Creating Evergreen Content for COVID-19
Since early this year, the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has completely altered the way B2B companies across many industries are conduct business.
Pipelines have slowed down. Contracts have become at-risk. And the editorial calendars we went into January feeling so proud of have become irrelevant.
Since around February this year (for those businesses in the U.S.), many businesses have been asking the same question:
How can I show up in a way that feels genuine, but also keeps my name out there for when things return back to “normal”?
Enter Content Marketing
One of the most effective ways to provide value and spread brand awareness is through content marketing. And the key to a solid content strategy is simple:
- Identify your audience & goal
- Find out what problems your audience has
- Provide solutions to those problems in your content
When you boil it down to its simple recipe, it’s easy to see that an effective approach to content strategy hasn’t changed at all during “these unprecedented times”. In fact, it’s more important than ever.
Creating a COVID-Proof Content Strategy
You’re likely reading this because you’ve noticed that COVID-19 has not only changed the way you do business but also what problems your customers have.
You could simply adjust your strategy to put out content about COVID-19. You could, say, write a pillar page on how to handle a pandemic. But when this is all said and done — and, no matter how it feels right now, it will be all said and done one day — how will you repurpose that content to provide long-term value beyond COVID-19?
The way I see it, you have two options. You could either leave it up and let it die a slow death, eventually dragging down your site’s SEO ranking. Or you could simply unpublish it, archive it, and move on to the next thing.
The latter option would be the preferred one in this instance, but what if there was a third, more attractive alternative that would allow you to not only provide valuable resources during these trying times, but also be a guide that people could return to after the pandemic is over?
For example, one of our clients at A Brave New recently launched a pillar page that provided general business resilience tips and resources that will be evergreen over time. There are a few mentions of COVID-19 inside the guide, but they’re all easy enough to edit and remove after this is all over so that the content can live on and continue providing value.
Final Thought: Create Pandemic-Proof Content
So, now I challenge you to take some time and figure out what value you can provide now and in the future. Write about a time your business had to overcome a particular challenge, and what skills/strengths got you through it. Provide insights around what products/services/resources are being offered for free to those in your industry.
Don’t be afraid to include mentions of the pandemic, the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, but don’t make your content all about it. Instead, create content that provides value even after all is said and done — your future self (and business) will thank you.
