Every 4 weeks, I publish deep dives into B2B thought leaders, breaking down the content strategy they used to go from unknown consultant to top tier personality.
Because what we do together is not content. It's insight marketing.
And there's a difference, outlined beautifully by David C. Baker:
"Insight has to brew a lot longer in your head. You have to be more certain because you are taking more chances. If you go to publish content, you're never nervous about the reception - you're just hoping people will notice. When you go to publish insight, you're really nervous about getting it wrong."
I work with people like you to uncover and articulate insight, not content.
The process of creating deep content requires you to research and think deeply about a specific subject - more so than you would otherwise. You connect dots that you haven't connected before and disqualify opinions that were previously based on little substance.
It's during this process that you uncover unique insights and opinions that are the foundations of thought leadership.
The process of creating deep content requires you to research and think deeply about a specific subject - more so than you would otherwise. You connect dots that you haven't connected before and disqualify opinions that were previously based on little substance.
It's during this process that you uncover unique insights and opinions that are the foundations of thought leadership.
The few formats I've succeeded with were those I enjoy consuming in my own time because I've built a taste for what's good and what works.
The failures came when chasing trends into format types I didn't like. Take Twitter - I don't enjoy Twitter, so it's an uphill battle I'll ultimately lose to folks who spend all their spare time on the platform. They have an unfair advantage.
You should focus on your own unfair advantage.
Regardless of the type of content your target audience enjoys and the environments they hang out in, you'll only generate success when you create the kind of content that you like to consume.
For me, that's deep, long-form, research-driven, story-led articles, videos, or podcasts.
If that doesn't resonate, we're not a good fit, and my recommendation is to find someone who can help you create the kind of content you enjoy consuming yourself.
I've been there and done that. I built an audience of 17.5k plus across Twitter and LinkedIn, then quit - or at least quit the way I was doing it - growth hacking.
I've looked behind the curtain, and most B2B audience builders feed the market rubbish to sell their next cohort.
I don't work to growth hacks. I'm just not interested in helping you make (at best) average content that the algorithm likes to pump to the masses.
I work to marketing fundamentals:
When you analyse the top-tier thought leaders, people like David C. Baker, April Dunford, and Growth Design, you see that they treat insight as a product.
They invest time and money to develop a skill and hire a team to develop, articulate, and publish insight in a unique and compelling way.
That's the way I see it, too. It's a product connected with your existing offers but entirely different. Having expertise is one thing. Teaching and sharing it is a completely different skill set.
And it's different to regular short form content that you post on social. Months or even years after publishing high-quality, deep insight, new prospects are still discovering and reading it. Often it also doubles up as a sales asset that you can share during emails and calls.
We're probably not a good fit if you view this as an expense rather than an investment.
But if this, along with the other points above resonate, check out how I work.
“Liam’s strength is to listen, research and then mirror back your story in a way that everyone can understand, helping you create content that resonates.”
Ian Cox
CEO at Avark
