You may have noticed in the past few weeks that we removed all the gates from our gated content. Gasp! The horror of not tracking that lead. But you know what? They weren’t really a lead anyway and why should we waste our time chasing after someone who didn’t want to be chased? It’s like that movie, ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’. If that prospect is really interested in you, they will find a way to connect with you.
As PathFactory aptly put it, “Perhaps it’s time to move from a “gate everything of value” mindset to a “let them consume content!” one? Whether you’re a Vendor helping your Partners drive demand or a Channel Partner looking to Vendors for support, I think we can all agree, or be convinced to agree, that the last decade of tracking clicks, downloads, and hand raises hasn’t benefited us as much as good ole’ fashioned relationship building. Giving away free content not only proves your expertise, but it also shows your prospects the kind of company you are, which makes them more likely to want to work with you.
Where Do the Leads Go??
We need to be less concerned about measuring the marketing team on leads and tying more of their metrics to shares and revenue. We all know about 15-30% of visits are throw-aways. Someone came to your site by mistake, your competitors are stalking you, your mom wants to brag to her friends about how great your company is, and the list goes on. If you’re currently pissing off a chunk of potential prospects, to the point where they leave your form altogether, but after removing the gates your clicks go up, then we can generally say you’ve won those folks back. And maybe now people are actually sharing your pages, so even more prospects are seeing your amazing content?!
David Meerman Scott, best selling author and speaker talks about building Fanocracy by turning fans into customers and customers into fans. If that’s the case, your primary goal should be to have your audience so psyched about what you are doing that they can’t help but reach out, and can’t help but tell everyone. I know sometimes we feel in B2B that it’s harder to elicit an emotional response from a customer or prospect, but we witness it everyday. Our clients can’t help but talk about how amazing our team is, how our work product is better than they expected and how easy we make their life, as they try to do more with less.
Today people are looking for real meaning out of everything they do. Wouldn’t it be amazing if building that relationship were the goal? Not collecting emails from people who never want to hear from you; but instead endearing yourself to folks who are going to become your fans?!
We’d love to hear from you on this one. What or who are you a fan of? How can you help your audience and build better relationships through your demand generation?