How do you combine content development with business development?

Transcript

Hi there, it’s Peter Winick. I’m the founder and CEO at Thought Leadership Leverage, and here’s the idea I’d like to share with you today, and that’s this: In my work with lots of authors, speakers, thought leaders, and academics, one of the things I’ve come to learn is this. They are typically really, really good at creating new content, at working on new ideas, at putting new thought leadership out there, right? What they tend to be lacking in, and this is a general statement, I acknowledge that, is things like sales, things like marketing, things like getting their name out, things like branding. So if that just is what it is, what is there that we can do to sort of overcome this obstacle if this is something that you identify that you might be falling into that pattern?

So here’s what I suggest. Here’s what I think the answer to this conundrum is, and that’s this: You can conflate the two. If you really enjoy creating new content, working on new ideas, developing new versions of your thought leadership in different formats or whatever the case may be but don’t like the sales, marketing, business development side, why don’t you conflate the two? Why don’t you reach out to folks that you need to reach out to that could benefit from the work that you do during the developmental stage? Why don’t you tell them, “Hey, I’m working on a book about X,” or, “I’m writing a paper on X,” or, “I’m doing some research on X, and I’d love to get your insights, and I’d love to get your thoughts, and I’d love to get your inputs and see what you think about this issue?”

So bring them in early, bring them in during that development stage where things might be a little bit rough, where things might not be as polished or refined as you’re used to having them before you release them into the wild. And what you’ll find is you’re having great conversations centered on the work that you do, the problems that it solves, and who it solves them for. So that these people have a greater awareness of when to bring you in and how to use you and your organization to support them in their work. So again, take something that you don’t enjoy doing and combine it with something that you enjoy doing a lot, and use that to get to where you need to go. Love to hear your thoughts and reactions. Thank you.