🤝 The diplomat's job - Valchanova.me

I used to work with a team of architects who were genuinely passionate about their craft.

They’d light up during a coffee break, discussing material choices or spatial flow. But whenever we suggested creating content, be it a project walkthrough or general interior design advice, they’d shut down.

“Our value is in the work we do for clients, not making Instagram Reels.”

The marketing team saw this as resistance. The architects saw content requests as a distraction from their “real” work.

Both sides were frustrated. And both were wrong about why.

The blame game nobody wins

Here’s the pattern I see constantly: marketers assume subject matter experts don’t “get it.” They’re too focused on their daily work to see the bigger picture. They don’t understand content’s value. They’re being difficult.

And honestly? It’s an understandable frustration when you’re the one responsible for making content happen.

Meanwhile, experts assume their specialized knowledge isn’t what audiences want. They think the details that fascinate them would go over a client’s head.

This mutual misunderstanding creates a standoff where nobody wins, least of all your audience, who never gets access to the expertise they’re actively seeking.

A better approach

With the architects, the breakthrough came when we stopped asking them to “create content” and started bringing them actual audience questions.

“People want to know how you decide between open-plan and defined rooms.” or “Someone asked what makes lighting ‘good’ versus just adequate.”

Their eyes changed. These weren’t marketing requests anymore. These were people genuinely curious about their craft, hungry for the “insider details.” Turns out, that’s exactly what our audience was hungry for.

The diplomat’s job

This is where content marketers often get it backwards.

Your job isn’t to surgically extract content from reluctant experts. It’s to connect their passion with audience curiosity. That requires doing the bridging work before you ever approach an SME.

Research what your audience actually wants to know. Gather their questions, their misconceptions, their struggles. Then bring that evidence to your experts. Not a content calendar and a to-do list, but proof that people are out there wanting to learn.

The difference between “we need you to record a video about interior design trends” and “our audience keeps asking how professionals approach small bathrooms, and you’re the only one who can actually answer that” is enormous.

Answering objections

When experts resist, they’re usually telling you something important. They don’t believe this matters.

“This isn’t my job” often means “I don’t see how this connects to what I care about.” Show them how content extends their impact beyond one-on-one client work.

“Nobody wants to hear about this stuff” is begging to be disproved. Bring the receipts—actual questions, search data, community discussions.

“I don’t have time” is fair. So make participation genuinely easy. You handle the research, the editing, the publishing. They just share what they already know.

This isn’t industry-specific

The architecture example is tangible, but this dynamic plays out everywhere.

Your prospects have questions about ERP integrations that only your implementation team can answer properly. Potential clients are confused about consulting methodologies that your senior consultants consider basic knowledge. Someone in a procurement role is trying to understand the difference between two technical approaches, and your engineers debate this stuff over coffee.

Whatever your industry, there’s expertise inside your organization that your audience is actively seeking.

The diplomat’s job remains the same: find the questions, bring them to the experts, and watch the resistance dissolve.

***

The architecture team didn’t become content contributors because we convinced them it was part of their job description. They became enthusiastic because we showed them an audience that genuinely wanted to learn from them.

That’s the diplomat’s work. Not extraction—connection.

Bridging matters,

📝 From the blog

When working on the above strategy (or any content marketing initiative), it’s crucial to know what your audience is interested in. This is where topic research comes in. In this post, I shared some tools and techniques that can help you find that.

Read the post →

👌 Handpicked stories for you

Here are some interesting things I stumbled upon this week while reading, writing, researching, and being a generally curious marketing person on the internet:

💼 Three for work

How To Turn Experts in Your Company Into Digital Influencers | This one is a reshare, but it ties really nicely with my main topic this week. It shows how healthcare professionals can become digital influencers, and enjoy it.

Companies aren’t looking for storytellers. They’re looking for meaning. | A WSJ story made the rounds in late December about companies looking to hire more storytellers. This piece dives deeper into wonderful nuance about the role of storytelling in business.

Content Strategy Deep-Dive: A Closer Look at NinjaOne’s 900+ Blog Post Investment | I rarely enjoy campaign stories because they don’t show the bigger picture. However, this is a look at the overall content investment throughout a whole year. The key insight for me: even a small set of MOFU and BOFU content can drive massive business results. I’d focus here first to attract high-intent buyers.

👀 Two for fun

This collection of cultural heritage | A rich library with anything from religious manuscripts to awesome vintage posters of sports events is collected here from countries all over Europe.

This gallery of natural beauty | The winners of the Panorama awards present the vast landscapes of anything touched by the human eye, from desert horizons to urban skylines.

🤝 The diplomat’s job