How to involve your experts?

In professional services, marketing is a shared responsibility. Between your marketing department and your subject matter experts.

After all, it’s their expertise and experience that should be marketed. Also, they are the ones responsible for relationships with the market.

Involve your subject matter experts and dramatically improve your marketing. They are your marketing flywheel.

Now, how do you involve your subject matter experts?

• Step 1 – Find potential champions
• Step 2 – Educate them
• Step 3 – Support them
• Step 4 – Close the loop

Let’s dive into it!

Step 1 – Finding champions

Early on in my career, I’ve learned that it’s easiest to work with experts who understand the possibilities of marketing. And, are willing to invest their precious time.

Interestingly enough, these subject matter experts don’t need to possess any marketing skills. For the simple reason that these can be taught (see step 2).

Quick tip for finding potential champions within your organization:

Head over to LinkedIn and search for content. Click the All filters button (top right) and scroll down until you see Author company. Add your company and click Show results. Optionally, change Top match to Latest. This helps you to quickly discover who’s an active poster.

Step 2 – Educating your colleagues

Keep in mind that your colleagues are subject matter exerts, but not marketers.

While they may be packed with expertise and experience, that alone is not sufficient to affect your target group and set them in motion.

Explain to your colleagues…

• That marketing is all about driving attention and interest for your services.
• That they, as subject matter experts, play an essential role in your company’s marketing.
• That identifying their ideal clients will help them focus their efforts and maximize the return.
• That there’s something called the buyer journey; three consecutive stages prospective clients go through before they become actual clients.
• That developing a clear, distinct vision for the future will help them guide their ideal clients through the buyer journey.
• That personal branding is all about positioning yourself as a trusted and distinct authority.
• And that, once you’ve become really good at personal branding, your target group may consider you a thought leader. Which will massively help your subject matter experts in their marketing efforts.

Step 3 – Supporting your colleagues

Once you’ve educated your colleagues, they know what to do. However, they will still need support in actually doing marketing.

Certain things that may be natural to you, will be new to them. Other things they’ll never be able to do at the level you’re aiming for.

Find out, as you go, what they can do themselves. And support them by doing the things they’re unable to do (at the aspired level).

Step 4 – Closing the loop

To keep your colleagues excited and motivated, it’s extremely important that you close the loop.

By closing the loop I mean:

• Periodically measure progress. Every month, examine their efforts. What marketing actions did they undertake? What were the business results of these efforts?
• Report back. Let your colleagues (and other stakeholders) know how they did. What worked well? What should be improved?
• Celebrate success. Define what success looks like. On different levels. And, celebrate success on each level.
• Reward success. Rewards are extremely important motivators. Please don’t think that a reward should be a bonus. Nothing beats attention as a reward that acknowledges the importance of what you’re doing.
• Improve. If something didn’t work as expected, find out why. Then, dust yourself of and try again.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for reading MBD Boost #012, sent to marketers and business developers on June 18, 2024.