Media & Communications: Engage with Content

However, the promise of reach ' the appeal to ego ' is powerful and gives content one of its most useful, and less costly, purposes: an opportunity to routinely engage clients and prospects.

The Reality

Several years ago, BTI published research claiming that it typically takes seven calls to get a general counsel to agree to a meeting because GCs routinely reject such requests in order to test for flow-up. Sadly, 90% of attorneys fail to follow up after the first rejection. Can you blame them? Imagine inviting a prospect to lunch, but having them reject the invitation. When would you call back? What would you say? “I know you rejected my invitation to lunch a few weeks ago, but how about today?” Of course not. You would call when you had something valuable to share or offer: “I was just down in Orlando at that big conference you missed. I presented on a topic that I believe is very important to you. How about I take you to lunch and tell you about it?”

Content is easily acquired grease to facilitate this active and routine engagement. From this strategic perspective, counting clips (and re-tweets and shares) is less important than counting actual touches and their revenue-generating effects on a specific client or prospect.

Boundless Opportunities

The opportunities are boundless when you see content's purpose this way. The opportunity to create content is an opportunity to involve a client or prospect (or several) in its development, and the created content itself is a tool to engage and educate many others afterwards. And, it doesn't even have to be yours. Your expertise is enhanced when you act as a filter and identify and share the valuable content of other experts in your field.

Your effort does not need to be all about business, either. Perhaps your prospect is a big music fan or a frequent runner. Considering how inundated she might be with your competitor's client alerts, she would probably appreciate receiving an article from Vibe about her favorite band or from Women's Health about the latest training techniques.

Conclusion

The point is to break through the clutter and use content to demonstrate not only your own expertise but also your interest in your clients and prospects and a genuine understanding of the work they do'not just the things they work on with you.

So, partner-up and create content with your clients and prospects as often as possible. Use the development process to reach out to prospects and clients for advice, and use the resulting piece as an excuse to circle back and engage them again.

Remember, being a thought leader is valuable and content can be a powerful tool to demonstrate expertise, but content's full potential will be wasted if it is not used as a means (and excuse) to engage with targets.

John Hellerman (202-841-8153; [email protected]), a member of this newsletter's Board of Editors, is the founder of Hellerman Communications (www.hellermanllc.com).