The growing need for an effective

content marketing strategy Author: Carl Friesen

Firm: Global Reach Communications Inc.

Originally published in Environmental Science & Engineering

November 2012

Put yourself in the position of a prospective client who is looking

for expertise that happens to be exactly in the sweet spot your firm

most wants to build -- your ideal client. Would this person be able

to find your firm?.

In years and decades past, the prospect’s

search for expertise would have involved

paper, perhaps a trade or professional

directory.

Now, they’ll use Google -- or

increasingly, YouTube. Accordingly, it’s

vital for firms that want to get noticed and

stand out to get involved in the growing

trend of content marketing.

This means developing useful,

non-sales-oriented information or

“content” about your firm’s area of

expertise, and making it available online.

If a prospective client comes to see your

firm as a trustworthy source of

information, it’s a short step to starting a

business relationship.

Being discovered in a search for expertise

To see how this works, consider a recent

lunch conversation I had with a colleague

I’ll call “Janet” who works with one of

Canada’s biggest banks. She leads a team that

sources external expertise. They get called in

whenever the bank needs to solve a particular

problem and doesn’t have the expertise in-

house or want to hire someone permanently.

Because of this role, I figured she’d be

a good person to shed some light on the

question of how the bank determines whether a

self-proclaimed “expert” is right for the

assignment.

As Janet told me, “We hire a ton of

consultants.”

Her team includes a researcher whose

job includes online searches to find experts.

This starts with keyword searches under

relevant topics. The researcher develops a long

list of people and firms that seem to have

expertise on the subject at hand.

Then, they’ll get to work qualifying the

names on the list. They look for articles that

the purported “expert” has published, speaking

engagements, the number of times quoted in

the news media, courses they’ve taught, books

published, white papers written and other

indications of expertise.

Depending on the level of recognition

of the potential consultant’s expertise, Janet’s

team develops a short list and then, after

interviews with the people involved, makes a

recommendation.

The purpose of content marketing is to

impress searchers such as Janet’s team that

your firm has the expertise, bench strength,

experience and other attributes to be the go-to

firm in its areas of operation.

Getting noticed in three kinds of searches Let’s say that you’ve recently made a key hire

we’ll call Aisha, who’s world-class on

mitigating the potential environmental impacts

of geothermal energy systems. You’re relying

on Aisha to be the core of a new geo-energy

practice area.

A prospective client looking online for

that kind of expertise might

use any of three ways to

search, according to my

colleague Grant Goodwin of

online agency AllRoads Inc.

1. They’ve heard of you --

but how good are you? Many potential clients would

start by looking for the name

of a firm or individual --

asking a colleague, friend, or

other person in their network:

“Who do you know who’s

good at this topic?” or “Can

you recommend a firm that

knows its way around that

issue?”

This “name search” could also happen

if someone met Aisha at a networking event

and wants to find out more about her

professional credentials.

They’ll simply enter Aisha’s name

into a browser’s search box and see what

shows up.

The searcher will want to know what

articles Aisha has authored, papers she’s

published, books she’s written, speeches she’s

given, awards she’s received, projects she’s

worked on, and other evidence that she’s the

go-to person to solve their issue.

Probably, Aisha’s LinkedIn profile will

be near the top of the search.

If your firm wants to make Aisha look

good to someone who is investigating her

credentials and expertise, it’s important to

support her in developing evidence of thought

leadership. This might include arranging

speaking engagements, helping her write

articles and papers, and allowing her time to

participate in industry functions.

This information needs to be on

Aisha’s LinkedIn profile, and if she doesn’t

know the finer points of maintaining her

profile, you should provide that support.

2. They know what they want -- but

don’t know who can help If the potential client doesn’t have a name of a

potential service provider, and is conducting a

search to find those names, he might conduct a

“topic search.” For example,

if the prospect has heard that

surface and groundwater

contamination are potential

issues for geo-energy, that

search might include

“groundwater contamination

geothermal” or “geoenergy

precipitated salts.”

If Aisha has published

information on those topics,

and it includes the right search

engine optimization (SEO)

measures such as keywords,

she should show up as

someone with expertise in

those fields.

To support Aisha, try

thinking like a potential searcher -- what search

terms would you use? Then, make sure that

those terms are prominent in headlines, meta-

tags, descriptions and the content itself.

3. They’re new to the idea, and need to

find a friend It could be that Aisha’s prospective client

wants to build green and has heard that for

every technology, there are downsides. He

doesn’t know much more, at present. So, he

types in a “question search” such as, “What

environmental problems are there with

geothermal energy?”.

This is perhaps the hardest kind of

search for your firm to show up in, because

there are so many search words and terms that

could be used. It’s also the most rewarding,

because someone new to a topic will treasure

any online resources that answer their

questions, and be more likely to prefer your

firm when it comes time to

make a choice.

Paying attention to all

three types of searches can

pay big dividends when it

comes to demonstrating your

firm’s expertise to potential

clients.

Why your firm needs a resource-rich website Getting noticed, favorably,

means going beyond a

“brochureware” site, still used

by many engineering firms --

an online brochure, with information about the

firm, its practice areas and its principals.

While a brochureware site provides

essential information to anyone wanting to

learn about your firm, it does little to convince

a prospect that your firm has a superior grasp

of its areas of practice. However, if your site

has a good supply of white papers, published

articles, case studies, videos, slide shows,

audio files and other content, it has a better

chance of being seen as the go-to firm in its

field.

Building and maintaining this kind of

site can be a major investment in time from

your client-service professionals, including

those whose time is most valuable. It involves

hiring appropriate marketing team members,

possibly supported by external suppliers. And

it demands management time.

But the advantage is that prospective

clients are already convinced that the firm is

the go-to source in its industry. This means that

your team spends less time preparing proposals

and selling, and more time generating billable

hours.

Go further: third-party credibility Part of the solution to being visible to potential

clients comes in just having persuasive,

informative content available on your site.

But for selling high-end professional

services, you need to go the extra step of

having your firm’s content available through

sources already known to and

trusted by the people you

want to reach. This can

include industry and trade

magazines and their websites,

professional journals,

websites of professional

organizations, and aggregated

online sources. Why is third-

party hosting important?

Imagine a

competitive-bid situation. One

firm’s representative says,

“We’ve written six posts in

our blog on this topic.” The

other says, “We’ve published

six articles on this topic in

major international magazines.” The added

credibility makes the effort worthwhile.

It also boosts its visibility -- many

people have bookmarked websites that are part

of their daily routine, including their

professional and industry sites. Prospects are

more likely to encounter your firm’s content if

it’s posted where they’re already looking.

And, back to Google -- search engines

rank content higher if it’s found on sites that

already have substantial credibility, shown in

their traffic in and out.

Content marketing doesn’t replace

advertising in trade media, speeches and

workshops, newsletters and other marketing

tools. But it’s a growing trend, and firms that

master it early have an edge in the marketplace.

This article is adapted from Carl Friesen’s upcoming book, “Your firm’s expertise edge.”

About Global Reach Communications We are a virtual firm that helps business professional firms share their knowledge and expertise through publication in print and electronic media. This helps their though-leaders get noticed and stand out as offering extra value. We do this through: Helping thought-leaders determine what

expertise they want to demonstrate Seeking out online and print media that

reach people in our clients’ market, with a capacity to turn ideas into reality

Developing the content itself -- in the form of an informative magazine article, a white paper, video, audio file or other form of communications

Getting the information published Helping leverage the published content

through social media to spread the message as far as possible

As a result, our thought-leader clients are able to get their ideas in front of more people so that they can be implemented. Benefits include their choice of work at the rates they want to charge, professional recognition and the satisfaction of knowing that others are able to use the concepts they have developed. Tel. 1. 289.232.4057 carl@showyourexpertise.com www.showyourexpertise.com

About the author, Carl Friesen I love helping my business professional clients show their expertise through getting their ideas published. This makes their ideas available for others to implement -- helping my clients succeed professionally and personally. I do this through: My journalism training and experience, which has

taught me how to find “the story” that conveys my client’s expertise

An MBA in Marketing, with a Certified Management Consultant designation -- showing that I can put my clients’ ideas into the words businesses use

Over 15 years of experience working with business professional firms, so I understand their culture and how to work within their culture

Excellent relations with a wide range of editors from business publications, in North America and globally

Good understanding of media including video, audio, slide shows and info-graphics, as well as social media including LinkedIn, Twitter, Slideshare, YouTube and Soundcloud