How to Repurpose Blog Content into an Email Mini-Series

 

Every once in a while the well of email article inspiration runs dry. It may be that you’ve covered all the points in your content calendar or that you’ve got a theme or suggested idea, but it’s not filling out into interesting content. Whatever the issue may be, don’t let your deadline and dry content hold you down. Instead, utilize your old arsenal: your blog! Recycling blog content into a mini-series not only gives you a jump off point, but also finishes the task of writing additional content for the next few emails. It will create engaging information for your customers, save your research and writing time on future business emails, and ease your mind all the while.

 

Start by Skimming

The first step to repurposing blog content for an email mini-series is to find the information you’re going to reuse. Check into your archives at least a few years back and sift through the posts until you find five posts with a similar vein or theme. Organize them into an order that easily connects them. This can be as simple as chronological or more logical like steps in a “how to” process.

Maybe you don’t have much content to pull from. If that’s the case, turn to a great alternative. Gather up five questions that you’ve been asked about your business or product via forums, email or social media. Then answer those questions in detail, covering every angle. Some people may choose to create a video or pod cast recording for this kind of series and then embed them into each email. That is fine. As long as you have content that’s appealing, go for it!

 

Name It

This may not seem too terribly important, but naming your mini-series is! Labeling it offers consistency and creates urgency for your readers. The perfect headline can make your content seem compelling, while a lack luster name might not even get it opened.

If you haven’t checked out our post on Increasing Email Open Rates, we highly recommend it. It offers helpful tips on lingo to use in your subject line to announce or name the mini-series, as well as things to avoid in the email. Also, check out these 100+ Attention Grabbing Title Templates to help you brainstorm the best way to present your mini-series.

 

Introduce It

Put a little extra effort into the first of the five emails in the series. Think that this email series is a product, and your first email should be a white paper style introduction. You want to tell customers what the series can do for them, why it’s important that they read each one, and why you’re offering it. Give them a reason to open each email as it hits their inbox.

Create and Schedule

Be sure to add graphics and a nice introduction to each post. Make sure the theme you started with is present in all of them, a common thread tying them together. Edit, design, and re-edit. When you feel confident they are ready for your readers, take the leap and schedule them.

If you’re still sending each email out manually without the aid of an email marketing application, you may spend too much time on this. Check out last week’s post on email marketing sites and choose one that would work best for this series. The accounts are easy to set up and very affordable.

 

Promote It

Once you’ve got everything set up and ready to go, it’s time to build up your email list. Promote this series like your business depends on it. (Really, it does.)

Blast social media. Tell real life customers if you have a store front, and offer a quick way to add them to the list. Make it super easy for customers and interested parties to opt in on your website. If you’ve planned far enough ahead, hint at the series in an earlier e-newsletter. In every available way, let the world know it’s coming.

 

A Few Last Tips

This series could just be the best email you’ve sent out in a while with the right marketing strategy behind it. Make this series important and engrossing, and encourage participation with thought-provoking questions and information. Request comments or responses, and reply to any you receive. Even emails as short as 400 words will work if your content is valuable and specific to your readers. Recycling blog content is a great way to breathe life into your emails and create a cushion for you to come up with future email topics. Don’t let dull content leave your inbox. Instead, reinstate your expertise and engage your readers with an easy e