said, let’s break down five key tips to keep in mind for republishing or revitalizing old content.
Tip 1 – Remove or edit the publish date
First, take a look at the publish date for old articles. If the content is still relevant to your industry or niche, you can simply remove or edit the publish date. Once the date is gone or changed, you can republish the blog post.
Note that you should still update the content or spruce it up. Add some new sentences, restructure the content, and add a few new statistics or data points. This keeps the broader point of the content relevant and can help the old post rank higher in Google’s search results.
Removing or editing the publish date can make old content seem new for your readers. Should you go this route, consider keeping the original publish date in your notes for future marketing campaigns.
Tip 2 – Include old content in “roundup” posts
What if you have several pieces of old content that you want your readers to revisit? Consider making a “roundup” post that highlights some of the best pieces you’ve published in the past.
Imagine that you have a brand focused on B2B marketing. You have multiple high-quality posts that relate to different marketing areas, such as SEO, blog topics, creating a marketing profit and loss statement template, and so on. Create a new post with an “overview” structure briefly discussing each of those posts. Then link to the old posts within that new roundup post.
Not only does this count as completely new content, but it also facilitates traffic to your old yet still well-written content from the past.
Tip 3 – Include links to old posts in new ones
If you’re keeping a detailed publishing schedule for new content, consider interlinking your old posts with your new stuff. This provides you with two benefits:
- It makes the most of old, currently unloved content by funneling traffic to it.
- It improves your SEO by weaving new, quality links into your fresh content.
This strategy is extremely beneficial for B2B marketing, particularly in crowded niches or markets.
Tip 4 – Put old posts in a “featured” section
If you already have a featured section on your website where you highlight quality posts or blog topics, consider rotating some older posts to that section. It is a great way to bring traffic from your homepage to the depths of your site.
But what if you don’t have a featured section? Make one! The best way to introduce people to your blog is to have a dedicated section highlighting top-tier blog posts and guides. People will rarely navigate to your site’s blog by themselves, so make it easy for them with a flashy, accessible featured section. For the best results, add both new and old articles to the featured posts area to keep things fresh and exciting.
Tip 5 – Refresh “listicles” with new additions
Lastly, any good B2B marketing campaign probably has a few “listicle” blog posts under its belt. Listicles are articles that partially or primarily focus on lists of tips – this blog post counts as one, too!
The good news is that listicles can easily be updated and made evergreen by adding a few more items to their titular lists. For instance, say that you have a blog post called “Top 10 Ways to Market for B2B”. You can easily make the top 12 ways by having your copywriter go in and add another two ways at the top of the post. Then you can post the blog content as fresh stuff, editing or removing the publish date as noted above.
Even readers who have seen the content before may take a quick look at the new tips or hints. In this way, listicles can stay evergreen forever so long as you keep updating and adding to them.
Wrap up
As you can see, there are lots of great ways to turn your unloved blog content into B2B marketing tools. Once it’s written, blog content should work for you in perpetuity. Keep it evergreen and relevant, and give it an occasional focus so new customers can find the quality stuff your team posted months or years ago.
Guest author: Lee Li is a project manager and B2B copywriter with a decade of experience in the Chinese fintech startup space as a PM for TaoBao, MeitTuan, and DouYin (now TikTok).