Q&A with Matt Heinz – Content Generation, Social Selling and Beyond
I had the opportunity to speak with Matt Heinz, CEO of Heinz Marketing, about all things marketing, overcoming marketing challenges and how he writes such great content! If you haven’t heard of Matt or Heinz Marketing…you will. Start with his blog or follow him on twitter @HeinzMarketing.
Q: What is your secret to creating great blog posts and engaging content?
A: The majority of my content comes from conversations with customers and partners. It comes from listening and learning from the market. I read a lot and try to listen a lot – this has helped as we write content to help address challenges people have in marketing and sales.
Q: Why do you think people struggle so much with content development?
A: A number of reasons – one being that people think they have to write a New Yorker article to be effective. You don’t have to write something long or complex, great content can be a simple. For example, a video can be great content for demand generation and it’s relatively easy to create. However, people often over-think content.
Another reason people struggle is that they don’t pay attention to the content ideas all round them. Pay attention to the signals you get from people…can you turn them into different types of content. I struggle with the opposite problem of creating content, as I find I have too many ideas and not enough time to create.
Q: What are the must-haves for developing a great piece of content?
A: Start with a topic or an idea for a topic and then build an outline. Think about ideas before you write and then break the piece down into phases so it is not daunting. Keep it simple.
Q:You have written several books about sales and marketing and one most recently on social selling. How do sales and social selling differ? What makes social selling so significant today?
A: Sales and social selling are similar, but social selling has nuances. Social selling, just like banner ads in years past, will quickly become integrated into mainstream marketing and sales. Ultimately, social selling will be considered part of sales and not something that is a stand-alone term. Good sales people don’t do one or the other- they already know that social selling is part of sales.
Q: Can you give examples of great social sellers you admire?
A: I admire people who are thought-leaders. I pay attention to David Brock @davidabrock, he has an amazing following and I read a lot of what he has to say. David Waldschmidt @danwaldo is awesome too. Great ideas and great inspiration from both.
Q: What is one must-do activity marketers need to do every day?
A: Reading and writing. Every marketer should do these in this order:
- Find something you can react to
- Challenge yourself
- Learn.
Author: Erika Goldwater @erikawg is Director of Marketing, ANNUITAS
Get the latest role-specific content delivered to your inbox
