How to set repackaged content apart from AI slop
Content repackaging is having a moment. Companies are sitting on mountains of blogs, reports, videos, presentations, articles and more. Repackaging all this content for new channels and audiences offers huge potential return on clients’ initial investment.
Sounds simple, right? Content repackaging can seem like the most rudimentary kind of editing, and it may seem like an ideal job to delegate to AI.
Trouble is, assuming repackaging is easy is the first step to creating content that gets lost in the ocean of AI slop. Sure, AI can make the process more efficient—but the decisions that steer effective repackaging require skill, experience and, most of all, dedication to your reader.
Think about it: Repackaging is all about empathy. You have tons of raw material, but what does your reader need most? What is the most useful way for them to receive it? What don’t they need, and what would be confusing or counterproductive for them? Judgments like these determine whether your repackaged content resonates or disappears into the void.
The tsunami of AI-created content has only increased the urgency to empathize when mining existing work. Search engines and LLMs prioritize content that meets readers’ needs fully, efficiently and accurately. That means SEO and GEO aren’t box-checking exercises anymore. If your content is genuinely useful to your reader, it will rise to the top; if it’s not, no one will read it. Empathy is the difference-maker.
Some questions to consider as you approach a repackaging project:
Who exactly is your reader? Is your target reader or ideal customer profile the same as it was for the existing piece? If different, what has changed?
Why does your reader care about what you have to say? You’re asking your reader to spend some of their invaluable time with you. What’s in it for them?
What excites your reader? What new trends or developments is your reader fired up about? Consider folding them in near the top of the piece.
What keeps your reader up at night? Are they worried about shifting industry conditions, tariffs or geopolitics, job security, market volatility? As you review your source material, consider these concerns through your reader’s eyes and address them.
These are some of the same questions we ask when we create content from scratch. In a way, that’s the point. At The Writing Company, our first writing pillar is “Think from the reader’s perspective”—and it’s the key to wringing the most from your existing content, too.