Sharing knowledge has always been one of the cornerstones of the internet. In recent years it has also been seen as one of the best ways of marketing. Share your knowledge, show your expertise and gain more customers long-term.
This is the marketing based approach to sharing knowledge on your website. However, we could also look at it from a direct business operations point of view, where it helps streamline your operations.
The Content Marketing Approach
Over the past couple of years, content marketing has grown really popular. One of the cornerstones of it is sharing knowledge and in that way show that your business is expertise.
As should be evident in the academy section we have here at Bernskiold Media, we believe in this method strongly. (Plus, it’s fun to share and teach others!) The best way to convince someone to trust you and show that you know something of value, is to constantly be sharing that value.
This is in itself nothing new. Idea-based companies have been doing that in many ways forever. Printed newsletters, mailings, conferences and events and more. Just look at the big leaders in management consulting who are excellent at this and build their brand around it.
The Efficient Business Operations Approach
There is however another sometimes overlooked short-term benefit to having content and knowledge published online: Your customers ask questions.
Chances are you spend a considerable amount of time answering similar questions from clients and customers. This is when you should realize the benefit of publishing some sort of content about this.
Gather common questions from clients and write articles on them. You will both save time and come across as smart and extra professional. Win-win!
Creating content to answer questions that many clients are asking you not only is great for marketing (above) but it streamlines your operations. Instead of having to answer personally every time you get the question, you can refer the client to the longer, in-depth article you wrote instead.
This is not going to come across as lazy. It is going to come across as extra thoughtful. You are already aware that their question is going to come up, so you have taken the time to write about it and explain the issue before. Win-win.
It doesn’t need to be a blog!
When we talk blogging with companies, we typically advise them against it. Sharing knowledge like this can be done in a blog, but doesn’t have to. If you feel you want to keep your writing up to some sort of schedule, by all means, do format it around a blog with articles.
You don’t need to however. Publishing articles or content in a more knowledge base styled format works fine too. The important thing is that you have the content. That the content can be found be potential customers. And that you can easily and professionally send it on to current customers to save yourself some time, while delivering exceptional value.
