Are you trying to cut through the clutter of marketing noise from your competitors?

Professional service providers often try to bring breaking news to executive inboxes. They gather a team of marketers and junior pros, ready to fire off emails to clients the moment a change in law or regulation happens.

But new research from The Economist Group and Hill+Knowlton Strategies shows that this surface-level coverage may be a race to the bottom.

According to a preview of the report from CMO.com:

• 75% of executives have become selective about the thought leadership they consume.
• Survey respondents noted that compelling thought leadership is "innovative," "big picture," "credible," and "transformative."

Why should you step up your content game? Because executive buyers are influenced by it.

If your firm is up against competitors with strong content marketing programs, you may be wondering, what's the point? If my service line is so far behind, why bother?

Because content that hits executive criteria gets shared with other like-minded buyers and influences purchasing. Again, from the CMO.com preview:

"After consuming compelling thought leadership, seven in 10 share it via email and consume more from that same source; 76% are influenced in their purchasing decisions, 67% would be willing to advocate for that brand, and 83% are influenced in the choice of potential business partner."

How can you create content that "influences the choice" of your firm as a business partner?

• Be first to the inbox, but with the promise of impactful analysis. The race to break news that will impact business is important, but restating what can easily be found on Google News is not. Instead, hit the ground running with a preview of an upcoming guide to the latest regulation change, or an invitation to an exclusive webinar featuring your experts.
• Take a stand. Changes in laws or regulations are often low-hanging fruit for content marketing. Set your content apart by taking a stand on how businesses should react to the change. What steps should they take to prepare? How can firms like yours help, and why is that outside help important?
• Make the business case for taking action. Many professional service firms discuss law and regulation changes, but then leave the reader hanging on next steps. Yes the law has changed, but why does it matter to a client? Can you explain the forecasted costs of violating the law or regulation? How does that compare to the costs of taking preventive measures? Build the business case for executives to pick up the phone and call you. After all, that's the whole point of all of this content.

Questions? Ready to get started? Send me a note.