Get High at Work!

The Interview

Written by

Kevin Sandlin

in

When I’m not creating content (aka writing), I’m getting content from those who know it best: entrepreneurs. That’s the heart of the routine as your content creator & strategist. I ask you an open ended question, you tell me your entire story, which then becomes blog fodder for your content marketing calendar.

If only it were that simple. That’s what it looks like from 100,000 feet, but down here on good ole terra firma, it’s a little different.

  1. Introduction (email, phone, LinkedIn, Twitter)
  2. “Who are you again? Oh, ok.”
  3. Set the playing field: content is king and you must blog.
  4. Arrange the first session.
  5. Reschedule first session due to conflicts.
  6. First session. Light bulbs go on.
  7. Create one-page strategy doc.
    • Content buckets
    • Voice, Message, and Mix (60-20-20 rule)
    • Schedule / Frequency
  8. Set interview schedule.
  9. Interview.
  10. Blog.
  11. Repeat steps 1 – 11 until success
So, like most professions, there’s a lot of other stuff that has to get done and surrounds the best part of the entire process: interviewing and blogging. Or, said another way, learning your story and telling your story. That is the joy of this business. That’s what doesn’t feel like work. The interview is by far the most fun, because I’m learning something brand new. I may have an insight or two from a business or experience angle, but nobody knows your stuff better than you.
The interview. It’s kinda like going back to school every day to learn something completely new.

Comments

Leave a comment

More from Kevin

  • Try a sample, then eat the whole cake

    Have you ever seen a big tasty-looking carrot cake in the window of a bakery, then run in and bought that $21.99 carrot cake, and then you get home, nuke a piece, dive in, and…ugh. That’s how my grandmother made carrot cake!! Where are the raisins? It’s so dry! But you bought the whole cake, and…

  • 4 Steps to Determine How Well You Know Your Brand

    This post originally appeared on the General Assembly Digital Marketing Blog. How well do you know your brand? DO you know your brand? Actually, “brand” is an uncomfortable topic for many startup founders and small business owners, simply because they weren’t thinking about their brand when they started. It’s not a knock on them. Every entrepreneur…

  • It’s easier – and better – for someone else to tell your story

    Since transitioning from a simple content aggregation publication into a content marketing service, I’ve had dozens of meetings with entrepreneurs and marketers about “telling their story.” A consistent pattern has emerged out of those meetings that has become predictable in all my initial consultations with potential clients: It’s easier for me to tell your story…

  • How and Why to Segment Your Website Audience

    This post originally appeared on the General Assembly Digital Marketing Blog. When you go shopping for new clothes, online or in a brick and mortar store, which section do you hit first, the men’s or the women’s clothing? Good. OK, when you need a new power cord for your computer or smartphone, do you go…

  • 4 Steps to Predictable Marketing Outcomes

    One of the greatest achievements in starting a business is when you reach the point at which you can conduct a marketing campaign and predict with great confidence the outcome of the campaign, regardless of the end goal. When you can accurately predict the outcome of each individual marketing effort, you can then grow your…

  • Digital marketing summed up in six simple points

    Last Thursday, I led a 2-hour version of the six hour version of the 10-week Digital Marketing class at General Assembly. I really enjoy teaching these short, impactful sessions that serve as great introductions or primers for folks who want to learn to talk the talk in Digital Marketing or determine if they’d like to…

  • Digital Marketing 101: Glossary of Digital Marketing Terms

    This post originally published on the General Assembly Digital Marketing Blog. 1. Analytics – information resulting from the systematic analysis of data or statistics. In digital marketing, analytics is the information resulting from systematic analysis of data gathered from marketing activity such as email marketing, landing page A/B testing, or Google Adwords purchases. 2. Average…

  • Digital Marketing 101: Creating Your Digital Marketing Calendar

    This post originally published on the General Assembly Digital Marketing Blog. This post is part of our Digital Marketing 101 series. Sign up to get the full series! Everything we’ve discussed so far in this Digital Marketing 101 series has focused on what to do and a bit about how to do it. But in…

  • Digital Marketing 101: Understanding the Digital Marketing Funnel

    This post originally published on the General Assembly Digital Marketing Blog. When we started our latest session of Digital Marketing at General Assembly’s Atlanta campus, I told the class, “the term ‘digital marketing’ is a misnomer. It’s marketing, but we focus on getting our message to our audience digitally. But it’s still marketing.” What I…