In this edition of the Client Question Series, we tackle a common question with an uncommon spin. Instead of giving you the short and long answers as we usually do, we’ll be sharing a story from a real business owner.

If you’ve ever asked yourself “Why am I not getting leads despite posting content on social media?” then this article is for you.

The Background

We recently had a meeting with a fractional CFO serving SMB owners who asked us straight up, “Why is my content marketing not converting?”

The frustration was real for him. He’d spent the last couple of years investing in creating high-quality video assets and educational posts. He even hired a seasoned copywriter to write attention-grabbing copy for his website and LinkedIn personal and company pages.

Technically speaking, he’d done everything right, and yet hardly any leads had come of it.

But why?

The answer we gave him surprised him. And it might surprise you, too.

Real Talk

The truth is, even though he invested in good assets that were entertaining… that’s all they were. Entertaining videos. Cute and clever groupings of words.

Nothing more but a reprieve from the dull and boring, and not something that would do the one thing you MUST do if you want to have a glimmer of hope of driving new business: build trust.

You see, he had forgotten all about the trust-building process in his quest to be the most engaging CFO on social media.

And so, despite posting regularly and doing everything the gurus say you should do, he wasn’t seeing any revenue results.

Our conversation went something like this:

CLIENT: What do you mean I’m not building trust? Aren’t I posting enough?

US: The posting is not the issue. It’s what you’re posting.

CLIENT: I don’t get it. I’m sharing industry trends in an engaging manner. How is that not useful?

US: Who exactly are you sharing those for?

CLIENT: The business owners I want to serve.

US: What kind of business owners are they? VC-backed? Multinational?

CLIENT: They’re bootstrapped agencies making about a million in revenue.

US: And what do bootstrapped agencies making about a million in revenue care about?

[A pause.]

CLIENT: Making more money and not hemorrhaging the money they make.

US: And do your assets help them do that?

[A longer pause.]

CLIENT: Well…

[An even longer pause.]

US: Do your assets at least present you as a trustworthy expert that can help them do that?

[Silence.]

The Big Takeaway

Here’s the main lesson our client learned, and that you need to learn to.

Trust-building in content marketing comes down to 3 things:

1) Relevance

2) Specificity

When you think about the content topics and how to frame the content itself, remember to use their language, their concerns, and their desired outcomes.

For example, our fractional CFO used to use the term “gain financial clarity” when speaking to his audience, but this isn’t a term most bootstrapped founders would ever even think. After our consultation, he changed it to “it’s time to stop running your business in the dark” and saw an uptick.

3) Authority

Our CFO, for example, started publishing assets that spoke to founders in a way that built up his authority and resonated with them.

E.g., “You don’t need an accountant. You need someone who’s been around the block enough times to know how to clean up messes, fix problems, and set things up to run smoothly in the background—to be your backbone while you build up the business. You need someone like me, who’s seen it all and who can support you, no matter your current situation.”

Self-Assessment Time

If your content marketing isn’t converting, it’s time to reassess how much your assets hit the mark.

Are you trust-building? Or just posting cute content that elicits a laugh and nothing else?

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