Dylan Jones

Jones recommends keeping the main company blog focused on the ideal client and giving technical content a separate home, such as a Labs section. That lets a firm explain business problems to buyers while still showing technical depth to practitioners and potential hires.

Jones describes an analytics firm whose blog mixed Excel macros and Power BI queries with a business-leader audience. He also recommends keeping technical guides, case studies and tutorials in a separate resource area, where they can be shared through channels such as YouTube or a company newsletter.

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Jones’s approach is to name the offer in terms the buyer understands, describe the practical outcome, and make that outcome credible with evidence such as a report, screenshot or testimonial.

For a data-profiling service used in migrations, Jones says his firm used the name “Pre-Migration Impact Assessment.” Instead of focusing on profiling mechanics, the description could promise a breakdown of data defects and their cost, suitable tools and resources, a migration timeline, and an executive impact report.

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His advice is to leave substantive comments, connect thoughtfully and contribute before asking a community to promote or host your work. The principle matters for firms with limited time: build relationships at a sustainable pace rather than copying an influencer’s extreme posting routine.

Jones recalls that thoughtful responses on data bloggers’ posts helped him form connections and eventually build a community. He also recounts declining requests from firms that wanted to present to his Data Quality Pro audience without first contributing to it.

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Jones recommends offering a paid, focused piece of work that delivers value quickly and connects naturally to a larger service. A fast result gives the client evidence of what the firm can do before they commit to a longer engagement.

Jones’s “state of the nation” data assessment used a platform he had built to find issues such as stranded cash or unbilled revenue. He says work that once took weeks or months could be completed in one to three days, and that the assessment sometimes led to larger data migration, quality or governance projects.

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Once a topic proves useful, improve it with a clearer explanation, visual, tutorial or checklist rather than simply making it longer. He also recommends mining existing work—models, methods, materials, adaptations and lessons—for ideas.

Jones says content tips received more engagement for his business than positioning advice, while positioning historically converted into more clients. For firms without much of their own data, he suggests using competitors’ engagement as an initial clue, then checking it against their own results.

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This is the clearest worked example of the advice in practice.

Jones quotes a real provider blurb, "we specialise in carrying out data profiling as a part of your PIM implementation projects", followed by a list of accurate technical bullets: relationship discovery, structure discovery, pattern analysis, min and max stats.

• Every word describes the work and none of it describes what the buyer receives.
• He renames the same activity a "Pre-Migration Impact Assessment" and rewrites the output for the people who actually sign off, often a product director or chief revenue officer: a breakdown of data defects and their cost impact, recommended tooling and resources, migration timelines, and an executive impact report.
• The test he applies is whether a buyer can see their own problem in the description, in this case wanting a credible project roadmap.
• He ends with three rules: package through the ideal-client lens, lead with the outcome, and make each outcome believable through screenshots, testimonials or a walkthrough.

For brands planning a campaign

For a consultancy brief this is a ready-made repositioning method: rename the offer, state the buyer's outcome, then prove it. It also sets the order for a landing page or campaign narrative.

Jones sets out the clash directly.

• Many data firms are technical by background but sell to non-technical buyers such as a CFO, CMO or CRO, so a blog written for everyone attracts no one.
• He points to an analytics firm publishing Excel macro and Power BI tutorials while its ideal client was business leaders.
• His fix is two streams: a company blog that follows the buyer through each stage of the decision, and an "R&D Labs" zone holding tutorials, papers, guides, Q&A and code for the technical community, with a list of the assets and channels that zone can grow into.
• He also tells a story about a cloud platform client who had always entered through the technical door and got nowhere, then doubled their fees and led with strategic messaging, ending up working alongside McKinsey consultants at around three thousand pounds a day and being treated as the CDO's right-hand person.

For brands planning a campaign

This is the structural decision to settle before commissioning content: one channel measured on buyer enquiries, one measured on technical credibility and hiring, rather than one feed trying to do both.

Jones describes a "Trojan Horse" gateway offer: a small, paid piece of work that delivers fast value and connects naturally to bigger signature offers such as a data strategy roadmap, an analytics platform or a data quality centre of excellence.

• His own example was a data processing platform that found stranded cash and unbilled or overbilled revenue, converting poor data quality into a financial figure.
• After studying Six Sigma and Lean, work that had taken weeks or months ran in one to three days, and he quotes the client reaction: "You've told us more about our data in a day than the last firm found in months."
• His pointers are to charge for it, standardise it as a documented process, remove bottlenecks, give it a name and brand, and weave it into existing content through stories, examples and screenshots.

For brands planning a campaign

Consultancies and agencies can structure a first engagement around one fast, paid diagnostic instead of a long retainer pitch, and pick content topics that lead directly into it.

Jones lists the markers consultants use to disqualify themselves: tens of thousands of followers, paradigm-shifting ideas, book deals, keynote status.

• He then offers a definition that drops all of them, describing thought leadership as providing contextual information that leads an ideal client from a problem state of confusion to a goal state of informed clarity.
• The examples are deliberately ordinary: a metaphor that explains data governance to a COO in utilities, or a story about reducing compute costs on a cloud analytics project that helps a chief data officer plan a budget.
• He cites his own record, articles read hundreds of thousands of times over twenty years, as evidence that closing everyday knowledge gaps rather than breaking new ground is what earns an audience.

For brands planning a campaign

Gives a content team permission to publish practitioner explanations rather than novelty, and a test for every draft: does it move a named buyer from confusion to clarity?

Jones splits discovery into two routes.

• "Stumble" is people finding a post through their feed, a share or a comment, leaving signals such as a like, comment, share or follow, and he lists ways to raise the odds: comment on content their buyers already read, post more often, connect with the right people, recycle to other platforms, appear on podcasts.
• "Search" is the slower route; he reports his own long-standing SEO traffic dropping as people move to AI tools, and argues the response is longer, deeper articles with videos, framework images, client quotes, checklists and templates.
• "Supply" is the step most firms skip: once someone finds the content, give them a reason to subscribe, usually a checklist, framework, spreadsheet or webinar in exchange for an email address, with his own two industry sites' lead magnets as examples.

For brands planning a campaign

Sets realistic expectations for a campaign: distribution work runs alongside publishing, and a follow-up asset is what turns attention into a contactable list.

The "Deadliest Catch" half borrows the fishing show's habit of dropping sample pots to find hot spots: publish across a range of themes and see which pull views and interactions, or, with no history, study competitors' engagement while remembering that likes do not equal clients.

• Jones notes that his own how-to content out-performs his positioning posts on engagement, while positioning work converts better into clients.
• The "Skyscraper" half takes the winning theme and asks how to build a better version of it, which he says is now about utility rather than length, since AI can match almost any topic for sheer volume.
• His examples of extra value are better visuals, tutorials, explanations, walkthroughs and supporting checklists.

For brands planning a campaign

A low-cost way to select topics for a first campaign, and a reminder to report enquiries rather than engagement when judging results.

Jones sets out a paper exercise with five headings, each given room for seven to ten lines: Model, Methods, Materials, Mods and Memories.

• Under each, the firm lists what it already owns, such as framework diagrams, cost-benefit models, methodologies, checklists, screenshots, templates and spreadsheets.
• The Mods column captures how a method was adapted for a particular client, with his example of a GIS dashboard that showed poor data quality by telephone exchange for a telecoms client.
• Memories is for case studies and lessons, with the instruction to make the customer the hero and to choose failures carefully.
• A second column then assigns each idea to a short post, a longer article or a webinar.

For brands planning a campaign

Can be run with a client as a workshop, and the output doubles as a content plan with formats already attached.

"Stumble" is content that reaches people through LinkedIn feeds, comments, shares and follows.

• "Search" is longer-form articles that rank on Google and, increasingly, get surfaced by AI assistants.
• "Supply" is converting that attention into email subscribers through lead magnets such as checklists, frameworks, guides and webinars.
• Jones argues email is the most dependable route from content to leads, because it is personal and does not depend on an algorithm.

Write search-oriented pieces at 1,500 to 3,000 words and strengthen them with video, framework images, client quotes and templates. Recycle posts across Substack, X and YouTube.

For brands planning a campaign

A sponsor can attach to the supply step directly by funding the checklist, framework or guide that a data firm uses as a lead magnet, or by co-creating a longer search-oriented piece on a topic the sponsor already sells into.

Examples: Source 1

Mixing engineering how-tos with business content on one blog, Jones argues, means the blog speaks to nobody in particular. The recommended fix is to keep the main blog focused on the ideal client profile and move technical material into a separate "Labs" area, a dedicated section of the same site, or syndicated channels.

Run two streams: strategic and stakeholder content on the company blog, tactical and technical content in an R&D zone covering tutorials, tech papers, case studies, Q&A, interviews and code.

• Syndicate technical pieces to Substack, a company YouTube channel or a separate company newsletter.
• Build the technical content on the company's own site first so it can rank.

Jones warns that if staff publish technical content only on personal accounts, the brand equity leaves with them. The content should sit on company channels, with incentives rather than bans.

For brands planning a campaign

A vendor with a technical product can sponsor the technical stream without blurring the buyer-facing message. Campaigns can place the sponsor as the tool the client's engineering team already uses, while the main brand message stays aimed at the business buyer.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

A data profiling service page might list relationship discovery, pattern analysis and summary statistics, all accurate but written for people inside the data world.

• The fix is to reframe the offer around the buyer's problem and the outcome they take away.
• Jones gives the example of renaming data profiling for migrations a "Pre-Migration Impact Assessment", then listing deliverables a business sponsor would recognise: a breakdown of defects and their cost impact, tooling and resource recommendations, migration timelines and an executive project report.

Shift the narrative from doing to getting, framed by the ideal client profile, then make the outcome believable with video snippets, screenshots, testimonials, buyer-friendly webinars and before-and-after write-ups.

For brands planning a campaign

Sponsors can build campaigns around outcome framing rather than service mechanics. A post or guide that shows consultancies how to repackage a technical service also gives a tool or platform vendor a natural place to appear as part of the new outcome.

Examples: Source 1

Jones's own example was a rapid "state of the nation" data assessment that found stranded cash and unbilled revenue in one to three days, which then led clients into migrations, governance launches or fraud audits.

Charge for the entry offer rather than giving it away, standardise it as a repeatable procedure, remove the bottlenecks that slow it down, give it a name, and weave it into existing content through stories, examples and screenshots that connect the problem, the process and the larger proposition.

For brands planning a campaign

Tool vendors that shorten a first assessment can supply the asset a Trojan Horse offer is built on. A campaign aimed at consultancies can sponsor or co-create the entry-offer content that markets the service and the tool behind it at the same time.

Examples: Source 1

The definition offered is the ability to give contextual information that leads an ideal client from confusion to informed clarity.

• The argument is aimed at consultants who feel like imposters and therefore publish less, which in turn attracts fewer clients.
• In Jones's account, explaining a simple metaphor for data governance or sharing a real cost-reduction experience does the same job as a grand theory.

For brands planning a campaign

This is an argument for practical, clarity-first content rather than prestige positioning. A campaign that sponsors plain-language explainers of a technical subject fits the approach, particularly when the subject is one buyers routinely find confusing.

Examples: Source 1

The "Deadliest Catch" model treats content as sample pots dropped in different spots: publish across themes such as product head-to-heads, detailed demos and framework articles, then watch not only views but which themes produce discovery calls and sales. The "Skyscraper Technique" then applies to a proven theme: build a version better than competing pages through a stronger visual, tutorial, walkthrough, video or supporting asset, rather than a longer article that AI can easily out-produce.

Firms with little content of their own can shortcut the testing by studying which competitor posts draw engagement, while treating likes and comments as a weak proxy for clients.

For brands planning a campaign

A vendor can fund the better asset that lets a client beat competitors on a proven topic, whether that is a calculator, template, checklist or video. Sponsorship of an improved resource is a straightforward fit here.

Examples: Source 1

Each idea is then matched to the format it suits, a short post, a longer article or a webinar. The examples come from Jones's own consultancy work, including a framework diagram for data quality dimensions and a GIS dashboard built to show poor data quality by telephone exchange.

Draw a page with MODEL, METHODS, MATERIALS, MODS and MEMORIES down the left and POST, ARTICLE and WEBINAR down the right.

• List ideas under each left-hand heading, then decide the format.
• Make the customer the hero in case studies, and use failures sparingly but honestly.

For brands planning a campaign

A campaign offering a planning template or worksheet reaches data firms at the moment they are deciding what to publish, which is when a vendor's tool or service can be named as part of the answer.

Examples: Source 1

The mechanics suggested are substantive comments on other people's posts and blogs, personalised connection requests and steady contribution to communities of interest. Jones describes building the Data Quality Pro community to around 20,000 subscribers and turning away firms that asked to present to the list without having contributed anything first.

Treat commenting as part of the schedule, write comments with real content instead of quick praise, comment before connecting, personalise introductions, and help communities led by people the firm wants to reach. Apply the same approach at a pace a working firm can sustain.

Jones rejects comments such as "Great post!" and the habit of taking attention from a community without giving expertise first.

For brands planning a campaign

Community sponsorship, co-hosted discussions and contributed expertise fit this approach better than straight ad placements. A brand can back the community layer of a data firm's marketing where a standalone promotion would not be welcome.

Examples: Source 1

He describes the four 'Clarity Conversion' phases the brand works with — Problem, Solution, Provider, and Launch Clarity — and says positioning content under it has converted into more clients than his higher-engagement content tips.

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He describes growing its community to roughly 20,000 subscribers, sharing technical tutorials and guides to build an email audience, and using data quality tools, guides, and checklists as signup incentives.

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He says a data migration checklist on the site brings in thousands of email addresses a year and points readers to his Data Migration Pro checklist and planner.

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Both name a clear ideal client as the prerequisite for anything else working, both point to a consistent email list as a low-cost channel that quietly produces revenue, and both build the argument from everyday analogies and client examples rather than theory.

The niche is accounting firms rather than data firms, and the emphasis falls on the newsletter and on reviews and word of mouth. Jones spends more time on how a firm's own website and channels should be structured, including the split between buyer-facing and technical content.

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Both write for a market they sell into themselves, and both argue that smaller, high-intent audiences beat broad traffic.

Dunning's subject is search and AI-answer visibility for SaaS companies, with client demo and revenue numbers as the proof. Jones stays closer to positioning, packaging and community building for consultancies, and rarely cites campaign results as evidence.

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The subject is ecommerce replatforming and agency partnerships around Shopify migrations, not content strategy for consultancies. The material supplied is two posts, so the comparison rests on less evidence than the other two.

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The two reviewed posts treat a replatforming as a market-share decision: they cite that only about 10% of website migrations improve organic performance, that average recovery runs beyond 500 days, and that failures come from siloed SEO and development teams, poor sequencing, missing redirects, and thin pre-launch validation.

• The advice is to rebuild information architecture, product relationships, and structured data during the move so the site is found in AI-driven discovery as well as traditional rankings.
• For a data consultancy whose near-term buyer decision is "are we safe to migrate?", that is closer to the question than content or packaging guidance.

The material covers migration and search visibility, not the wider content job.

• There is no guidance on which topics to publish, how to separate technical from buyer-facing channels, how to package a service around buyer outcomes, or how to turn attention into subscribers and sales conversations.
• It also arrives as partner commentary around a named agency collaboration, so the reader gets a point of view on migration strategy rather than a reusable method for running a content programme.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The reviewed posts make the case that new tactics fail without fundamentals: a specific ideal client and a consistent newsletter.

• The reasoning is concrete and easy for a firm owner to act on, with examples of clients closing revenue from people who had been on an email list for more than three years, and a warning that AI-generated content is average by definition and will not differentiate a firm.
• The second post pushes the same point toward human stories, real experiences, and the problems actually solved.

This is deliberately generalist: it names accounting firms, not data firms, and it does not go near the technical-versus-business content split, the packaging of a technical service for a non-technical sponsor, or search and AI-assistant discovery. A data consultancy with an already-defined buyer and a working newsletter would find little here it does not have, and it would still need the more specific material Dylan Jones supplies.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The reviewed posts lay out a seven-step play to drive organic demos in 90 days: target long-tail buyer-intent phrases rather than early-stage questions, build listicle and comparison pages in the formats AI assistants pull from, fix existing pages that slipped, earn brand mentions as well as links, make sure AI crawlers are not blocked, and track "dark AI search" by asking on signup and demo forms how buyers heard about the firm. The case studies are specific, including long-tail searches of roughly 10 to 20 monthly searches that produced multiple high-value demos within weeks.

The frame is B2B and SaaS growth, and the advice is search-led from end to end, closing with a playbook download.

• It does not cover running a consultancy's content strategy, building community and comment-based reach, or packaging a service so a business sponsor understands what they are buying.
• A data consultancy whose constraint is what to say and how to say it would take only part of this, and would still need the positioning and offer work that is the centre of Dylan Jones's material.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2