Content Marketing System
The Challenge
Apex Financial Group operated four distinct brands serving different market segments — from consumer lending to wealth management. Each brand had its own content needs, but marketing resources were centralized. The result was chronic content bottlenecks, inconsistent quality, and no visibility into what was being created across the organization.
The CMO needed a content engine that could scale: a system that maintained brand consistency while enabling each business unit to move quickly. They also needed to demonstrate ROI to justify expanding the content team — something that had been impossible with their ad-hoc approach.
The Approach
Content Audit & Taxonomy
Cataloged 500+ existing assets across all brands, identifying gaps, redundancies, and repurposing opportunities. Created a unified taxonomy for content classification and discovery.
Editorial Workflow Design
Built a centralized workflow in Airtable connecting intake, assignment, creation, review, and distribution. Automated notifications reduced status meetings by 80%.
Template & Module System
Developed 25+ reusable content templates and modular components that maintained brand standards while accelerating production. Writers could focus on messaging, not formatting.
Performance Framework
Implemented attribution tracking connecting content assets to lead generation and conversion events. Built dashboards showing content ROI by brand, type, and topic cluster.
The Results
The new content system enabled a 3x increase in publishing volume without adding headcount. Content-influenced pipeline grew from $8M to $24M annually, directly justifying the hire of two additional content strategists.
Key Deliverables
- Multi-brand content strategy and governance framework
- Comprehensive content audit and gap analysis
- Editorial calendar system and workflow automation
- Brand-specific content templates and style guides
- Digital asset management structure and taxonomy
- SEO topic cluster strategy and keyword mapping
- Content performance dashboard and reporting
- Writer onboarding and training documentation
- Repurposing playbook and content atomization guide
- Quarterly content planning workshop facilitation
Reflection
This project taught me that content operations is fundamentally about reducing friction. Every minute a writer spends on formatting, tracking down approvals, or wondering about brand guidelines is a minute not spent on actual creative work. Systems should disappear into the background.
The performance tracking component was transformational. Once stakeholders could see which content was actually driving business results, conversations shifted from "we need more content" to "we need more content like this." Data turned content from a cost center into a revenue driver.