How to use evergreen content to market your expertise
14th, Dec 2021
Lawyers, accountants and other professionals often want to be seen as experts in their field but find it difficult to commit the time to achieve that goal. “Experts” need to consistently demonstrate their knowledge through writing and speaking. A single speaking engagement, published article or quote in the newspaper is not enough. While it is important to show you are knowledgeable about the latest developments in your field, you can also showcase your expertise with “evergreen content.” The added benefit is that it also saves time.
Evergreen content is content that doesn’t go out of date. It stays fresh – interesting and relevant – long after it was created. Trending or time-sensitive content is the opposite. It attracts attention when it is first shared, but loses relevance quickly. Both are useful in building a reputation as an expert, but evergreen content often has a greater return on investment because you can keep using it in your marketing. As long as it is still accurate, you can continue to share it in emails, social media posts, presentations and articles months or even years later. It also remains on your website to boost your credibility and drive search engine traffic to your website.
The most effective evergreen content should:
- Focus on a niche area. It’s better to be an expert in a niche area because you have fewer competitors and it is easier to stand out and be memorable. It also tends to result in better quality leads because you are attracting exactly the people that are likely to need your services. Your evergreen content should drill down into your niche and cover the range of issues that may come up. It should also highlight any unique expertise that you have but others may not have (ex. industry knowledge, a multi-disciplinary approach, etc.).
- Target a specific audience and the problems they need to solve. Who is your ideal client? Now write for them. Know what keeps them up at night and give them helpful information to prove you understand them and they can rely on you for assistance. An added benefit of this approach is that writing/speaking about specific problems is likely to draw high-quality leads to your site because your target audience will be looking online for the information you are providing.
- Be based on research. Don’t just guess at what might make good evergreen content; do your homework. In choosing topics, look at what content has been most successful for you in the past. Review your website, email and social media metrics to identify popular subjects. Also, what topics have others (e.g., clients, prospects, organizations, media, etc.) asked you about. It’s also helpful to look at your competitors to see what they are doing. Finally, research long-tail keywords. These are search terms that people use online that are at least a few words long. Typically, they are questions or phrases on a specific topic or problem. Understanding what people are searching for can help you frame your content so it is more likely to be of interest to your audience and be found online.
While you should invest in creating a library of evergreen content, remember that you will need to cover topical issues periodically to boost your visibility and show that you stay current in your field. In addition, evergreen content does not last relevant forever. It is a good practice to periodically review and update it. That can be as simple as adding/changing examples or statistics, reorganizing the content or creating new versions (ex. long/short; expert/novice) or different formats (ex. video, written, live presentation).
So, how can you come up with evergreen content? Drill down into the Frequently Asked Questions you get from clients, offer ‘How-tos’ on a series of topics, provide Checklists that help your audience understand what issues they may be forgetting about, and offer Case Studies that demonstrate a successful outcome. These are just a few ideas, but there are plenty of others.
If you need assistance creating or promoting evergreen content that will help build your credibility as an expert, contact me for a consultation.
Tagged: buyer persona, niche, writing
