It’s 2016.

We’re doing content marketing for a client. They want an article about Leicester City football club and their rise to the top of the Premier League. Or rather what business people can learn about great team-building from the club’s rapid ascent.

You’re already bored, aren’t you?

Here’s the problem: The client is a financial advisor. A small one, a new one, looking to make a name. We’re doing a series of articles that will create touchpoints. Raise brand awareness. Build the audience. An audience who, after reading a few useful articles from them, would be inclined to contact them when they require such services.

We’re a couple of days from publication and the piece isn’t working.

Because no one cares.

No one cares what the client thinks about Leicester City. Or football in general. Or whether LeBron is the right fit for the Lakers, or if Sachin Tendulkar is the greatest of all time. They also don’t care what the client thinks of Brexit or Trump or whether coconut oil is the answer to everything.

No one cares.

They might care about his view on certain very specific financial matters; matters which relate directly to the particular service he and his company offers.

They might. If the content is good enough. And if it genuinely helps them.

It’s surprising how many pieces of content, how many decisions in general, can be placed in the ‘Because I wanna…’ bucket. But switch that for ‘Why would anyone care?’ and answer the question honestly, and you’re halfway home.

There’s nothing wrong with having a sporting event as a backdrop to an article on business, but it’s business that must lead. It’s your expertise that must lead. Because no one cares about a financial advisor’s week-by-week breakdown of one football team’s march to greatness.

For that, they want an expert.

The British MP Michael Gove famously said that people ‘have had enough of experts.’

But people love experts. You want an expert taking out your appendix, flying your plane, managing your money.

So that’s where you start and where you end. With your expertise. Give that for free. And in time, people may start to see you as someone worth listening to.

Some will even click on the link at the end.

And make that call.