How to Get and Use Information from Subject Matter Experts

1. Presentation Title
Subtitle
Month, #, Year
Turning Interviews Into Content
How to Get and Use Information
from Subject-Matter Experts
(SMEs)

2. Turning Interviews Into Content: How to Get and Use Information from Subject-Matter Experts (SMEs)
ANDY CRESTODINA
Co-Founder / CMO
BRIAN O’NEILL
Senior Conversion
Copywriter
Welcome
SIOBHAN CLIMER
Conversion Copywriter
ANDY CRESTODINA
CEO / Excavation
Mining Services

3. Who is a Subject-Matter Expert Anyway?
Anyone at your organization with a perspective that
helps to:
● Understand website visitors
● Define services or products
● Explore conversion processes
● Offer insight into website goals
In other words, someone you need to talk to.
- Brian O’Neill, Wisdom Deliverer

4. The 2 Types of SMEs
Visionary
● Give broad perspective
● Define business objectives
● Offer philosophical insights
Knowledge Worker
● Know specific services
● Understand business processes
● Have direct customer
experiences

5. Should we interview everyone
while we’re at it?
No, at least not all together.

6. If they’re the experts, why can’t they just
write it themselves?
Why interview SMEs at all?

7. Potential outcomes of SME-created copy
● Boring
● Vague
● Long
● Disorganized
● Technical
● Features-first
● Salesy
● Egocentric — give it the ole’ ‘French Test’

8. Just a few reasons why...
LOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGG
and disorganized.
Deep in the depths of this content,
there are good points and details —
but no reader will ever get to them.

9. Just a few reasons why...
At first glance, this is scannable
and uses great icons.
However, read for only a
moment and ...

10. Just a few reasons why...
Maybe we’re wrong.
Maybe this is what your audience wants.

11. “Even highly educated online
readers crave succinct
information that is easy to
scan.”
Hoa Loranger
VP Nielsen Norman Group

12. “I think the curse of
knowledge is the chief
contributor to opaque writing.”
Steven Pinker
Johnstone Professor of
Psychology at Harvard
Source: Pinker, Steven. The Source of Bad Writing, Wall Street Journal.

13. Not ours.
SMEs are experts in their subject.

14. So, how do you interview an SME?

15. What you’ll learn tonight
- How to prepare for an SME interview.
- How to make it an actual conversation.
- How to get the info you need (even when you don’t know what
info you need).
- How to align the conversation in a way that reveals conversions.
- How to turn all of that into actual on-the-page content?

16. 1. Preparation
Planning, communication, and research.

17. Turning Interviews Into Content: How to Get and Use Information from Subject-Matter Experts (SMEs)
Meet Andy. No, not that Andy.
ANDY CRESTODINA
CEO / Excavation
Mining Services
What We Know
● CEO of company
● Down-to-business type
● Busy
● EMS founded by his
dad in 1974
● Proud of history
● CX and CS top of mind
What We Need
● What matters most to
EMS customers
● Voice and tone
● What is the CX?
● How do customers find
EMS?
● The REAL differentiator
MAYBE?

18. Original webpage copy.
Here’s what’s on the Excavation Mining Services page now.

19. #wineandweb
Interview Questions — Steer, Don’t Lead.
1. First, elevator pitch: what, do you, does EMS actually do?
2. Tell me a little about your audience. Why do they need to rent or lease excavation equipment?
3. How is leasing different than renting? Are your services equally important?
4. What are your customer’s pain points? What can they not do today?
5. What questions do they ask? What questions should they ask?
6. Do your customers care about what their peers are doing?
7. What’s the sales process like? How do customers find you? Who do they talk to?
8. What makes EMS a great company — for customers and employees?
9. How is this project going to be a success for you?
Open-ended questions give
your SMEs more room to
interpret and speak their
true minds.
This also provides you
answers to your unasked
questions.

20. Make it easy.
Clear communication from you,
No preparation from them.

21. 2. Interview
Listening (really listening) and thinking.

22. Here’s how it works:
SIOBHAN CLIMER
Conversion Copywriter
ANDY CRESTODINA
CEO / Excavation
Mining Services
BRIAN O’NEILL
Senior Conversion
Copywriter
Live Interview (no rehearsals) Play-by-Play Analysis

23. Question 1:
First, elevator pitch:
what, to you, does Excavation
Mining Services actually do?

24. Question 2:
Tell me about your audience?
Why do they need to rent or lease
excavation equipment?

25. Question 3:
How is leasing different than
renting? Are your services equally
important?

26. Question 4:
What are your customer’s
pain points?
What can they not do today?

27. Question 5:
What questions do customers ask
over and over? What questions
should they ask you?

28. Question 6:
Do your customers care about what
their peers are doing?

29. Question 7:
What is the sales process like?
How do customers find you?
Who do they talk to?

30. Question 8:
What makes EMS great — for
customers and for employees?

31. Question 9:
What would make this project a
success for you?

32. 3. Write it up
Analysis, translation, integration, and a bit of alchemy.

33. New webpage copy.
Here’s what the interview produced.

34. Tonight’s Take-aways
1. SMEs are good at their jobs — not ours.
2. SME interviews are most effective when they are:
a. 1-on-1
b. Conversational
c. Flexible
d. Fun
e. Easy for the SME
3. Turning interviews into content takes your SMEs tech and adding to
it your best practices in copywriting.

35. Thank you!
Still have questions? Don’t
hesitate to reach out — anytime.
ANDY CRESTODINA
Co-Founder / CMO
BRIAN O’NEILL
Senior Conversion Copywriter
SIOBHAN CLIMER
Conversion Copywriter
andy@orbitmedia.com siobhan@orbitmedia.com
brian@orbitmedia.com