Is Your B2B Marketing Content a Filter or a Vortex?

The amount of information available is staggering. So much noise is created on a daily basis through content publishing that it's a real challenge to find anything meaningful. We've all created our own personal filters to help us sort through the mess to find content we consider valuable and, most important, relevant to our interests.

Getting back to the title of this post, I'll bet most of you would choose to have your marketing content serve as a vortex, sweeping across the Web and attracting "leads" at unprecedented rates. 

Not so fast.

Marketers need to stop thinking about lead generation from a quantity perspective and start focusing on quality. Marketing content needs to be designed to help you do just that. Time is one of our most precious resources. We need to maximize our efficiency if we're to generate the sales-ready leads that our sales teams clamor to pursue.

If we get better at designing content to attract leads who are both a cultural and a buyer fit, then we save time sifting through the shale to find the gold. This is only possible if we truly know who our ideal buyers are and what they want/need to take next steps with us.

Everyone is not your buyer. So get over it right now and let those who aren't go.

I hear repeatedly that marketing has limited resources, but yet they still charge out into the marketplace trying to attract as many "leads" as they can. Then they end up passing unqualified leads to salespeople and wonder why sales isn't so interested when marketing tells them the lead they're sending over is a hot prospect.

You've likely heard a lot about creating buyer personas. A persona is definitely a key component in helping you to create successful content marketing programs. This said, with this information you should also be able to recognize who is not a potential customer for your company - regardless of whether or not they downloaded your white paper or attended your latest webinar. What we forget is that personas not only define who our customers are, but they also serve as a reminder of who is not our customer.

Now, before you start groaning at the injustice of it all, consider this:

If your content is written to truly engage a specific niche, persona or target segment (however you define this) it should naturally repel all those who aren't a fit as time goes on. That's because it won't be relevant to them as the story unfolds during nurturing.

By using content as a filter, marketers can focus on and prioritize their efforts to meet the needs of those who will buy at some future point.

If we don't eliminate those who won't ever become our customers we can find ourselves watching their behavior and modifying our programs to address what they're telling us they need. It would be a shame to make those changes all because we jammed our databases with people who will never become our customers and then allowed them to sway our programs because their behavior indicated we should do so.

All I'm saying is to be careful of the feedback you follow. Using your content as a prospect filter can be a good thing. Instead of worrying about the volume number for lead generation, start focusing on showing pipeline transitions, sales accepted leads and closed deals. That's what leads to marketing accountability.

Comments

[Tony]

Great post and spot on!

[Larry_kunz]

Thanks, Ardath. I wholeheartedly agree that I want my content to be a filter (which is a rather comfortable metaphor) and not a vortex (rather frightening).

But is there a chance that I might turn away potential customers without realizing it? As the marketplace changes, there might be an emerging audience for my services that I haven't yet identified.

I guess it points up the importance of keeping my market analysis, including buyer personas, up to date at all times. Still, I worry about my filter being too restrictive.

[Ardath Albee]

Hi Larry,

Thanks for your comment. I always love it when you drop by to chat.

I'm going to ask you to think about this for a moment. Ask yourself if you've dominated the market you're pursuing right now?

If yes, then you need to go find an emerging market. If no, then you need to focus your content on filtering to pull in that sweet-spot market you've positioned your company to help.

Identifying a new market is terrific, but that new market won't be served by the content you develop for your sweet-spot market. Different people with different perspectives, right?

Each market you pursue should have content designed just for them.

Worrying about your filter being too restrictive is a common refrain. We're so afraid to put that stake in the ground that we try to make sure we can be all things to all people, which we cannot.

Here's the real secret. By focusing in tightly on your sweet-spot market, you actually become more valuable to others. They see, recognize and value the expertise you display. They may even reach out and say - "Hey, I love what you're doing for these people, how about doing it for me?"

Something to think about.
Ardath

[Larry_kunz]

Am I dominating my market? Umm....No. Not even close. ;-)

Those are great points, Ardath, and I certainly will think about them. Thanks again!

[Paul McKeon]

Larry and Ardath,

Larry's question is one I hear frequently. B2B marketers are fearful of turning anybody away who might be a potential client.

But here's what I have discovered: buyers are in control of the buying cycle anyway. They do their own research, and are *self-selecting* to become your client. We call this stage the Tentative Stage of the buying cycle (White Paper: http://bit.ly/aAfrc7). Buyers are looking for content that is written for them. The key to remember is that *they* are selecting your company based on that content. If it is too general, they won't see the value of your offering.

I've enjoyed Ardath's posts about buyer personas, because they explain the importance in understanding your buyer in the process of developing great content. It's essential to be specific, so that buyer recognizes him/herself in the content, uses it, and becomes a lead.

[James]

I like this kind of posts. It makes you think. I guess its kinda like in SEO. Optimization (filtering) is the key.