Today’s internet-centric world is all about content. People want it, Google devours it and you’re forced to make it.
But do you really need to make NEW content?
Dave Ramsey is one of my can’t miss podcasts. When I was going through some rough financial times I discovered his daily podcast. I found his down-to-Earth advice reassuring. And to hear that I wasn’t the only one with problems, strangely, made me feel better.
I still listen to Dave’s podcast to this day. Every single day. And here’s the really strange part…I do it despite the fact that he hasn’t had a new idea in 20 years!
Nope. I could sum up Dave Ramsey’s entire schtick in one blog post. I could quote his favorite sayings. I could tell his origin story. I could recite his opinions. I could actually take his place on the air for an entire week and, short of the hillbilly drawl, I don’t think anyone would notice.
Dave came up with a really simple system. He calls it the Baby Steps – there are seven of them. He created opinions and stories around those steps. And he continually bangs the same drum. Over and over and over and over. Yet, he still has the number three talk radio show in the country.
The odd part to me is that people still call in with the simplest questions. If they had listened to more than 30 minutes of his show they’d know the answer. But they still call. Hundreds of them. Why?
First, because new people are constantly discovering him. “Hi, Mr. Ramsey. I just starting listening to your show last week.” Dave knows that these new folks don’t know anything. If he got bored and started creating new, more advanced systems, he’d lose these new people.
Second, because ideas need reinforcement. Hearing something just one time, or even ten times, isn’t enough to make that idea a reflex. Like I said, after seven years of listening, I can quote it all.
Another example….do you know the lyrics to “Don’t Stop Believing”? Probably. Did you learn them by listening to the song one time? I’ve probably listened to Steve Perry sing that song thousands of times. But I continue to listen. I’m still not bored. In fact, I enjoy that I know the words. It makes me comfortable.
So what does all this have to do with digital marketing and email?
Repurpose…
One of my favorite tricks for creating emails (or web copy, or video scripts) is to steal from myself. I really am a genius on my personal opinions 🙂 So why not steal from the best source on me? Me!
I once created a series of about 20 emails in a single afternoon. All by re-purposing my previous blog posts, videos and emails. No one ever came back and complained that “Hey, you said all this before!”
People need reinforcement. People are new. Don’t feel that you constantly need to reinvent the wheel.
I find that most of my clients are sitting on a gold-mine of information that they created. Yet they still struggle to create new content.
Next time you don’t know what to write or to say, steal from your best source – you!
