Packaging Content for Different Uses

Just because you come up with an annual report or a brochure that works well on the rack, doesn’t mean that’s how the information should be presented in all circumstances.

People have different needs and interests, so if you want your content to reach more people, you should package it differently appropriate to different uses.

The marketing of music when I was growing up is a good example of this. If I was at a friend’s house, I could listen to a whole album, but on the radio I heard mostly singles. Any music company that wanted to sell albums, pushed the singles as well.

Todd Defren has a great post about “atomizing” content into small chunks, so people who aren’t inclined to read your 40-page paper can approach the information in a more granular, less methodical way.

Examples of folks who really know how to take a small info item and give it its own space: Copyblogger, where Brian Clark takes information he has already published and weaves it into new posts, driving traffic to previous posts, and SEOBook.com, where Aaron Wall writes a blog that updates and promotes his SEOBook downloadable guide to search engine optimization.

Takeaway:  You’ve gone to the effort of getting your content planned, created, packaged and delivered.  Why wouldn’t you put a little extra effort into making sure it’s also available in other formats and with less/more detail, appropriate for someone with other information needs?