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Blog by David Wolf founder of Smallbiz America:

Content Marketing - A Journey, Not a Sale

posted by David Wolf on Nov 17, 2014 | Comments (0) | Permalink | Trackback URL

Content Generation: A Clarifying Opportunity
Many would say content marketing is, in practice, the act of generating and posting compelling content to grow a business. But it can be so much more if you choose to take it there. I think of it as an integrated internal and external learning process – an opportunity for you – the “entrepreneur-business subject-matter-expert-person” to develop as a professional; to focus; to become a person grounded in your expertise, know what you stand for, have something meaningful to say and know how to express it.

A Process - Not a Destination
Fundamental to our process; we schedule pre-interviews which lead into more formally produced sessions for video, audio and articles. All contribute to the shaping of a content generation process and a quality end product for posting. Often, the pre-interview is particularly fascinating and productive because it produces an informal, spontaneous response-conversation, rich with self-discovery. It opens doors. With each interview session our client develops a greater sense of mastery about the not only the subject matter, but also about how to best to express it in a way that supports their business platform and their MO. This confidence translates well into authority and expertise. This is the Zone we want you in when we post your content.

The Art of Q&A
I’m in the business of asking questions. That’s the source of the podcasts, articles and blogs that we produce for our Podsuite™ clients. What I am realizing after doing several hundred of them is that, for you, the subject-expert, there’s a self-discovery opportunity available with every interview you do. I know this because it’s the same for me as the interviewer. With each content generation session, we share deep dive into an entrepreneurial soul and imagination to gain mutual clarity, define purpose, vision and mission. And it’s an opportunity to continually improve how you express all of it.

The Power of Question; Dancing to the Music
When it comes to positioning clients (subjects) as the authority or expert, questions work. The art of question construction; knowing how to ask a clean, well engineered question is a skill I am still learning and honing. For you, the subject matter expert of the interview, your capacity to construct a clean, coherent answer is the counterpoint to what I do, and essential to our mutual success. With each session, we are co-creating an interview in a Q&A dance. Our moves should flow rhythmically and expressively, drawing clean lines turning phrases, as in dance.

The best content generation sessions result from “subject-experts” that fully understand how to communicate clearly and efficiently. Here, I’m talking about the technique of the dance, the clarity of purpose and expression.

It’s about having something to say and then saying it well.

And, it’s a balance of preparation, and engaging and dancing into the rhythm of the session. Interview cycles have musical, energetic rhythmic patterns. The best interview “dance” partners have a developed sense of how to measure their answers, leaving enough space for some level of curiosity to happen on the part of the listener. Each interview is different. But, think about allowing the discussion “tease” your answers out. Our content generation process helps you refine all your question answering & dance skills, and story telling skills - so you’re ready for the dance at any media moment.

The Practice: Adapting Inside & Out
The Internal facet of your content marketing practice allows you to continually dig deeply into your own business intentions and desires, reshaping them while dynamically adapting to your fan base as you go. Repetition builds confidence. When it comes to finding your true voice, there is no substitute for doing multiple interviews. This is a process, a practice, and iterative learning cycle. It’s both internal and external. It’s about internal-external synchronizing, placing yourself into a Zone. From the Zone, the content we generate will dance, sing and bring you more business. Our job is to help get you in the zone so we get as much possible value out of the process.

Externally, to the world – The dance of Content Marketing presents the means which current and future fans and customers to learn about you, feel your vibe, how you think, what you value, how you work, and how they will gain value from working with you.

Come on and Dance with Me!