Interviewing niche B2B experts for better content strategy

The B2B industry can be niche and specific, which can make some people feel like they need to be experts to create a successful content strategy.

What if I told you with a little practice and minimal resources, you could create a strategy like an insider?

Interviewing (when done right) can really be a powerful tool for learning about someone or something in depth.

This is especially useful in B2B settings where we can use the Problem > Solution > Impact framework to guide the process.

In this article, we’ll look at why interviewing is an important part of the onboarding process, who to interview and how to prepare – as well as some tips and sample questions to get you started.

Why interviewing?

Interviewing is an incredibly useful tool when working in a niche or industry that you may not be familiar with.

This is because it can be used as a research method to understand culture.

Culture—defined as a system of beliefs, worldviews, and values ​​that influence behavior and the material world around a part of society—is central to understanding consumer and purchasing behavior and the motivations of individuals.

Anthropologists use interviews to learn more about human behavior because it facilitates human connection, fosters empathy, and insights that often cannot be obtained elsewhere.

Last year I was working with a B2B SaaS startup in a niche industry – and after doing as much research as possible online, I still felt lost on how to create one that would engage and convert readers into customers.

I felt like a fraud and the content made it clear to me that I was not one of them.

Without that human connection, my writing felt dry and didn’t address the underlying motivations or issues of the people or companies in this industry.

Then I decided to use my training as an anthropologist.

I asked if I could schedule an interview with one of the employees at the startup. The insights I gained about the company and the industry were invaluable.

This made me remember that I have a family member who also works in the field, and I asked them for 30 minutes to pick their brains.

These two interviews led to a much deeper understanding of my client’s day-to-day workload and workflow, their customer expectations and their industry culture.

In turn, this helped me create better content that resonated with their target audience.

While SEO seems technical and rather quantitative, there are people behind the keywords.

Behind people we have a whole world of influences, experiences, history and market mythologies to uncover.

These things cannot be measured in Google Analytics.

Who should I interview?

It depends on the number of resources available and your capacity.

The interview can be as simple as a 20-minute video call or as in-depth as an hour-long coffee conversation.

It also depends on the scope and depth of the topic.

You will usually start by doing your research around the company and its industry. Start at Wikipedia and begin the journey down the rabbit hole.

Once you’ve done your homework, you’ll have a better understanding of where there are gaps in your knowledge.

This can help you determine who to interview.

This could be a staff member from the client organization, someone who is active on LinkedIn, or even a third cousin who works in the industry.

Use your discretion and professionalism to choose the person with whom you can build a good relationship.

Practice makes you better

If you have never conducted an interview before, then practicing a few skills will help you a lot.

It looks easier than it is and there are no changes.

Below I share two aspects of the interview that I find most important and how to prepare for them.

1. Taking notes

Choose a high-traffic location in your area, such as a weekend flea market, local mall, sporting event, or dog park.

Grab a notebook and pen – no writing.

Find a place where you can sit for about 30 minutes and take notes while observing everything around you.

No need to be a spy or hide behind a bush. Blend in, but be discerning.

Take notes on what you see for five minutes and include as much detail as possible. Break for five minutes and read your notes, then repeat two more times.

This process will help you learn to take better notes and be an observer rather than a participant.

During your interview, you don’t want to be taking notes non-stop, and you shouldn’t.

Interviews should be recorded with the consent of the participant, and notes should supplement what was not said.

Did the interviewer get tense about a certain topic? Did they get excited talking about another? Pay attention to these things.

2. Active listening

Active listening is another skill essential to a great interview.

Active listening means being present and participating in a conversation. This means you listen to everything the interviewee tells you and process their perspective and insights while keeping yours to yourself.

Recruit a friend to help you improve your active listening through this exercise.

Set a timer for five minutes.

One of you shares a story or explains something while the other listens.

After five minutes, the listener will try to remember as many details as possible about what was just said.

Switch places and repeat.

This exercise helps build patience (waiting for your turn to speak), listening skills (without planning what to say next), and presence (through eye contact).

Tips for interviewing

• Audio recording of the interviewbut be sure to get written consent.
• Take notes on the things left unsaid.
• Keep the interview short to about three to five questions (depending on the length).
• After the interviewee stops talking, give them three to four seconds of silence. This encourages many people to share more, simply by giving them a space to speak and be heard.
• Be interested in the conversation, but there is no need to tell or add to their stories. Every moment you spend talking equals less information from them.
• Ask questions to encourage clarification. Like what happened next? How did you explain it to them? Does this happen regularly? What do you think about that?
• Prepare for your interview by researching of the industry.
• Be sure to get express consent and respect participants’ privacy.
• Reciprocity can be a long way – use it.

Sample questions to ask experts

The goal of interviewing experts is to capture their passions and concerns in a casual conversation.

Over-formalizing the interview may make participants feel uncomfortable sharing their personal feelings.

Explore the Problem > Solution > Impact model as you prepare your questions.

Here are some examples that work great.

• How did you get into this profession?
• What is your favorite thing regarding [industry/profession/workflow]?
• What tool do you use every day at work? What’s so great about it? What would you change?
• What does your daily workflow look like?
• How is your relationship with customers? Something you want to improve?
• Do you follow current trends, news, influencers or creators in your industry? WHO?

The latter is a gold mine if they are active online and can share multiple individuals from their industry – or even blogs, YouTube channels or social media accounts.

This will become invaluable when it comes time to create and distribute content.

Be careful with leading questions; while it’s an interview, it should feel comfortable, like a conversation.

Only then will your interlocutor share the most honest answers.

Creating better content from interviews

Now that we’ve broken down the interview, it’s time to take what you’ve learned and transform your content.

The social survey

Take an interesting or controversial point from the interview and present it as a question on an appropriate platform where others in the industry can voice their opinions.

Why does this work?

It’s likely that the topic you brought up is controversial to others in the industry. Posting this is a subtle nudge that you’re an insider in their group.

It also shows that you care about what people have to say.

Social surveys can spark a wider discussion or produce interesting results.

If any of these things happen, you take it a step further and create longer content from that concept.

A blog post that shares expert and professional quotes from the social survey can attract new readers and help with distribution.

Update existing content

Updating existing content is my favorite content strategy of all time.

There’s no way you’re going to screw up a blog post the second time around; always improving.

If your interview was successful, you may have picked up some new information about how certain topics are discussed and the jargon surrounding them.

Editing the writing style of blog posts to reflect industry language patterns will give readers the impression that this is someone who knows what they’re talking about.

Have you ever read something and immediately connected to it?

You may have felt like someone was reading your mind, and as uncomfortable as that sounds, we as humans find it very comforting.

These positive signals that someone is in our “group” help us build lasting relationships.

Conclusion

There are countless ways to use interviews to inform or help create a content strategy—whether they’re inspiring new content or influencing the writing style or language used in the text.

The possibilities are endless.

If you take anything away from this piece, understand that (most) people are social and like to talk about themselves or their interests.

If someone is not interested in an interview or seems closed off, then don’t choose them.

When the anthropologist is in the field and chooses an informant, it is someone they get along with, who is respected or known in the community, and who is familiar with a particular topic.

Embrace our basic need for human connection and use it to power your content strategy.

If you’re humble and willing to learn from others, you’ll get there in no time.

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