Content from small business subject matter experts keeps SMBs coming back for more.
We can’t repeat this often enough. Your content must be great, not just good, to be effective in today’s cluttered world. There is so much content out there that SMBs don’t have the time or patience to sift through all of it. They’re only interested in content that is engaging and useful to them—content that tells them things they don’t already know and encourages them to come back for more. One way to create content that excels is to engage with real small business subject matter experts (SMEs) — people who work with SMBs every day.
If you have such experts within your company (hint: they can often be found in consultative sales or implementation roles), that’s great. By all means, get them involved in helping to produce your content. If you don’t, or maybe even if you do, it’s wise to reach outside your organization and enlist recognized experts in areas that are important to SMBs.
External experts add authority
We are big fans of using external SMEs because:
- The involvement of external SMEs sends a subtle but meaningful message that your content is not just there to market your brand.
- They may share the content they help create among their networks, increasing its reach.
Choose them carefully
The highest-profile, most obvious choices are not necessarily the best. Here are some things to keep in mind when using SMEs:
- The best SMEs may not be well-known, but may still have valuable front-line experience working with SMBs. They might not have big followings, likely because they are too busy with clients to spend time promoting themselves. It can take time to identify them. At RSL Media, we have an extensive network we have built up over many years.
- Be wary of so-called influencers. There are a few good ones, but many just recycle the same old stuff. You end up paying for exposure to their network, but getting substandard content.
Finding and leveraging expert sources can be a challenge, but it’s worth the effort, and you have options:
- Engage SMEs directly to write the content themselves.
- Some SMEs have terrific expertise but are not good writers. They are often happy to work with a ghostwriter who can extract their expertise.
- Employ a writer with experience in the SMB space who has their own network of expert sources they can mine for additional expertise.
The contributions of true small business subject matter experts can add value, credibility, and authority to your content and help you position your brand as a trusted resource for the ideas and solutions SMBs seek.
Get insights and tips for marketing to small and midsize businesses from the people who speak SMB.
