Content in professional services can involve changing details, identifiable people, specialist claims or time-sensitive calls to action. A lightweight but documented review helps prevent avoidable errors.
The exact legal and regulatory requirements vary by location and activity. This editorial checklist is not legal advice; it should sit alongside the organisation’s professional and compliance procedures.
Confirm the source and purpose
Record what the post is trying to help the audience understand or do. Identify the internal source for every material fact and make sure the subject is still current.
For professional-service firms, the content should connect to a real need such as help prospects identify a problem or opportunity, rather than relying on a generic engagement prompt.
Verify every claim and detail
Check names, dates, locations, availability, prices, qualifications, results and process descriptions against an authorised source. Remove claims that cannot be supported or add the context needed to interpret them responsibly.
Pay particular attention to these trust signals.
- Named expertise and verifiable credentials.
- Clear process, scope and communication standards.
- Specific insight rather than unsupported authority claims.
Review imagery, privacy and permission
Confirm the organisation owns or has permission to use every image, video, logo, testimonial and piece of music. Obtain appropriate consent before identifying customers, staff, learners, patients, beneficiaries or private locations.
Check backgrounds and metadata for information that should not be disclosed. Consent for one use should not automatically be assumed to cover every channel or future campaign.
Test clarity, accessibility and destination
Use readable contrast, useful alternative text, captions for spoken video and plain language. Expand specialist terms when the intended audience may not know them.
Test the published link, mobile destination, contact details and stated next step. If the offer, status or availability can change, define who will update or withdraw the post.
Assign approval and keep a record
Separate factual approval from creative approval where necessary. The person closest to the subject should confirm accuracy; the content owner should confirm presentation, formatting and schedule.
Keep the final approved copy and assets with the approval date. For higher-risk content, use the organisation’s qualified legal, compliance or safeguarding reviewer.
Writing for peers instead of clients. Technical accuracy matters, but unexplained jargon can hide expertise rather than demonstrate it.
A good checklist makes accurate publishing repeatable. Confirm purpose, sources, claims, permissions, accessibility and the live destination, then retain a clear approval record.