When you run Zen ads, you need a lot of texts: to test different hypotheses, formats, tell about different products. But it so happens that you do not have an author who can quickly write all these texts. Or there is an author, but he has a download for a month in advance. And the texts are needed here and now.
To save time and launch an advertising campaign on time, you can repackage old texts by replacing some parts of them. It looks like a constructor.
The advantage of repackaging is that on average it takes up to several hours. And it takes longer to write a text from scratch: the author needs to study all the materials, come up with themes, write and edit texts according to the editor’s comments, pick up illustrations, etc. We’ll have to lay an average of several days to a week.
In general, repackaging is such an “ambulance” for advertising texts in Zen.
Next, we will tell you how to work with her and in what situations she will help you.
What texts won’t repackaging work with?
It will definitely be difficult to repackage:
- narrowly focused articles. For example, in a text about an LCD in a specific city, your options are limited: there is no point in adapting this text for residents of other regions, since, most likely, they are not interested in an LCD in another city at all;
- Press release;
- interview;
- too heavy or complex texts;
- native texts that you posted in the media;
- materials from media special projects.
It will take too much time to repackage such texts: you will have to change the structure a lot and almost rewrite the text from scratch. This contradicts the main point of repackaging: it should help you reduce your time for writing new texts, not increase it.
But general texts without an abundance of small details (for example, the article “How to choose an apartment in a new building” – with advice on where to look for new buildings, what to look for when choosing a house and how not to stumble upon an unscrupulous developer), voluminous texts that can be divided into a few small ones – great options for repackaging.
Where to start repackaging?
Decide how much time and resources you have for it. Sometimes you just need to start a new text as quickly as possible, and sometimes there is no resource for writing, but there is a thoughtful revision. Thus, two possible repackaging scenarios can be distinguished.
First: time is short -> change individual elements
This option is suitable for, for example, the following situations:
- No time to write new text… In this case, you can use an old ad copy with good results for repackaging.
- It is necessary to adapt the text to the new conditions… Let’s say the original text was with tips for finding real estate in the secondary housing using the example of St. Petersburg, and now you want to take the same text, but tell in it about the search for real estate in the secondary housing using the example of Nizhny Novgorod. That is, target the text to a different region.
- The original text did not work well and you want to improve the result… If changing headings and covers doesn’t help, you can try repackaging the text a bit.
In these cases, as part of the repackaging, it is necessary to change individual parts of the text, like the details of the designer. You simply change individual blocks and you get updated text that is quite different from the original.
And here are the parts of the text that you can replace:
Together with them, we advise you to pick up a new set of covers. After running the text, you will see which options turned out to be the most successful. Unsuccessful combinations can be removed or replaced with new ones.
Reframe it, replace important details (eg city name, numbers, etc.). Also, in a lead, you can go through another “pain” of the reader or appeal to a different audience.
- Subheadings
Since in this case you do not change the structure of the text, it is enough to simply reformulate the subheadings.
- Photo inside text
For example, if you have a text about real estate and as part of repackaging you target it to a different region, it may contain the same screenshots of maps – and they definitely need to be replaced so that it does not happen that the text is about one city, and the map is about another.
- Photo captions
If you didn’t have them at all, it’s time to add: signatures allow you to add something else, tell, describe, give details. If you already had signatures, it is enough to reformulate them.
Feel free to write directly in the call to action what you need from the reader: go, order, subscribe. If there are discounts or special offers that you did not write about in the original text, mention them in the repackaged text.
And of course, don’t forget to adjust the small details in the body of the text. For example, if you have updated some data (price, discount amount, etc.), check if you replaced it.
Second: there is time -> make changes to the structure of the text
This repackaging is suitable if you want to rework the text more: for example, change its format and turn the general story about the product into questions and answers, tips into a checklist, etc. This option is no longer as precise as the first one, and will take more time, since it is a work at the intersection of repackaging and editing.
Here you need to work closely with the structure of the text, logic, shorten the text, or vice versa – add information to it, etc. In general, this is a more time consuming task. But here are some tips to make it easier:
- be clear about what you want to change… For example, you want to convert text from one format to another. In this case, it is worth writing a short plan: indicate what sections you will have, think about the approximate wording of subheadings, the order of the sections. This will make the text logical and coherent;
- add new information if needed… Don’t be lazy and don’t forget about it;
- do not forget about point changes… Even when you decide to change something in the structure, make some simpler changes: add new titles and photos, change the lead and call to action.
In addition to changing the text format, this option is also suitable in a situation where you are converting non-advertising text from your Zen blog into a promotional publication. In non-ad copy, at least there is no call to action, it needs options for covers and headings. Changes to the structure and greater product integration are likely to be needed as well.
And then what?
Run repackaged text. We advise you to create a new separate campaign for it. There is no need to change the old text or upload a new one to the old campaign: this will merge all the text statistics into one. Because of this, it will be difficult to understand which text – old or new, repackaged – worked better. And if the text is added to a new campaign, then you will see “clean” statistics.
And don’t forget about the details: if the repackaged text will work for a different region or audience, set the appropriate targeting in the campaign settings.