Better than the original

Somewhere on a corner of the Internet is audio of me singing Neil Diamond’s hit “Solitary Man.”

It’s been covered plenty, including by velvet-voiced Chris Isaak.

Decades before even Isaak’s version came a surprising rendition:

Within months of Diamond’s 1966 release, Della Reese recorded it as a B-side.

Hers was called “Solitary Woman” and… it might be better than the original.

A surprising number of songs have become more famous when recorded by someone else…

Some are even synonymous with the cover artists.

Aretha Franklin’s “R-E-S-P-E-C-T”? Otis Redding.

The 80s song “Tainted Love” that gave Soft Cell a #1 hit? A 60s song from Gloria Jones!

And Whitney Houston’s epic “I Will Always Love You” was famously penned and recorded by Dolly Parton.

If these can become better known (and better) than the originals… perhaps there’s new life in your existing content.

Last week, I shared some tips to attract more of your technical audience without writing more content.

Don’t worry if you missed that presentation, because now there’s a blog post version with several examples and a handful of methods you can put to use right away.

Even if you published something this year, give it the Della Reese treatment.

​Reframe, repurpose, and republish your content to reach a broader audience.