When potential clients are considering the services of an engineer or other professional, one of their most pressing questions is, “Can this person provide solutions that work in my world?”
So, one of the goals of your content marketing program should be to show that you understand their reality. Don’t just say it, show it. Do this through making sure that what you write or talk about is more about them and their needs, and less about you and your services.
Two types of content I find particularly good at this are what I call “meteors” and “glaciers.”
Show that you are current on new developments affecting your clients
Imagine yourself as a Brontosaurus on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula about 65 million years ago. Looking up in the sky, you see a bright light that seems to be coming closer and closer. With a crash, the Chicxulub meteor lands, creating a dust cloud that envelops the earth and wipes out some 90 percent of life. It’s literally the end of an era -- specifically, the Cretaceous -- and the start of the mammal-friendly Paleogene.
“Meteor” content is like that -- it discusses a sudden, possibly cataclysmic, change in the target market’s environment. In business terms, it might be a new law or piece of legislation, a new and disruptive technology, or a new form of competition. It could be a game-changer like 9/11 in the US, or 7/7 in the UK, that ushered in a whole new era in everything from work visa applications to airport design.
Whatever the change, it will cause either problems or opportunities for your clients. If you have a solution that will help them avoid the downside and thrive after the meteoritic event, the content you create needs to demonstrate that.
Consider an air quality engineer who helps clients meet regulatory levels on emissions of hazardous materials like mercury and sulfur. Perhaps a major new law has been proposed, one that will drastically limit the allowable amount of emissions. The content that this engineer develops would be about the change, its importance for companies particularly in manufacturing, and give some suggestions on actions they can take.
To be effective, “meteor” content such as this needs to cover these points:
· Describe the event in terms that the target market can understand
· Speculate, in an informed way, about the effects the event will have on the target market
· Anticipate the ‘objections’ they may have -- that it won’t affect them, or that any effects will be inconsequential
· Recommend actions that can be taken to avoid a problem or gain a benefit
Meteor content is most effective if you want to be seen someone who stays current with developments and is able to protect your clients from those changes. It’s particularly relevant for engineers who help their clients deal with regulatory matters where the rules can change quickly, or who help their clients understand the effects of disruptive technology.
Demonstrating that through analyzing recent developments and showing what to do about them is the best way of convincing potential clients that you have what it takes -- that you’ve “got their back.”
Show that you help your clients understand the big picture
Now, let’s imagine that you’ve evolved a bit past the dinosaur era. It’s now 10,000 years ago, and you’ve become a woolly mammoth, grazing on the prairie near what is now Calgary, Canada.
You’ve noticed that a high wall of ice seems to be moving closer, and each year it takes over a bit more of your favorite pasture. If you’re particularly clever mammoth, you’ll discern that the ice is a glacier, and its movement is due to a long-term trend called the Ice Age. Your best choice is to start heading south, now, before you become one of those frozen mammoth carcasses that future paleontologists will dissect.
In business today, there are many slow-moving trends that can, like a glacier, trap the unwary. It’s like a meteor, but in slow motion, so it’s harder to see until you wake up one morning and realize that the world has changed. A “trend” might be the effect that Wal-Mart is having on retail, Amazon is having on the sales of many consumer goods, and Apple’s iBooks program is having on textbooks. The current drive towards “sustainability” is a glacier that is bulldozing many business plans. So are “transparency” and “accountability” (and that’s a good thing).
In many jurisdictions, a slowly-moving but relentless ‘glacier’ is the gradual tightening of allowable levels of emissions of carbon oxides, nitrous oxides, sulfur oxides, heavy metals and other contaminants. Industrial systems in planning stages now must be designed in a way that they will meet the allowable emissions in the future, not just the present, so an engineer needs to be aware of this slow-moving trend and advise clients accordingly.
So, some of the content that our air quality engineer develops would need to discuss the slow-moving trends, perhaps seen first in other parts of the world, that limit emissions.
You may be in position to see many “glaciers” or trends as they unfold. Sometimes, the people in your target market won’t have as clear a vision. You can provide a valuable service to them by creating content that covers these points:
· Describe the change -- and provide some background to demonstrate that the world really has changed
· Speculate on how the trend might unfold
· Anticipate objections
· Recommend options
The design of “glacier” content is much like that of “meteor” content, although you may need to do more to convince your reader, viewer or listener that the “ice” is real, and it’s really moving.
Glacier content is particularly good for marketing a specialty practice, one in which the client cannot be expected to be current on developments -- but as a professional specializing in this field, you have a more comprehensive understanding.
Whether the change is fast or slow, if it affects your market, you should be in position to offer your informed opinion. It’s a valuable service as well as being a way of helping you stand out as a professional that clients will want to work with.
To access many other tips and suggestions on how to market an engineering practice, or build your profile as a professional, see www.showyourexpertise.com.