A Lesson from the Golden Age of Cinema

When I was travelling back from Auckland to Perth recently, I was watching the greatest movie of all time on my iPod. The movie, of course, is Casablanca:

It struck me that the last time I was watching this movie, it was at an outdoor cinema, under the stars on the big screen. And the previous time, it was at home, watching a DVD on TV.

So here is a movie made 65 years ago, created for the big screen only, and within the last 12 months, I had watched it three times in three completely different places: DVD, big screen and iPod.

Of course, nobody thought about this in 1942 when it was first shown in cinemas. But the beauty of digital information is that it's so portable.

Are you doing the same with your content?

What material do you have that is currently published for only one medium? Your clients or customers now have new tools to consume material in different ways, at different times, and on their own terms. Are you making it easy to them, or are you getting in the way?

For example, if you publish a podcast regularly, are you also publishing that as an audio clip on your Web site? And are you adding the same audio clip to your blog? Different people will see it in those three different places.

Or, when you write an article in your newsletter, do you also publish it on your Web site? And add it to your blog?

You don't have to change the content.

I've talked in the past about how to change the content of an article or a blog post to create new content. But here, you don't even have to change the content. It's just a matter of using the same content and publishing it in a different place. That makes it easier for people to find in the place that is most convenient to them.

Don't worry about them complaining that you just duplicate all your material and you've got nothing new. On the contrary, they will probably only see it in the one place they like to read it, listen to it or watch it. They'll thank you for making the effort to make it easy for them.

Key words: Creating Products

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Gihan Perera is the author of "Get Active: Web Sites for Speakers, Trainers, Coaches and Consultants" and "Fast, Flat and Free: What You Need to Know to Stay Ahead in a Connected World". Visit http://GihanPerera.com and get your complimentary copies now.

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