How to create compelling content at your company

A big part of running a successful marketing program at a startup is asking the subject matter experts at the company, from leadership to technical practitioners, to create compelling content. Here are the pros and cons to this task.

Pros:

• compelling content will reach your target audience
• some of them will convert to paid customers

Cons:

• interviewing subject matter experts at your company takes willing participants
• interviewing and writing takes times
• everyone is busy (and there is often a higher level of stress and pressure at a startup)

With the right combination of attitude and skill, the cons can be overcome, and any CEO or founder will tell you it’s worth the pros.

Let’s get started!

Set expectations for process and outcome

The first conversation with your CEO / founder / manager will set up and explain the goal and process. You don’t need to go into the weeds here, but you do need the buy-in and support of this person so that when/if you have push back for participating, you can lean on them. It might look something like this:

Hi CEO / founder / manager,

As part of our content strategy, I will be reaching out to (name) our (job title) to interview them about (subject matter). The goal of this session will be to provide me with specialized knowledge and content to spin into a (content type) for our (audience type) audience. After this (content type) is published/goes live, it will feed into our social media strategy for our (audience type) audience.

Depending on your company’s CEO / founder / manager, you may need to provide more information about your content and social media strategy if you haven’t already.

Once you have approval or buy-in, move forward to your subject matter expert.

Reach out to your subject matter experts

The subject matter experts (SMEs) at your company is anyone who has specialized knowledge that could contribute to compelling content for your target audience. The truth is, if you’re good at this, that’s practically everyone. Selecting who to speak with first is part science, part art.

Sometimes, sending out a blanket call for SMEs to share is best. Whoever has time and passion for sharing will raise their hand. But, at a startup or smaller company, this will be more difficult because there are simply fewer people and often greater time pressure. In this case, you will need to send a message directly to an SME based on what kind of content you’re hoping to create first. You may also have some insight from your CEO / founder / manager into who may have more time or be more willing.

Sometimes this is someone on the leadership team, sometimes it’s a technical practitioner. Here’s how you know who to approach:

Leaders’ specialized knowledge:

• market landscape
• industry trends
• customer preferences

This is often best for thought leadership content or company news.

At startups, your leaders will be easier to approach and get time with. In bigger companies, your accessible leaders may be in VP or Director roles.

Technical practitioners’ specialized knowledge:

• technical skills and knowledge
• how the product or services solve a pain point for the customer

This is often best for technical how-to content or product pages.

At tech companies, the technical practitioners to approach are engineers, developers, and Dev Rels or technical marketers.

Conduct an interview or request a piece of content

Leaders or customers will often be best to interview, asking them specific questions and letting them answer as fully and unencumbered as possible. I like to send them the questions in advance and record the conversation for editing later.

Technical practitioners may want to be interviewed or write their own content. Either way, I like to meet with them first to discuss the content requested. If they are writing the first draft or editing the one you send them, it’s important for them to understand how and why you want to structure the content in this way and how they fit into the process. Communicating this clearly and upfront will save a lot of time and frustration. It could also save you from incomplete content that never sees publication or content that get trashed because all parties could not approve and agree.

Like I said, there’s science and art here.

After I complete an interview or receive a first draft/edit, I communicate how I plan to move this content to the next stage and what level of approval/input I will need from them and when. I also let them know when I hope to have the content ready to publish/go live. Exact dates may not be feasible or necessary, but communicating general timeframes is important.

Publishing and sharing your content

Your content is ready to publish when:

• all parties have approved the content and the date
• your editor has performed a final review
• you have a social media strategy in place

Your social media strategy should consist of a date or multiple dates on the calendar for sharing the content. This could include creative design elements alongside creative copy to reach your target audience. All appropriate channels should have a tailored post.

When a new piece of content is live, share it with all relevant parties. This could look like:

• a message to your company’s marketing channel, tagging contributors
• a message to your manager and the SME
• be kind, be direct, say thank you

That’s a wrap! Feel free to reach out for a consultation if you’d like to create compelling content the Sunshine way.