Entrepreneurs: Recycle, Reuse And Repurpose Content

If you are an entrepreneur, like me, you are in the content business. Whether you’re communicating about your brand, your business, your expertise, or your message, you are fighting for eyeballs and audience attention. However, “The Wheel of Content” is constantly moving, and it is damn near impossible to run a company and continue to produce new content every week, let alone every day. It can burn you out. So, what is someone fighting to stay relevant in 2022 to do?

This is where Ruben Kanya comes in. Ruben is a content repurposing wizard, and his tips are genius for those who aspire to develop a brand and promote themselves or their business efficiently and effectively.

Bob Kulhan: Ruben, let’s start with the basics. Why is content development so important?

Ruben Kanya: First of all, entrepreneurs play a contact sport. And when I say contact sport, it’s the eyeballs, right? Every commercial that you see, every application – whether you’re online or seeing a billboard outside – we’re in the space of creating content to bring people into our journey. Whether you’re raising money for charity, you’re wanting to sell your service or you’re trying to make an offer, you need to lead with content. Leading with content is what gets the conversation started.

Kulhan: Absolutely. We are told to stay relevant. We’re told, “Create content, create content, create content.” However, there are so many platforms pulling our attention, and as a business owner, it is easy to start thinking, “How can I create all this content, get my message to my audience and still run a business?” As an expert in this world, what advice can you give us?

Kanya: For me, the message to the people is this: stop creating more content and start repurposing your existing content. In this modern age of technology, you can dig in and realize that there’s a pile of gold that you’re sitting on that’s underutilized. It is not always about creating new material. It is about repurposing content. Be creative. There’s all sorts of content. Whether it be video, YouTube, Zoom calls, podcasts, there’s so much that we’re doing actively in our day-to-day business to actually help people in real time that can then be repurposed and leveraged down the road, for the future — and honestly, in perpetuity. These platforms aren’t going anywhere.

Kulhan: What are some unique examples of content that people already have and likely wouldn’t be thinking about repurposing?

Kanya: When you think of business, what makes you want to do business with someone? It’s the idea of understanding how they do business. So, an easy way to repurpose is to actually show people how you’re doing business. Start as simply as your processes. One way you can do this is by capturing a process or solution through screen sharing.

There are many concepts communicated internally (in your business) that you can share. Think about it. You’re already doing this. It’s literally a window into your business, and most people don’t realize how often a screen share contains information potential clients would love to see. Not sensitive information, of course. It’s a process, a system, content you can show that will give clients a view of how awesome you are.

Kulhan: That’s great – so simple.

Kanya: Another thing that may be less obvious for people is Zoom – leverage a platform that most of us are using anyway, to inform people what you’re doing. For example, you can record a Zoom meeting (with participants’ permission, of course), take that content, and send it to your email list. “I’m talking with Bob about how people are not leveraging this piece of content, every day.”

Think about the Zoom calls you had this week – a conversation, a consult session, a coaching session, a mastermind, a meet up – all these wonderful moments and events    online, just sit in the cloud or sometimes don’t even get recorded.

Kulhan: So, if you’re in a Zoom meeting and don’t hit the record button, it’s like a tree that falls in the forest, with no one there to hear it? Does it make a sound? Did the meeting take place?

Kanya: Maybe it didn’t, because you didn’t record it. You want to get in the habit of recording these gems, because repurposing content is not only just for front-end marketing. It’s also for the back end. For example, if I record this conversation, it’s a process that I can then share with another person in a new training, with an intern, a fellow collaborator. In short, the concept of purposing can be used for marketing material, as well as internal standard operating procedures.                   

Kulhan: We’ve talked about repurposing processes and Zoom chats, what about something like a podcast?

Kanya: A lot of people podcast and file that under audio because they think, “Hey, it’s an audio platform.” But if you have the video, you can take that video and put it on YouTube, which happens to be the second largest search engine in the world. Why wouldn’t you want to have your stuff out there? You must think about the end goal, especially if it could help someone else, as well.

Kulhan: That’s awesome. As you think about these different deliveries, what should an entrepreneur or solopreneur understand about repurposing platforms.

Kanya: You must respect the medium. You must respect the platform. Remember people are creatures of habit. People who listen to podcasts, listen to podcasts. People who watch YouTube videos, watch YouTube videos. That’s what they do, that’s their habit. That’s where they feel comfortable. You have to think about how people utilize these platforms. Will a conversation that might be good for YouTube be great for an audience on LinkedIn? Not necessarily, because people look for information differently on each medium.

There’s always a purpose behind content repurposing. The purpose of the content is to solve a problem, get over an obstacle, get to a desire, an outcome. If you are not reaching your audience, you have to think about what adjustment you can make to be more effective. Make it accessible to your audience. Repurposing content on existing platforms where the same customer lives the most. You don’t want to miss a client or potential lead simply because you don’t exist on the platform that they live on.

Kulhan: The adage “work smarter not harder” seems to be bouncing around my hollow head right now. STOP creating new content (you have enough) and START repurposing more of it and do it effectively in the medium your audience likes most.

Kanya: Absolutely, and I would even add that it is about leverage and habits. We leverage our money, or energy, our time.

We all know we should be creating content, just like we all know we should be working out, but what is the friction? There’s always friction because it’s something new, right? No – not new content! Look deeper. There is already existing content that you’re not utilizing. Look for the low hanging fruit somewhere in your current day-to-day and find a place where you’re already working and turn those pieces into client-focused content.

Repurposing content is the lowest hanging fruit because you’re already doing it.

Ruben’s right. Think about the wheel. It has already been invented. Developing content is not about creating a brand-new wheel every time. Repurposing content is about taking a wheel that you already have (abandoned and collecting dust) and using it! Be mindful of your audience. Speak to your clients on their terms, through mediums that they prefer, and show them why you are the best by using the content you’ve already created for other initiatives, endeavors, and basic meetings! Don’t keep inventing the wheel, learn to ride The Wheel of Content you already have at your fingertips.

The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.