What happens when your audience of highly experienced IT decision-makers comes across another “5 Tips for Successful Digital Transformation”? 

They run away and never come back.

They write your business off as just another vendor trying to sell them the same old thing in the same old way, with no additional value to offer. 

This is where subject matter experts come in.

Subject matter experts are the people in your organization who know their stuff. 

They’re your founders, CEOs, CTOs, CPOs, engineers, data scientists and so on who can talk about your product in-depth and who understand the challenges and pain points of your target customers.

When you interview these people and ask them the right questions, you tap into a goldmine of information that no one else has. 

And you can use that information to create truly original and helpful content that will make your audience sit up and take notice.

What is good content anyway? 

Before we go any further, let’s take a moment to examine what “good content” actually means.

In the context of a B2B tech brand, good content is:

• Unique, addressing the specific pain points that your target audience has and providing solutions that are tailored to their needs.
  
• Insightful, offering fresh new perspectives and insights rather than regurgitating the same old information that’s already out there.
  
• Helpful, in the sense that it is useful and actionable and introduces your solution to the reader in a non-salesy way.

This may sound obvious. So why are so many B2B companies creating ‘me too’ blog posts that might as well be subtitled blah, blah, blah? 

One reason is that writers don’t have access to the right people.

They rely on second-hand information from internet research rather than going to experts who can knock your socks off with their knowledge and experience.

And that’s a recipe for creating generic, low-quality blog posts that don’t stand out in the sea of sameness or correctly position your brand as the solution your customers are looking for.

What’s so special about expert interviews? 

There’s a saying in journalism that “you’re only as good as your sources,” meaning that the quality of your article is only as good as the people you interview. And it’s true. 

A great interviewee can give you all the ingredients of a stand-out article, including:

• Real, authentic insights on topics the expert knows inside out
• Tips for approaching the topic like an industry insider
• Original angles on well-worn material
• Tried-and-tested practical tips that help your readers
• Quotes and insights that no one else has access to, which creates a much richer, well-rounded reading experience

Now, this all sounds simple in theory, but it’s extraordinarily difficult in practice. 

There’s no sugarcoating it: interviewing people is hard even when the experts are your peers and bosses! 

The best way to learn is through repetition, but you won’t go too wrong if you start with these three tips:

#1: Let your reader “show up” to the interview

Writers typically prepare for an interview by trying to understand as much about the subject as possible. 

The thinking here is that being well-versed on the topic lets you ask more biting questions that cut to the heart of the issue, rather than wasting time with basic questions that draw out answers readers could find anywhere.

And that’s right – to a point. But it’s a balancing act. 

If you know too much about a topic and ask too many leading questions, you forget to think like a reader, who may know very little about the topic. 

Stepping back from what you already know and planning the interview from the reader’s perspective will help you to:

• Ask the type of questions a reader would ask if they were here instead of you
• Structure the interview in a way that’s easy for readers to follow and understand
• Extract practical advice from your subject expert that genuinely helps your reader
• Ask lots of “why” and “how” questions, and ask for examples, just like a new customer would
• Draw comparisons with other areas you may have expertise in to come up with something that’s different from the usual opinions already

It may sound counterintuitive, but showing up to an interview with less knowledge than your subject can actually help you to produce better content. 

Simply: never ask a question you know the answer to. That way, the writer and the reader can learn together.

#2: Have a conversation instead of a formal interview

I don’t like the word “interview” very much because it suggests a formal, one-way process in which the interviewer (that’s you) asks questions and grills the subject expert in some kind of intensive Q&A. 

That’s not how it should be. 

Your goal is to have an interesting, fluid conversation where you can both pursue new angles as they come up naturally.

Here are a few tips for designing the structure of your interview so you get the most out of it:

• Interview questions are important, but they are only tramlines for the conversation – don’t be afraid to go off-piste. The best interviews make room to explore angles that seem interesting. You can always return to the questions to get a runaway interview back on track. 

• Rely on your expert’s insights to guide the interview. Ask them what they think about the established way of doing things, and look for areas where their ideas differ from the norm.  You’re looking for original perspectives that will help your readers to understand the topic in a new way.

• Establishing a rapport with the interview subject is key to having a natural-feeling conversation. So don’t be afraid to start with a loosener question like, “How did you get into this industry?” or “What was your first job in tech?” Once the subject is talking warmly about their history, they’re speaking freely and unrehearsed.

• Don’t be afraid to be the ‘confused’ person in the room/ on Zoom.  If you genuinely don’t understand something, say so. You have to be comfortable with jumping in and prompting your expert to explain things in a way that will be easy for readers to follow.
  
  
• Take care of the practicalities to avoid any hiccups on the day. How will you record the interview? How will you get a transcript? What’s the process for getting sign-off? Ideally, you’ll want to run the finished piece by the expert to get their feedback before it gets published anywhere.
  

#3: Build a story around the insights, not the other way around

A good interview will give you a lot of material to work with so you’ll need to pick out the key themes you want to focus on. 

But don’t make the mistake of starting with the story you want to tell. Great content always starts with a novel insight from the expert, not the writer’s agenda. 

Everyone has their own process for turning a bunch of interview notes into a killer blog post,  but here are a few things that help me: 

1. I start by reading through the interview transcript and highlighting anything that jumps out at me as being particularly interesting, insightful or useful.
   
   
2. Next, I go through my highlights and pull out any direct quotes that seem particularly striking.
   
   
3. Then, I identify the key themes that emerged from the conversation, and cluster all my highlights and quotes around those themes. From there, I develop the narrative for the story, and create a killer title that captures the essence of what the story is about.
   
   
4. Now, I figure out the best way to present the information. For example, I might focus on a set number of practical tips or weigh up the pros and cons of a particular topic.
   
   
5. Write, write, write – and be ruthless when it comes to eliminating irrelevant information. Once the story is out of my head, I go back and make sure the important details are in place.
   
   
6. Add in facts and quotes from the expert and elsewhere to give the article weight. Data adds credibility for an expert audience.

Phew! Now that the first draft is complete, it’s time to edit, clarify and make the content sing. 

This is also the time to follow up with further questions and research where you need more information. 

Expert interviews are not a once-and-done. Don’t be afraid to ask for additional resources to help you. 

Expert interviews are your secret sauce to killer B2B content

Anyone can pose as an ”expert” by opening up a page of search engine results, read half a dozen articles, and publish their own summary on a topic. 

AI tools like ChatGPT can even do the work for you. 

This is why much of today’s B2B content is very generic, regurgitating existing ideas that offer no real value.

Those that bring unique, valuable insights that revolve around their buyer’s needs will reap the rewards big time. 

By interviewing your experts you’ll uncover unique, valuable insights that will take your content to another level.

Nailing those interviews takes skill, preparation and practice – but it’s worth it. 

So go out there, and start talking to some experts!