There’s this book my daughter got for Christmas that’s become a bedtime story staple. It’s called ‘The Christmas (S)Elfie Contest’ and it’s about an elf that spends far too long taking selfies for a contest in the hopes of winning a chance to ride on Santa’s sleigh.
Problem is that this elf – in his quest to take the perfect Instagram shot – completely ignores his duties to make toys for Christmas, letting down all of his elf friends in the process. Despite taking seemingly hundreds of shots, he just can’t crack it and it all ends in tears.
That is until his elf friends come to his aid and help him take the perfect selfie.
Of course, they win the contest, all jump on the sleigh for the ride of a lifetime, and no-one questions how healthy it is that we’re teaching our children that the pursuit of the perfect duck face is a worthwhile endeavour.
Despite the icky feeling I get whenever I turn the last page (I didn’t buy the book but my daughter won’t let me get rid of it) there’s a lesson here for us marketers.
You can’t do everything alone.
This is especially true with content marketing. Coming up with ideas, creating storyboards, writing copy, managing design, figuring out the right distribution… it can quickly leave you feeling burnt out.
So finding ways to involve your colleagues to help carry the load is critical, even when they don’t work in marketing.
One of my favourite ways to do this is during the idea stage. Everyone in your company – from the CEO to the intern and back up again – will have a unique view on something that – with your tender loving care – can be transformed into a killer piece of content.
Below I’ve shared some of the people I’d buy a coffee for to pick their brains and some example ideas that may come from the conversation.
#1. The HR Officer
Your colleagues in HR can be a treasure trove of potential content ideas, especially when it comes to topics like your company’s onboarding process and understanding the training and perks on offer and why they’d be of interest to potential recruits.
Also don’t forget that probably everyone in your company has spoken to HR at one point or another, meaning they can help you identify potential superstars to feature in your content that perhaps don’t have major visibility yet within the organisation.
- How [Company] is Tackling [Social Issue]
- 6 Things to Remember Before You Go for a Job in [Your Industry]
- Why [Specific Employee] Chose to Work at [Company]
#2. The Account Manager
Next time you run into one of your AMs, give them a hug for me – they have one of the hardest jobs in your company. When things are good on a project and the client is happy, they get none of the praise. And when things go bad, well… they are the first on the firing line.
But their pain is your gain because as the people in direct day-to-day contact with your existing customers, they are a fountain of knowledge on their (very real) pain points, expectations for the future roadmap and even testimonials following a job well done.
- Here’s What’s Keeping [Target Client Type] Awake at Night
- 3 Things [Target Client Type] Are Planning for in 2022
- How [Customer] Achieved [Result] with [Product/Service]
#3. Office Manager
I have never met an Office Manager who didn’t know everything that was happening in the building AND was loved by everybody even on the crappiest days. For anything you want to create on company culture and positioning this as a USP towards potential recruits, these are definitely the folks you want hit up.
- What Makes [Company] Special
- 28 Behind-the-Scenes Photos From Our First Day Back at the Office
- How to Improve Wellbeing at Work Starting Today
#4. Solutions Engineer
Solution Engineers are a little like Harry Potter; they need to create magic while living in the real world. They need to balance painting a vision for the client that inspires them to do business but in a way more grounded in the technical reality that sometimes escapes their sales counterparts.
Because of this, they can be an excellent source of knowledge when it comes to generating ideas around market trends and client expectations, but that stay true to the limits of your companies products or services.
- 3 Very Real Benefits of Integrating [Technology] Into Your Platform
- Here’s Our 10-step Project Deliver Process – and Why It’s Unique
- [Trend] is Going to Change the Face of [Industry] – Are You Ready?
#5. Intern
You know why interns are great? They have no baggage. They haven’t yet been jaded by a bunch of people telling them how to do marketing the ‘right’ way. And this usually allows them to look at things through a unique creative lens that most of us who have been doing this for a while have lost.
All they need is for someone to give them a break from fetching coffee and just ask them what they think.
- 3 Things I Didn’t Expect to Happen on My First Day at [Company]
- We Asked 20 Influencers to Tell Us Their Biggest Wrong Prediction for 2021
- 6 Features of [Product] and Why They’re Great… Told Through The Office GIFS
Takeaway
This list is by no means exhaustive. Every individual in your company has at least one content idea inside them, ready to be let out when given the chance and safe space to explore it. Colleagues in finance, product, design, customer success, engineering, operations… all will have something to say, and you just need to capture it.
