This is part of a series of posts where I talk about my experiences managing large channel marketing content programmes. This time I look at how to keep customers at ease when we produce content that needs their direct input.

While our agency’s role in technology partner marketing means our team here is usually dealing with a chain of contacts — at companies such as software vendors, cloud hyperscalers, systems integrators or other IT services providers — these are all usually people with marketing job titles. Things get a little trickier when we speak to tech professionals, customer-side.

These can be very senior roles such as chief information officer (CIO), chief technology officer (CTO) or chief information security officer (CISO), or other critical technical positions such as solutions architects or data scientists. The list goes on.

I say “trickier” because creating content isn’t usually part of these people’s roles. (Maybe it should be — that’s another conversation.)

That means we must be especially careful to explain what’s needed: How the process of creating the content will work. How every party will be included in a piece of content such as a case study or report. And how they’re in a safe space — nothing goes live without their consent, unlike with media interviews.

And I mention media work because a lot of our writers used to be journalists. This is a good thing, in that they know how to conduct interviews and tease out the best information. But it also means that, over their careers, they have met countless tech leaders who were customer-side, many of whom they championed. The same goes for members of our team who come to us from the world of tech PR. I wonder how many copywriters at other agencies have had that experience?

By the end of most interviews — we usually only get one slot with busy senior tech types — a lot of them are enjoying the process and happy their hard work is being recognised.

They don’t always know it, and we can’t always say it out loud, but their involvement is not just valuable for their company but also their team – it’s motivating to see hard work recognised in an article or video.

Then, it goes without saying that it can be a reputational boost for the spokesperson in question.

And of course their suppliers, of which at least one is our client, are very happy. There’s nothing that beats hearing about success from those at the sharp end of big projects.

Email me at becky.thompson@collectivecontent.agency or connect with me on LinkedIn if you’d like to talk with me about any of this.