Collaboration

story by ADRIANNE MACHINA | illustration by MATT MASTRUD
Great cooks insist on using the best ingredients. As a marketer, you should, too!
I know how to cook up a great campaign, write a brilliant blog post, and create an award-winning
submission, but what I need are the ingredients – the subject matter expertise that resides in the
brains of the company’s busiest employees. All the marketing tools, detailed spreadsheets, and
sophisticated marketing techniques in the world will not overcome a lack of good, compelling,
accurate content. It’s like making a soufflé with powdered eggs. Your content will fall flat.
So how do you get the good stuff? You have to set up interviews and meetings with the subject matter experts who
understand the topic in depth. Be as flexible as you can. I’ve had to grab consultants’ time while they were waiting in
airports, sitting in hotel rooms, taking a break in-between demos – basically, squeezing in a few moments between
their immediate revenue-driving priorities.
Here are my tips to getting on their schedule and gathering what you need:
» Tie your project into the company’s overall mission. No one wants to write a blog post that is going to
collect dust, never to be looked at or shared. Marketing never seems as vital as the billable hour or the next sale –
but it’s critical for long-term success. Connect the dots as to how their participation ties into the overall mission.
Also, make sure you have the buy-in of the executive team. If they know that this project has all eyes on it, they
are more likely to be responsive.
» Honor their time. The subject matter experts you are seeking out are usually compensated by billable time
and/or are commission-driven, and they don’t always understand why participating in creating content is so
important. I recommend starting your conversations by marketing the value of marketing. Tell them where
and how the content you create will be used. Keep your meetings with them short and to the point, but most
importantly, come to the meeting on time and prepared! Don’t show up without first writing down questions to
discuss with them. Also, keep them informed as to the project schedule. Communicate when they can expect to
see the first draft, and set expectations about how quickly you’d like for them to get their revisions back to you.
» Piggyback. What are these experts already doing that you can leverage? Are they hosting a webinar? Are they
training a new employee? Do they have an upcoming internal training that you could sit in on and listen to?
Rather than asking for a separate meeting, get invited to meetings that they’re already having.
» Play to their strengths. Are they good at writing? Give them a series of questions to answer. Staring at a blank
page is the worst part about writing. Can they verbalize what they mean better than they can write? Schedule a
phone conference and record the call so you can refer back to key points later. Ask what material already exists
that you can use as a leverage point – so that you don’t have to start at the very beginning.
» Make them look good. Make sure they get credit for their contributions! Their name should be in the byline.
Allow them to post to their own Twitter feed and LinkedIn profile. Train them on the best ways to amplify the
message on social media. Say nice things about them to their boss (assuming the compliment is well-deserved).
Overall, let them know their time is well-appreciated and valued.
When there is so much to be done, it can be mighty tempting to want to churn out content as fast as possible. But,
if you are continually creating pieces that are all fluff and no substance, you devalue your brand and damage your
authority on the subject. As the marketing team, you shouldn’t be expected to know the technical terms and nuances
of the industry that have taken your experts 20+ years to learn. Your job is to ask the right questions, move the project
along, and get the desired results.
Now get out there and get cooking!
Adrianne Machina is a marketing consultant with a passion for cooking up marketing success for her clients. Want to see
what’s on her grocery list? Contact her at Amachina@tornadomktg.com.
THEPARTNERCHANNEL.COM | FALL 2015 43