Recycling might be a word that you associate more with environmentalism than online marketing, but this is one case where it can definitely pull double duty. Why? Because taking existing words, images, and even videos from your existing campaigns and reusing them isn't just efficient… it can also be highly profitable.
The best reasons to reuse content on your business website go hand in hand with the best reasons to recycle paper and plastic. Economically speaking, there is no sense in rewriting or regenerating new content all the time, especially when you have already devoted a fair amount of time, or money, coming up with text and images for your business. Unless there's something wrong with what you have, it's just good business to keep using them.
With that in mind, don't be afraid to take what you have from older materials and put it online. Just be sure that you keep some important things in mind:
Your content has to truly be yours. If you have copied some sort of material from a competitor’s website or brochures, lose it immediately. Not only could you be legally liable for that kind of theft, but it could get you banned from the major search engines like Google and Bing.
Double check your content to be sure it still applies to your business. Strange as it might seem, it's not unusual to see brand-new business websites with out-of-date content. If what you have no longer accurately reflects your products, or your hairline, then invest the time or money to come up with something new.
Make sure you're posting valuable content to your business website. Just because something is there doesn't make it great to use. Every single item on your business website, or your social profiles, should have a distinct purpose – not just for you, but also for your customers. If you can't figure out why someone would want to read one of your older pieces anymore, then don't bother putting it online.
Don't get too repetitive in your online marketing. Some business owners and marketing managers have lots of old content, so they decide to go ahead and put it on the internet, even though they have since come up with many similar pieces. That sounds good in theory, but overly repetitive marketing is almost worse than none at all. Again, it's better to take the time to come up with something original and interesting than it is to risk losing customers by posting something you shouldn't.
Chances are, you've already worked hard to produce lots of content for your business website. Why be wasteful, when you could recycle it and make your company more profitable at the same time?
