Table of Contents
- 🔋 10 tactics to help you get great content from busy people with Marisa Crimlis-Brown
- ⏱️ Empathy will get you everywhere.
- 🏆 Here are Marisa’s 10 tactics to encourage content contribution and generate great work
🔋 10 tactics to help you get great content from busy people with Marisa Crimlis-Brown
Have you ever felt like getting marketing content out of busy people is like pulling teeth? You are not alone. With even the most well-intentioned colleagues, convincing them to help us to produce content can sometimes feel like talking to a brick wall.
In this week’s webinar, Marisa Crimlis-Brown shares her tried and tested tactics for making content creation feel more like a trip to the ice cream shop, than the dentist chair. We’ve wrapped up the key takeaways below. Let us know how they work out for you!
Side note: It was a pleasure to have Marisa in the hosting seat. She is a wonderful part of the TMM community who always brings positivity and empathy to everything she does. She just started a new job this week, so please do go and wish her some positively lovely congratulations.
⏱️ Empathy will get you everywhere.
Marisa sets the scene by explaining that empathy is the most important part of working more effectively with other people. As she explains it; ‘empathy is the art of giving a shit’. Often we’re so busy with our own stuff that we forget that we are dealing with complex, real people who just want to be understood and listened to.
If we are to understand why our usually lovely colleagues don’t seem super keen to help us to create content, we need to step into their shoes and walk a mile in them.
🏆 Here are Marisa’s 10 tactics to encourage content contribution and generate great work
Create company buy-in
If there is no company culture of participation already in place, it’s our job to help to create one. By leading by example and demonstrating approachability and vulnerability when it comes to idea sharing, we can promote this as the norm.
Encourage an open environment
Nobody likes rejection. It’s important to avoid missing out on great ideas from people, by closing the door on who is allowed to contribute content. We know that not everything will be a smash hit, but by paying attention to what everyone has to say, we create opportunities to unearth some gold.
Visit the overlooked
Within every business, there are people who interact with clients and customers. These people are sometimes overlooked when it comes to insight gathering. Think of HR, customer service or finance. By getting them involved, we get access to more customer insights which we can then turn into useful content.
Make it easy for colleagues to help
By giving examples of the content we want people to produce, we can remove uncertainty about the task.
There is nothing more daunting than a blank piece of paper. Sending questions to get the ball rolling can take away that pressure.
If someone is limited on time, we can take back the responsibility for creating the content, and just ask them for insights instead.
Worried about remembering what they said? Filming the conversation gives us something to come back to and could always be turned into video snippets.
Ultimately, we’re all a little vain. By keeping that in mind, we can find ways to reassure our colleagues that we want to make them look good.
Practice compassion
As Marisa says, empathy will get you everywhere. So, we should work to get to know people as people. When we approach conversations with an open mind and curiosity, there’s a lot more for us to discover.
Embrace discomfort
As much as they’re difficult and can feel icky, awkward conversations often open doors. What is the worst that could happen?
Do your research
Once we know what we’re worrying about going wrong, we can get ahead of that discomfort by preparing for the conversation. A little research can go a long way.
Let them vent
Giving someone an opportunity to have a grumble is a wonderful ice breaker. This is a really useful way to start content conversations because it gets any issues off their chest, and shows that we are receptive to hearing about them. If someone has an opinion on something, it means they care. With meaningful interactions, we have the chance to turn critics into brand champions.
Champion your people
Be generous with your appreciation and big up the people who are willing to help. It can be easy to focus on the people who don’t, but by championing those that do, we can build goodwill and a healthy sense of competition, that might just entice others to get involved too.
Draw on messengers and allies
What about if our biggest challenge is getting our own boss onside? In those cases, Marisa suggests drawing on other people to help deliver the message. Information hits differently when it’s delivered by someone who is respected. And whilst frustrating, it’s a fact of life that sometimes, people are going to underestimate you. Use that as an opportunity to do something amazing whilst they’re not watching. They won’t underestimate you for long.
We’ll leave you with these closing words from Marisa – “Your people are your secret weapon so remind anybody who needs to hear it. They help differentiate your company from your competitors. Make it your mission to empower them to want to help, and you will see the results.”
And those are your takeaways! Check out the full video here.