1. 3 Ways to Create Content Outside Your Industry That Generates Leads

What does the average business blog look like?

Not the big corporate ones or the trendy startups, but the average IT services, financial advisory, or non-profit blog?

It’s full of company news, hiring announcements, and industry jargon that means very little to anyone not already in the know. 

All of which is fine if the goal is to provide periodic updates, add new things to the website every few weeks, and look like a large, professional firm.

But if your goal is something more? What if your aim is not just to push content out, but to attract and educate prospects, pulling them into your marketing funnel as potential customers?

Content marketing needs something more robust than just another fluffy company news piece. It needs to be educational, actionable, and interesting.

All of which can seem difficult in heavily technical industries with complex topics that don’t lend themselves well to short form write-ups. Which is why it’s so important to find areas that are of equal interest to your prospects. Let’s look at three ways you can do this and how that “outside topic” content can push your content marketing efforts over the edge. 

Look at their Role, Not Title

To a IT services firm in Salt Lake, every business that contacts them has roughly the same problems, so it’s easy to start thinking that’s the thing they want to read about. 

But the CTO or IT Director for a company has a lot of other things on their plate. Onboarding new software solutions, reducing costs in certain areas, streamlining operations, working with the development team more seamlessly, or just being more productive on a personal level.

Evaluate the role your target audience plays in their organizations and look for common concerns they share that you can write about. Forget the title or the conversations you have and focus on what their real pain points are each day. 

Expertise Builds Trust

Businesses are started every year by people with a passion for what they do. Doctors, scientists, lawyers, bakers, and a hundred other specialties might go into a field that seems otherwise well outside their area of expertise. 

Data scientists running a board game company. Doctors launching software applications. Programmers kicking off a non-profit venture.

These are common situations, and all-too often, the founders will focus on what they now sell, not what they know best. Don’t let your current business venture bury the expertise of your leadership. Get out there and showcase it, talk about your new business in the context of what you did before, and show that you are an expert in your field. People will trust you because of it, not despite it. 

Have Some Fun!

For B2B companies, the prospect of having a little fun can seem to run counter to your goals. You have a professional audience with professional needs and the last thing you want to do is push out goofy, unprofessional content that they might not appreciate.

But that doesn’t mean every one of your blog posts or videos should be a dry, boring slog through the intricacies of your industry. 

Get creative and showcase what you can do that’s different. The decision makers in your target audience look at a LOT of websites and read a lot of content – if yours stands out for being fun, irreverent, colorful, or flashy in a fun but professional way, they will remember it. And the topics don’t have to be directly related to what you do.

Building Content That’s Fun to Read and Watch

The goal of a good content marketing campaign is to educate and entertain. We all too often get caught up in the former, thinking every one of our posts needs to be the same dry, educational content we’ve been writing for years. 

And it will work. That content is important because it answers questions and showcases expertise. But it’s the latter that will set you apart from the competition, showing why you’re a one of a kind business that companies will want to work with. 

That’s something that will really set you above and beyond the rest. Ready to learn more about how your content can exceed expectations and wow your prospects? 

Have a Question? Contact Us 

About Author

Anthony Chatfield

Anthony Chatfield

Writer, marketer, product creator, and digital media professional who has been developing and promoting digital content for nearly a decade. Has been at the leading edge of inbound marketing and content marketing as the new wave of digital strategy, having worked with more than one hundred clients in a diverse range of industries around the globe.

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