West Monroe Partners, a business consulting firm, believes that survey or research-based content has the highest readership and gets the most ROI. “It's because we have something original to say that the reader can't go anywhere else,” says content marketing manager Photo Background Removing Christina Galoozis. “We are investing in more exclusive surveys this year than ever before. West Monroe also evaluates how its content presents to the market. It contracts with a third party to perform an annual content audit, benchmarking the firm's content against that of its competitors as well as best practices for consulting firms in particular. Professional Services Marketing Photo Background Removing Tip: Assess Your Content's Market Position With An Audit,
Says galoozis Click To Tweet Photo Background Removing Christina says analytics is key to shaping content priorities and strategies. Among the content changes implemented as a result: Inclusion of author expertise upfront to establish credibility Cleaner design for white papers Content that delivers on the title (and vice versa) This year, West Monroe Partners is highlighting reader value – explaining up front what the reader will learn or be able to doPhoto Background Removing as a result of engaging with the content. “This is paramount for professional services readers who are busy and have a lot of priorities,” says Galoozis. “We have to explain the value before they even start reading.” Get an attitude Emily Lund, content strategist at Modmacro, a web design and marketing firm, offers an example from one of her clients, a Californian architectural firm, Mr. Grisafe Architect. The company prefers to use a voice in its content that reflects how it works.
For example, in this blog post, he reverses Photo Background Removing the dreaded, “Why can't we just…?” question that most architects hate and instead explains why Mr. Grisafe Architect loves this question. Readers can easily see how Mr. Grisafe Architect is different from other bland and serious architectural firms. Architecture firm blog post The architectural firm also foregoes bragging about its victories and instead places “victories” in a more relev Photo Background Removing ant context for the reader. For example, instead of just announcing his selection as the testing company for Long Beach's new online architectural plan approval process, he wrote a blog post to explain why he was involved, what the problem and how the city's new approvals process helps solve a problem. issue that affects a client's project timeline. By using the content to illustrate who Mr. Grisafe Architect is and how he works, the business has a much better chance of attracting potential clients who are the type of clients the business likes to work with. RELATED CONTENT AT HAND: How to beat the battle of an ineffective blog