Are Great Content Ideas Hiding in the Depths of Your Organization?

A few months ago, I was out in San Francisco for a strategy workshop with a client in the packaging and printing industry. When I arrived at their facility, they immediately gave me a plant tour to show off all of the cool printing presses and packaging equipment that they use.

Since they do a lot of packaging for food products, I especially enjoyed getting to wear a nifty blue hair net. But I digress…

As we neared the end of the tour, we approached a small, white office tucked away in the back corner of their plant. My guide opened the door and introduced me to Derek, the plant’s Quality Assurance Manager.

His little office was very unique with all sorts of testing equipment and homemade devices that he had built to test their final packaging and troubleshoot defective wrappers. Derek showed me a few of the things he was working on and demonstrated how a few of the devices worked. I was mesmerized.

Not only was all of this stuff really cool (from an outsider’s perspective), but Derek had an obvious passion for his job and it came through in his off-the-cuff demonstrations.

The Mad Scientist

This encounter really got my gears turning, and upon exiting the plant, I looked back at Derek’s little testing laboratory and couldn’t help but think of Derek as a mad scientist in his little lab concocting crazy experiments on sheets of substrate. Hmm….

Later that day, we were brainstorming on the different types of content that they might produce as part of their overall content marketing effort and the topic of video came up.

DING!

I immediately threw out the idea of having Derek do some behind-the-scenes videos that talk about all the testing and experiments that they do on their packaging to assure its quality. The marketing manager immediately picked up the phone and asked Derek to join us in the conference room. He loved the idea and immediately made a list of 6 videos that he could knock out without even batting an eye.

On that day, “The Mad Packer” was born.

Since that trip, we’ve started putting a lot more emphasis on having clients take a step back and look at their business processes from a different perspective.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do we have a unique process that our potential customers might find interesting or valuable?
• Would providing more detail on our processes build credibility or showcase our expertise?
• Might it give our potential customers a better sense of our product/service quality?

Customers Love Behind-the-Scenes Content

Perhaps it’s just me, but I’ve been known to stumble upon an episode of “How It’s Made” or “Dirty Jobs” and completely get lost in it (just ask my wife). There’s just something about seeing the technologies, innovations and expertise that many internal employees take for granted. Luckily for me, I love being the outside, third-party walking in with a fresh set of eyes and a mind for content.

Do me a favor…

After you read this, take a walk around your office/facility. Step outside of your day-to-day trench. Think about the processes that are happening and the unique individuals that are bringing your products to life. Ask yourself the questions listed above.

Do you have great content hiding within your organization? Probably.