01 Onboarding your ideal SME
Your dream SME might be a product manager, customer success leader, industry specialist… it all depends on what content you’re going to create.
But whatever your project, the perfect SME will:
Be a leading authority on the topic within your organisation
Be a good communicator, able to reach for real-world examples and analogies
Value the role marketing plays in your organisation’s success
Understand your target audience and the challenges they face
Know your organisation’s proposition for that audience
Be comfortable being interviewed
Be keen to build their own professional profile
You won’t find many perfect SMEs. That’s OK. Find the best candidate you can. (Perfect SMEs also tend to be extremely busy individuals, which make the next stage even more important…)
When you reach out to your preferred SME, remember to clearly explain – and, frankly, sell – the project to them. Make sure they know:
What you’re creating and why
Why they’re the only person for the job
How the content will be used and how it’ll help your business
How it’ll help your SME achieve their own goals
What their involvement will look like – e.g. a 30-minute interview with a writer and a commitment to review the copy the writer creates
Be clear about what you need from your SME upfront. This will make it much easier to chase them in six weeks' time, when you’re trying to drive that eBook to completion.
