At DevelopmentNow, we don’t just build technology solutions. We bring products to life. That’s why we’re not interested in simply taking on projects for clients, then wiping our hands clean after launch day. Instead, we want to form partnerships that nurture the long-term success of everything we bring into the world. The best way continuously improve key performance metrics in business is to learn from people who have been there, done that. Although we have a lot of experience, we also constantly learn from the talented people around us. That’s why we’re going to bring you the best business advice in a new series here on our Insights page. Each week, we’ll be posting interesting and helpful tips from the brightest folks working in technology today. Enjoy!

Last week, I had the pleasure of talking to Kemp Edmonds, Solutions Consultant at Hootsuite and all around smart guy. In addition to his Solutions Consultant role, Kemp has also worn a variety of hats at Hootsuite, including a role as a Sales Engineer, and working with enterprise clients in Enterprise Client Services and Enterprise Training. Kemp also consults clients independently, and writes about digital strategy on his personal blog.

During our discussion, I asked Kemp to share his best content hacks that businesses can use to grow, whether they are B2B or B2C companies. Here is his best advice:

Create Value

Ask yourself, “how do we create value for our audience?” Then, create content that delivers that value. Re-purposing content is a great way to create the most value for your audience with the least amount of overhead. For example, create a blog post about a topic, then take the best parts of the post and rewrite for an email audience before sending it off to your list.

Create Value . . . With Your Solutions

Once you’ve built a trusting audience with your genuinely helpful content, it’s okay to position your product as a solution when appropriate. After all, people follow your brand for a reason – they are interesting in learning about solutions in your industry.

Don’t Be Salesy

When you are pitching your product as a solution, don’t be too salesy! People can smell a sales pitch before you’ve even finished your opening remarks. Instead, talk about your product in a realistic way. Consider “solution fit”. Only offer your product as a solution to someone if it will effectively solve their specific issue.

Be a Curator

Save time and precious marketing resources by curating and sharing content that will be valuable to your audience from high quality sources. This tactic also fosters goodwill between yourself and the content creator. If you share their content, they will be more likely to share yours.

Share What You Do

The day in and day out work that you do might not seem fresh and exciting to you, but documenting your process and workflows can be interesting and beneficial to your audience. Chicago-based Basecamp (formerly known as 37Signals) is as famous for their blog posts and books about their company operations as they are for their signature project management product.

Follow the 3 Email Rule

Personally answering emails from your audience is a great way to provide good customer service and learn about your product’s pain points. However, answering the same questions over and over is bad for company productivity. If you are asked the same question at least three times, answer the question in a blog post. This solves two problems. First, you have an asset that you can easily point your audience to when someone asks the question in the future. This will save you a lot of time. Second, if many people are emailing you directly with the question, there are probably many more people out there who are searching for the answer. This is a great way to increase the size of your audience too.

Connect Person-to-Person

Business is, at its core, about people rather than products. We buy from people that we like. The best way to convert your audience to paying customers is one person at a time. Talk to people directly on social media. Answer as many mentions, emails, and comments as you can. Address people’s needs personally, rather than offering a general solution. If your advice helps someone achieve their goal, they will be more likely to take your advice and do business with you in the future.

Practice Positive Networking

Don’t start networking when you need something from someone. Instead, practice positive networking by simply meeting as many people as you can in your industry. By creating a friendly rapport with a wide variety of people, you’ll be able to easily form partnerships for future mutual benefit. Also, you don’t have to network in person. Trading a few emails with interesting people counts as networking too.

Be Helpful

Help whenever you can. Don’t expect anything in return. It’s that simple. Share content created by others. Provide free yet valuable information to your audience. For example, if you are a digital agency, develop content that will help your audience kickoff their next project: “How to Build an App”, or “How to Create a Wireframe for a Website”. Teach something in a free webinar. Record a lecture and post it on YouTube. Turn a presentation into a slideshow and post to a LinkedIn group.

Be the Expert

If your audience looks to your company as the expert in your field, then you’ll load the top of the marketing funnel. Even if people aren’t ready to buy what you are selling, they are engaged with your company on some level. That’s a huge first step.

Focus on the Long-term

Create content that is timeless. Although it’s tempting to write about a new hot feature or novel business concept, trendy content loses its relevance fast. Instead, solve a universal problem that your audience is likely to have today, or in a year. That way, you are speaking to your current and future customers.

Focus on long-term relationships too! If you invest in positive networking and person-to-person connections, make sure to stay in touch with your new contacts on a regular basis.

Scale Your Connections

Although it would be ideal to personally connect with each member of your audience, it’s just not possible. Eventually, you have to scale the person-to-person connection. There are a few easy ways to do this. Industry meetups are a great way to connect with the most enthusiastic members of your community. Attend a meetup to network then write a blog post about the event for attendees to share on their social accounts. This will also help you find partners on the ground. Partners on the ground are those folks who will be your evangelists just because they like you. And we all know there is no better way to get more clicks or more business than by referrals and testimonials from people who truly love what you do.