Cultivating your
opinion
content tree
Leor Franks looks at content marketing and
explains that it’s what you do with it that counts.
“C
ontent may be king, but
it’s all in the marketing”
once said Gerald Levin,
then CEO of Time
Warner. His maxim translates well to the
professional services industry, where
often the key challenge with content is
how best to leverage – both externally
and internally.
One model to address the content
marketing challenge in professional serv-
ices is a derivative of the ‘content tree’
concept used by many. A five step
approach, it has phases to get buy in,
create and deploy content. It begins with
the ‘seeds’ of an idea, lays down ‘roots’,
develops into ‘shoots’, grows into a solid
‘trunk’ and ends mostly importantly in
multiple ‘branches’. Bear with me! This
approach is not ground breaking, but
hopefully it is simple to follow and
communicate to stakeholders and
colleagues.
The ‘content tree’ helps to make the
most of time and effort, of partner stake-
holders and of the marketing and other
team members managing the project. At
all points, we focus on the outputs from
the content, considering how these meet
business objectives and resonate with the
target audience. The steps below mention
various roles – stakeholder, marketer,
analyst, writer and designer. Of course
sometimes, others can be involved or the
marketer can wear more than one hat!
1 Seeds
The ‘seeds’ are sown by the stakeholder
4 pm | September 2016
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for whom content is being developed.
Here we seek to get buy in from the
stakeholder to put their time into the
Focus on the outputs
project. We strive to elicit their thoughts
from the content, on whatever timely topic or issue is
consider how these
keeping their clients awake at night. We
then question the audience demographics
meet business that we are seeking to reach and identify
objectives and
preferred channels to market we will later
use to output through – the ‘branches’ of
resonate with the the ‘tree’.
target audience.
Normally, a 30-minute meeting is
sufficient. We ask the stakeholder simply
to talk about their key clients: what
matters to them, and what’s happening in
the outside world right now that weighs
on their minds. Questions around who
the clients are, what media or channels
they consume and what outputs would be
appropriate can help ensure focus. We
aim to capture the essence of the discus-
sion and before ending, confirm this in
the meeting to ensure all are on the same
page.
2 Roots
The ‘roots’ are laid down by the marketer
developing a hypothesis for the stake-
holder to confirm or edit. At this stage,
we aim to detail the ideas to be tested. We
look to succinctly explain the situation
clients find themselves in, why this
matters, and what can be done about it.
We test whether this topic is fresh and
timely, or has already been done to death
by close competitors in their own content
marketing. We then detail the most rele-
vant outputs and channels given the

topic, audience and competitive environ-
ment.
In terms of deliverables at this stage,
a paragraph of bullets is normally about
right. This should talk to the audience,
the problem they face, how we will test,
what our point of view might look like
and what we will produce. Some research
at this stage on sources of evidence, likely
channels to market, and importantly a
double check on whether others have
published on this is essential. This should
then be sent to the stakeholder for review
and explicit approval, and a timescale,
costs and metrics agreed before moving
forward.
3 Shoots
The ‘shoots’ are developed by the analyst
through the acquisition and interrogation
of data, case studies or evidence. We seek
to find multiple proof points of both the
problem/situation and the
solution/importance. Designing the
research methodology or survey, or
choosing desktop data tools may require
advice from experts. At this stage we
should take a clear view on whether this
particular ‘content tree’ will survive and
how it will make it into the outside world
in the name of our firm.
The key point to make on this stage is
around having clarity on what is required
to validate the hypothesis built in the
‘roots’ step. It is all too easy to commis-
sion interviews or ask people to download
data without a clear end point or sign off
in sight. Some organisations have a house
style on what is required to substantiate a
point of view, but where this is absent,
agreement with our stakeholders is
needed.
4 Trunk
The ‘trunk’ grows to form the written
whitepaper, article or series of outputs
being produced by the writer. We develop
material that summarises the problem
identified, the evidence at hand and the
solutions of most merit – our point of
view. And we seek to clearly answer the
‘so what’ question – why does this matter
to our audience, as well as the ‘what now’
question, by providing clear calls to
action where possible.
Varying approaches are taken here
depending on budget and scale. Often a
writer is employed to build out the agreed
hypothesis with key findings from the
research, data or case studies. Whether a
house style for such content exists or not,
a designer might be engaged to turn the
written work into a clearly presented
output. Most importantly, final sign off
on the material should be planned and
secured, to fit with diary constraints of
stakeholder and any others who might
need to review, eg. lawyers.
5 Branches
The ‘branches’ are output from the
process – owned, earned and purchased
channels to market being managed by the
opinion
marketer or wider marcoms/BD function.
We look for channels to market that offer
a strong likelihood of an acceptable
return on investment, where metrics are
available. And we consider carefully
which of these options will satisfy the
needs and wants of our stakeholders –
sadly sometimes the channels offering
best ROI, do not energise stakeholders.
Each of the chosen ‘branches’ which
were selected with reference to consider-
ations at earlier stages around relevance
to audience, presence of competitors, etc,
should be linked with appropriate consid-
eration of measures of success. Many
organisations will have a house view on
these, and weighty textbooks exist on the
subject. Importantly in the professional
services environment, thought must be
given to what internal stakeholders will
value.
Growing your own
The ‘content tree’ ‘grows’ from ‘seeds’, to
‘roots’, to ‘shoots’, to ‘trunk’, to
‘branches’. Each step of the process aims
to set out how a piece of content can not
only be developed, but also meet Gerald
Levin’s test that the marketing outputs
are what matters most. When considering
these outputs, it’s critical to think of the
outcomes – their value, both externally
and internally to stakeholders.
To recap, ‘seeds’ capture a stake-
holder’s view of what is most important
right now to their clients. ‘Roots’ encap-
sulate a hypothesis that should be agreed
for testing. ‘Shoots’ test, and then provide
evidence for a clear point of view. The
‘trunk’ embodies this with clear argument
and a call to action. And above all else,
‘branches’ take content to market through
multiple channels where some measure-
ment of value can be derived.
There are a variety of toolkits out
there for content marketing. Many will
have a preferred approach based on expe-
rience. It may be that the ‘content tree’ is
overly simplistic or perhaps even too
formulaic for any particular situation.
Nonetheless, the key takeaway is that
having a clear approach that can be
communicated and agreed with stake-
holders is undoubtedly the best way of
delivering value, both in true marketing
terms and internally amidst the politics of
a partnership type environment.
Leor Franks is Marketing
Director at FTI Consulting.
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