For years we’ve been told that content is king, but tightening marketing budgets, shortening news cycles, pressure from ever-hungry search and social media algorithms, and generative AI have combined to rapidly increase the quantity of content, without an accompanying focus on the quality. Just noise, white noise, as the song goes.
So how can you, the busy marketer, cut through all this content ‘noise’ to reach and connect with your time-poor C-suite audience? The answer is – you don’t – you enable their peers to, instead.
We know that peer-to-peer knowledge sharing is one of the most valued sources for the C-suite, both from anecdotal conversations with leaders this year and also from the research we’ve just launched. The Wise & Zeal C-suite Content Credibility Report found that two thirds of C-suite respondents now rely more heavily on peer experiences and recommendations when it comes to considering a new vendor than they did even just three years ago. This is echoed by 31% of respondents who specifically said that content sharing peer experiences brings them closer to solving a problem. 99 respondents also said that they would be likely to opt in to receive more content if what they read was written by peers, not the vendor.
Step forward the Peer2Peer guide; short thought leadership books on a hot topic designed to mimic in person peer knowledge sharing. Each chapter is authored by a C-suite executive from an industry-leading organisation and offers practical advice and real-world anecdotes to help their peers tackle professional challenges. One of our clients launched their first guide just last week and it’s been amazing to see the response from their organisation and audience. As the client said “This guide isn’t just content. It’s a peer-to-peer exchange that equips senior leaders with knowledge from the industry’s best.”
We’ve learned a lot from producing peer-authored books and running customer advocacy programmes over the years and we’ve applied this knowledge and experience to this shorter format so that our clients can be more responsive to the topics being discussed in their industries. Alongside each guide we also create an activation pack including shorter-form content, marketing materials, and sales tools to help sales and marketing teams hit the ground running.
It does take a lot of hard work and secret sauce to pull a content rabbit like this out of the production hat, but it’s always a privilege to work on these projects, especially when you get feedback like this: “Absolutely thrilled with the result, and holding the final guide truly makes all the effort worthwhile. It was an absolute pleasure partnering with you to bring this to life – you understood the core value of genuine peer-to-peer insight!”
If you would like to talk to us about creating a Peer2Peer Guide for your organisation, please complete this form and we’ll be in touch to set up a call.