As social media redefines what passes for communication and information today, companies are beginning to question whether they should continue to invest in developing high-quality content. Their thinking goes, “If we’re just tweeting or posting to Facebook and LinkedIn, we don’t need anything longer or more substantive.”Continue Reading
Author: Bernie Thiel
Bernie Thiel is a partner with Alterra Group, a thought leadership marketing firm in Cleveland. In his consulting role, he helps professional services firms develop compelling, high-quality marketing content, including white papers, books, case studies, bylined articles and research reports. His clients include global and boutique management consulting companies, as well as major IT services and solutions providers.
By bathiel published
July 26, 2012
Why Content Quality Matters: The 7 Hallmarks of Compelling Content
By bathiel published
January 2, 2012
How a Portfolio Approach Can Help You Develop Better B2B Content
Companies that target business buyers rely heavily on the white papers, articles, books, and other documents they publish to position their products or services as effective solutions to those critical business problems their customers face.
But in creating this content, B2B companies often face a common, two-fold dilemma: first, determining which topics they should focus their content development efforts on given limited marketing resources, and second, how to stage those topics over time to keep the content pump primed.
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By bathiel published
November 22, 2011
How to Engage Your Writers to Create More Compelling Content
While an organization’s content can take many forms — including web pages, blog posts, articles, white papers, presentations, brochures, and even books — they all have one thing in common: The written word. That’s why as high-quality content becomes more important to growth and market differentiation, so does great writing.
This is particularly true for professional services firms, such as consultancies, law firms, and accounting firms, whose chief offering is expertise, not products. For such firms, content is the chief embodiment of the company’s expertise and, thus, must be as strong and compelling as possible.
Yet, for any company, not paying enough attention to the writing process can result in content that is unclear, jargon-filled, or simply not all that interesting. Even worse, such substandard content can give clients and prospects the impression that the firm’s ideas, innovations, and offerings are substandard as well.
The good news is that any organization can significantly improve the quality of its writing — and by extension its content — by following five key guidelines.
