Content Recycling Framework for Busy Data Consultancies
Dylan Jones
Data consultancy growth accelerator ? myDataBrand Founder ? Creator: Data Quality and Data Governance Leadership Forum (21K+)
If you run a data consultancy, chances are you recognise the value of creating more content to attract prospects.
But the challenge every data firm faces is time.
You can't keep up with the content treadmill, so the frequency of your content marketing starts to suffer.
One of the best ways to increase frequency (without burning out) is to recycle your content –?but where do you start??
What should you include in a recycling plan?
In this article, I will outline one approach to recycling that will help your data consultancy quadruple its volume of content whilst driving more traffic to its highest converting content assets.
Method to the Madness
Every data consultancy applies?methods?that help transition clients from a pain state to a goal state. Here are some examples:
Pain State:?"We need to execute a data strategy, but we lack a supporting data governance roadmap."
Gain State:?"We now have a data governance framework with the data stewardship and accountability to drive the data strategy forward."
Pain State:?"We are failing to meet our Subject Access Request (SAR) timelines and have been issued a final warning for GDPR non-compliance by the ICO."
Gain State:?"All SARs are processed within seven working days, and we are vetted as GDPR compliant every quarter."
Pain State:?"Our lifetime value (LTV) has dropped from $5,000 to $3,700 due to increased churn, primarily due to year one billing anomalies with 25% of our newly onboarded customer base."
Gain State:?"Data defects are incredibly rare in our onboarded customer base. Our LTV has risen to $4,500 and is increasing month-on-month."
Your data consultancy should be prioritising content that focuses on the different transformations you enable and the method or framework that helps clients transition from pain to gain.
For example, back when I had a data quality consultancy, this is the type of method-based content I would publish to attract clients:
These assets are known as 'Lead Magnets' or 'Pillar Content' because they will attract readers/viewers and acquire email addresses.
If you've created the right keywords and created enough backlinks, this is precisely the type of rich, method-focused content that will eventually rank well on Google.
It can be rocket fuel for the growth of your data consultancy – but how do you attract enough eyeballs without endlessly promoting the same article?
The key lies in your recycling strategy.
The Content Recycling Methodology
When you share your approach, you're providing a series of stepping stones that serve two purposes:
For example, if we take my old?Data Migration Checklist created for my former consultancy in 2010, we can see there are seven steps listed:?
So the benefit of starting with method or framework type content is that you can easily recycle into multiple dimensions, each offering a different viewpoint or lens of the core content you originally published.
What this means is that each time you publish the recycled content, you create a 'Hub and Spoke' model that drives traffic back to the original pillar content 'hub' with each new spoke that gets released.
Let's explore some different recycling options:
Recycling Dimension #1: Micro-Methods:??
Within each phase of your data transformation or delivery process are sub-steps.?
For example, we include a sub-step around building a detailed data dictionary in the Landscape Analysis phase above, which we could easily spin out into its own 'pillar content'.
But equally, we could publish a short post, video or smaller article outlining the steps required to build a data dictionary for the data migration.
We're simply recycling, or enriching, from the original topic.
Bonus: Once you realise the subtle differences for the various staff functions involved in each method sequence, you can even spin out different micro-methods for each team member:
e.g.?
Recycling Dimension #2: Mistakes
Every step of your method will have an associated list of common mistakes frequently encountered in your industry.
For example, when I had my data consultancy, I witnessed organisations frequently 'guesstimating' the scope, scale, and cost of their data migration.?
They would be hideously under-prepared and under-resourced, so the project invariably came in late and over budget.
So I could take the following step:
"Have you assessed the viability of your migration with a pre-migration impact assessment?"
Then expand out its micro-steps (see recycling dimension #1) and share some common?data migration mistakes?people make with this step.
Recycling Dimension #3: Misconceptions
I write a lot of misconception type content, primarily because it converts so well.
But why is this?
When you share a misconception, you demonstrate a deep understanding of a problem or situation your prospects are wrestling with through insights that shift their belief or perspective.
This 'belief-shifting' nature of misconception content establishes your expertise as a trustworthy guide in your prospective client's minds.
What's particularly exciting about misconception content is that you often don't even need to outline a method or solution to a problem, merely explaining a commonly held misconception is enough to demonstrate your expertise.
What's the difference between a misconception and a mistake?
Mistakes are intentional steps or events that your ideal clients take that lead to a problem state.
Misconceptions are mistaken beliefs around situations, steps or systems. Your prospective clients may or may not act on these beliefs, but it is the belief or misunderstanding that you need to call out as defective.
For example, continuing the example of data quality and data migration, many organisations adopt the misconception that if the data had good enough quality for the legacy environment, it would suffice for the target platform post-migration.
Here's the basic structure for a misconception post:
领英推荐
Recycling Dimension #4: Model
If you've created some pillar content around a series of steps, you can easily recycle this content by creating a model or workflow of your overall method or each sub-step.
For example, I wrote a post explaining how I mainly create content ideas visually, often from conceptual models I form when sleeping or daydreaming:
I will take these ideas, execute them to validate they work in the real world, and then document them in a tool like Miro or Lucidchart.
Here's an example of a model outlining some of the typical elements I work through with my clients in my Lead Generation Accelerator for data consultancies program:
Wherever you've got a series of steps in your process, it's an easy process to convert to a model that can be shared as a single image or short video.
Side note:?We identified fifteen new model diagrams to recycle as multiple content assets during a one-hour content strategy workshop with a recent data analytics client. The opportunities for model creation and publishing are endless.
Recycling Dimension #5: Media
Transforming the media of your content is one of the most obvious forms of recycling you can undertake.
We've touched on that with the previous 'model' recycling dimension, but many additional options exist.
For example, here we recycled an?earlier change management interview?and transformed it?into a LinkedIn video?using?Lumen5:
In an earlier podcast episode on the Driven by Data show, hosted by Kyle Winterbottom of Orbition, we?discussed the importance of personal branding for data leaders.
Kyle then transformed the podcast into an edited video and then selected one topic (data teams being labelled as cost-centres due to poor marketing) from the interview to break out into a micro-video for LinkedIn distribution:
The opportunities to achieve media recycling are endless.
What's more, media recycling can often be done with external agencies/service providers to help free up your time and scale your content publishing machine.
Recycling Dimension #6: Memoir
Where you have an existing method, you almost certainly have some memories to share about how you succeeded (or failed!) when applying the technique.?
For example, here's a recent post that outlines a simple tactic for creating a roadmap or discovery package for your data consultancy portfolio so that you can weed out any companies who want to 'pick your brains' for free:
It starts with short stories, some memoirs from my earlier mistakes as a data consultancy founder and, later, my role as founder of myDataBrand.
Stories are immediately engaging because readers want to close 'the story arc' and see how the story plays out.
Telling data stories is something I focus on immediately with data firms going through my content strategy workshops because it underpins what makes you unique and transformative as a data consulting firm.
It also helps to identify those benefits you provide over your competitors?– a goldmine of insights for building your value proposition and differentiation.
But how do you construct a storytelling framework?
Here's a story framework I designed specifically for data consultancies and software vendors:
Recycling Dimension #7: Motivation
If you take any step of any method related to data transformation, there is one undeniable factor that is present:
RESISTANCE.
Show me any data journey, and I'll show you a long list of client staff who are vehemently opposed to moving away from the comfort of their status quo.
When I was helping to implement data quality, data migration, business intelligence and data governance improvements, we would face blockading (and the occasional backstabbing!) daily.
Therefore, one of the best forms of recycling your content is to select one of the steps from your method or framework and add the words:
"How do you sell X to the Y community?"
e.g.?
Dreaming up a data management method or framework is easy. Getting someone to adopt each step – now that's the tricky part.
Drive new traffic to your lead magnets and pillar content by taking each step along the journey and outlining precisely how to motivate the target audience to act.
For example, imagine you have a step-by-step checklist for implementing a data governance committee. You can recycle into a new post outlining some strategies you have found helpful for getting the business on board with this seemingly bureaucratic process they've never seen before.
Summary
There is a misconception that content recycling is all about changing the format of your content, but it can be so much more than this.
By looking at your content through the previous seven 'lenses', you can create novel ways to repurpose and enrich your content to share fresh insights for new (and old) audiences.
Here they are again:
Micro-methods / Mistakes / Misconceptions / Model / Media / Memoir / Motivation
How have you recycled or adapted your previous content to share fresh insights? Why not share some examples in the comments below.
Next Steps
Need help implementing content-driven growth strategies for your data consultancy or solutions business?
Book a?discovery call?to learn about the?myDataBrand Lead Generation Accelerator, the only structured coaching and execution program designed exclusively for data consultancies who want to build a consistent pipeline of new opportunities with thought-leader content.
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