Well Said Wednesday: Reboots, Remakes, Revivals & Repetition
Everything old is new again.
I say that to myself every time I see a 20-something in the style of jeans I wore in college, which were subsequently branded as vile Mom jeans until being rediscovered and rebranded by the young, cool kids.
In television programming, “reboots” are all the rage. Most of our Sex and the City pals are coming back for more, along with countless other shows.
Movie remakes never end. At last count, there have been four versions of A Star Is Born. (I’ve seen them all and the Judy Garland/James Mason version remains my favorite.) I couldn’t begin to tell you how many actors have played Spiderman.
Broadway has a category of awards just for revivals.
Everything old is new again. Even your content.
I encourage my clients to embrace the reboot/recycle/rerun approach with their content.
Repurpose it. Rerun it. Reboot it. You’ll gain two important benefits.
Messages Need Repetition
Most messages need to be repeated frequently before they’re fully absorbed by our audiences. I repeatedly (ha!) tell my clients that we get sick of hearing our message way before anyone else does.
And, if you’re doing it right, you’re constantly adding to your audience. Those new folks have no idea that talking about repurposing content is something you’ve talked about before! ;-)
When a friend told me she was completely blindsided by a plot turn in the Bradley Cooper/Lady Gaga version of A Star Is Born, I thought, “Really? It’s the same turn in all the versions.” That’s when it dawned on me that not everyone spent their teens and 20s devouring old movies. To her, it was a brand new story.
Maximize Your Effort
If you’re going to take the time to craft good messages that tell your story and make your audience see themselves in it, don’t let it be a once-and-done effort. Wring as much as you can out of your effort! This could mean repurposing blog posts, lifting language from a sales letter for your website, linking to the catalog of your podcasts in materials.
A couple of things to keep in mind:
Check for timeliness.
If you have specific time references or current events that aren’t so current either update them or edit them out. For example: The first time I ran this post (ahem) A Star Is Born had just hit theatres. I kept the reference but also threw in a more contemporary example, the Sex and the City reboot.
If you can’t easily update text, throw a disclaimer at the beginning that positions your “rerun.”
(You’ll see what I’m talking about in any post that is titled “Well Said Wednesday, Again.”Check links or URLs
Especially in blog posts. Look for broken links, references to products you no longer offer or ideas you aren’t currently leaning into.
Fashion is cyclical. Bankable, familiar plots and nostalgia have always been a draw. Your content can — and should — live many lives, too.