A Q&A on content marketing with Steve Henke
Steve Henke, founder and president of Harpeth Marketing, has written over 500 articles since the start of the company. Henke and the team at Harpeth Marketing have helped many in the marketing research industry through training and workshops.
Henke gave us some advice on the best ways to make content and promote it.
What is the No. 1 thing someone needs to know about content marketing?
Having the right mind-set… which is, “Better done than perfect.” The fact is, your writing doesn’t have to be perfect. Of course, it has to be pretty good but not perfect. You're not trying to win an award. Write a blog post, or whatever you're creating, review and edit it a couple of times and then get it out the door. Too many MR professionals I know are concerned about perfection, which means it takes them forever to come up with a topic to write about. Then equally as long to get a simple blog post out the door, if at all. Part of this, also, is how you write. We’ve got some really smart people in our industry, so smart that what they write is often difficult to read because it’s written at such a high level. Dumb it down. Write at a sixth-to-10th grade level. No one will be offended or think less of you. In fact, they’ll appreciate that you made your content so easy to consume.
What advice would you give someone who is developing content marketing KPIs?
For most content, the first question is, "How many people are reading this, viewing this or attending this?” And these sorts of KPIs are pretty easy to access via Google Analytics, webinar registrations, etc. But the real question is, "Then what?" What are you going to do with that information?
First, use it to help guide future content. For example, if more people are reading your blog posts about qualitative research than about quantitative research, write more content about qualitative. Be responsive to the interests of the market.
Second, those topics of the highest interest among your readers might also be telling you about services you need to develop - or promote more actively.
Finally, if you know who is reading - or downloading or attending - your content, use that information as the first step in the sales process. Follow-up the content and reach out to them. You know what interests them, based on what they read, which is a pretty good way to start a sales conversation. Note: one of the best places to pick up this information is by looking at those who link from your monthly e-newsletter to the content on your website.
Why is content marketing important for firms within the marketing research and insights industry?
Think of it this way, why does a research firm get hired? Because the buyer believes them to be an expert at what they do. That is, if your firm is hired to do a brand tracking study, you'd better be awfully darned good at trackers. But, how would a potential buyer know that you're an expert at what you do? You can't just say you're an expert, you have to prove it. And content can be a great proof source.
First, content like blogs, e-books or webinars can show readers your depth of knowledge on a particular subject. But then, content like case studies or white papers provide even further proof that you have done what you claimed you could do and with good outcomes. That’s very compelling information to a potential buyer
Do you think it is more important to create content for social media or a blog?
First of all, they're not mutually exclusive. You can do both. When I think about blog posts and social media, I think about them working in tandem. My recommendation is this, think of the blog as the place where your content resides and social media is a way to drive people to it. That is, social media posts serve as promotional channels, linking readers to the blog post. Plus, with a blog, it's putting people on your website – and you never know what might happen when they end up there.
This question is actually part of a larger issue, and it’s this: your content has no value if no one reads it. Content marketing is two things:
Creating the content.
Marketing that content to get eyeballs on it.
So, as you’re creating the first draft of any piece of content, also be thinking about how you’re going to be promoting it.
Content marketing for the marketing research industry
If it’s not there yet, content marketing should be a cornerstone of your marketing efforts in the MR industry for a number of reasons:
It supports your position in the marketplace.
It’s how you showcase and prove your subject matter expertise.
Promoted properly, it’s a great way to build awareness in the marketplace.
Sharing content is a non-salesy, helpful way to nurture sales leads and stay in touch with clients between projects.
By and large, it’s a low-cost/no-cost marketing tactic.
And the keys to success are pretty simple: share content your buyers and potential buyers are interested in, not what you want to write about. Make content marketing a habit, share content frequently and consistently. Follow those guidelines and you’ll be amazed at the impact content marketing can have on the growth of your business.