DECEMBER 2018 SEEDWORLD.COM / 61 INSIDERS ADVICE FROM INDUSTRY EXPERTS Trichoderma and the Biologicals Renaissance THE BIOLOGICALS INDUSTRY has had to continually reinvent itself. In the past 15 years, science supporting the use of microbials has moved beyond the concepts of mycoparasitism and niche replacement/competition as the domi- nant mechanisms acting in the field. It is now quite clear that in most cases signal- ing between microbes and plants plays the bigger role in biostimulation and biocontrol phenotypes. We are currently experiencing another scientific revelation: the importance of the phytobiome. The phytobiome is all the microbes present in, on and around a plant. These microbes impact plant per- formance and health in the same way the human microbiome impacts human health and well-being. Just as with the human microbiome, study of the phytobiome is moving beyond the simple description of what organisms are present. We have historically thought of the plant as an independent organism. Seeds are planted into the soil and they pro- duce our food and fibers. Yes, microbes can interact, but this is mostly to enable nodulation or to cause disease. Today, we understand that microbes present on and in the seed, in the soil and water, and in the air, all interact with and are an essential part of the plants we raise. Without them, plants are unable to defend themselves. Thinking about the future of agricul- ture in the phytobiome context, we need to consider not only which microbes are present in a given environment but also what they are doing both individually as well as the overall functioning of their local community. Many factors come into play in this context including soil type/ chemistry, host species and genotype or management practices among a myriad of others. ABM and many other public and private organizations are taking active roles to ensure this future and bring the results to actual practices and prod- ucts in the field. MOLLY CADLE-DAVIDSON, ABM CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER @ABM1st • Mollycadle-davidson@abm1st.com • abm1st.com CONTENT IS THE backbone of any effort to interact with customers. Content speaks directly to the audience and encourages dialogue. Content remains the best way to connect with your cus- tomers. But not all content is equal. Quality over quantity: Quality content educates and triggers a response to engage. Quality content fosters loyalty and trust. Quality content helps your audience/cus- tomers solve their problems. Sharing con- tent that doesn’t add value, or that’s poorly produced, does a disservice to your content marketing efforts and to your brand. Producing quality content may seem daunting. Creating quality content takes time and skill. It takes insight, patience, and a bit of luck. To help, there’s a simple ‘life hack’ – REPURPOSE. Find new ways to ‘recycle’ your content. Repurposing content has numerous benefits. People have their own personal preferences in how they digest informa- tion. Some prefer visual, whereas others like text. By repurposing your content for different mediums, you are increasing the content’s appeal to more audiences and extending your reach. When you put in the time and effort to produce a piece, chances are you are incredibly proud of it and want to lever- age it as much as possible. Repurposing content gives you the opportunity for additional sharing and promotion of the piece. Repurposing maximizes your efforts. Here are 10 genius ways to repurpose content: 1.  Repurpose a successful webinar into video tutorials 2. Turn blogs into guides or a whitepaper 3.  Take internal data and turn it into a case study 4.  Transcribe an interview into an advice eBook or print piece like a ‘Top 10 lessons learned’ list 5.  Share visual content like pictures from presentations over social media 6.  Create an infographic out of a slide show (or vice versa) 7. Post interesting statistics over Twitter 8.  Transform field tour information into ‘guides’ (print or digital) 9.  Record a product demonstration into a video ‘show and tell’ 10.  Remodel weekly check-in calls with remote staff to a podcast discussing topical issues 10 Great Ways to Repurpose Content KELLY SAUNDERSON, ISSUES INK DIRECTOR OF CLIENT SERVICES @Issuesink • ksaunderson@issuesink.com • issuesink.com/create-by-issues-ink