The biggest challenge in creating expert-led content isn’t a lack of expertise. It’s getting that expertise out of your experts’ heads and into content that earns attention and builds trust with discerning audiences.
Of course, the people in your organization with the most valuable insights are usually the busiest. Many of them don’t consider themselves writers, either. So when you ask an expert to “draft an article by Friday,” you already know how that story ends.
The fix is to stop asking your experts to produce a finished product—and get them to start talking instead. That idea is the basis for the interview process we call the Content Conversation℠.
What Is a Content Conversation?
A Content Conversation is a structured interview between a marketing or communications team (in-house or outsourced) and a subject matter expert. The interviewer guides a discussion based on (but not bound to) a set of pre-defined questions and records the whole thing using a tool like Grain.
That recorded interview becomes the foundation for future expert-led content assets: articles, emails, LinkedIn posts, and more, all reflecting the expert’s authentic voice and perspective. The expert never has to write a word. They share what they know, then get back to their regular work.
But here’s the real key: the quality of the content can only ever be as good as the quality of the conversation behind it. A rushed interview produces thin material, which results in thin content. A meandering interview generates discussion but doesn’t sharpen perspective. A focused, well-prepared interview, on the other hand, leads to rich stories, strong opinions, and specific advice: the raw material for great expert-led content.
That’s why preparation matters so much.
Preparing Experts for a Content Conversation
The marketing or communications team is responsible for getting the expert set up for a successful conversation. A little advance guidance helps experts show up comfortable, focused, and ready to share their best thinking. Every step that follows serves the same goal: a richer conversation that yields richer content.
Get the expert thinking about the topic
Share a brief overview of the planned topic about a week before the interview. Include the working title and a short summary of what you plan to cover, so the expert knows what to expect next. (We use an Editorial Calendar to keep track of upcoming topics; if you need help filling yours, here are four starting points for developing content topics.)
Prepare interview questions and send those over in advance. Don’t assign the expert homework. They don’t need to provide written responses; that’s what the interview is for. Instead, the questions are a way to prompt thinking and reflection in advance of the call. Their answers will be better for it.
Consider if the topic would benefit from more than one expert
Expert-led content can branch in two directions: individual and brand. If you’re creating a brand asset (i.e., creating materials that represent the organization as a whole rather than elevating one person’s voice), make sure your expert is comfortable speaking to the full scope of the topic. If they aren’t, consider bringing in a colleague with complementary experience to fill any knowledge gaps. Multiple perspectives often make the conversation—and the resulting content—more substantive. Plus, one focused interview with two experts often beats scheduling two separate calls.
Set expectations for a focused interview
If the Content Conversation is happening over a video call (as ours often do), ask your expert to set aside uninterrupted time and find a quiet, distraction-free space. Encourage them to turn their camera on. Seeing your expert’s body language and facial expressions helps capture their tone and personality, so that the final content is uniquely them.
Note: Setting expectations with the expert is just one piece of the puzzle, Ultimately, it’s on the marketing or communications team to run an effective interview. That includes keeping track of the time and, more importantly, filling it strategically so that you get what you need to build a complete asset.
What Happens After the Content Conversation
Once the interview wraps up, the expert’s job is done… for a while, anyway. The marketing or comms team handles what comes next. At Every Little Word, we kick off a series of steps designed to transform a single conversation into a polished content asset:
- Supplemental research (as needed)
- Writing and initial drafting
- Internal editing and QA
- Gathering and implementing stakeholder feedback (this stage is where content projects most often lose momentum, so we wrote a whole guide to help experts and other stakeholders provide useful feedback)
One conversation, one focused hour of your expert’s time, yields high-quality content that audiences actually want to read. That’s the return on a well-prepared Content Conversation.
If you don’t have the bandwidth to run this process in-house, or you’d like guidance getting started, we’re here to support you. Book a discovery call to learn more.
