About us

This is the website and blog for Sonja Jefferson and The Valuable Content Company. We are the consultants’ content consultancy. We help consultants and professional advisors of all flavours get clear on their business propositions and create, write and use valuable written content to promote and sell their services.

If you want clarity on what you do, if you want help with your company website or web strategy, if you’re thinking about creating a thought leadership article, case study or business book or if you want to know how to use the content you write to drive sales then you’re in the right place!

We’re a small team of consultants, writers, designers and project managers based in Bristol, UK. We all champion valuable content as a highly effective sales and marketing tool and we’d love to help. You can find out more about the valuable content approach here.

Sonja founded the company back in 1999. Here’s a recent interview with her conducted by Valuable Content associate and talented wordsmith Sharon Tanton. We hope it gives you a bit of background on the thinking behind it all:

Sonja Jefferson: chief content crafter

Sum up your approach to marketing in one sentence:

“Know your clients and make yourself useful; create valuable information that solves their problems and proves your expertise; share this across the web.”

Describe your career path:

“After graduating from Bristol University I worked in business development, selling first recruitment, then HR & training services and finally management consultancy to large corporate clients. I set up my own company in 1999 to provide consultancies like these with compelling sales and marketing content that helped them generate consistent business.”

What did your background in professional sales teach you?

“Loads!

• That good marketing makes sales easy
• The importance of really listening to a client’s problem and devising a solution that accurately meets their needs
• How to communicate a complex proposition with clarity in a way that inspires action
• The power of giving away some of your expertise as a trust builder: win-win marketing – they learn; you prove your value as a knowledgeable expert”

What was the idea behind setting up your own business?

“When I worked in sales I was frustrated by the lack of useful sales and marketing collateral available to me: out-of-date or poorly written case studies, over-promotional, static websites and a pile of glossy brochures did not help me drive sales.

So I started working with subject matter experts in these companies to create valuable thought-leadership-type material which solved customer problems and demonstrated their expertise: a win-win! The result was good leads which I could convert into sales, and ultimately, the idea behind my own business.

A lot has changed since 1999 when I set up on my own. Web innovations and the meteoric rise of blogging and social media have made it much easier to publish and spread valuable content today. It is now possible to establish yourself as a trusted authority in your field faster than ever before.”

Three words to describe you?

“Energetic; curious; communicator!”

Biggest frustration in marketing land?

“Form before function and over-hyped, inward-looking marketing solutions that waste client money.”

Biggest kick you get out of work?

“When action happens and progress is made: when an article goes out; when a blog or content-rich website is launched; when a business book is published; when a clear message results in sales.”

How can clients get the most out of working with you?

“Be open; share your ideas; collaborate in trusted partnership; take action.”

What did you want to be when you grew up?

“An archaeologist, digging for old fossils. Still digging!”

Twitter or Facebook?

“Facebook for friends; Twitter for business, learning and community”

Where would you prefer to be right now?

“Sennen Cove or any wild, open, sandy, west coast beach with my family and friends. I love running, swimming and surfing (albeit pretty badly). Cornwall or West Wales is my idea of heaven.”

Who inspires you?

“Anyone who has the courage to follow their instincts and forge their own path in life.

Business authors whose ideas inspire me include: David Meerman Scott on the new rules of marketing ; Charles H Green and his focus on trust, Seth Godin, Hubspot’s ‘Inbound Marketing’; and my client Jane Northcote on taking action and staying focused.”

Find out more:

• Have a look at Sonja’s LinkedIn profile for a professional career summary and feedback/recommendations from clients
• Follow Sonja on Twitter
• Sign up to this blog to recieve regular articles on the subject of valuable content
• Have a look at the Library section to find articles in your area of interest
• Sonja is an expert contributor to The Marketing Donut – a website packed with resources for small businesses.