As the task of creating engaging content rests squarely on our shoulders, we marketers have an incredible responsibility to our companies and our audiences. Fulfilling that responsibility can be quite overwhelming at times, and in the midst of consistently creating blog content, whitepapers, e-books, email campaigns, and presentations, we often feel like we have to do it all.
But before you burn out, take a moment to consider the outstanding team of people outside of your marketing team who can lend a hand in your content creation. Sure, you’ll still need to edit and optimize, but the initial task of actually putting words onto the page is something you can strategically spread out among other people in your team.
If you aren’t leveraging these five key people to help you, you’re missing an opportunity to create richer content and take a bit of the workload off of your plate.
The Executive Leader
An executive leader casts the vision for the rest of your company. He or she is a fountain of thought leadership, so tap into his or her perspective to create a compelling piece.
Content from your leadership can help you get more mileage out of that one piece — not only do your clients and prospects want to hear more from your CEO, but so do media outlets, analysts, and influencers in your industry.
For instance, our CEO at Hatchbuck wrote an article about the St. Louis startup scene, and several sources outside of our usual promoters shared the message. Because the content utilized his unique expertise and came from him directly, more people (and a more diverse audience) were interested in the content. We saw a lot of engagement as a result.
As marketers, we have the ability to take our thought leaders’ ideas and transform them into compelling content for our audiences. While your executive team is casting your company’s mission, vision, and direction, you can set goals and create an actionable strategy around sharing their stories with your readers. By donning your “do leader” hat, you can harness the ideas of your thought leaders and leverage content produced by your executive team.
The Client-Facing Account Manager
While you’re busy creating content behind the scenes, you’re likely missing out on the day-to-day details, pain points, and experiences of your audience and clients — and missing out on great opportunities for content creation. Thankfully, each of your client-facing team members can fill you in to help create relevant, customer-focused content tailored to precisely what your readers want.
After breaking down the concept of marketing automation to a number of clients each day, one of our account managers wrote an article explaining its ins and outs for our readers. Not only did she have firsthand experience explaining exactly what her customers were struggling with, but she also knew how to tackle the topic in a way that was approachable. The final piece of content really resonated with our network.
Your account manager, customer service reps, and sales team members all interact with your customers and potential clients every day. Take advantage of the knowledge and daily experiences of those team members on the front lines to add a unique perspective to your content.
The Customer
When a Hatchbuck customer gives kudos to one of our employees, we share the compliment with the whole company. Not only does sharing kudos with the team help us lift each other up, but it also helps us identify our best customer advocates. And once you identify customers who act as advocates for your company, you can tap into them for content like case studies, testimonials, blog articles, recommendations, and reviews.
Ninety-two percent of consumers around the world say they trust word-of-mouth advertising above all other forms, so start taking advantage of those customers who love your products or services to help create user-generated content — which is up to 20 percent more influential than any other type of content.
Your customers can be some of the best members of your content team; their reviews, comments, articles, and testimonials can go far. Attract a larger audience by allowing customers to create an authentic picture of your business and their experience with you.
The Strategic Partner
By developing and utilizing strategic relationships with partners outside of your company, you can create different kinds of content and reach a wider audience. Because your partners and vendors often share similar target audiences with your business, encourage them to write guest posts for your company blog or host a joint webinar. Return the favor for them in the future.
It will take careful planning to execute the strategies that provide the best results for everyone involved, but the payoff is worth it. These relationships are mutually beneficial, and you’ll each have the opportunity to share co-produced content with each other’s networks, build your audiences, and grow your brands.
The Influencer
Like your strategic partners, industry influencers will share a similar target audience, but unlike your partners, their reach is much larger. Extend the reach of your content by creating and sharing it through and with influencers.
You can do this by publishing your own research that affects the industry or by featuring industry leaders on your company blog. In October, the Influence & Co. marketing team interviewed Wade Foster, about his company’s content strategy. The team created a thorough, engaging piece of content that benefited both companies.
Make it a priority to develop relationships with key industry influencers, and think of creative ways you can each benefit from your partnerships. By utilizing these relationships and sharing your content through their channels, you can increase conversions at a right of three times as high.
Now, the most obvious challenge in recruiting assistance for your content creation from these five people is time. We’re all busy people with tight schedules and plenty of responsibilities, so you have to find a way to make it easy for them to contribute.
To save time and keep it simple, consider asking for a brief outline or a handful of key ideas instead of a fully fledged article. If a client is too busy to write, request — and record — an interview, and create content around the ideas he or she shares verbally.
When content is king, marketers wear a heavy crown. But when you can leverage others to help you create content, you’ll have a stronger strategy and better, more engaging content for your audience.
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