Kickstarting your content marketing

Marketers consistently list, “Creating enough quality content” as one of their major challenges. As a result, content marketing efforts often get delayed. I spend a good amount of time talking with companies about finding and cultivating the great content that already exists in their organizations.

As companies look to take advantage of the benefits of content marketing, I offer these two pieces of advice.

1. You know more than you realize

Most organizations (and people, too) undervalue the knowledge and expertise they have. As a result, they feel like they have nothing to share. I encourage them to think about their focus. And then ask them them to share what they have learned from being in business over the years. The process always results in some useful, and sometime surprising, insight.

2. Nobody likes a know-it-all

Identifying your expert insight makes you feel great. Now, just don’t abuse it. Remember, it’s about “sharing” insight as opposed to making sure everybody knows what an expert you are. Just be humble and tell great stories with the insight woven in.

I wouldn’t portray creating great content as simple or easy. But too often than not, I see companies view the effort of getting started as nearly insurmountable. We all have knowledge and expertise that we have earned through our work. It’s just a matter of giving ourselves credit for what we know and then sharing it with the genuine desire of helping others.