Reinvigorate your marketing with a content refresh

The tulips are out, the weather is finally beginning to warm up, and as you think about spring cleaning your business you’ve probably heard people talking about the value of a content refresh for your marketing.

If you’re anything like me you might be thinking that a complete content and branding overhaul sounds a bit overwhelming, but don’t worry – that’s not what a content refresh involves.

It’s actually a very achievable and manageable task that can bring huge benefits to your business by boosting your marketing impact without having to create any new content.

So, what is a content refresh?

Simply put, a content refresh involves reviewing and editing your existing digital content.

This can include content on your web pages, online resources, and social media platforms – anywhere where you’re contributing online.

The idea behind a content refresh is not usually to create anything new, but to update what you’ve already produced.

It might be as simple as weaving a new quote or case study into a blog you wrote a while back, or streamlining your web copy to make it more focused.

Think of it more as redesigning the icing on your cake, rather than baking a whole new one!

What does a content refresh achieve?

It may sound like these changes would be too small to have any effect, but many business owners see big improvements after improving their digital content in this way.

Refreshing your content can trigger new performance results and drive traffic back to where you want it, without you having to spend any money on boosting it.

If your website traffic has dropped off or plateaued it can be in indicator that you need a content refresh to encourage higher hit rates and create new leads.

It’s often the case that by revising what’s already on your website you can refresh your SEO and have your content re-prioritised by major search engines.

Where do I start?

It can be difficult to know what to prioritise with a content refresh, particularly if you have a larger-scale website, lots of online resources available and multiple social media platforms.

As ever, the question you need to ask is, ‘what am I hoping to achieve here?’.

Once you know your dream outcome it’ll shape the first steps you take, as well as all of the ones after that. Have a think about your content marketing goals and let those shape your content refresh strategy.

Here are some ideas of what you might want to achieve from your content refresh, and what some practical steps for your business could look like in each case.

Boosting your search engine ranking:

If you’re sick of slipping down to the bottom of the search engine results or want to rise above the constant changes in algorithms, a content refresh can be a great solution.

Have a look at which pages have previously had good traffic and engagement but have slipped, or perhaps those which are ranking well but not as well as you would hope and start there.

By tinkering with them a little now you could just give them the boost they need to be top-hitters in the near future.

Demonstrating industry knowledge:

You may want to use a content refresh to demonstrate that your business is keeping up with changes in your industry; realigning the focus of your content to move with more recent trends can show your audience that you’re remaining relevant and up-to-speed with their needs.

In this case you would want to focus on the main copy on your web page which outlines your business’s remit, and how you apply that to the industry you’re in.

After that, have a look at any articles which seem outdated and bring them up to date.

You may consider a social media post outlining the changes you’re making to your business to stay up to speed with the industry and show that you’re keeping your finger on the pulse.

Tailoring to your audience:

It may be that your vision for your ideal target audience has shifted, or you’ve found that since you first envisaged your dream client, the customers you’re getting are quite different to the people you were initially marketing to.

Rather than still appealing to your original target audience you may choose instead to tailor your web content to the demographic you’re currently reaching and, in this, case you could start by altering the tone of your web content with these people in mind.

Get the juices flowing …

It can be hard to know where to start even once you’ve worked out the purpose of your content refresh – so here are some practical examples of ways that your content could be refreshed which we’ve seen achieve results in the past.

• Break up large portions of text with videos or infographics.
• Can you streamline your posts and articles to make sure that the reader gets to the point quickly rather than needing to scroll before getting any information? You could consider including a table of contents with clickable links to help your audience to skip to the sections most relevant to them.
• Read through your web copy, and make sure your messaging is aligned with your target audience in terms of content and tone.
• Weave some new statistics into an existing blog or post and use them to make an infographic for Instagram.
• Find a blog or article which performs well for you and use the key facts to create a LinkedIn or Facebook post.

Need help getting started with your content refresh? Ask Zoe!

If you’re looking to boost your engagement with a content refresh but need a bit of direction knowing where to start or how to implement meaningful change, we’d love to help.

Zoe has years of experience in helping small businesses to kick start their growth by optimising their marketing strategy. She’d love to chat about your company and help you to identify areas of potential growth – get in contact today and find out how you can get going with your content refresh!