Top of Mind

by John Hall

  I mentioned knowledge banks in Chapter 4—they’re those templates, spreadsheets, or software options used to document your team’s ideas. Knowledge banks are customizable because they’re supposed to work specifically for your company, but when it comes to using one, there are a few general guidelines you should follow to make the most of it.

  For one, you’ll want to update your bank regularly. Your industry is constantly shifting, and keeping knowledge current is important for staying on top of changes and trends. Next, you always want to keep your audience in mind. Store your aha moments, consider any follow-up questions to those moments, and include that information as well.

  From a logistical perspective, make sure your bank is as easy to navigate as possible. Create a clear system for uploading and organizing information that uses meaningful category names, as well as searchable tags and keywords.

  Once your bank is in place, make using it second nature not only for yourself but for your entire team. Whenever there is a moment of insight, take it straight to the bank.

  That’s helpful for your content creation team, but a major benefit you might overlook (that is, until you experience it yourself) is how well an updated knowledge bank keeps engaging ideas top of mind for you even if you’re not writing the content that comes from it.

  An updated Google algorithm comes to mind when I think of how this plays out. Last year, my team had taken some information from Matt Cutts about a Google update straight to our bank to help me write an article on digital trends.

  I happened to look through the bank one day, and the next thing I knew, I was on a call with a major client who asked me what I knew about this update. If this client had asked one day earlier, I would have said, “What update?” But because the trend was top of mind for me, I rattled off the information like I was some kind of Google expert.

  Best Practice 3: Committing to a Process of Content Creation

  Now for the fun part.

  You know I don’t love writing, nor did I have the time to do it all myself, so here’s what I did: I surrounded myself with a team of fantastic strategists, writers, and editors. Together, we worked out a collaborative creative process for translating my ideas, insights, and experiences into engaging written content. (More details on how I write in the next chapter.)

  For some people, creation is the most intimidating part of using content to stay top of mind. And because it’s scary and time-consuming, I often hear some of the private sector’s most powerful leaders weaseling out of their writing duties with the same sorry excuses: “My industry is boring, so my content will be, too!” “I’m a terrible writer!” “I don’t have any media contacts!” and the classic, “I don’t have any time!”

  I’ve heard them all, and my response is always the same: Stop with the excuses, and get it done.3

  What does this creative process look like? It’s entirely up to you. Are you comfortable drafting pieces on your own and then handing them off to your team for edits? Or would you rather sit down with everyone, talk through an idea from the knowledge bank, and have your writers take it from there?

  The right process is the one that makes creation easy, efficient, and fun for you and the team. After all, this is an opportunity to flex your creative muscles on a regular basis. Even if you loathe writing, you’ll still look forward to content creation if you have a good process in place.

  But a process is only as good as its people. When you’re putting together your content team, be realistic about who you need and what their capabilities are. Choose people with the technical skills and creative capacity to help you create the best content possible.

  You also need a team member dedicated to managing the entire content initiative. This is someone who will keep you on track in terms of following your content plan. Think of this person as your project quarterback—we’ll talk through what this means in the next section.

  Still, even with the best process and team in place, things will fall apart if you don’t fulfill your role. Too many leaders dump the bulk of the mental work required to create content onto the shoulders of their writers. It’s your job to provide the raw material that drives your team’s creation efforts and to set the example that helps your team perform at its best.

  When you don’t live up to your responsibilities, you make it hard for your team to fulfill their responsibilities—and you’re setting the example that content isn’t a priority. But when you demonstrate that you’re engaged in the process and willing to do what you can to achieve the best results, you’re setting a positive, high-engagement expectation for your team as well.

  Those kinds of expectations tend to predict how a team will perform. It’s called the Pygmalion effect, and if you’ve heard of it, it was probably in the teacher-student context.4 Students with teachers who have high expectations of them tend to outperform other students. So it stands to reason that when you set high expectations for your team, they will perform to meet those high expectations.

  Every week, devote at least 30 minutes to brainstorming ideas before you meet with your team. You can do this at home, on your commute, at your desk, through conversation with trusted peers, in a sensory deprivation chamber—just do it. When you’re intentional and thorough with your ideas, you give your team much more to work with. Not only does this elevate your content, it reinforces your expectations and can result in more productive, effective team efforts.

  Best Practice 4: Publication and Distribution

  Publication and distribution play a critical role in your content initiative—even the best piece won’t get you close to becoming top of mind if no one in your audience ever reads it. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of leaders who pump out great content and then just let it collect digital dust on their company blog. To optimize your content’s ROI—and earn that top-of-mind space—you need to be strategic, assertive, and tireless in delivering it directly to your audience.

  For practical insight into what this means, let’s track the life cycle of “How Executive Branding Can Help You Become Less of a Narcissist,” an imaginary piece you just wrote (and that I would love to read). The edits are in, and you and your team are happy, so together, you craft an e-mail to the section editor of the publication you’re targeting to pitch your exclusive new content. Following that publication’s contributor guidelines, you send your unique article, a respectful pitch, and a thoughtful e-mail to the editor. After some correspondence (and potential revisions and postsubmission edits), she accepts the piece, and it goes live later that month. (I’ll be honest with you: this process isn’t always a breeze. One of the most common problems editors in my network share with me and my company is that content from other sources tends to be too promotional or unoriginal, and even if your content meets their criteria, the timing may not work in your favor. Contributing content is not an exact science. It’s based on relationships and a commitment to engaging, unique content designed for that publication’s audience—not your own agenda.)

  Once it’s up, your content project manager—the quarterback I mentioned earlier—begins collaborating simultaneously with:

  Your social media team, who transform the key points of the article into engaging social media content and use it (in conjunction with strategic hashtags and direct mentions) to activate amplifiers for your content and increase followers. This not only provides value to your brand followers, it also drives traffic to the article and back to your company site.

  Your PR team, who include the content in pitches to entice influencers and publication contributors to source that content.

  Your SEO team, who use the right tools and software to track its performance in search and optimize your efforts to ensure that the content is showing up for the terms that draw more of the right eyes to your work.

  Your point of contact for any and all paid promotion, distribution, and amplification efforts so you can increase your chances of getting your content in front of the specific audiences you’re targeting.


  Your e-mail marketing team, who incorporate the piece into your next campaign to ensure that your distribution networks stay connected to your thought leadership efforts.

  Your human resources department, who use the article as a recruitment tool and resource for educating new hires on company culture and existing employees on industry updates.

  Your stakeholders, investors, and other advocates, who can educate themselves about developments in your space or share it with valuable networks.

  Your entire staff, so that they all can share the article through their personal and professional networks and increase the article’s reach. With tools such as PostBeyond, Dynamic Signal, and Hootsuite Amplify, you can run effective employee advocacy campaigns that put this content directly into your team’s hands—and their social media feeds. (Side note: Your staff’s personal networks usually include proud moms, so get ready for comments like “Wow, nice job, John! Remember when you were a kiddo and you’d sing that Cabbage Patch Kids song? Look how far you’ve come! Love, Mom!” Still, there’s value—beyond humor—that families deliver in sharing your content for you, so include personal networks in your distribution, too.)

  That last point about sharing with your staff is critical. By engaging a thousand employees as brand advocates, a recent IBM campaign generated 120 million digital impressions and 141,000 clicks.5 Even if your team is a fraction of that size, employee advocacy tools can help your team leverage their networks and achieve dramatic results.

  And that’s just Round 1.

  If your piece hits its goals, you’ll want to repurpose it for distribution through different channels (maybe even a book). Doing so will extend the life of the article and provide optimal mileage. Remember, the more opportunities you create for your target audience to connect with the piece, the greater the impact and your chances of becoming top of mind.

  After it’s live, republish the article on your LinkedIn page, tweaking it so that there’s a direct call to action for readers to engage further with your content. Follow the comments and feedback that your piece is generating. Take note of what people are saying: What resonates with readers? What questions keep popping up? Where is the negative feedback focused?

  Send the article to a handful of industry influencers, business leads, or other valuable connections and encourage members of your team to do the same. Many of the most well-connected people I know have used this tactic to build their networks, and it’s one that’s worked for me, too.

  “I’m going to write about this topic again,” you tell each of them individually. “What are your thoughts? I’d love to incorporate a quote from you.”

  Equipped with insight into reader response and several quotes from influencers, you and your team can rework the piece. Although the rewrite should be thorough, you’re not starting from scratch; it shouldn’t take as much time as the original creation process.

  You now have an engaging follow-up piece on your hands.

  You can repeat this process as many times as needed to create versions of the piece tailored to all of your relevant target publications, as well as your company blog. (Some caveats: obviously, avoid plagiarizing yourself and blatant redundancy.)

  Finally, distill the essence of your article into different formats. These might include SlideShare decks, infographics, and white papers—the more shareable, the better. The goal is to open up new routes for your audience to discover and make use of your content.

  The distribution tactics you have at your disposal are always evolving, and if you’re serious about making absolutely sure that you’re not only maximizing ROI but also getting your content in front of the right audiences, you’ve got to stay up to date with the evolution.6

  As you can see, you can’t be passive about distribution. By taking advantage of these new and creative ways to share your content with the world, you can help ensure that it gets to the right people.

  Content is a powerful way to connect with those who matter most to you and to put yourself on top of their minds. It’s also a wonderful tool for personal development. I recently asked a client about the benefits she had seen from investing in a content program; she told me that regularly engaging in the creative process is like working with the best leadership coach she’s ever had. Through content, she’s learned to open herself up to her team and rely on their guidance and feedback, which has brought them closer together than ever. Many leaders spend money on coaches or masterminds when in reality sometimes the best coach you can have is yourself.

  I’m familiar with these intangible benefits because I have experienced them myself. Having worked with my team on so many hundreds of articles, I can proudly say that I’m over my writing anxiety. In fact, I now find writing therapeutic, and I make time for it every few days as a vehicle for organizing my thoughts. This was a breakthrough for me, one that continues to give me confidence and joy—and helps me stay top of mind.

  7

  MY JOURNEY

  THE RECEPTIONIST LOOKS at me with a mixture of pity and impatience. I know what he’s thinking. It’s basically written on his face: What are you, like, in high school? You’re about to get eaten alive; do you even know that?

  “They’re ready for you,” he says with a sigh. “Come on back.”

  He walks me through the office without saying a word. Few people notice me, but those who do eye me with suspicion. That kid’s not really on his way to the boardroom, is he?

  As we approach the room, I can hear a loud, lively conversation coming from inside. You’re not intimidated, I tell myself. You’re a great communicator, and you deserve to be here. There’s laughter coming from behind the closed doors. The receptionist pushes them open, and a sudden silence sweeps through the room.

  Just focus on the opportunity, I think as I step inside, my mouth screwed into a smile. I greet my audience, a group of real estate leaders, the youngest of whom is twice my age. My enthusiasm is met with restrained politeness and watch-checking. With a deep breath, I launch into the background behind the project.

  Just who does this kid think he is?

  Would he have even been born by the time I started here?

  At least he’s earnest. Why can’t my granddaughter ever date a boy like him?

  I could tell these questions were on their minds. I was 25 at the time, and I can still feel the intense frustration of not being able to shift the spotlight from my age to my knowledge about the project or the industry in general. This was a constant struggle for me throughout my career in real estate. Many senior-level execs wouldn’t give me the time of day, and it drove me up the wall. I could accept the fact that trust barriers were an inevitable part of the game, but it seemed as if all of my energy was devoted to disarming concerns about my age rather than my expertise in residential housing.

  Whether you currently are or once were a young professional, I know you understand that frustration. You’re more than your age, and you know that—but convincing someone else, someone older, is challenging.

  The truth is that those trust barriers don’t just dissolve when you’re older. You aren’t necessarily more trustworthy just as a result of reaching your thirtieth birthday. Whether you’re pitching to a tough executive crowd or you’re reaching out to candidates for a job at your amazingly successful company, your audience needs to know who you are to trust you. And your brand is a solid way to show them who you are.

  I say “who you are” because that’s more important and longer-lasting than “what you do” or “where you work.” You could start a business, make bank, and earn a reputation in your niche as being good at what you do. But what if what you do changes? What if you built your public identity as the go-to guy for X, and then Y comes along and knocks you on your butt? Or what if you decide to change careers? Without a professional brand, it’s going to be very difficult to maintain the trust you have built or transfer it to your next venture.

  But at the time I noticed these trust barriers in my real estate experiences,
I had never written about my industry. I didn’t even have a LinkedIn profile. I’m not sure what would have come up if you’d Googled me, but I doubt it would have inspired much confidence in me as a real estate leader.

  When we started Influence & Co., not much had changed. As I mentioned earlier in this book, some of those early conferences were devastating experiences for me. First of all, I often had to plead my way into getting an invite, which was always a demoralizing initial step. Of course, even when an organizer would extend an invitation (begrudgingly, I’m sure), I’d still have to pay thousands of dollars to attend. I’d show up and be a nervous wreck because I was convinced that the event would be worthwhile only if I could connect to whatever industry leader happened to be there. So after the keynote, I’d frantically elbow my way through the crowd of equally frazzled business leaders. On the off chance that I did get some face time with an industry leader, it would last for about 30 seconds, 29 of which consisted of me begging to be trusted.

  The whole thing felt so isolating and impersonal. I started a business because I was confident in my ability to connect with people, but if I couldn’t connect, what the hell was I doing with my life?

  At one particularly miserable conference, I just couldn’t muster the energy to grapple with the post-keynote crowd, so I observed from the sidelines instead. I watched as the swarm of desperate entrepreneurs descended upon the leader who had given the talk. It was as if she were on one of those moving walkways—even as she doled out face time in 30-second increments, she never stopped moving toward the door.

  Finally, she got to the exit, where she was greeted by three people. She looked not only relieved but thrilled. “It’s so good to finally meet you!” I heard her exclaim.

  Now, I recognized these three people—they weren’t Fortune 100 founders; they were young professionals like myself. I couldn’t believe it. Why wasn’t the speaker giving them the airport walkway treatment, too? What made these three so special?