Ideate Content that Resonates with Decision Makers
Knowing what to talk about is one matter; knowing what to say is another. Once a company has established its ideal thought-leadership topics—per the previous installment—it must pinpoint the particular subjects and angles that will inspire favorable decisions. Too broad an aim will end up missing the whole audience. Companies that wish to impact their prospects must first impact the people who lead it—the decision makers.
Since every member of a business’s decision-making unit (DMU) is unique, with distinct roles and concerns, each one will be optimally reached in a different way. Any thought leadership effort will be more inclined toward some decision makers than others. The most effective campaigns are therefore the ones that intentionally target specific members of the DMU with subjects and angles that are tailored to leave an impression on them. Below is a guide to ideating targeted content that resonates with the individuals who matter.
Define the Subject
Even if it were possible to reach every member of the target DMU, the content would need to be so unspecific as to interest none of them. Each individual will have their own unique set of problems that need solving. The outlets they frequent will reflect those concerns, as will the content they’re willing to read all the way through. And since presenting the prospect with a firsthand sample-of-value is the primary goal of thought leadership, being specific enough to capture the full attention of a single decision maker is worth far more than merely passing through the newsfeed of a dozen.
A thought-leadership campaign can be targeted toward more than one decision maker, in practice, but each will require ideating content around a unique subject—that is, the particular aspect of the chosen topic that they are concerned with. Selecting the members of the DMU that are most likely to bring about a favorable decision is the first step; identifying their ideal subjects is the second.
Say that a company which sells video surveillance solutions has chosen the chief security officer (CSO) and the operations manager as its target decision makers. The CSO is unsurprisingly focussed on his company’s ability to respond to security threats, and will be most interested in reading about threat detection features. The operations manager, meanwhile, is focussed on overall operational efficiency and wants to read about the management and deployment of security systems. The resulting thought-leadership content concerns two entirely different subjects.
Apply an Angle
Subjects on their own do not constitute a content idea. The next step is to choose an angle—that is, the stance or argument taken—within the chosen subject. This angle determines what will be written regarding the subject and is the primary source of value added unto the reader. It’s the novel or useful idea that captures a decision maker's attention and ultimately inspires action.
Say that the video surveillance company has settled on “deploying a new surveillance system” as one of their chosen subjects. There is an unbounded number of angles from which they can now choose to approach it. Here are just a few example headlines they could use:
“5 Tips for Efficiently Rolling Out a Video Surveillance System”
“Implementing Surveillance: Common Pitfalls to Avoid”
“A Step-by-Step Guide to Video Surveillance Deployment”
“How Edge Computing Can Simplify Your Surveillance Rollout”
While most subjects can take on a wide variety of angles, each piece of content must follow just one angle.
The ideal angle is one that is optimally useful to the target decision maker and fully aligned with the company’s expertise and offering. An angle that discourages the reader from investing in edge computing is obviously undesirable for a surveillance company that specializes therein; one which sings the praises of edge-surveillance without solving any of the reader’s problems will get little further. The angle should be the meeting point between the company’s expertise and the decision maker’s need.
Conclusion
To progress from a topic with the potential to exemplify value toward content that actually does exemplify that value, a company must know its audience. A thought-leadership piece without a specific subject befitting a specific decision maker will end up interesting no one. A well-chosen subject without a useful and strategic angle, likewise, will achieve nothing. But a well-ideated piece of content with a subject and angle that puts value in a decision maker’s hand will make an invaluable impression where it counts.
Enjoy this blog on generating content ideas? Be sure to check out our other blogs on useful and interesting public relations topics, like selecting the right sample size for a credible survey.
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