Insight
Practical marketing actions to elevate your firm’s success
March 2025
Content management in marketing communications is crucial for business growth, but knowing how to create content and deliver it effectively is key. This guide provides a practical approach to content creation, particularly for professional services, focusing on generating impactful content and distributing it strategically in business operations.
Content is king, but context is queen: Making your content resonate
While the phrase ‘content is king,’ coined by Bill Gates in 1996, emphasises the importance of high-quality material, it is equally crucial for that content to be engaging. This is where ‘context is queen’ comes in.
Understanding content and context
Content encompasses any material you share with your audience—blog posts, videos, product descriptions, case studies, and more. Context, however, refers to the setting or circumstances in which your audience encounters your content, giving it meaning.
The importance of context
Context can be influenced by various factors, including the recipient’s job, the time of day, their position in the financial calendar, or even their prior knowledge of your company. While you can’t control every aspect of an individual’s situation, you can strategically manage the context in which your content is received. By carefully selecting when and where your content is shared, you can significantly enhance its relevance and effectiveness. In essence, crafting compelling content is only half the battle. Delivering that content in the right context is what truly makes it resonate with your audience.
Stage one: Content creation and targeting
Topic selection: Choose a timely and relevant topic that addresses your clients’ pain points. This could include new regulations, compliance issues, or common client questions. Leverage your company’s expertise to identify these concerns and create content that provides valuable solutions. Target audience: Define your specific audience for each piece of content. Consider whether the topic has broad appeal or is relevant to a niche sector. Tailor your title and content to resonate with this target audience, addressing their specific needs and concerns.
Stage two: Content distribution and impact
Once you have compelling content, it’s time to maximise its reach by considering these six distribution strategies:
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): Use relevant keywords in your titles and content to improve search engine rankings and attract organic traffic.
• Share on social media: Promote your content on relevant social media platforms to engage your target audience and drive traffic to your website.
• Email marketing: Distribute your content to your email list to nurture leads and keep your company top-of-mind.
• Guest blogs and thought leadership: Publish your content on other relevant websites or industry publications to reach a wider audience and build your company’s authority.
• Repurpose content: Transform your content into different formats, such as infographics, videos, or podcasts, to cater to different learning styles and expand your reach.
• Paid advertising: Consider using paid advertising to target specific demographics and interests, driving targeted traffic to your content and website.
Stage three: Content marketing metrics and evaluation
Content marketing is an ongoing process of testing, learning, and improving. Measuring and monitoring content marketing success is crucial for optimising strategies and demonstrating ROI. Key aspects include:
• Defining clear objectives: Align metrics with specific goals (e.g., brand awareness, lead generation, sales). What do you want the content to achieve?
• Identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Select relevant metrics to track progress. Examples include:
○ Website traffic: Page views, unique visitors, bounce rate, time on page.
○ Engagement: Social media shares, likes, comments, backlinks, blog comments.
○ Lead generation: Form submissions, content downloads, email sign-ups.
○ Sales & revenue: Conversions, lead to-customer rate, customer lifetime value.
○ Brand awareness: Social media mentions, reach, brand search volume.
• Using analytics tools: Leverage platforms like Google Analytics, social media analytics, and marketing automation software to track KPIs and gather data.
• Regular reporting & analysis: Monitor performance regularly (e.g., weekly, monthly) to identify trends, successes, and areas for improvement. Analyse the data to understand what’s working and what is not.
• A/B testing: Experiment with different content formats, headlines, calls to action, and distribution channels to optimise performance.
• Attribution modelling: Determine which content pieces and channels are most effective at driving conversions and revenue.
• Visualising data: Use charts and graphs to present data clearly and communicate insights effectively to stakeholders.
• Iterative optimisation: Based on the data, refine your content strategy, targeting, and distribution methods to improve results over time.
Practical tools and techniques
By consistently creating valuable content and strategically distributing it, you can establish your company as a thought leader, attract potential clients, and drive business growth. Outlined below are some practical approaches to maximising content and context.
Email marketing
Utilise email marketing platforms to distribute content to your database or targeted segments. This approach allows you to track key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribes, enabling you to identify engaged prospects. While efficient for large volumes of emails, this method can feel impersonal. For key clients and prospects, personalise the same content with a tailored message. Encourage partners and managers to send individual emails highlighting the relevance of the content to the recipient’s specific needs and circumstances. This personalised approach can significantly increase engagement and generate a higher response rate, potentially leading to new business opportunities.
Website integration
Integrate your content seamlessly into your website, ensuring it is well-designed, user friendly, and optimised for search engines. Effective SEO configuration enables search engines to easily index your content, driving organic traffic to your site and positioning your firm as a trusted resource in your field.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Complement your organic SEO efforts with paid advertising campaigns on search engines like Google. SEM offers precise targeting capabilities, allowing you to control budget, audience demographics, and advertising frequency. Leverage keywords and compelling advertising copy derived from your content to drive immediate traffic to your website and generate qualified leads.
Social media engagement
While social media platforms may not directly generate significant business for professional services firms, maintaining a presence is crucial for visibility and brand awareness. Share valuable and engaging content related to current industry trends and relevant topics to connect with your target audience. Focus on providing insightful information rather than overt advertising, as social media users primarily seek valuable content and interaction. Utilise diverse formats such as videos, infographics, and articles to cater to different preferences and maximize engagement.
Events (in-person and virtual)
Consider hosting events, either in-person or virtual, to further engage with clients and prospects on specific topics covered in your content. Events offer opportunities for deeper interaction and relationship building. Carefully evaluate the format that best suits your audience and objectives.
Conclusion
In conclusion, remember content is king, but don’t forget context is queen and attending to both is important in content marketing. Taking a comprehensive approach to creating successful marketing content not only enhances communication and connection with your target market but also fosters genuine business development. By driving website visits, generating qualified leads, expanding your network of contacts, and ultimately increasing revenue, these efforts demonstrate the power of a well executed content marketing strategy, often originating from a single piece of impactful content.
By strategically utilising some of the distribution channels and approaches outlined in this article, professional services firms can effectively amplify their content’s reach, establish thought leadership, and drive sustainable business growth.
About the author
Alfonso Milla
Mexico City, Mexico
Alfonso is the Marketing Manager for the entire Mexican network of firms at Russell Bedford México. He is responsible for developing 360° marketing strategies tailored to meet the needs of the different offices within the region.
As a specialist in professional services marketing with over 17 years’ experience, Alfonso has participated as a speaker at various virtual and in-person events and is also a university professor in marketing. Additionally, he is the leader of the Ibero-American Marketing Committee at Russell Bedford International.