How to Recycle Your Spring Marketing Ideas

Experienced marketers know repurposing content is a key strategy in creating success for a brand. Repurposing content and ideas achieve several things: the ability to do more with less; it creates efficiencies; and it allows you to get the most bang for your content strategy buck. People digest content fast and furiously, so it only makes sense to make sure as many eyes see what you’re producing as often as possible.

‘Tis the season for content recycling and bringing back trends. Just like with spring cleaning, take a look through past marketing ideas and find ways to make them feel fresh again or get rid of them altogether. You might be surprised to see how easy it can be to make a few tweaks to make your strategy feel brand new.

Update Spring Promotions

Look back to spring of last year and identify which ad campaigns and content worked best. Pick the one that performed the highest, refresh it, and run it again. Take a look at the creative assets. Do they need updated? Can the copy use a little work or SEO input? Or, do you want to A/B test your ads from last year and create a similar version for 2019 and compare how each performs?

The point is you don’t have to start from scratch. You also don’t have to be fearful of being seasonally cliche if it’s true to your brand. Although Miranda Priestly would hardly have us thinking “florals for spring” are groundbreaking, the average consumer is ready for that kind of imagery come April, especially after harsh winters. Use the flowers. Talk about the sunshine. It’s ok to acknowledge the change of the season and use it to promote your brand.

Talk about Trending Topics

Conversely, take a look at any events of the current year that would affect the marketing plan. Nearly every brand can jump on spring marketing opportunities because of all the things associated with these warmer months and the buildup to summer. For the travel and hospitality industry, topics of discussion could include what cities are trending in travel magazines as cool, new destinations and where are the hotspots for music festivals.

Additionally, consider if your budget needs updated from last year. Will it be divided evenly between all properties or will it shift depending on the popularity of certain areas? Will lower performing properties receive more marketing love as part of a bigger strategy? While you may be using similar strategies from year to year, the budgets may shift more seasonally.

Build Upon Old Strategies

In the same vein, home improvement is also a popular topic in spring. Once the snow has melted, people are thinking of ways to spruce up their current spaces. Home decor and lifestyle brands can benefit from this shift in thinking by repurposing how-to videos or repromoting products or services that will help with these DIY ideas.

Create a list of subtopics associated with your brand and build out from there. Think about what consumers need depending on the season, while also considering the current economy and how that may affect buying decisions. Step back from what you’ve been doing and see what can be recycled and what can go into the trash.

Reuse, Reduce, Recycle

Coming up with new ideas every spring can be time-consuming. By repurposing content and recycling successful campaigns, you can reduce the need to spend needless hours building your strategies from scratch. Review the past year’s analytics. Mark what worked best for your brand. Then, apply to your 2019 goals and see what version of the old you come up with for spring.