Marketing Interactions

Plan B2B Content for the Takeaway

There's an evolving list of all the things you need to consider when developing B2B marketing content. One of the components often discussed is the call to action. And, yes, you still have to do that. What's important to understand is that the call to action is not the takeaway.

A call to action is what you want your prospects and customers to do next.

A takeaway is the specific impression or memory the audience walks away with after reading your content.

A good takeaway is:

• Conceptual - produces an idea your content helped generate.
• Conversational - inspires sharing of that idea in the their own words
• Recommendable - promotes people to pass the content along to others
• Transferable - applicable to their own specific situations
• Visual - something they can "see" happening—not pie-in-the-sky thinking

Quite often I read content that's technically correct. It may even offer some valid insights. But, yet it doesn't inspire me to think of anything on my own. In B2B, that's often because the content is written without consideration for the prospect's perspective.

Content like that usually spends more time telling me what I'm supposed to think than providing ideas that help me think.

The easiest way to grasp the difference is to remember what happened when your parents told you that you had to do something. How many of you did the opposite, just, well, because?

Your prospects and customers want to be in control of their buying process. They want takeaways they can ingest that build their knowledge, increase their confidence and help them make the best decisions. In order to take action, they need to take ownership of the choice.

And that's often due to their ability to lower or eliminate their concept of the level of risk related to the choice. You can tell them all you want that your company is an expert. You can tell them not to worry because you're the best. You can tell them that research shows X, so they should do Y, but unless the content presents that finding as a takeaway, it's only just a statement.

I see articles and research reports all the time that display statistics like, "96% of an average organization’s Marketing Qualified Leads fail to make it closure."

My takeaways could be:

• We're much better. Only 75% of our MQLs are lost. (proof we're better than average)
• Sales isn't doing their job. (pass the buck - not my problem)
• Marketing needs a better definition of an MQL. (What should I do?)

B2B marketers need to plan for the takeaway. In the article used above, their takeaway is a big one. The idea that companies need marketing automation. (I agree, btw) But, there are also a number of smaller ones such as sales needs to participate in nurturing programs and applying resources across the entire opportunity lifecycle.

[This article could actually provide fodder for 3 or 4 nurturing articles with planned takeaways that build the case for marketing automation in step with prospects' thought processes.]

This is a good, informative article, and I love Sirius Decisions research. My point is that for prospect nurturing content, you will do better if you focus on emphasizing one takeaway. Seed one idea that the prospect can build on.

Then present the next nurturing takeaway to build from that foundation. This doesn't mean you can't mention anything else, but it does help you to develop content with a specific intent. By helping your prospects and customers create ideas they can make their own, they'll return to your content to help grow their ideas into business cases.

The beauty of the takeaway approach is that as you enable the prospect to build these ideas they relate their confidence and knowledge to your company. It becomes a natural conclusion for them to consider your company credible, trustworthy and a great choice as a partner to help them when the time comes to buy.

Narrow is the New Wide for B2B Marketing Content

Sometimes marketing communications make people feel like they're getting deluged by a fire hose. Marketers cram all these big ideas into one white paper or article trying to cover as much as possible in their effort to gain the attention of prospects.

It's the equivalent of saying,

"Hey, we're not really sure what you need, but in case this one BIG point doesn't get you, how about all these other ideas?"

Stop it.

Your prospects can't take it. When you leverage a fire hose mentality you overwhelm them.

Lead nurturing during a complex buying process is about reeling out small, potent, viable and strategic ideas in a way that helps your prospects embrace them. Once they've attached to one great idea, they'll more easily (and eagerly) dig into the next meaty topic you cover.

And here's the great part. Nurturing with one idea at a time allows you to measure more precisely for interest levels. If you cram a bunch of ideas into one piece of content, how the heck do you expect to know just what it was that caught your prospect's attention?

Which type of content allows you to learn more through prospect behavior?

A. A white paper that sets up a problem you know your prospects are grappling with and then talks about every feature of the solution that can be thrown at solving the problem.

B. A series of articles about the problem with each one focused on helping the prospect by answering a question they may have about solving it.

If you use the white paper example, all you know is that they may have the problem. If you use the article series, you've got the possibility of learning which questions and concerns may be more important. You've also got the chance to see how interested they are in solving it. In other words, how high a priority that problem is for them. If they read the whole series, that tells you something different than if they read 3 out of 5 articles in the series. 

Even if it's 3 articles, you now know which three questions the prospect was interested in and can tailor nurturing touches that dive deeper into those subjects to see if you can gain a higher level of engagement.

Take a look at the prospects who read those three articles. Are they in similar roles, industries or company sizes? Are they influencers or decision makers? You may be able to spot trends that help you get very targeted in how you interact with specific segments. Basing segmentation on expressed interest can give your marketing more traction.

B2B marketers need to take a more customer-focused approach. This is really hard to do if you can't pinpoint a specific issue or interest that your prospect will actively engage in dialogue about.

Just because you think an issue is important, doesn't mean they do. By breaking your content down into smaller ideas, you can explore them in greater depth. Instead of glossing over ideas because you need to cram them all into one content asset, you can take your time and be thoughtful about the expertise and insights you share. You can also learn if a question you think is important, isn't even on their radar.

Go look at your web analytics and see how long people spend on specific web pages. Let's say it's 1.56 minutes. Can they actually read the content on that page in that length of time? Attention spans are shorter. People want to get the information they need and get out. They're busy.

Providing a valuable exchange for their attention is the end goal. When you do that, your prospects respond with interest. Plus, shorter and targeted is likely easier for them to digest. That's because you can take a complex issue and break it into simple parts. As you expand the conversation with additional pieces, the parts weave together to make solving that complex issue an option that's appealing because you've become someone they've relied on over time.

A complex sale doesn't happen with one white paper download. Or even with just a series of articles. But, the more often you have interactions with your prospects that they see as helpful, the higher your credibility and value as a trusted resource.

Payoff for B2B Content Marketing is Movement

For some reason, B2B marketers tend to jump the gun when reacting to prospect behavior. Just because someone accesses your content doesn't mean they're sales ready. In fact, if you treat prospects that way—without a darned good reason—you've missed the point.

Here's an example to consider:

A company with a complex sale sees an average buying cycle time of 6 to 8 months.

Their nurturing strategy includes 7 touches orchestrated over the period of 30 days.

These touches include a combination of phone calls and emails.

All of you have probably experienced these kinds of campaigns. I know I have. But, here's the rub; pestering a prospect to move faster makes them dig in their heels and stay stuck, or even reverse their intention to change. [Think delete, unsubscribe and voicemail jail.]

Why? You've just scared the bejezus out of them. It's the equivalent of walking into a car dealership and getting the hard sell. Nobody likes to be pushed. Especially when we're "just looking."

The goal of marketing content should be to produce incremental movement.

Movement doesn't mean leaping from I downloaded your white paper to I'm ready to buy. Believe me, if they were, they'd contact you on their own.

Consider the idea of movement in small steps across their buying process:

From: Who are these guys? I'll take a chance and click this link to see. 

To: Hmm. That was an interesting article.

From: Oh, another article on this topic.  

To: They have good information. I'll forward it to Joe and see what he thinks.

From: Oh, good. A webinar showcasing a customer like me.    

To: I'll go register and see how these guys solved the problem.

From: Ah, they simplified the complexity. This might work for us.

To: Now, I have a question.

From: Good answer. Thanks for the follow-up links, too!

To: I can tell my boss about this.

It reads faster, but all of that happened over the course of about two and a half months. It was comfortable for the prospect and gave them time to choose to participate at their own pace. Granted, it's a simplified view, but what's important is that each content resource worked to produce movement.

Not huge leaps in movement, but incremental steps that build a relationship over time. The benefits of building relationships over the long haul are numerous. When each marketing touch point demonstrates consistency, care and a valuable exchange, your prospect's confidence in you—and themselves—increases. They begin to trust the interactions they have with your content and communications.

They don't feel threatened that you're going to pounce on them with a sales pitch as soon as they raise their hand for dialogue.

They can begin to visualize getting the results you're talking about by solving their problem in the way you recommend. You're becoming a valuable resource they can rely upon.

This is why it's important to map content to buying stages. You've got to plan touch points across the entire buying cycle. If you cram everything into a fraction of that time, you stand to lose all the prospects who have a longer horizon. Not to mention driving potential customers away when you're too aggressive and annoying.

Your buyers are busy. All their day-to-day responsibilities don't just vaporize when they have a new problem or priority to solve. There's a lot of complexity to work out. There are a lot more people involved in the process. Every dime they spend has to produce results, and there's that risk element that slows down everything else.

Marketing effectiveness will improve when your content and communications are focused on helping buyers solve problems at their own pace. Nudges are acceptable. Trying to push people to buy because you have sales goals to meet is not.

So plan the goals for your marketing content around producing incremental forward movement. Then monitor for patterns of acceleration and create more content paths like that to pull buyers forward—because they choose to take that next step with your company. Not because you decided they should.

B2B Content Marketing Tips

ClickInsights, the Connect the Docs blog, is providing a series of interviews that include one meaty tip from a variety of experts to help marketers meet the challenge of creating better engagement with their prospects.

In this week's interview, they asked 5 B2B marketing experts,

"If you could give our readers one tip on how B2B marketers should do content marketing, what would that be?" 

The slide deck below is a preview of what you'll find in the interview blog post.

ClickInsights: Tips on how B2B marketers should do Content Marketing

View more presentations from Ambal Balakrishnan.

Tip Topics include:

• Map Content to Buying Stages
• For every claim you make in your content, ask yourself “So What?”
• Differentiate Your Content
• Educate, Entertain and Engage with Readers
• Know Your Customer

Each expert also shares some recommendations of resources and books you may find helpful. Go read the interview.

Other related posts include:

The Content Marketers - List of Lists Part 1 and Part 2

Does your B2B website cut sales costs?

According to a recent survey done by Forrester Research with Marketing Profs, "94% of respondents consider corporate Web sites a key element in the marketing toolbox and 84% of buyers say Web sites matter in purchase decision making."

That said, Laura Ramos also points out that most B2B corporate websites "lack the basic building blocks to build customer relationships."

It's time for B2B companies to regard their corporate websites with a more flexible mindset. This is no time for turf battles, ego or company posturing. If your corporate website isn't playing a key role in generating qualified prospects and enhancing customer relationships, it's not doing its job.

You know that buyers are waiting longer to involve sales in their buying process. Longer sales cycles mean escalating sales costs. By enabling your website to deliver better information in formats your buyers find valuable, marketers can transform their website visitors from tire kickers into interested, active prospects.

Here's a little test for you to evaluate your corporate website for engagement:

1. Choose a problem your customers solve using your products.
2. Go to your website as if an unfamiliar website and see how many clicks it takes you to get to relevant information. (you don't know your product names, either)
3. What information exists to help your buyers in different stages of their buying process?
4. Is there a natural flow to how they access this information or does every piece of it have to be found separately? You know - white papers in the white paper section, case studies in the case study section, etc.
5. Now look at navigational paths in your website analytics and see how your website visitors are moving through your website.
   
   Can you tell when they find something of value?
   Where are you losing them?

Corporate websites are often arranged based on separate categories. Almost all of them have solutions, industries, products, company on their navigation. Is that how your buyers want their information?

Start thinking about the words you use and how you present that information.

• Can you orient it around problems and priorities on your buyers' minds?
• Can you combine content to tell a threaded story instead of asking your website visitors to spend their time searching unfamiliar territory?
• What types of interactions could you add to help?
  
  For example, Genius customers are getting great results by chatting with prospective customers in real time about the subject matter displayed on the page the prospect is on.
  
  Do you have newsletter subscriptions available for specific interests?
  
  Can they sign up for webinars on the subject?
  
  How about videos and podcasts with a way to share them with others on the buying committee?

The more information you can provide to buyers across the stages of their buying process, the higher impact you'll see in lowering sales costs. Salespeople will be focused on the most interested opportunities, the ones who raise their hands. Self-identification will happen when your website serves buyers well because they'll have learned what they need to know to build their confidence that your company is the right partner to choose.

B2B websites can be very powerful sales tools if companies start designing them as an integral part of a customer-focused buying process and not as a digital version of their corporate brochure.

How to Find New Customers - Combo Pack

If only 25% of inquiries are sales ready when they come through the door, what do you do with the other 75%?

You nurture them, of course. According to Jon Miller at Marketo:

If you don't nurture, you'll probably lose up to 90% of those inquiries who aren't ready to buy. But, if you manage them correctly, you'll convert up to 50% of them into opportunities.

Now that's a healthy incentive for better lead management!

There's a new white paper out from Jeff Ogden that talks about demand generation and lead nurturing. How to Find New Customers, helps you learn more about how to:

• Find new customers by driving demand for your products and services.
• Align your educational content to the way your customers actually buy.
• Turn your website into an educational hub.
• Leverage marketing automation to become a trusted advisor.
• Fill the sales pipeline by nuturing decision makers until they are ready.

But that's not all.

Jeff has also released a 25 minute companion podcast with Jon Miller to share the skinny on what works and what doesn't in lead nurturing. Considering that Marketo now serves over 200 customers since they launched their product about a year ago, he knows quite a bit about this subject.

In the podcast, Jon talks about -

• the disastrous outcome of tossing inquiries (not qualified leads) to sales,
• 5 keys to lead nurturing,
• the stages of the nurturing process,
• how the Internet has changed relationships between buyers and sellers,
• and much more.

Jeff is also interviewing a number of experts about related topics to help you see the big picture. So far, the schedule for May includes:

May 1 - Kent Huffman from BearCom with a demand generation case study

May 13 - Jill Konrath on How to Get Into Big Companies

May 28 - Alen Majer on Triggering Events

Jeff is generating some great FREE resources to help B2B marketers learn more about best practices for demand generation and lead management. Make sure to check them out.

Download the Ebook

See the Podcast Line-up and download Jeff's interview with Jon Miller.

Strategy Beyond the Send

Strategy for B2B lead nurturing is often treated as more of an after thought—if it's thought of at all. I'm not sure exactly why, as the whole point of lead nurturing is to extend the initial attention you've caught across the buying process until the prospect is in a sales-ready state.

People talk about the components of nurturing, email campaigns, messaging, content, even touch frequency and reaching deeper across potential customer companies, and more. But when I ask them what their overall plan for prospect progression is, they seem stymied.

Like it'll just happen if they keep sending some message or newsletter every month without regard for where prospects are in their buying process, what they know or what they have yet to learn.

That's leaving a lot to chance. One-off sends aren't really the essence of building a relationship. That type of program is just putting information in front of someone multiple times and hoping you hit them when they're focused on whatever message you send that day.

For example:

Send 1: A newsletter with new product launch info, a customer spotlight using the beta version and an invitation to download a 3rd party expertise white paper.

Send 2: Email with link to a thought leadership article about the benefits of using one of your legacy products.

Send 3: Invitation to a webinar about how bundling your products together provides increasing scales of efficiency.

Do you see any storyline building? [other than focused on what the company wants to promote] Well, according to research, much of marketing communication is based on the company's product strategy, not prospect needs. Most websites are updated only when new products are launched, or when company positioning changes - excepting press and event areas.

That said, marketers seem to have enough success with this "chance" approach that the outcomes they're getting seem good enough.

But, are they? Really?

I think we can do better. I think that for sales to actually trust marketing that the prospects they hand over to sales need to be sales-ready. And marketing must have established higher levels of credibility for their companies than ever before during the pre-sales process.

Let's face it, content marketing is a big deal. Sourcing information online is how buyers in complex sales decide how to choose through learning about the options and ideas available to solve their problems. Based on the quality of those interactions, they decide who to partner with to get the outcomes they want. As more and more companies embrace the power of content marketing and create better, more customer-focused content, it's going to become more challenging to stand out.

By integrating the components of customer focus, content development, and technology with a strategic approach, you'll find it easier to differentiate your company based on your strengths and expertise.

Instead of talking, thinking and planning around the components of interactive marketing, you need to think about the whole of it—the strategy beyond the send. You need to think progressively, like your prospects do when they set out to solve a problem. One step leads to another...and another...

Here's an exercise to help you start planning a progressive nurturing approach:

1. Think about one problem your products solve that's key to your prospects.
2. Define that problem from your customer's perspective.
3. List the questions they'll have and what they need to know in order to make a decision. (If you can address this to segments, all the better.)
4. Review your options for content that addresses these concerns.
5. Rate the Q&A for priority (take a stab and refine as you go)
6. Create an editorial calendar based on the priority list you just created.

Do not aim for perfection. It won't happen, so give it up now.

Just get started. Monitor prospect response and behavior and make adjustments. You'll likely find gaps over time where you missed a thought leap. Create content to fill them and keep going.

Create an overview for your salespeople so they know the story you're telling. What questions and answers did you brainstorm that fall into the sales activity realm? Create content for your salespeople to use that keeps your storyline going. In fact, involve sales in the brainstorming and your chances of more closely matching the storyline to your prospect's experience of solving the problem will get better.

The key point is that marketing has to think beyond one send at a time to nurture effectively. Marketing is not an exercise in utilizing components, it's a pro-active effort to coordinate the effectiveness of their use across the prospect's experience of solving a problem.

SMBs get C- grade for marketing and innovation

That's the skinny from The State of Small Business Report from Network Solutions and the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

I bet you didn't know that there are over 27 million small businesses (less than 100 employees) in the USA. I bet you also didn't realize that these businesses account for 98% of all businesses with payrolls, 27% of business receipts and 36% of jobs.

SMBs have the potential to heavily impact how business gets done. But, that potential is limited when you consider that only about 50% of them have websites. I had to back up when I read that. It just seems so, well, yesterday.

What many SMBs have realized—and taken advantage of—is the fact that the Internet can be the BIG equalizer. With a good online strategy, your company can compete with the big guys. In fact, SMBs have the capability to be more nimble, caring and personable than larger companies with a lot of red tape.

Want proof? The top grade in the index for SMBs was an A- for Customer Service. With Internet technology becoming more affordable and accessible every day, there's just no reason for small companies not to grab onto these tools to increase their market competitiveness.

Here are the ratings for the Marketing and Innovation Sub-Index:

[Top Score is 100 - Overall SMB score is 71]

• Getting your customers to refer new customers: 78
• Coming up with new ideas before competitors: 71
• Coming up with new ideas that increase revenues: 71
• Identifying new prospective customers: 71
• Positioning your company like the big guys: 71
• Converting marketing leads to buyers: 68
• Finding efficient ways to advertise and promote your biz: 67

Referrals are a small company's best source of new business - probably predicated on their ability to serve their customers extremely well.

Efficiency and effectiveness in marketing efforts and customer acquisition are the weakest links.

The report further gauged competitiveness based on the number of Internet technologies used and found that SMBs using more applications reaped better results. Supporting this finding is an eMarketer article, Small Businesses Seek Solutions Online, which shows that SMBs are shifting their strategies to online acitvities for greater impact with less budget risk.

And this article from B2B Magazine that discusses SMBs rushing to embrace marketing automation technology.

Although SMBs have largely been underserved by marketing technology companies, that's changing, including price points that small businesses can afford.

Some examples are:

Constant Contact for email marketing.

SquareSpace for websites.

ZoomInfo for database research and prospecting.

HubSpot for inbound marketing.

Genius for automating both marketing and sales processes.

Typepad or Word Press for blogging.

LinkedIn for professional networking.

Twitter for micro-conversations and netoworking.

This is only a short list to give you an idea of where to start looking to embrace Internet-based technologies that can help you get that marketing and innovation grade on an upward trend.

Don't overwhelm yourself. Start with one thing at a time and add more as you can. If you don't have a website, start there. After all, SMBs did pretty well with idea generation in the index results. Start sharing some of them with your prospects and customers.

Oh, in case you haven't noticed while you're out there providing all that great customer service, ideas are huge. Helping customers solve problems is where it's at. Get moving, there's lots to do!

Stimulate Prospect Interactions

The purpose of interactive marketing is to stimulate interactions and engagement with prospects and customers that builds or extends an active relationship. But many marketing campaigns employ one-way destinations.

For example: A link from an email to an article that leaves the prospect with no where else to go to learn more. This seems counter-intuitive to me given the interactive nature of today's digital environment — not to mention the goal.

Content strategy is a necessary element for nurturing campaigns. Most marketer's plan for the email message and the content offer, design a landing page and ship out the communication. But, what happens if [gasp] a recipient of that communication takes action? What happens if your content gets spread around online?

Are you ready?

The above list is representational of some of the activities marketing communications can should motivate. The shortfall I see is that many communications only focus on getting the click through. Like that's the whole enchilada.

But, consider that I have clients who actually get replies to their marketing emails. Often it's a thank you for a great article, but sometimes their replies request further information that generates new content development to fill gaps or even inquiries about a demo. Some responses indicate they're forwarding the email to the person who really needs to see it. All of these activities feed into generating Industrial Strength Intelligence.

If you're using an email address to send out communications that you don't monitor other than to clean up bounces, do you know how many interaction opportunities you could be missing?

Go take a look at your landing page. In what ways are you motivating your prospects to extend their engagement with you?

• Can they opt in for a content series on a related topic indicating a higher level of interest in solving a particular problem? Even if they're already on your house list, consider the options you can provide that help you tune your segmentation to achieve higher levels of relevance.


• Do you enable them to Forward the article to a colleague? This could be an influencer involved with the buying committee, or even a peer they know could benefit from your information.


• Are there other options to invite prospects to follow your storyline? Or is your content a one-off offer that doesn't relate to anything else? And I'm not talking about a product page.


• Can they leave a comment about your article or provide some kind of feedback? If they could, what will you do in response?

Based on what actions they take, do you have a plan to stimulate further interactions specific to what they've done? Or do you just let them sit on your house list until the next scheduled send?

What will you do if someone Tweets a link to your article or white paper? Will you even know? How will you respond? Do you have something of value to say beyond "Thanks!" ?

What about if someone writes a blog post about it? What kind of comment will you post? How will you invite that blog's readers to engage with more valuable information? Do you have any?

Over 1 in 5 people posts content online these days. You know that, right?

Think about how you can plan to be more responsive to what people choose to do with your content. When you're thinking about it, make sure you design your content with participation in mind. Think about what types of conversations your content can initiate and forward.Think about flow.

Of course, it goes without saying, [or maybe it needs to be said yet again] the degree to which your content will stimulate interactions is directly dependent upon how well you know your customers and prospects—And, how well you can translate that knowledge into engaging content your audience wants to interact with.

Top 10 Dating Turn Ons for Your Prospects

Nurturing prospects is akin to dating. In a complex sale, it takes more than the first date to build the relationship. But, if you don’t use the appropriate marketing etiquette, you’ll never entice them to continue “dating” long enough to choose to buy from your company.

@openzine posted a link to Katrina’s Choice Zine on Twitter and I was curious enough to click through to see what the Top 10 Dating Turn Ons are these days. Turns out not a lot has changed. Consideration and etiquette still prevail.

As I was browsing through the list, I saw distinct correlations to what marketers should remember about dating their prospects if they want to “turn on” higher levels of engagement throughout a complex buying process. So here they are with a marketing twist, plus.

Top 10 – drum roll, please!

1. Light, Sexy perfume and cologne. Does your company reek of self-serving, company-focused promotions? Instead of leaving a heavy, cloying scent in the air, flip your focus to your prospect’s interests and help them smell the value you deliver.


2. Sense of Humor. Appreciate the ways your customers and prospects take control of your message and participate in the spirit of the conversations you enter. Even a negative can be handled graciously. See Marketers Cannot Control the Message for more on this one.


3. Listening skills. Companies need to focus on “hearing” their prospects and responding in ways that show they’ve not only listened to what’s said, but that the company has understood by responding accordingly. For example; if your prospect takes action to express a preference for a specific topic, don’t keep pointing them to information they don’t care about. I've got a marketing vision post about listening.


4. Attractive Apparel. Treat your prospects to websites, microsites, landing pages and emails that are light on the hyperbole and jargon. Use graphics, color and fonts wisely to create a feeling of less effort for the prospect to understand how to engage with you, and why they should. Focus on making a great impression with every interaction. See How human is your b2b company online.


5. Smile. Do your content and communications have spirit? Do they show the passion and enjoyment your company has for whatever you help your customers achieve? I think I summed this up in my Customers Are Looking for Yes! post.


6. Proper Voice Volume. How often are you communicating with your prospects? Too much and you’re shouting at them to get attention, too little and it’s like you don’t care. See my article Screaming Louder Won't Help in the Keeping Your Sales Up in a Down Economy eBook - Free download.


7. Complimenting. Employ customer success stories to compliment your customers and show prospects how worthwhile it is to work with your company. Testimonials are complimentary to you and to your customers because they show you care about your relationships. They also build confidence and comfort levels that keep your prospects in the dating mindset.


8. Flirting. Tread lightly with your messaging and don’t come on too strong. “Flirt” lightly with them to see if they want to interact with you. If you’ve got something they’re interested in, they’ll respond. Plus, there’s no sense running after people who will never qualify as a good "date."


9. Intellect. Keep abreast of market trends and share innovative ideas. If you want to become the date your prospects clamor for, you need to share your expertise to start high-value conversations.


10. Cover the Bill. Always make sure you’re paying for your prospect’s attention in a way they acknowledge as valuable. If you promise something, you’ve set expectations. If your delivery isn’t consistent, they will find that paying you with their attention isn’t worth the effort.

Nothing really new here. Just thought it was a fun way of humanizing what marketing is really all about. And that’s providing stand-out value to your prospects and customers.