For many professional-services firms, 2020 has been the year content went into overdrive. Organizations scrambled to ramp up their publishing speed, trying to offer smart takes on the evolving COVID-19 story and what it meant, and continues to mean, for business.
But for Jonathan Dahl, chief content officer at Korn Ferry, the deluge of stories was something his content operation, which already published daily before the pandemic hit, was prepared for. In this interview with Alyssa Abkowitz (who worked with Dahl before joining Leff), the Wall Street Journal veteran discusses Korn Ferry’s approach to content and thought leadership—and how publishing on COVID-19 from its onset contributed to annual page views jumping almost 60 percent this year.
Q A
&
with Korn Ferry
Chief Content Officer
Jonathan Dahl
When you joined Korn Ferry, what was the organization’s approach to thought leadership, and how did you change it?
Alyssa
Jonathan
Like most consulting firms, Korn Ferry had a quarterly magazine and a website that would repeat some of those stories. We wanted to create a website with compelling content that was tied to the news and to Korn Ferry’s business. The idea was that while readers may look to news organizations for broad coverage, they also want the expert’s take on what it all means. If we could tie some of our content to what’s happening that week by using our consultants’ expertise—and do it in an interesting way—people would come. In the case of Korn Ferry, that expertise is leadership, so we tackle all our stories by taking news and offering the leadership perspective.
Today, we post daily stories and email a weekly newsletter, “This Week in Leadership,” to a readership list of more than half a million. Readership has more than tripled in three years. We also publish a print and digital thought leadership magazine, Briefings, that appears in more than 300 airports, which is pretty unique for a consulting firm. You can also find three other publications on our “Korn Ferry Insights” page: Briefings for the Boardroom, aimed at directors; Perspectives, the firm’s case studies told in an online-magazine form; and Korn Ferry Advance, our career-advice platform.
What kind of stories come from all this?
Alyssa
The spectrum is kind of amazing. We can tell you about the latest study on “Zoom fatigue,” what President-elect Biden plans to do with the tech industry, and the real reason
paper towels were in short supply last spring. We might explore how poor desk lighting at home can impair executive judgment—especially important in the remote-work era—and how a CEO has dedicated his life to stronger mental-health programs.
Jonathan
How do you feel about so-called “evergreen” stories that aren’t tied to any new developments? Particularly if it’s a cornerstone piece for a business?
Alyssa
We still publish them, but we strive to find newer, fresh angles whenever possible. We think it makes us look smarter. And to show you how serious we are about it, we run weekly “news meetings” with writers and corporate leaders to link what is in the news to our business. Earnings, elections, innovations—they all have leadership angles. We also aim to spot big and provocative trends early, such as the “nomad economy”
and “profit versus purpose.” Just like anyone else, clients want to read something they didn’t know about and that gives them fresh advice.
And this approach applies to other business sectors too. If you are in, say, retail or tech, then you can tie those sectors to the news in your thought leadership content—and give people a reason to read you now. If you don’t, it’s a missed opportunity.
Jonathan
So many organizations get bogged down in approval processes. How are you able to avoid that and publish so frequently?
Alyssa
Longer-term pieces we run by partners for approval. But on the daily articles, we’ve made the case that you’re not going to be able to turn it around in time for readership interest with a long approval process. Granted, we have to remain cautious—and ask in advance—about client and business sensitivities. But we like to believe that our consultants are among the best in the world. Our job as writers is to collaborate with them and handle professional storytelling that broadcasts their skills in the most effective way.
Jonathan
Thought leadership can be a tough sell because there’s often
no direct proof that it helps bring in business. How did you get buy-in from leadership that content is worth investing in?
Alyssa
The argument for content is that if you build a larger audience, you’re broadening your base of potential customers. It’s also relatively inexpensive; a few solid writers and a robust process can take you a long way.
Jonathan
Korn Ferry does relatively few white papers. Why is that?
Alyssa
There is still a place for them, especially on certain subjects. But too often they aren’t done well, and the result is an uninteresting piece. The truth is, there’s a great story in every nook and cranny of business, and the whole essence of storytelling is taking super complex topics and making them more accessible. I marvel at the great stories that come in from our writers—and can’t tell you how many started out as proposed white papers.
Jonathan
The pandemic resulted in a deluge of thought leadership from organizations. How did your operation respond?
Alyssa
We were sort of the test pilots, advancing business ideas and letting the page views tell us what clients needed. And we could do this almost from day one, in part because we were already publishing so quickly. I think a lot of organizations were paralyzed by trying to decide what they should do and say. Our job was to show the unfolding angles that our business units could then refine into their own messaging.
Finding such provocative angles in a timely manner—which I think our team does a great job at—builds readership and creates business opportunities. So, for example, the vaccine is exciting news, but it will pose a number of intriguing corporate issues. Do you require employees to get it? Do CEOs lead by example and get it first? We try to be the first to explore important and critical issues like these that highlight our company’s strength at finding solutions.
Apparently, this approach has worked: we were at 1.9 million annual page views at the end of last year, and we are now
at more than 3 million. And much of that came from our COVID coverage.
Jonathan
What content trends are you watching for in 2021?
Alyssa
We saw the emergence of podcasts and beautiful interactive storytelling in the past couple of years. That’s only going to grow more in 2021. Long-form articles, interestingly enough, remain effective if they are written and edited well. As for top stories, one takeaway from COVID was that businesses actually had a hard time changing. They thought they could, but they didn’t change as quickly as they would’ve liked. I think that’s something we’re going to see the ramifications of next year. Still, the innovation and efficiencies and speed that COVID caused were game-changing. Businesses and content platforms won’t be able to go back to how they used to work, because if they do, they’ll be surpassed.
Jonathan