Not long after Greentarget and Zeughauser Group closed the 2019 State of Digital & Content Marketing Survey, LinkedIn made news when it announced details about changes to its algorithm – changes that validated trends that we’ve been reporting on for years.

Long the preferred social platform for executives and decision makers, LinkedIn made the algorithmic changes to favor more relevant conversations that (as Axios described them) cater to niche professional interests. In other words, LinkedIn realized that viral content wasn’t as important to users as content that they can actually use.

That echoed what we found in our survey (for the second consecutive year) about the importance of useful content – i.e., utility. Both in-house attorneys and C-suite executives want content that’s useful above all things. Because we live in an era when C-suite executives can be as engaged in choosing a law firm as in-house legal officers – and vice-versa for management consultants and other non-legal service firms – this year we compared their content consumption behaviors and preferences.

In-house counsel and C-suite executives define utility quite differently – and understanding those differences is crucial for marketing officers in the age of information overload. Finding ways to make content stand out was also important to LinkedIn, and the results for the social media platform have so far been impressive. Likewise, we believe that professional services marketers can deliver a stronger payoff for their content by taking to heart the findings in this year’s State of Digital & Content Marketing Survey.

In our ninth survey this decade, we provide deep dives and practical guidance – utility, you might say – on topics that are top of mind (or should be) for marketers. We cover content strategy, the keys to content creation, search engine optimization, the importance of research and, of course, how to best leverage LinkedIn.

It’s never been more important – or more challenging – to stand out above the noise when trying to reach decision makers. But that means there’s an incredible opportunity for those who get it right.