The Rewrite Trap: Why Experts Stay Silent - Kristen Sweeney

Kristen Sweeney’s story begins with Broadway dreams—but her real stage would be the boardroom. From training in musical theatre to founding a strategic content agency for the life sciences and B2B sectors, Kristen has learned that communication isn't just about talking—it's about translating expertise into impact.

In this episode of MarketPulse: Pros and Pioneers, Kristen dives deep into the challenges that plague subject-matter experts: perfectionism, overthinking, and the fear of putting unfinished ideas into the world. She explains why so many technical professionals struggle to connect their knowledge with audiences—and what leaders can do to fix that. If you've ever sat on content too long, rewritten the same paragraph ten times, or struggled to turn brilliance into business impact, this conversation will resonate deeply.

You'll hear how maternity leave changed her approach to leadership, why engineers often can't communicate (and why it's not their fault), and what B2B marketers are still getting wrong in content strategy. Plus, how her time on stage uniquely prepared her for business life.

This one’s packed with insights you’ll want to implement immediately.

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Show Links:
Guest Website: https://everylittleword.co
Guest LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-sweeney-every-little-word
MarketPulse Podcast Directory: https://marketpulse.javelincontent.com/share
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marketpulse-pros-pioneers/id1728066899
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/51ArnsFBkQCKtFzri9EypG
MarketPulse YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@marketpulsepodcast
Javelin Content Website: https://www.javelincontent.com
Paul Banks on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-banks007

Special Thanks to our Charity Partner: ADHD Liberty
 

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Transcript

Paul: 0:02

If you've ever second guessed your voice or edited your message or felt like your content didn't reflect your expertise, this episode very well might explain why Kristen Sweeney is the founder and CEO of every little word, a content strategy and communications agency for expert led businesses in fields like life sciences. Higher ed and professional services, but long before she was helping clients share precise messaging and find their voice. Kristen was on stage quite literally pursuing a master's in musical theatre. Her love of language and structure and rhythm never left, and it simply evolved into helping complex thinkers make meaning of their ideas with a background span in editorial work ops, leadership, content marketing, and internal communications. Kristen has spent the last 15 or more years quietly powering the message behind big ideas and breaking the perfectionism that keeps so many expert led brands from seeing what really needs to be said. I love that bio, your, Kristen. I love it. I love what you are about and I can't wait to dig into some more of that. Welcome to the show. Thank you for being a guest.

Kristen: 1:17

you so much. I'm happy to be here.

Paul: 1:20

Genuinely, it's my pleasure. I mean, I, we were just kind of seeing off air before, before we kicked the episode off, and before I dive into a little bit of your background and story that I'm a big believer, although I'm video first and I always talk about video being at the top of the content pyramid. Video very rarely means anything without good thought provoking copy That gives it context. Especially when you're talking about short form video, long form video doesn't get watched as much. Short form video is where we're all at these days, but yet even that means nothing without the right message, the right tone, the right voice, and the right context to challenge our thoughts and thinking and pushes onto the next idea. So I can't wait to dig further into every little word and your background. I think it's gonna be a phenomenal episode.

Kristen: 2:09

Oh, wonderful. Yes, and it's interesting what you were saying, Paul, because I think that, you know, one of the benefits of something like video, we'll just kind of jump right in here, is. Is, it does have the opportunity for some of that like personality and charisma and some of the things that can't necessarily be conveyed in writing. Where writing has the advantage, I think is demands a level of precision. So I can speak to you and wave my arms around and make half sentences and you get the gist of what I'm trying to say. And that can work in a virtual, like when you can see me. But when. Kind of the best of both worlds, I think, is when you combine something that's really precise, really well thought out, super intentional and then maybe you do add in certain contexts like extra element. There's a really nice, I think, opportunity for kind of blending both.

Paul: 3:02

Absolutely is. I think they coexist together in, in absolute harmony. let's rewind though. A Masters in musical theatre. Explain that path to that point, if you would Like. What did Kristen at school do? Why? Why? What triggered your interest in music? I.

Kristen: 3:19

So it was interesting. I had a very varied background growing up as a kid. I was super academic, very high achiever performer there, one of the valedictorians of my class. And I also had always had an interest in the arts. And so when it came time to choose my path for undergrad, I, I kind of thought, if. If performing is something that I want to do for my life or for part of my life, like now is the time to kind of commit to it. So I studied musical theatre in my undergrad. I got a second degree in. Medieval studies'cause that's a great backup for performance degree. And when I was, when all was said and done, I felt like I needed a little bit more training. And so I went on to pursue a master's at the Boston Conservatory, which is now part of Berkeley in musical theatre. for me, I mean, I. It's funny because the work I do now is so behind the scenes in many ways, but I have always loved being on stage, performing, singing, dancing, acting, putting myself in someone's story and helping be a part of interpreting that story sharing it more broadly. And in that way, I think there's still some parallels to what I do today.

Paul: 4:29

I absolutely think there is. I can see it exactly. I think it's a beautiful journey. What triggered you to pivot away from musical theatre then? Because surely that's a calling. It's something everybody loves to do. What made you think there was something more out in the world for you to achieve than continuing on in musical theatre?

Kristen: 4:45

Yeah. So to be really honest I think it was. Partly kind of growing up and some other things I wanted in my life and partly the path that I had there. So, I lived in New York, performed regionally for close to 10 years, and the end of that 10 years, my life looked a bit different. Had burned out a little bit on the audition lifestyle. I had not made it to Broadway, although I had performed at theatres around the country. and I was. In a serious relationship with someone wanted to start a family. And I really found myself thinking like the, about what the kind of, for maybe one of the first times, like what is the ultimate goal here? And if you are a theatre performer, the ultimate goal is eight shows a week, six nights, six nights a week, pretty

Paul: 5:32

yeah.

Kristen: 5:32

are waiting to go to work every day. there's a lot to love about that, but it's also hard and. At that point in time, I was ready to kind of explore what else might be out there because it didn't. for for my whole life, it didn't have the same kind of appeal that it once had with the other things I wanted. And I ended up moving to Boston. I got married now I live in Florida. I have two kids. So, you know, life took a different, and, you know, honestly a little bit more conventional path, but I certainly took the long way around to getting there, which I'm happy about.

Paul: 6:07

I always find this interesting, right? When I talk to American guests and when I'm doing a networking with Americans, I always find it fascinating'cause you guys have such a vast country and all these states that make up the country. And England would probably fit in most of the states in America, four or five, if not more times over. And we think like in England, like very rarely move too far away from where you grew up, right? Most people grew up live, work and die in the same sort of geographical area where you grew up. Some people might move from the north of the country to the south of the country. That's about as far as it gets, or south to the north if they retiring. And yet I speak to lords of Americans who. Like yourself, like exactly that sort of journey. Oh, I grew up in New York, then we moved to California and now we live in Kentucky. And it's that's thousands and thousands of miles. It blows my mind as to, you know, I think it's amazing that you've got that flexibility to move within the country and you've got so many different climates and opportunities and rural areas, suburban metropolitans. I just think it's a fascinating journey that. As a country, you guys can have that variety within your lives and actively seek it out. What's been the best part of moving around the country that, like what, you know, what have you enjoyed about the different areas?

Kristen: 7:22

For me, I think

Paul: 7:25

I.

Kristen: 7:25

I really relish new experiences, so that kind of carries over to the work I do today. What, every time we work with a new client or we're, you know, learning about their business or learning a new industry, so I would say yeah, just kind of adapting to that environment and seeing what lessons this particular experience has to teach me.

Paul: 7:45

Complete curve ball, but what's your favorite place to be in New York?

Kristen: 7:49

Oh my gosh. I have some just such wonderful memories. Sheep's Meadow in Central Park, picnicking with friends.

Paul: 7:57

Amazing. I love it. I ask because I'm yet to visit America. Like it just hasn't, the opportunity hasn't arrived for me. Like I was working a lot of hours when I was younger. I've got a family now, young family now, and it's kind of, it's on the bucket list. Like I definitely will come to America at some point, but it just kind of never really happened yet. So I'm always curious to know, you know, as a British person, we see a lot of movies and theatre, like theatre in it. A lot of America I find is, I think from speaking to people, it's quite dramatised Compared to what's actually important when you get to America. So it's always interesting to hear what people who've lived in different areas, like what your thoughts are on what's important in different you know, for an English person thinking, oh, I wanna go to you know, Madison Square Gardens, or, you know, these sorts of places. And quite often the answer from an American is something radically different. I love it.

Kristen: 8:44

Yeah.

Paul: 8:44

so.

Kristen: 8:45

I could see that.

Paul: 8:46

So So choosing, I guess we talk about your work with today. You choose to work with some very specific client types. What led you on that path to work with, you know, higher ed professional services doctors. Why that?'cause that's gonna be the hardest route you can go to doing what you're doing, right? That's the hardest ask.

Kristen: 9:10

It's interesting. I would say the choice kind of came from looking at what we were doing and where we felt we really excelled with our skillset as a team, with my kind of personal interests. And it turned out that there's this fun and interesting intersection between people who are real experts have a lot of expertise, and that expertise kind of tends to power their organization in some way. Those people also often what they're doing could be quite technical. It could be quite complex, and there's usually some kind of tension or struggle to sort of unlock the knowledge that they have and actually share it in a way that then makes sense for achieving marketing and communication objectives. And what we found is that we really excel when we can be that intermediary that collaborates with those experts. Then kind of reframes and can help create the content and the campaigns that are achieving really specific goals for the organization.

Paul: 10:12

So what,

Kristen: 10:12

I would say that's the thing they all kind of have in common in a lot of cases.

Paul: 10:52

what was the point when you decided that was what you were gonna specialise in as a business? Did it start out that way? Did you always intend that to be your client base?

Kristen: 11:01

So, not specifically in terms of industry, but I would say it started out that way because my first few clients were doctors. I was writing, I was on my own ghost writing for them. And then we had a long stint where we had a. A close partnership and we were basically working with probably 50 small manufacturers precision machine shops. And if you don't think that is complicated, try talking to an engineer in that space or someone who was estimating a project. so I would say that it was a combination of. personal interest and I'm super curious. One of our company's core values is hungry to learn. And so this idea of just like always wanting to know more lent itself really well, it felt a little wasted on that curiosity felt wasted on something that's too straightforward, if that makes sense. it's like you don't really need what I can do really well. And then kind of built the team looking for people like me who are really wanted to take that curiosity. I. From the perspective of actually doing the writing and getting really curious about how those ideas worked and what is the best way to put these words together, that's gonna convey the message we wanna get across.

Paul: 12:12

And so what was the. Pivot point for you where, I mean, so one moment you're working in musical theatre, that's your life. You've realised that something needs to change. What was the point where you stepped away from that to go and work and get into marketing and explore that?

Kristen: 12:30

Yeah, so. I would say there is a pivot point and also it happened gradually. So for many years I. My, my, the technical name of my business, and I think you'll appreciate this, is called this Renaissance Woman because it was this giant umbrella for all the different stuff that I did and that was acting. There's also a whole multi-year career as a yoga teacher in there as well. All the different side gigs that I was working, you know, I've been a restaurant host, I've been a personal assistant. I've been, you know, a receptionist. I've been sorts of other roles. but freelance writing from pretty early on was always a part of that. And basically what happened is I was living in Boston and in 2019 I had my oldest daughter, and I came back from my maternity leave and I around at what I was doing and, you know. you have kids, they can, they change everything, right? So, it was an interesting time for me to step back and say what do I want things to look like now that there's this third person in the mix? what I realised was basically two things. One was that I. I didn't really wanna keep running all over the greater Boston area teaching one-off yoga classes that, schedule wasn't gonna work for me. And two was I took a look financially and my economic engine for the last several years had been my freelance writing, which I was basically paying zero attention to. So I was doing great work for my clients, but not trying to grow the business. And so that was really the moment where I was like, you know, this seems like it can offer me. the flexibility I'm looking for better financially. I love the work and so what would happen if I started to actually put my attention onto it? What would come out of giving it some focus and actively trying to help it grow? So that was really, I would say the pivot for me, it was kind of like a slow burn and then a decision all at once.

Paul: 14:27

What made you decide to grow beyond just a one person team? Because I know for me, like. We're a husband and wife team, like my wife does a few hours a week, which she helps with childcare. I do pretty much full time during the weekend. And do you know what I'm not ready to move beyond that and I've done leadership for 15 years, right? Like I'm jaded with leadership somewhat. I don't have any interest in managing people directly or leading people for some time. And it might change in the future, but I'm really not there yet. What? Kind of encouraged you to decide that you needed to build a team around what you were doing.'cause that's very brave, I think.

Kristen: 15:02

Oh, thank you. Well, I would say two things. I think that the landscape, even when I did that five, six years ago, was really different. And I think that honestly with AI and automation and different kinds of systems, I probably could have extended myself longer today than I would have been able to do back then. that being said. When I was a one person show, there were a lot of things that I could recognise weren't the highest value use of my time. And so the first thing I did is I got a va, right? And that's like super common hire. And really the tipping point for, oh, we're a company now, was this partnership we had where basically they provided us with a big sales pipeline. So the manufacturing clients I talked about, they sold a lot faster than I did. And so all of a sudden you know, I think it was also during COVID. So basically my husband and I were working from like 5:00 AM till 11:00 PM in shifts. And I was just slammed with work. So that's when I made my first couple of hires. And that. It kind of happened to me in a way. I'm really glad for it. We've been bigger at points than we are today. We're like a tight, small team today, and I think I've definitely settled into myself more as a leader. But really the impetus was like demand that I could not keep up with.

Paul: 16:24

I I just think that's, so essentially what we're seeing is that trigger of having that really reliable partner. It give you the courage to, to kind of financially just splash out because you knew that revenue could come in as long as you could deliver on it in a consistent way. I like that. It's an interesting lesson for people who are out there that are kind of considering whether now's the right time to take the Because For a lot of people, they don't have that pipeline and they're almost kind of, do I just carry on, burning myself out a bit longer or do I take the leap now? And I think the danger is a lot of the time we take someone on for a few hours per week. But because you're taking them on for a few hours per week, you are not getting the highest quality candidate because the highest quality candidates will say, no, I want 20 hours a week,

Kristen: 17:07

Yeah.

Paul: 17:08

or I'm not coming to work with you. And so you end up kind of getting a jaded view of what support in your business looks like because you are always kind of working in half measures. So it's an interesting twist on that kind of having that partnership,

Kristen: 17:21

it is, and it's, I think it's one of the hardest things in small businesses figuring out. When to hire and what level of confidence you have, you're gonna be able to fill that person. And you have to look at yourself if you're the main salesperson, and say do I have time to sell and grow this? Because if I don't, I may have to invest. But again I think that today there's a lot more you can do with systems and tools where previously we were doing that with people. So I do think there's a little more opportunity to kind of extend yourself. To give a little, to kind of like de-risk financially that maybe there, there wasn't a few years ago, which I think is great.

Paul: 18:00

So when you did set out into the content world, what would you say was the thing that was missing the most, you know, what were you trying to solve that you didn't see anybody else solving for?

Kristen: 18:10

Yeah, so I kind, because I sort of backed my way in. I was a writer who learned about marketing. I'm not sure that I knew at the time. I just knew that I was serving people well, but I. If I look back on it now, I think it is this expert led content piece. I don't think it, because it came naturally to me. I was like, oh, well if we wanna talk about this from this unique perspective of the company, of course we need to be. Dealing with the experts inside the organization. That was very second nature to me. But I didn't realise that wasn't how it was happening sort of in the industry. That how it was happening was a lot, much more generic research, much more kind of keyword focused, broad topics, things like that. Really content had become almost synonymous with just. SEO optimized copy that brings people to websites. And it's so much more than that. So I would say this expert led content piece that really pulls out and, it, to me it's a shortcut. It's a shortcut to creating something that's unique for the organization. it's super beneficial because now what you're doing matches what you're getting on the outside. There's nothing sillier to me than. Kind of saying we need to make up what marketing looks like, but then the whole business is based on you're gonna go work with these specific people who have really strong points of view and are gonna do things a certain way. Well, that's what it should look like on the outside as well, so that a customer feels really connected through that whole journey. And so I find that expert led content, just like very naturally kind of marries the internal and the external.

Paul: 19:48

And one of the things that you talk about a lot is the rewrite loop. Now I find that concept really interesting because. The rewrite loop is something I even, I get clients come to me who are also stuck in the same loop from a video perspective. So talk me through what the re what's the rewrite loop and why is it what triggers it?

Kristen: 20:07

Yeah, so I think there's a couple things. One, it is, There can be a need for perfectionism. and usually underlying that is fear, right? Fear of producing something that doesn't accurately reflect them producing something that's not at the caliber of what they need. something that is not gonna land like a thud you know, with a thud with their audience. so, I will say there are certain times where rewrites are very necessary and. And we'll look back and be like, that client was right. You know, didn't understand something and now they've helped us understand it. And now we made those adjustments and we know them forever going forward, which is wonderful. there are also times where I think this comes from needing to know the client and in some cases it can be helpful to really know yourself as a client. Some clients have to put their fingerprints on everything. doesn't matter how good it is, it's not about that, it's just how they are. And so, I think that's why you have to make sure, like in my role, that you're not taking edits and feedback too personally because some people are going to change things. You're gonna be like, was that small word change really necessary? But it helps give them ownership over this material. I have a lot of empathy for someone who's. You know, effectively outsourcing their thinking and saying, this written product has to reflect me, and it's okay if they wanna put their fingerprints on it. but so in other words, sometimes it's your personality. Sometimes there's some changes that need to be justified, and sometimes it is that fear of being seen and that. Perfectionism that keeps things trapped, right? Because if nothing's ever approved and it's constantly being rewritten, then it's never published. And if it's never published, then nobody ever sees it. And if nobody ever sees it, then nobody can form an opinion about it and you are safe.

Paul: 22:02

Yep.

Kristen: 22:03

I think that well there are many operational blockers to consistent content production. There are also emotional ones that we don't always think about. Maybe because we're dealing with, you know, we're dealing with business and so it's supposed to feel like it's all logical, but that's, we're still human and that's just not how we always operate.

Paul: 22:22

And I think that's the same on our side of things as well, right? I remember when I first started and I still get it. I still get it right? This is why a relationship with client is so, so important and an open line to communication is so important and building that trust. Early days, you know, when a client coming to me and going, oh, that video, the end of that clip just wasn't right. And it's kind of cut me off half sentence and I'll have made an intentional decision to cut it off where I did. And it kind of feel like you almost take it as a personal attack but it's, right. But I did that on purpose. I think I'm right and there's this, and then it's followed by, oh my God, I'm gonna lose the client. They made an edit. They don't like what I do, or am I gonna lose? I'm gonna lose them as a client. I must do this. Right. And you kind of, there's all these voices going on and it's so hard in the early days of running your own business, especially in content to kind of manage all those voices inside your own head. Your board of directors as one of my client used to call on your internal board.

Kristen: 23:19

Yeah.

Paul: 23:20

you know, it's fascinating. So what's. Your process for building that, that relationship of trust, because I can imagine with you working with such an expert audience, an expert client base, then trust's also extremely important to them before they'll even make a move to work with you. Right.

Kristen: 23:37

Yeah, for sure. So there's a few things there. I think what's interesting is I think one of the baseline things is. Actually goes back to some of my roots in theatre. So in theatre, you know, I've been in shows with big Broadway stars and big Broadway directors and side by side with them. That's a whole room full of people who, no matter where they come from, everybody's there. There's a very clear, like shared goal of producing great work together. And there's also, just a very like leveling dynamic. I think. You might be totally different levels of fame or reputation or whatever else, but in that room you're all in character. Everybody has a role and you have to be able to kind of bring your full self. you're someone who's in a position of giving feedback, be able to freely give feedback. So, a sense of everybody is kind of peers. And so I think because of that background, I've always gone into even, you know, high level executive interviews of major companies. And I've felt like there's a level of peer, I'm an expert at what I do. You are an expert at what you do. We aren't experts in the same thing, but that's why we're here to work together. And I think that in and of itself, rather than feeling super deferential, can. Start to build the foundation of trust. The next thing really important is expectation setting. I'll never forget, I had a business coach and she was really focused on, this is so funny, like webinars and saying yourself. So saying, I'm going to share my screen now. I'm going to stop sharing now. Small things like that, but then bigger things too, right? Here's what we're here to do. Here's the role you're gonna play over the course of this interview. Here's what's going to happen next. Here's where you will have a chance to provide input, give approval, leave your feedback, like whatever that their role is so that they know what to expect. And then I think the, there's probably two more things. So I'll try and keep this brief. Showing a real desire to understand. So asking questions that dig deeper. Not being afraid to engage in dialogue and say, what I'm hearing is this, it makes me think of that. Is that a accurate framing for how I'm thinking about the world? So really being willing to engage with them. And again, I think that goes back to them a peer. And then the very last thing I would say, just in general all clients, is empathy. Thinking about, you know, what does their day look like? And so remembering that when they show up on my Zoom screen, they've carved out time for me amid a jam packed day of meetings. They've been thinking about a hundred other things and that doesn't need mean I need to apologise for being there with them. But it means that I need to, again, kind of like reframe, make sure I'm starting over from the beginning, setting those expectations. in the way we send emails, trying to make it really clear. So at a quick scan, because we're one of a thousand emails in their inbox, um, what they need to do next, and making those next steps obvious. Not putting too much mental load or invisible work on them. So even down to the way we phrase emails and things like that, all of it is really about, you know, and if they blow us off, right? That totally happens. And there are some times where I'll be talking with my team and there's some frustration and I've had experiences where I've said, you know, we aren't the top priority right now. It doesn't mean they don't care about it, but we've gotta understand they have whole lives and whole businesses and we are doing right to follow up. But also don't take it personally because.

Paul: 27:20

Yeah.

Kristen: 27:21

It's not about us, it's about understanding them.

Paul: 27:25

And I think there's a lot can be said for a, a sales approach.

Kristen: 27:29

I don't think I

Paul: 27:29

Yeah.

Kristen: 27:30

how much I prioritize that sense of empathy and kind of understanding who they are. But that

Paul: 27:35

Yeah.

Kristen: 27:36

all the way to, you know, the audiences the end audiences that, that ultimately we're writing for as well.

Paul: 27:42

Yeah, I think there's a lot people can take away from that for sales approach as well. It's, you know, when, you know, there's a lot of bad rapport on LinkedIn about, you know, PE people ghosting me, oh, people ghost me all the time and ghost this, that, and the other. And it's oh, you've gotta remember what's important to you isn't important to everyone else. Like it's important to you and it should be important to you. And. Totally understand why you're stressing about it, but you've gotta remember that you are one of 20 emails that they've dealt with today, 10 meetings that they're gonna be part of today. He's give people a break and let'em come back. And you know, some people that's just need a few hours. Some people need a few days, some people need a few months. Right? But show up in the right way. I think you're actually right. You know that empathy and you can convey that in and this is why I love words. I'm absolutely in love with words. I'm not a copywriter by any weird means. I'm a very big, or I was a very big reader. I was prolific reader when I was younger. I don't have the time at the moment, if I'm honest. I'd love to maybe when I, maybe when the kids grow a little bit more and I get a bit more free time, if that ever happens. I'm not sure it will. But words are so important in everything and, you know, right. Video is kind of, it's an act. It's, it's a transfer of energy. I kind of think of it as like I transfer my energy through the camera to other people. But words are, they're an art. It's really I, it's just the two go so hand in hand and, and support each other. But even down to the way that you write your emails can impact on someone's day. So massively. I'm ADHD, so I'm like, you know, I'm a big fan of why write one word when a thousand will do. I kill people with words because I want to give all the context. I wanna explain everything to everyone all the time so that you can't possibly misunderstand me. And all that happens is people read the first three sentences and miss everything else anyway, because I, they get bored and it's so hard for me to stop Paul, stop train myself to do it now. Stop rethink the email. Do I need to put all this in? Can it be two emails? Can I send another email in three days? As much as I don't want to kinda send that in three days as a separate email, so I don't drown them right now. Yeah. Okay. Let's kind of take a step back. I guess you deal a lot with a similar sort of problem in a slightly different angle. Like experts get in their own way when they're trying to write stuff for themselves, right? Because they're so knee deep in the detail of the thing that they're an expert at. They struggle to tell the story, right? And they forget that there is a story even it's. You know, especially if you talk like engineering or mechanics or healthcare, it's very much all the facts and information and actually nobody really cares or not many people care about the facts and information. They care about the feelings and emotions and the story of how you got there. How do you deal with that sort of things?

Kristen: 30:26

Yeah, so I'll probably clarify the question a little bit because I think that in some cases I've seen this in with engineers in particular, often their audience is other engineers and they do care about the facts.

Paul: 30:38

Yeah. so being

Kristen: 30:38

technically accurate is super important, but I think what they. There's two things they don't really have insight into. One is their level of expertise relative to somebody else's and relative to their audience. And that is a problem. We all face the curse of knowledge, right? So, I. It even happens to me. I'll think oh gosh, like I don't have anything new to say about this LinkedIn post, you know, for LinkedIn. And it turns out I'm like nine steps ahead of where I ought to be. I ought to be explaining the

Paul: 31:07

Yep.

Kristen: 31:07

step one because that is still new and different for people and interesting and educational and valuable. so I think that's a blocker is just the difficulty in, in seeing that. And then. Two I think that marketing and communications, they suffer a bit from the, everyone's a marketer, You might call it. And so I think that's partly because we all possess the basic skills, right? We all can write and some people might be quite good writers. We all we've been trained to be able to communicate ideas. But that doesn't mean that you're automatically an expert in how to do that in a way that's reaching your audience and all of the thought that needs to go into that and how that should be formatted for which particular channel. That's a whole different area of expertise. So I think those two things can really hang people up. And then I do agree on the personal. Front as well, or that more storytelling front. Like sometimes people are surprised that the revealing of themselves is actually the thing that can create a connection and can create an impression. And somewhere along the way they picked up the idea that they need to be super buttoned up and corporate and separate, separate themselves from the business. And. When they try it, they're often pleasantly surprised that some of those personal stories and the things that, those are, like the experiences that shape the perspectives they have, right? So a story about your past is not in and of itself, maybe fresh take on something, but it is the. The fuel for the fire. It's the thing that like caused you to think about the world the way that you do now, and I think people really appreciate that. It's a way to, it's a way to connect.

Paul: 32:57

I, I absolutely agree. I absolutely agree. And i Think too many people are scared of sharing that for various reasons. As you've said, kind of whether it's that worry about the perception of others, whether it's the uncomfortable, I don't want to share information about myself. I don't want to be vulnerable. I don't want to give this up. But yet we're all kind of knocking on the door going, why have I not got more sales? We need, we're emotional led beings whether you're a technical person, whether you're an expert, whether it doesn't matter. At our core, we're all emotionally driven and we need to connect emotionally with others in order to like people, to trust people to see them as a credible experts. And interesting, an interesting kind of segway that I always talk about is I was watching a Stephen Bartlett's. Oh. It was, I was listening to his book, Stephen Bartlett's book. I don't know, I dunno whether you guys have much of Stephen Bartlett over there, but he's, you know, quite, quite a respected authority here. And he was talking about the the idea that you can't change somebody's opinion by forcing them to change their opinion. You can't change whether they see you as an expert by pointing a gun at them and making them, you know, kind of, you will see me as an expert. It's impossible. Right. You know. But, you know, believe in XY believe in the Easter Bunny, right? Well, I can't'cause I, the facts tell me that's not true. So I, it doesn't matter how much the gun's pressed in my head, I'm still not gonna believe in that. But what he posited was, and it's a great example is that it, I see myself as an expert and I start to see you as an expert and we maybe agree on 95% of things over a period of time. That's great. I start to build trust in you. But what we can't have in our internal monologue is inconsistencies. So if you and I disagree on something, one of us has to be wrong. Now, either I'm wrong or you are wrong, and most people's natural tendency is to believe that I can't be wrong. You have to be wrong. But there's an interesting thing happens once you build a certain amount of trust, people are able to question their own view. And think, actually, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this person is right and this thing I've believed all this time is wrong. And rather than you putting it onto them and saying, no, you are wrong, this is the way things are. All you are doing is expressing your own opinion and letting them decide that they might be wrong enough to invest themselves into discovering it. And I think that's a really powerful lesson for a lot of people to learn is. You know that's the power, that's the real power of trust. And that could be, you know, something like, you know, you need my help in order to make your business more successful. No, I don't. So instead of saying it out loud, we just show them through content and through words and through video and help them understand that we are an expert, which eventually builds that trust so that they reach that tipping point. And let's be honest, that's all our clients who are work coming to us for work. Are wanting support with themselves. So it's, I just find it's a really interesting kind of circular economy. It's all in here and it's all in here.

Kristen: 36:07

Yeah, I love that and I love. I love what you said about the word discovery too. So, not all expert led content, what I classify as thought leadership content technically. But when we talk about thought leadership content, I like to describe, my favorite way to describe it is like, it answers the questions people haven't thought to ask yet. And so there is that sense of discovery and something new. And to your point about like expert to expert as well, I think this kind of goes back to the thing about empathy, which what expert led content does too, I think is showed deep respect for the audience, for their intelligence, for their capacity, for what really matters to them. Again, kind of that concept of empathy and thinking about what do they really need and. And treating them like accordingly and investing putting intention and thought into the kind of content that's created for them accordingly as well. I think it's such a sign of respect and how the company maybe feels about its customers based on what they create for them.

Paul: 37:13

There's so much we could unpack. Kristen I, we normally only do 30 minute episodes. We're already at 42 minutes. And I could honestly I feel like I see this every week. I love this podcast. I love talking to the amazing guests we have on.'cause almost every episode I could go on for another two or three hours and we should grab some coffee and discuss some of this stuff offline. But thank you very much for being an amazing guest on the short today, Kristen. If people want to reach you, what's the best way for them to contact you?

Kristen: 37:38

Yeah, so I would check out the website every little word.co, or find me on LinkedIn.

Paul: 37:43

Awesome, and we'll put those links in the show notes as well, so if you're watching along, they'll be down there somewhere, have a look through. We'll we'll make it easy for you. Thank you at home for being a faithful watcher of the episode, whether it's a clip, whether it's the episode, whether it's on audio or, thank you very much for taking the time to watch them. We do this for you. It's not for me. I enjoy it, but it's all for you. And if you've got any questions, if you want you know, if there's any particular guests, any themes you want us to cover, feel free, reach out over the email or on direct messages and I would love it. I would love, love, love it if you were able to give us a rating on Spotify or Apple to help push the numbers up even further and reach more people. Thanks for your time, and I will see you next week on MarketPulse Pros and Pioneers.