You’ve got to do both.
Which was the sum total of our latest “The New Rules” of Marketing and PR Webinar with thought-leadership strategist David Meerman Scott.
David was kind enough to join us again earlier this week and talk to over 100 HR suppliers about targeting buyers direct online via search-optimized releases, podcasts, blogs, and other forms of viral marketing.
Thanks again David!
During the Q&A at the end of the Webinar, one attendee referenced MarketingSherpa research about how white papers are hot marketing deliverables, and he then asked did David think white paper campaigns were good lead-generation activities.
David didn’t agree, and he had valid points; too many companies take their jargon-filled marketing brochure, put it on plain “white” paper, and then redistribute as a value-added content download, turning off potential buyers and losing credibility in the marketplace.
He added that you shouldn’t be requiring a registration form for your online content, and eBooks are a cooler, more effective way to go.
I respectively disagreed about not requiring registration, adding that based on the research we’ve done in the HR marketplace, as long as you’re offering quality, informative content that your buyers are hungry for and that will help their organizations be more effective – and you sell products and services beyond straight content – most will take the time to fill out an online form to receive your content offer.
And that’s where you start the lead-capture process to build your house marketing list – but you don’t want to immediately pass those “suspects” over to your sales team, not yet. David commented on that recently and we wholeheartedly agree.
Start by delivering quality content to your target market, execute online marketing campaigns to create that thought-leadership equity, capture those leads, capture more leads, build your house list, nurture your house list, continue to deliver valuable content to your suspects and prospects, woo them with Webinars and demonstrations, and at some point they will come to you and want to buy.
That’s the theory anyway.
(By the way, the archived Webinar will be available to HRmarketer.com members very soon!)
Posted by Kevin GrossmanLabels: lead generation, marketing, PR, thought leadership, viral marketing, Webinars
