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How to Get Busy Subject-Matter Experts on Board with Marketing Initiatives

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Marketing is no longer a siloed activity in a business. For a long time, it has operated that way though. It was almost as if there’s an entire section of a business of people who are doing the work, completing the services, building products, etc…and then there’s marketing, by itself and not always connected to the thought leaders and subject-matter experts of the business. There is a shift happening though, specifically in regards to content marketing.

We’re talking about content that actually moves the needle for a business and helps it grow its brand and gain new customers.

Instead of promotional content that simply pushes people to buy products, thought leadership content has become the new way of doing things. About 75% of decision-makers say that an organization’s thought leadership content is a more trustworthy representation of their skills than their marketing materials and product sheets.

With this shift, marketers have to be able to collaborate with subject-matter experts within the organization on a regular basis. All departments of the company need to be involved in marketing more than ever before.

It can be a challenge to get various departments and individuals to spend their valuable time on these efforts though. We get it and work to overcome that challenge with our clients every day. We have a few strategies that we implement that we have found to be very effective. Let’s get into it!

The Days of Faceless Companies Are Over

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That style of marketing has come and gone. You can’t just have a logo anymore, especially with the digital representation that businesses have now. You have to be online and alive and engaged with your audience. You have to have a consistent marketing funnel that’s getting filled with valuable content again, and again, and again.

Companies used to simply share their products or services and call it a day. But, we now live in a time where that’s just not enough. With social media giving people access to various solutions to their issues, most companies have more competition than ever before.

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Thought Leadership Content is the New Way

To get the most out of your marketing strategy, you need to leverage thought leadership content. An overwhelming 9 out of 10 decision-makers say they are more receptive to sales or marketing outreach from companies that consistently post thought leadership content. The best way to do this is to collaborate with the thought leaders that already exist at your company.

They can help you with both the information you need to create content and with being a face that is featured in your content. As we said, faceless companies are done. You need to feature real people sharing real experiences if you want to be successful with your social media content.

However, this isn’t always easy to pull off and we see this challenge come up again and again – especially professional services. The service provided is the collective brain power of the people who are in the business–those who are doing the work. So think insurance, healthcare strategy, finances, life coaches, tech companies, and so on. Their marketing teams need to take those experts’ knowledge and turn it into valuable content.

The issue is they need consistent content that’s being distributed across all their channels but their marketing team alone cannot do that. These marketers might even have some experience in the space where they’re working but they still need those thought leaders to be a part of it.

Everybody has to be involved in the marketing process now.

You need to produce authentic and valuable content. To create this, deep subject-matter experts must be involved in order to make that happen. Without their knowledge, the company’s content won’t be as specific, authentic, and valuable.

How to Get Thought Leaders to Help With Marketing

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Getting people on board with being a thought leader is easier said than done. We’ve had to help our clients work through this a lot. Because let’s be honest, it can be overwhelming to say to people who are already busy, “Hey I need so and so, who’s the director of this thing, to sit down with me and talk to me about this idea. I need their specific take on it because it would make really valuable and interesting content that would actually stand out in the marketplace.”

The issue is getting time on that person’s calendar to talk, film content, and gain insights. As we mentioned, these experts within the company are very busy people. That means you have to work even harder to get their help.

We’ve had experience dealing with this with our own clients and their company experts. Here are our three best tips for getting them on board and getting that subject matter expertise out of their brains and into your content.

Show Them the Value

Our first tip is to show them the value. They need to understand the importance of quality thought leadership content for the company and how important their role is in creating it.

In order for them to want to spend their time doing interviews, answering questions, being a part of video recordings, or whatever it may be, you actually need to show those people the value of what they’re doing and how it’s going to fit the bigger picture of the company. Really communicate and show them why spending their time doing this is going to move the business forward and help the marketing department create even better content.

Make Involvement as Easy as Possible

The people you’re asking to work with you on this are likely incredibly busy. As the main subject matter experts in your company, they’re probably being pulled in a thousand different directions all of the time.

So, you need to make this as simple and easy as possible for them by doing the following:

  • Meet when they can meet
  • Handle the calendar invites
  • Give them all of the prep documents ahead of time
  • Give them all the tips to do their best
  • Don’t take too much of their time

Really hold their hand to make it as easy as possible for them. This is going to be imperative if you want a successful experience. They don’t want to do any extra work that they haven’t signed up for, so make it super easy and you’ll get a lot better buy-in.

Don’t Waste Their Time

The biggest mistake you could make is not showing up incredibly prepared and ready to go.

Do all the prep work beforehand. This means that you should…

  • Know exactly what you’re going to do
  • Know how to start your questions
  • Know the direction the conversation’s going to go
  • Leave questions open-ended at certain points
  • Direct them at other times
  • Know the exact setup if you’re recording
  • Come ready to organize your notes
  • Come ready and prepared to record
  • Stick to the time that you already told them
  • Never go over time

These tips might feel tedious but trust us, showing up with all of this already prepared is going to put you in a much better mindspace and will leave you with a much more productive conversation.

Just think, if you finally get some time on their calendar and then you mess it up by not being prepared, they’re probably not going to sit down with you again. Come prepared and don’t waste their time.

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How Breezy Can Help You Create Thought Leadership Content

Getting employees to be a part of the development of thought leadership content doesn’t have to be difficult. It’s pretty much unavoidable these days, so not creating educational content isn’t an option. But to make your content better–and your life easier–try to incorporate some of those best practices.

Now, if you’re feeling like there still isn’t enough time or resources for you to do all of this on your own, we’re here to help. If you feel that you’re stretched too thin trying to manage all of the marketing for your company as well as getting people to help out with the thought leadership aspect, then we can help. If you work with us, The Breezy Company, we can take that added stress off your plate. From content creation to website maintenance to video editing, we can cover all your marketing bases.

Want to learn more? Take our quick needs assessment by clicking here.

Ready to Launch a Content Marketing Plan for Your Small Business?

We know that carving out the time, resources, and energy to create ongoing content for your brand or business is a full-time job. That’s why we created Breezy – your instant content marketing team.

You don’t need to hire multiple full-time employees to handle all of the strategy, planning, writing, designing, and publishing of content. You also don’t have time to wrangle tons of different freelancers to get this all completed. You need one expert team that can help get all of the amazing thought-leadership and subject matter expertise out of your head and into formalized, engaging content that keeps you top of mind with your audience.

We’re that team!

See how we can help your small business, startup, or agency with a free consultation.

SCHEDULE A CALL TODAY! 

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