Marketers, we are in the midst of the biggest crisis the world has faced in decades and you need to be prepared. If your target audience is the C-suite, the content you had planned may no longer be fit for purpose, as these execs focus on their new strategies and responses to the ongoing situation for the next few quarters. To make sure your message cuts through the noise and reaches these business leaders, you must be addressing the specific issues they are now faced with.

So, how can this be achieved? First, you must consider how you can adapt your content to make it relevant to your audience in these times. The campaigns you had prepared previously might not be as effective at capturing the attention of the CFO when they are wrangling with issues which will determine the future of their business. Your team needs to adopt a publishing mindset and approach - so you can put out time-specific, relevant and genuinely useful content.

What is the new role of the CFO in these uncertain times and how different will it look once the crisis is over?

At Raconteur, we have spent 12 years talking to the C-suite about the issues that matter to them. We harness the expertise and creativity of our in-house teams, and commission tier-one journalists to turn our ideas into stories that are engaging, pertinent and practical. We also use a range of search engine optimisation and social listening tools to further understand audience needs. Now, we would like to use this expertise to help you.

In this guide you will find all you need to create content designed to make CFOs sit up and listen. We will share the techniques, tips and tools we use, including a step-by-step guide to running your own commissioning meeting, as well as briefs for ready-made content ideas. All you will need to do is...write them up.

How will a global recession impact supply and demand, customer spending habits and FX markets? What is the new role of the CFO in these uncertain times and how different will it look once this is all over? And just how can you manage a budget in a time like this, taking into account essential costs and the risk of cutting the wrong thing? These are just some of the things keeping CFOs awake at night, and answering these questions could be your way to get a foot in the door.

Great ideas are like gold dust, and at Raconteur we've spent years mastering our content alchemy. While there is no easy fix, we have developed a methodology for coming up with great content ideas at speed and scale. Here's our five-step process that, when followed correctly, will dramatically increase your chances of striking gold.

1 Do your research

The very first step in creating great content ideas should always be to find out what your audience wants. You might think that you already have a good understanding of this, but with the amount of change that industries are experiencing at the moment it's safe to assume that the priorities of your audience have changed too. Therefore, it might be necessary to re-profile your audience to understand their new challenges and what they really need insight on.

To do this, we recommend doing some form of market research, for example a quantitative survey or conducting qualitative interviews with your current customers. Not everyone will have the time or the budget to commission a huge piece of research, but even a short survey or conversation with members of your target audience will provide you with so much insight to fuel your content ideas.

Once you have this, you should look at what is being written about right now and what 'whitespace' your brand's content could potentially fill. At Raconteur, we have an in-house editorial team who collaborate with our network of tier-one journalists regularly to analyse the content landscape and come up with unique ideas... but we understand not everyone is quite so lucky.

However, there are a number of tools and techniques anyone can use to aid your content ideation process. We use a combination of SEO tool SEMRush (though Ahrefs would work just as well), social listening tool Pulsar and search query aggregator Answer the Public, to get the best insights into what the online reader is looking for. You can also examine what relevant publications are writing about and look for new, unique angles to take. 

2 Get the right people in the room

The secret to creating great content is diversity of thought, so make sure you have a range of people in your commissioning meeting. Identify the creatives in your organisation and get hold of those who actually speak to your target audience, such as salespeople or account managers. Make sure each member fulfils a particular “role”. Ideally you’ll need someone with a commercial hat on thinking about articles from those angles; you’ll need at least one Devil’s advocate ensuring ideas stand up to scrutiny; and you’ll need a managing editor to oversee. Finally, if you can get hold of someone in the job role you’re targeting – bingo! Going after CFOs? Ask your head of finance to attend. Setting your sights on CEOs? Try your managing director or equivalent. The insights they provide will be invaluable.

3 Discuss everything

Commissioning meetings are built on dialogue and collaboration, so make sure you create an open forum where everyone feels comfortable speaking. There is no such thing as a “bad” idea – with enough discussion you can find new angles which will transform even the most unpromising concepts. Remember, “good” ideas can become great ideas with a little brainstorming; no idea should arrive on the table fully formed. The real key to achieving great ideas is asking the right questions. What information gap is this filling? What should my target reader take away from this article? Is this really something that they are worried about or interested in? Never be afraid to question generally held assumptions.

4 Play with formats

Anyone can publish a series of articles, but you are vying for very limited attention, so you have to be creative. Switch in listicles (‘top fives’, for example), for-and-against features and roundtable discussions to keep your readers engaged. If you have the in-house abilities, make the most of your design or creative team and break pieces up with lovely illustrations and high-quality, highly relevant photographs, rather than relying on stock imagery. Support each article with additional datasets or pull-stats to help hammer your point home.

5 Briefing is everything

Whether you’re writing the piece yourself or are commissioning an external journalist, having a brief to follow will ensure that the output matches expectations. Make sure to outline the key questions you want the article to answer, have an idea of the ‘tone of voice’ you wish to achieve and, if commissioning externally, include links to inspiration articles or background research you might have done. The clearer and more comprehensive your brief, the better your finished piece will be. 

With some help from our finance director, and applying the five steps to great content, we identified the following editorial ideas to grab the CFO’s attention. These are ‘oven-ready’ (to borrow from Boris) but we’d recommend that you spend some time to nuance them to reflect your own unique perspective. Any questions on the best way to do this, feel free to drop us a line.

Strategy

1. How to budget for an uncertain future 

Suggested format: Feature + top tips box

Recommended word count: 800 + 200

Key question: How can CFOs budget in uncertainty?

How can CFOs attempt to budget for the near-term future when they don’t know what the next few days or months hold? Should companies revise their full-year targets or drop them altogether? And when it comes to engaging with stakeholders and employees, what is the best way to be transparent when there’s so much uncertainty? This article should explore what best practice looks like when it comes to scenario planning, and discuss why now might be the wrong time to give up on forecasting.

• This piece could be accompanied by a sidebar or box-out, looking at the best forecasting tools and solutions out there to help the finance function in times of uncertainty and crisis.

2. Reshaping the role of the CFO 

Suggested format: Feature

Recommended word count: 700

Key question: What will the future CFO role look like?

For those CFOs able to ensure their companies ride the coronavirus storm out with minimal disruption, will they emerge as the shining knights of the Covid crisis? Drawing on the lessons learnt from the first month of the crisis by prominent CFOs, this future-gazing piece could explore how the pandemic will change the role going forward, looking at issues such as cash flow management, risk appetite and budgeting. Will this crisis end up not only boosting individuals careers but redefine the role CFOs’ play in running a business?

3. Understanding a global recession 

Suggested format: Listicle

Recommended word count: 10 x 100

Key question: What will a new global recession look like?

Many CFOs may not have been in their positions at the time of the financial crash, and this economic shock will be very different in nature. How bad will it get, and what could a recovery look like? From dramatic changes in customer spending habits, to supply and demand shocks, and volatile FX markets, this listicle feature could explore the myriad of ways that the global economy will be impacted by the pandemic, and the key issues that CFOs need to look out for when planning for the future.

4. M&A deals in disarray 

Suggested format: For/against

Recommended word count: 2 x 400

Key question: How will coronavirus affect M&A?

Mergers and acquisitions, two significant transactions that are prone to market disruptions and uncertainty at the best of times, have been rattled by the coronavirus outbreak. So what does Covid-19 mean for the near-term future of M&A? This piece, written as a for-and-against feature, could analyse whether now is a good time or not to get involved in M&A if you’ve got the cash. On the one hand, the volatile market means that deals can be subject to change; on the other, you could pick up a bargain as many prices and valuations have tanked.

5. Improving access to working capital 

Suggested format: Feature + sidebar

Recommended word count: 1000 + 300

Key question: How will government stimulus affect your company?

Like many other nations around the world, the UK government has announced a raft of financial stimulus measures in an effort to keep the economy afloat amid the coronavirus outbreak. But for SMEs, understanding the options, accessibility and long-term impact of using such support can be a confusing and daunting process. Through interviews with policymakers, law firms and consultants, this article could break down the various measures announced by the government, and look at which types of companies (in their varying stages of growth) are the most suitable for each.

• This article could be accompanied by a sidebar, looking at the financial implications for SMEs of taking on more debt at such a strained time. Can  businesses improve their cash flow and access to finance without having to spread themselves too thinly with new or extended loan arrangements?

6. Succession planning in the time of Covid-19

Suggested format: Feature

Recommended word count: 800

Key question: What happens if the CFO gets Covid-19?

It may sound a little far-fetched, but companies must plan for the worst-case scenario if they want to ride out any crisis. They must have measures in place to ensure continuity if key members of the executive team are taken ill or incapacitated by the virus. Are your processes, technologies and wider finance team fit for purpose in case the leader can’t work? And which areas of decision-making are not able to be automated in case no one is around to make urgent financial decisions?

7. Managing budgets in a crisis

Suggested format: Listicle

Recommended word count: 10 x 100

Key question: How do CFOs manage budgets in a crisis?

As the financial impact of the pandemic begins to show on organisations’ P&Ls, CFOs will inevitably be taking a closer look at departmental budgets and spend control. This ‘top ten’ list will explore some of the most effective ways that prominent CFOs have reined in costs at times of crisis, and offer advice for finance leaders undergoing such an urgent and high-pressure task.

Risk management

1. Insuring yourself in a time of uncertainty (Risk management)

Suggested format: Listicle

Recommended word count: 7 x 75

Key question: Which insurance T&Cs do you need to look out for?

The insurance industry has been rattled by the pandemic as customers scramble to claim for issues experienced as a result of lost business. But not all insurers are paying out. Typical business insurance policies are designed to cover standard business risks - not a global pandemic - and small companies in particular are unlikely to have the appropriate measures in place to safeguard them in such a unique circumstance. This article could look at the key sticking points in many insurance policies that SMEs should look out for, and what they need to do to protect their businesses going forward.

So there you go, content marketing success in a box. What are you waiting for? We wish it was that easy.

Whilst these tips, tricks and editorial ideas can deliver you some quick wins and some much-needed traction with your target audience, we recognise that marketing is not quite so simple. In the long term, sustained C-suite engagement requires a plan that aligns marketing activities with business goals, alongside the capability to create high-quality content at scale,  and the mechanisms to get it in front of the people that matter at speed. 

At Raconteur, we work with leading B2B brands to shape their marketing strategy and create, activate and optimise content to deliver results. Get in touch to see how we can help you turn great ideas into real customer action.

Find out more about Raconteur Agency:

raconteur.net/agency

agency@raconteur.net