Unravel the Babble

Do you keep your valuable content behind gates, or make it free for all to see? The debate continues about whether registration should be required in exchange for content such as ebooks, whitepapers or research reports. Some say that gated downloads produce valuable sales leads. Others argue in favour of making content freely available in order to raise your profile through the viral spread that follows. Take a look at a recent post by David Meerman Scott, who advocates saying no to squeezing your buyers.

Amanda O’Donovan is a Toronto-based freelance copywriter who creates valuable content for a wide range of B2B clients. You can contact her freely at 416.456.3859 or amanda@amandaodonovan.com

My last blog post was August 10, which may be a hint that I’m an expert on the subject of procrastination! I promised myself that I’d write this entry before I travelled to Europe for ten days earlier this month. When I returned, I was too busy with paid work to give it a second thought…but, again, I promised myself that I’d get blogging by Friday. When I failed to achieve that, I was convinced I would come up with a fantastic topic before the weekend was over.

Needless to say, when Monday morning dawned, I awoke blogless. “No worries,” I said to myself, “My latest project is out for client review, and I don’t have anything else booked in today.” By mid afternoon, (oops! make that late afternoon) I’d still managed to do everything but blog. What’s my problem? If I’d been working on a client deadline, I would have researched, written, reviewed and delivered the job ahead of schedule. Why is it that when it comes to dealing with what’s closest to us, we find every excuse to divert and delay?

Most of the time, it’s because we think we’re too busy to blog regularly, refresh an outdated website, create a whitepaper, interview for a case study or create a needs assessment. We believe that there are other needs that should take priority. The day-to-day imperatives involved in running a business and responding quickly and effectively to client needs outweigh the necessity to create new materials.

However, in a marketing environment that is increasingly driven by content, procrastination is a risky habit. Because other people are going to get there faster…and, if their collateral or their websites are more attractive, engaging and informative to a prospect, you will have missed the opportunity to make that vital connection. You will have failed to establish (and nurture) a relationship that progressively educates people about the value of what you do, and eventually leads to a sale. 

When you finally get round to writing the content you so badly need, it will already be out of date.

So, with recession officially behind us, let’s all make a credible, achievable to-do list, and rank effective, regularly refreshed communication as a priority. Without it, however much you have to offer your clients, however brilliant your technology, however outstanding your customer service, only your closest friends will know!

Amanda O’Donovan helps her clients create current, relevant content. For timely intervention, contact her at 416.456.3859 or amanda@amandaodonovan.com.

In the current climate, we’re all stretching budgets and making every last cent sing for its supper. It’s a cautious environment that results in a lot of ‘window shopping’ prior to purchase. Decision makers are clinging to the purse strings, carefully weighing their options before making a move to buy your products and services. They’re hungry for information that will help them make the right choices, and you must feed the need by providing them with valuable, relevant, educational content. High on the list of effective B2B lead generators are Newsletters, White Papers and Case Studies. These post-click marketing tools are part of a collection of bright, shiny FREE, informative objects you can dangle in front of online prospects (they’ll also work pretty hard for you offline). And, when the economy finally drags itself out of bed, you’ll have a jump start on all those companies who believed that decimating their marketing budgets would increase their profits.

In various blog postings, White Paper guru, Michael Stelzner, emphasizes the importance of focusing marketing efforts on creating valuable content. He points to a recent study by Junta42 that found, “Even in tough economic times, money is still flowing into content marketing initiatives…More than half (56%) of marketing and publishing decision makers plan to increase their content marketing spending for 2009.” The marketers surveyed said that they would invest in the following content this year:

·         Social Media (other than blogs) — 68%

·         enewletters/email — 60%

·         Blogs — 56%

·         Case Studies — 55%

·         Online Video — 51%

·         White Papers — 46%

·         Microsites — 43%

Did I hear someone at the back mutter that content creation is time-consuming? I’d have to agree with you. I do this for a living, and if you’re going to do a good job, you have to be prepared to put in the time it takes to research, interview, write and review…or set aside budget to outsource the writing. However, the return on investment can be substantial, when your creative, educational content leads to an informed buying decision and gives you a decided advantage over your competitors.

Amanda O’Donovan is a Toronto-based freelance writer who creates White Papers, Case Studies and Newsletters to provide her clients with valuable content and a competitive advantage.