Friday, February 19, 2010
Social Media Automation: How to Drown the Seeds of Leads
We enjoy a good debate here at The Content Factor, and we're watching one play out on the Demand Gen Report Blog.
- Marketo's Jon Miller blogged on "Seed Nurturing," suggesting some new practices for using social media to "turbo charge" lead nurturing.
Miller writes:
"For example, after identifying a prospect’s Twitter username, follow his or her Twitter conversations that include relevant keywords, and track this data in your marketing automation system." - Malcolm Friedberg of Left Brain Marketing makes an engaging counterpoint in "Seed Nurturing? Not Unless You're Walt Whitman."
Friedberg writes:
"Call me cynical, but I’m not comfortable betting my job on whether anonymous leads will 'likely' surface from the social media world and appear on my front door."
Although on a high level I agree with "seed nurturing," (as stated in a previous post, "Are We Torching Our Leads?" which advocated the registration-free white paper download), the detailed practices that Miller describes in his Demand Gen Report post seem far-fetched to me. The B2B marketers I work with don't have the resources to follow prospects on Twitter, trend their topics, and look for signs that they are in the early stages of a buying cycle.
And, if getting a phone call ten minutes after downloading a white paper wasn't bad enough, a demand generation solution that provides Twitter-trending functionality is even more "Big Brother." (Will I get a phone call from Marketo after I tweet this blog post?)
Social media is the realm of public relations and thought leadership marketing, not of metrics-driven lead generation. There are some amazing tools emerging for marketers to analyze information as it travels through the social media, but is it realistic for these tools to help marketers warm-up prospects for sales? I will side with the cynics for now.
Labels: business to business (B2B), lead generation, marketing automation, thought leadership
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Are We Torching Our Leads?
A survey by Spiceworks reveals that IT pros--key influencers in B2B buying cycles--are increasingly resistant to downloading white papers, because of the registration forms. In an interview on the Savvy B2B Marketing blog*, Jay Halberg of Spiceworks says:
I myself am wary about offering my contact information in a reg form because on several occasions, I have hit the submit button and gotten a call from a sales person trying to close me--within a minute.
If we can all relax a little bit and remember that great content is a better way to qualify prospects than registration forms. Great content helps educate prospects and lets them "self select" and raise their hand when they are ready. Prospects become buyers when it's their idea--not when they get enough phone calls and register for the webinar.
That's why B2B marketers are adapting their content strategy to thought leadership. To this end, white papers must deliver useful new information that plants the seeds of the idea to buy. Ten vendor calls in 30 days kill the seed. (Ardath Albee's post, "When Thought Leadership Isn't", and comments there, provided inspiration.)
By the way, The Content Factor's white papers are "Free Downloads." --without reg foms.
* Interview by Stephanie Tilton on the Savvy B2B Marketing blog, discovered via Dale Underwood's blog, B2B Conversations Now, which was recently aggregated in the B2B Marketing Zone.
Those that do share their [contact information when downloading a white paper] obviously don't mind doing so, but they DO mind a pesky vendor that calls them 10 times over the next 30 days. We also found a lot of people – more than 75% – DON'T sign up for papers requiring registration, which means the vendor is missing the opportunity to share and disseminate their knowledge.B2B marketers are asking, "Is the White Paper Dead?" Of course not--the white paper is simply a medium for content. But what is rapidly aging the white paper as a tactic may be the over-reliance on automated marketing systems and processes--compounded by the incredible pressure on sales teams to close a deal.
I myself am wary about offering my contact information in a reg form because on several occasions, I have hit the submit button and gotten a call from a sales person trying to close me--within a minute.
If we can all relax a little bit and remember that great content is a better way to qualify prospects than registration forms. Great content helps educate prospects and lets them "self select" and raise their hand when they are ready. Prospects become buyers when it's their idea--not when they get enough phone calls and register for the webinar.
That's why B2B marketers are adapting their content strategy to thought leadership. To this end, white papers must deliver useful new information that plants the seeds of the idea to buy. Ten vendor calls in 30 days kill the seed. (Ardath Albee's post, "When Thought Leadership Isn't", and comments there, provided inspiration.)
By the way, The Content Factor's white papers are "Free Downloads." --without reg foms.
* Interview by Stephanie Tilton on the Savvy B2B Marketing blog, discovered via Dale Underwood's blog, B2B Conversations Now, which was recently aggregated in the B2B Marketing Zone.
Labels: lead generation, thought leadership, white papers
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Thought Leadership: A Spirit of Generosity
We've received some interesting questions in response to our white paper, "Is Anybody Following Your Thought Leadership? Five Best-Practices." One, in particular, describes the dilemma marketing departments face: How can we prevent our thought leadership efforts from being interpreted as sales propaganda?
The answer lies in the fact that thought leadership isn't built, it's nurtured. It is up to the followers--readers, listeners, and viewers--to certify the thought leader with their trust, and that takes time.
Thought leadership doesn't have a landing page. There is no string attached between thought leadership and lead generation. Instead, it requires a spirit of generosity, as Elise Bauer says. Thought leaders attract followers by virtue of the freely given value they offer. The payoff to the organization is cultural, educational, emotional--but generally not measurable.
It is counter-intuitive to our lead-generation habit, but thought leadership strategy takes the company and the product out of the story. It leads with thought. Guided by generosity, marketers can strategize effective thought leadership campaigns that won't be considered sales propaganda--because they won't be linked (directly) to sales.
The answer lies in the fact that thought leadership isn't built, it's nurtured. It is up to the followers--readers, listeners, and viewers--to certify the thought leader with their trust, and that takes time.
Thought leadership doesn't have a landing page. There is no string attached between thought leadership and lead generation. Instead, it requires a spirit of generosity, as Elise Bauer says. Thought leaders attract followers by virtue of the freely given value they offer. The payoff to the organization is cultural, educational, emotional--but generally not measurable.
It is counter-intuitive to our lead-generation habit, but thought leadership strategy takes the company and the product out of the story. It leads with thought. Guided by generosity, marketers can strategize effective thought leadership campaigns that won't be considered sales propaganda--because they won't be linked (directly) to sales.
Labels: lead generation, thought leadership
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Optimizing B2B Leads: Deep Dive #3
Here's my third and final "deep dive" into the high points covered in a recent ClickZ article by Bryan Eisenberg.
The ClickZ article:
Optimizing B2B-Demand Generation
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625240
Here are Part 1 and Part 2 of this series of posts.
High Point: Set the bait.
Your incentive piece, or "digital morsel" as Eisenberg calls it, is the bait that generates the lead. It can be a white paper, podcast, mailed packet, or anything that your visitor will find valuable. Try different "bait" to optimize your offering. And even if it's "free," don't treat it as if it has no value.
Deep Dive: Give it away, give it away now.
In olden days, every company had its trade secrets. These were the little morsels of knowledge and experience that the company kept close to its corporate vest. Coca-Cola's formula is the ultimate trade secret, but in B2B companies, these would include business processes, best practices, and research.
In today's world, a company is not differentiated by keeping this information secret--but instead by its ability to churn out value continually. So these morsels of information are the bait that they need to share--openly--with their entire markets, on their web sites. B2Bs can't afford to fear sharing at least some of their good information. It does more good to use your "best kept secrets" on the front side of the sales cycle, to prove your worth and value, and to attract attention to your business.
The ClickZ article:
Optimizing B2B-Demand Generation
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625240
Here are Part 1 and Part 2 of this series of posts.
High Point: Set the bait.
Your incentive piece, or "digital morsel" as Eisenberg calls it, is the bait that generates the lead. It can be a white paper, podcast, mailed packet, or anything that your visitor will find valuable. Try different "bait" to optimize your offering. And even if it's "free," don't treat it as if it has no value.
Deep Dive: Give it away, give it away now.
In olden days, every company had its trade secrets. These were the little morsels of knowledge and experience that the company kept close to its corporate vest. Coca-Cola's formula is the ultimate trade secret, but in B2B companies, these would include business processes, best practices, and research.
In today's world, a company is not differentiated by keeping this information secret--but instead by its ability to churn out value continually. So these morsels of information are the bait that they need to share--openly--with their entire markets, on their web sites. B2Bs can't afford to fear sharing at least some of their good information. It does more good to use your "best kept secrets" on the front side of the sales cycle, to prove your worth and value, and to attract attention to your business.
Labels: business to business (B2B), lead generation
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Optimizing B2B Leads, Deep Dive #2: Drive Them In
Here's my second "deep dive" into the high points covered in a recent ClickZ article by Bryan Eisenberg. Eisenberg takes the 10,000 foot view...but there is a lot more to be said, deeper down, about content.
The ClickZ article:
Optimizing B2B-Demand Generation
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625240
From these high points, we at The Content Factor can dive deeper into ways you can optimize your content to make lead generation work--and why the content part of the process is so important.
High Point: Drive them in.
Your driving points are your ads, inbound links, emails, and other sources of traffic. Make sure that the text and context of your driving points speaks to the audience--and create multiple driving points for multiple audiences.
Deep Dive: Drive them in by speaking their language.
All too often, businesses (especially B2Bs) get into a trap of speaking their own language to their audience (their potential customers)...when really they need to speak their audience's language. In the ads, inbound links, and emails that drive traffic to your web site, it is imperative that you speak directly to the audience's pain (see Part 1 of this series), in the audience's language.
Here's an example: I cringe when I see the audience for marketing copy described as a "market." Who cares if your technology is "designed to be the highest performing system in the accounting and compliance market?" Or even if it is "best-selling" or a "market leader"? Your potential customers don't think of themselves as your market--they think of themselves as competitors in their own market, with problems to solve.
So use the language of their industry to help them solve their problem: "designed to give accounting and compliance professionals prompt updates as R-1023 laws and local regulations change." (I'm inventing the details but you get the idea.)
The third deep dive is about "bait"--that content piece at the end of the trail that lets you reel them in.
The ClickZ article:
Optimizing B2B-Demand Generation
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625240
From these high points, we at The Content Factor can dive deeper into ways you can optimize your content to make lead generation work--and why the content part of the process is so important.
High Point: Drive them in.
Your driving points are your ads, inbound links, emails, and other sources of traffic. Make sure that the text and context of your driving points speaks to the audience--and create multiple driving points for multiple audiences.
Deep Dive: Drive them in by speaking their language.
All too often, businesses (especially B2Bs) get into a trap of speaking their own language to their audience (their potential customers)...when really they need to speak their audience's language. In the ads, inbound links, and emails that drive traffic to your web site, it is imperative that you speak directly to the audience's pain (see Part 1 of this series), in the audience's language.
Here's an example: I cringe when I see the audience for marketing copy described as a "market." Who cares if your technology is "designed to be the highest performing system in the accounting and compliance market?" Or even if it is "best-selling" or a "market leader"? Your potential customers don't think of themselves as your market--they think of themselves as competitors in their own market, with problems to solve.
So use the language of their industry to help them solve their problem: "designed to give accounting and compliance professionals prompt updates as R-1023 laws and local regulations change." (I'm inventing the details but you get the idea.)
The third deep dive is about "bait"--that content piece at the end of the trail that lets you reel them in.
Labels: business to business (B2B), lead generation
Monday, March 19, 2007
Optimizing B2B Leads: High Points, and a Deep Dive
Here's an article from Bryan Eisenberg, the Persuasion Marketing guru, covering the high points of generating business-to-business (B2B) leads on the web:
Optimizing B2B-Demand Generation
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625240
From these high points, we at The Content Factor can dive deeper into ways you can optimize your content to make lead generation work--and why the content part of the process is so important.
High Point: Know your audience.
Create personas--not just high-level demographics, but go in depth to "understand their personal and business motivations," as Eisenberg says.
Deep Dive: Discover the messages they will respond to.
For business audiences especially, it's helpful to know what keeps them awake at night, or what part of their jobs are they most worried about. What is the CEO going to pop-quiz them about during a staff meeting? If your business can solve this kind of pain, there's the key to some excellent content that you can deliver to either begin or enhance a sales cycle.
Talking to existing customers, and even looking at competitors' web sites and white papers, are great ways to discover these pain points. When reviewing competitors' materials, remember that if it is boring to you, it is probably even more boring to the intended audience--don't repeat your competitors' mistakes. Instead, look and listen for the most profound pain that you can solve--or ways that your competitors are trying to solve it that you can improve upon.
Your company's differentiators can also be great subjects for content, as long as they are framed to benefit the audience. "We are the premier provider of XYZ software" is a snoozer, but "No other solution is as scalable as ours, and here's why" will turn heads. Make any claims you can make that speak directly to solving pain.
I'll take some more "deep dives" from Eisenberg's article in my next two posts. (Here's #2 about driving traffic to your site.)
Optimizing B2B-Demand Generation
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3625240
From these high points, we at The Content Factor can dive deeper into ways you can optimize your content to make lead generation work--and why the content part of the process is so important.
High Point: Know your audience.
Create personas--not just high-level demographics, but go in depth to "understand their personal and business motivations," as Eisenberg says.
Deep Dive: Discover the messages they will respond to.
For business audiences especially, it's helpful to know what keeps them awake at night, or what part of their jobs are they most worried about. What is the CEO going to pop-quiz them about during a staff meeting? If your business can solve this kind of pain, there's the key to some excellent content that you can deliver to either begin or enhance a sales cycle.
Talking to existing customers, and even looking at competitors' web sites and white papers, are great ways to discover these pain points. When reviewing competitors' materials, remember that if it is boring to you, it is probably even more boring to the intended audience--don't repeat your competitors' mistakes. Instead, look and listen for the most profound pain that you can solve--or ways that your competitors are trying to solve it that you can improve upon.
Your company's differentiators can also be great subjects for content, as long as they are framed to benefit the audience. "We are the premier provider of XYZ software" is a snoozer, but "No other solution is as scalable as ours, and here's why" will turn heads. Make any claims you can make that speak directly to solving pain.
I'll take some more "deep dives" from Eisenberg's article in my next two posts. (Here's #2 about driving traffic to your site.)
Labels: business to business (B2B), lead generation
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Win More Deals with White Papers
New research by KnowledgeStorm supports what many already knew: vendors are more likely to close new business when they do a good job of educating potential buyers in the earliest stages of the sales cycle.
While sales reps often avoid prospects who are “just kicking the tires,” these prospects are usually doing important research. In most cases, they have not yet established standard metrics such as budget and timetable—and are looking to vendors to help them set realistic expectations. So vendors that help educate and influence these early stage prospects have a greater chance of being on the short list when it comes time to buy—and buy they do. KnowledgeStorm shows that the majority of these “tire kickers” do end up signing on the dotted line.
White papers that educate without blatantly selling are great sales tools at the early stage. They help develop insight and interest in prospects that frequently have little knowledge about your product or service. More importantly, they can help prospects develop a preference for your solution over the competition’s, and they start a relationship with your company that might be the first one that the prospect makes with a vendor in your space.
Yes, focusing on early stage buyers takes a bit longer, but isn’t educating a prospect from the start better than getting a picked-over (and highly competitive) RFP at the end of the sales cycle? And white papers are relatively easy and affordable ways to get those early relationships started, answer the common questions that “tire kickers” have, and establish your company as a knowledgeable resource.
If you’d like to know more about how to create a white paper, check out our Eight Rules for Creating Great White Papers, or visit the white paper Gallery on our website for some samples.
While sales reps often avoid prospects who are “just kicking the tires,” these prospects are usually doing important research. In most cases, they have not yet established standard metrics such as budget and timetable—and are looking to vendors to help them set realistic expectations. So vendors that help educate and influence these early stage prospects have a greater chance of being on the short list when it comes time to buy—and buy they do. KnowledgeStorm shows that the majority of these “tire kickers” do end up signing on the dotted line.
White papers that educate without blatantly selling are great sales tools at the early stage. They help develop insight and interest in prospects that frequently have little knowledge about your product or service. More importantly, they can help prospects develop a preference for your solution over the competition’s, and they start a relationship with your company that might be the first one that the prospect makes with a vendor in your space.
Yes, focusing on early stage buyers takes a bit longer, but isn’t educating a prospect from the start better than getting a picked-over (and highly competitive) RFP at the end of the sales cycle? And white papers are relatively easy and affordable ways to get those early relationships started, answer the common questions that “tire kickers” have, and establish your company as a knowledgeable resource.
If you’d like to know more about how to create a white paper, check out our Eight Rules for Creating Great White Papers, or visit the white paper Gallery on our website for some samples.
Labels: lead generation, white papers
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Don't Tell. Ask.
Trying to break in to a new market segment? Wanting to make an impression with an audience that doesn’t know your name (yet)? Conducting a survey is an effective and surprisingly easy way to break through. Collect valuable, relevant data from the group you are trying to reach, and then distribute that data to the participants. You provide value and make your first impression as an industry expert—while your new target audience has an interactive and rewarding experience with your company.
Charlton Consulting Group had a recent success with survey marketing. Charlton is a small company with a big challenge. The firm is a turnkey provider of total compensation statements that show employees the total value of all their benefits, not just salary and wages. The firm had been doing a great job for smaller employers, but wanted to break through to mid-sized and larger companies and compete with the larger HR consulting firms. Charlton surveyed high-level HR executives about their usage, views, and experience with total compensation statements. Working with the Content Factor, they prepared an electronic survey and sent it out to an email list supplied by an HR trade publication. Executive participation in the survey was strong, partly due to the interesting nature of the content, a promise to supply the results and an incentive for $50 Amazon.com gift certificates.
Once survey results were tabulated and analyzed, Charlton distributed a summary report to survey respondents. They also posted the results on their web site and offered it through their print ads. Additionally, they sent out a news release summarizing the findings; and published a bylined article about the study along with a case study illustration in an HR trade publication.
The result? All 128 respondents to the survey requested copies of the survey findings. Therefore, these 128 executives received three “touches” from Charlton (the invitation, the survey, and the findings), and opted-in for future campaigns. The buzz surrounding the survey and its report generated an interview of a Charlton Consulting Group principal for a story about total compensation statements; coverage of the findings by all the major HR trades and some online news sources including Yahoo! Finance; and placement of a bylined article in Benefit & Compensation Solutions Magazine.
Charlton Consulting Group had a recent success with survey marketing. Charlton is a small company with a big challenge. The firm is a turnkey provider of total compensation statements that show employees the total value of all their benefits, not just salary and wages. The firm had been doing a great job for smaller employers, but wanted to break through to mid-sized and larger companies and compete with the larger HR consulting firms. Charlton surveyed high-level HR executives about their usage, views, and experience with total compensation statements. Working with the Content Factor, they prepared an electronic survey and sent it out to an email list supplied by an HR trade publication. Executive participation in the survey was strong, partly due to the interesting nature of the content, a promise to supply the results and an incentive for $50 Amazon.com gift certificates.
Once survey results were tabulated and analyzed, Charlton distributed a summary report to survey respondents. They also posted the results on their web site and offered it through their print ads. Additionally, they sent out a news release summarizing the findings; and published a bylined article about the study along with a case study illustration in an HR trade publication.
The result? All 128 respondents to the survey requested copies of the survey findings. Therefore, these 128 executives received three “touches” from Charlton (the invitation, the survey, and the findings), and opted-in for future campaigns. The buzz surrounding the survey and its report generated an interview of a Charlton Consulting Group principal for a story about total compensation statements; coverage of the findings by all the major HR trades and some online news sources including Yahoo! Finance; and placement of a bylined article in Benefit & Compensation Solutions Magazine.
Labels: lead generation, surveys
Wake Them Up with the Paradoxical Approach
Feeling misunderstood? Do your clients or prospects have a popular misconception about what you deliver…or about what you should deliver? You can jar them out of their confusion—and relieve your frustration—with a snappy article or white paper that brings the misconception into focus. While your competition is doing what’s safe (and sometimes just plain boring), like playing up the company’s strengths, focusing on testimonials, or simply listing obvious benefits—you can be turning a misconception into thought leadership.
Dan McDade, founder and CEO of PointClear, was frustrated with his prospects. PointClear is a lead generation and sales development company. Prospects expected PointClear to deliver leads, leads, and more leads, at the lowest cost possible. But after 20 years in the lead generation business, McDade knows that it’s quality, not quantity, that makes a good lead gen program. Only the right kind of leads can be converted into customers. The misconception was costing PointClear valuable business opportunities.
So PointClear turned the problem on its head. Working with The Content Factor, the company created a position paper entitled: Why Your Sales Force Needs Fewer Leads. This paradoxical play on words was a bit risky for a firm whose business is lead generation, but denigrating the value of leads worked. Because McDade knew what he was talking about, the piece rang true and came off as good, sound advice—not just marketing. The position paper has been effective in building business for McDade and his 100-person firm. It’s been repurposed as a webinar and in contributed articles. In fact, one of PointClear’s prospects at Xerox said that Why Your Sales Force Needs Fewer Leads was the “best piece of marketing content he has ever seen.”
Why was this paper so effective? Because the title immediately grabs the attention of lead-hungry sales execs. And the content inside provides valuable insight and competitive advantage; sales organizations can outsmart their competition by pursuing fewer high-quality leads. Readers win, and PointClear scores big.
Dan McDade, founder and CEO of PointClear, was frustrated with his prospects. PointClear is a lead generation and sales development company. Prospects expected PointClear to deliver leads, leads, and more leads, at the lowest cost possible. But after 20 years in the lead generation business, McDade knows that it’s quality, not quantity, that makes a good lead gen program. Only the right kind of leads can be converted into customers. The misconception was costing PointClear valuable business opportunities.
So PointClear turned the problem on its head. Working with The Content Factor, the company created a position paper entitled: Why Your Sales Force Needs Fewer Leads. This paradoxical play on words was a bit risky for a firm whose business is lead generation, but denigrating the value of leads worked. Because McDade knew what he was talking about, the piece rang true and came off as good, sound advice—not just marketing. The position paper has been effective in building business for McDade and his 100-person firm. It’s been repurposed as a webinar and in contributed articles. In fact, one of PointClear’s prospects at Xerox said that Why Your Sales Force Needs Fewer Leads was the “best piece of marketing content he has ever seen.”
Why was this paper so effective? Because the title immediately grabs the attention of lead-hungry sales execs. And the content inside provides valuable insight and competitive advantage; sales organizations can outsmart their competition by pursuing fewer high-quality leads. Readers win, and PointClear scores big.
Labels: lead generation, white papers
