Evergreen vs timely content: What should you be creating for your small business?

Are you trying to work out whether to create evergreen or timely content for your small business? Or maybe you’ve heard that should be using both but aren’t entirely sure how to create a content strategy that includes both. Keep on reading as I’ll be exploring the argument of evergreen vs timely content. I’ll explain the differences between evergreen and timely content is, as well as helping you to understand the role both types of content play in a content marketing strategy so you can create the right mixture for your small business.

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Evergreen vs timely content: What should you be creating for your small business?

What is the difference between evergreen and timely content?

 

Before working out what type of content you need to create you need to understand the difference between evergreen and timely. Evergreen content is content that can be consumed today, tomorrow or in a year’s time and still be useful. This is in direct contrast to timely, which is content that is created to be consumed now and whilst it is highly relevant now, it may quickly become out-of-date or irrelevant. A variation of timely content is seasonal content. In this situation the content is timely (ie it could be made for the new year) but since the new year comes around every year it has the opportunity to be useful multiple times in the future, but isn’t useful all year round.

 

Evergreen content vs timely content: Which is the best?  

 

Now that you understand the difference between the two types of content you might be thinking “Which type of content is best?”. When you are looking at evergreen vs timely content the truth is that there are pros and cons to both types of content.

 

You might think that evergreen content has a longer life span and therefore it makes sense to focus your resources on content that lives longer, but timely content has the ability to perform well and even go viral since it is in response to what is happening in real-time.

 

Overall, I don’t believe that either evergreen content or timely content better than the other. They both play a very important role and the best content marketing strategies will include both types of content.

 

FURTHER READING: Find out why you need to create evergreen content to market your business here.

 

Are you currently creating content without a strategy? If so, then it is time to take your marketing to the next level by having a personalised content marketing strategy made for your business. I specialise in creating marketing strategies that can be delivered by one person (it can be you or your VA) and with the combined experience of running my own blogs, podcast and YouTube channel, as well as being a Chartered Marketer with over a decade of marketing experience you can rest assured you’ll have a marketing strategy that will get results, but is also manageable. Find out more and book a strategy day here.

 

 

 

 

Evergreen content vs timely content: Finding the right balance

 

As I mentioned earlier a good content marketing strategy will include both evergreen and timely content. As a small business owner, and the marketer in your business, you’ll need to work out what the right balance should be.

 

A very popular method is to have 80% evergreen content and 20% timely content. This is a good place to start as it is weighted more towards evergreen content, which on the whole offers a better return on investment, but still allows you to make some timely content to ensure that you can be reactive to what is happening in the world.

 

Using the 80% evergreen content and 20% timely content rule is an easy way to get started, but if you want to go a step further you should think about each marketing channel in turn. Depending on the channel it might make more sense to use evergreen or timely content. For example, if you are creating blog posts that you are writing with SEO in mind then you’ll want to focus on making the majority of your blog posts evergreen. Whereas, if you are using Twitter and regularly posting tweets, which have a short lifespan, then you increase the percentage of timely content you publish.

 

It really is an art rather than a science when it comes to finding the right balance between evergreen and timely content. Take into consideration the channel alongside your ultimate marketing and business goals.

 

How to create a content strategy that includes both timely and evergreen content

 

If you’ve taken my advice and decided that you should be using both timely and evergreen content, then you need to make sure you are building a strategy that allows for both.

 

 

If you have decided to have a content strategy that is heavier on evergreen (such as 80% evergreen and 20% timely) then your overall strategy is to create evergreen content and you should identify ways in which timely content can be incorporated.

 

For example, a great way to add timely content into your marketing is by having an annual calendar with key dates marked. You can look for holidays (Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween etc), as well as awareness days that might be relevant to your business. Having these all marked on an annual calendar means that when you are sitting down to plan your content (for the week, fortnight or month ahead) you can be aware of upcoming key dates and decide whether to make content (long-form or short-form) to support those key dates.

Don’t already have a content marketing plan. Find out how to create your own content marketing plan and get my free planning workbook here.

 

There you have it! You now know the difference between evergreen and timely content, and should be able to make an informed decision about what you should be creating for your small business.  

 

Creating content to market your business has become, virtually, an essential part of marketing. Whether you are creating social media post or making blog posts, podcast episodes or videos you are using content marketing and you need to be strategic about the content you are creating.

 

I hope by reading this blog post you now have a better understanding of the different roles timely and evergreen content plays and feel able to make a decision about what your content strategy should be going forward.

 

In the comments, I would love to know what your evergreen versus timely content split will be going forwards

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WANT HELP WITH YOUR CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY?

I create personalised content marketing strategies to ensure that business owners have a strategy that is manageable by one person and supports the ultimate business goals.

If you are reading this blog post, then I’m sure you want to be more strategic with your content and I can help you with that. To get a personalised content marketing strategy created in one day book a strategy day.

To find out more or to book a strategy day click here.

 

Don’t think a Strategy Day is right for you, but know you need some personalised marketing support. Don’t worry I offer a range of services. You can find out all the other ways I work 1-to-1 with solopreneurs and small business owners here.