Great content wins the lead-generation race

OK, but what makes marketing content 'great'? Using the example of a project with Mazars - The race to data maturity: is your business as far ahead as you think? - this post lays out the five keys to great marketing content.

Context and objectives

Mazars was an internationally recognised partnership specialising in audit, accounting and consulting, employing more than 47,000 professionals in 95 countries. Mazars' brand recognition tended to fall close behind those of the Big Four firms (Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC).

That said, the vast majority of Mazars' business (over 85%) and brand recognition centred on its audit and accounting activities. By comparison, its consulting services in management, risk and technology made up a much smaller (around 10%) and under-exposed part of the business.

Consulting services had been identified by Mazars as a great avenue for growth, through cross-selling to existing audit and accounting clients as well as tapping into new client markets.

Working closely with the global marketing communications team, as well as the head of data consulting services, our goal was to create a foundational piece of content from which could stem a 360 marketing and communications campaign designed to improve brand visibility and legitimacy in the space while generating new leads for consulting services teams around the globe.

The resulting report - The race to data maturity: is your business as far ahead as you think? - was a great tool to garner visibility in the data consulting space, cross-sell and expand offers to existing clients, and generate new leads.

But what makes this content 'great'?

1. Relevance

Great content speaks to what's truly keeping your audience up at night.

To build this report - and get to the heart of our audience's pain points - we went straight to our audience with questions: Working with an external research firm, we conducted a survey and collected responses from more than 1,000 leaders responsible for data governance across 21 countries.

Our core findings revealed that businesses were investing heavily in data and felt confident in their ability to stay ahead of the curve. However, the findings also revealed many gaps in data maturity best practices. Were businesses as data mature as they thought?

The report truly spoke to the data leader's fear that he or she may not be doing everything in their power to stay ahead of competitors.

2. Insight 

Great content demonstrates deep understanding.

This report focused on offering truly novel insights by conducting brand-new research and presenting surprising findings supported by the observations of industry leaders. Above all, the analysis went beyond just surface level and provided clear and actionable takeaways for readers.

3. legitimacy

Great content demonstrates thought leadership.

The report offered insights from industry leaders, including the head of Mazars' data consulting services and the founder of a data start-up. This kind of thought leadership establishes legitimacy by demonstrating expertise, credibility, and value in a particular industry or domain.

4. Usability

   
   

Great content makes it easy for audiences to apply learnings.

This report was laid out to clearly highlight the areas where businesses tended to have the most room for improvement. In this way, readers could easily apply learnings to their business' data investments and processes.

Furthermore, the survey link remained open. Mazars invited prospective clients to complete the survey to see how their data maturity measured up to that of their competitors. Not only did this provide audiences with usable insights specifically tailored to them, it also facilitated further interactions with the Data Consulting team and helped nurture the audience's journey through the marketing funnel.

5. AlLure 

Great content grabs and maintains attention.

When relaying valuable information, it's always best to tell a compelling, creative and surprising story. This report presented the business' journey to data maturity like a triathlon race: Is your business just keeping up, or in it to win it? This storytelling approach helped make the report's findings more compelling and also helped build a sense of urgency.

Project details

Project: The race to data maturity: is your business as far ahead as you think? report and all spinoff content

Role: I lead this project as Global Campaigns Manager within Mazars' Global Marketing and Communications team

Timeline: 6 months

Budget: €10 000

Launch date: November 2022