• by Jen Agustin , April 4, 2014

It can be a hard, time-consuming process to create great content. Or, with a well-thought out strategy, it can also be fun, fast, and gratifying. Here are three quick tips to help you write, repurpose, and repackage content that engages your prospects without taking you all day to do it.

1. Start that editorial calendar that’s been on your to-do list since last year. While it may seem like a daunting task, it may also be the one thing that’s holding you back from creating content in a timely, efficient manner.

Start small. Aim to plan out content for the next three months across your various channels. If three months still sounds too intimidating, start with one month, and gradually add months over time. It’s worth taking an hour today to plan out your blog posts, bylines, and newsletters for the next 30 days to ensure that you have cohesive and timely themes that will capture the attention of your audiences.

2. Transcription is your friend.  Some of the best-written content is what’s being spoken right now.  Whether your CEO is presenting at an industry event next week, or if you’ve got a webinar planned next month, try and secure a recorded version of the event and send it off to get transcribed. Once you get it back, you’ll have a wealth of original written content that you can then repackage into your blog, your next whitepaper, or even your next video script.

3. Repackage existing offers into new experiences.  This approach to creating “new” content is used across a variety of industries. Hollywood turns bestselling books into movies. Musicians create “greatest hits” albums. Chefs compile their best recipes into massive cooking tomes.

What do these efforts all have in common? They provide a new way to consume an existing product.

You can use the same approach in your content marketing. For example, take three to five great case studies on your website and combine them into a single eBook under a “greatest customer successes” theme. Identify your top-performing blog posts within a specific category, and let these comprise the main sections of your next whitepaper. Or take the data you just compiled for a research report and use it to inform your next infographic.

A little editorial planning combined with some creative repackaging will have you on your way to fresh, engaging content -- in no time flat.