4 Lies “Marketing Experts” Like to Tell B2B Content Marketers
When I talk to lay people in my social circles about marketing, their defenses immediately go up.
Most don’t know what it is. Others think it means lying about your product or service so someone buys it. And still others think it means yelling as loud as you can to get attention.
To me marketing means “effectively communicating the value you have for your market so you can help them solve their problem.”
Why You Should Be Skeptical of Anyone Positioning Themselves as an “Expert”
If anyone you know claims “expert” status run away. Run even faster if it’s a marketing consultant.
That’s because simply calling yourself an “expert” shows a lack of understanding of marketing itself. Because no one in business really wants an “expert.”
Some might say they need an “expert.” But they really want a solution to their problem.
I don’t consider myself an “expert.” In fact, I hate the word with a passion. First, the term indicates to me that I’ve “arrived” and achieved some sort of amazing status.
The truth is my learning’s never done. I learn something new every day. And love it every time I do. It’s one of the big reasons I crave self-employment.
Second, anyone who can spell “expert” automatically becomes one.
Third, you only achieve “expert” status when others clearly look to you as one.
For now, I’m a straight shooter. Someone who only tells the truth as they see it.
Because that’s hard to find in the business world. And you can only make progress as a business when you know the unabashed truth.
Plus, the other big motivator for me is seeing the client get results. Hard to get results when you work from inaccurate information, isn’t it?
I won’t call any specific person out as a “marketing liar.” That’s because I only associate with 100% honest professionals. Truthfully, I don’t personally know any dishonest marketing pros.
But they certainly abound.
And they might tell you some of these things:
Lie #1: “You need “viral” content to get lots of leads.”
Why it’s a lie: First, “viral” is subjective. It implies lots of shares and
exposure.
But how much is “viral” really?
1,000? 100,000? 1,000,000?
Second, and more importantly, it focuses you on eye-popping numbers that don’t help your cause much. As a marketer, you know 1,000 new Twitter followers is nice.
But you really want 10 highly qualified leads, don’t you?
Your boss doesn’t analyze your performance and say,”Wow. 1,000 Twitter followers! Tell me what you want for a raise. In fact, you can have my job.”
Nope, they hold you accountable for the MQLs you deliver to your sales team.
The shameless truth: Big numbers sell well to marketers. But don’t fall for them.
Don’t worry about “viral” content. You want to get the right content to the right audience at the right time.
Whenever you hear “viral,” consider it a meaningless buzz word. Kind of like an interviewee telling you how “dynamic” they are.
Lie #2: “You need lots of content.”
Why it’s a lie: Content doesn’t work based on quantity. Giving B2B buyers a lot of crap on a consistent basis is…well…still a lot of crap.
If it looks like crap and smells like crap, then it’s crap. A larger amount of it does not impress. The 2015 Enterprise B2B Content Marketing Report by Content Marketing Institute, MarketingProfs, and Marketo asserts this.
The shameless truth: Prospects want to feel like you have their best interests in mind. They don’t want to feel as though you’re selling to them (even though you really are).
Give them information they know, and they tune out. Tell them things they don’t care about, and they forget about you. Try to sell them before they’re ready, and they ignore you even faster.
The amount of content doesn’t matter. But what you give your prospects does.
So, arm them with information to make a more informed decision. If you sell recruiting software, tell your prospects some of the most common features to look for.
Lie #3: “Content marketing gets you leads fast.”
Why it’s a lie: Content rarely sells right now. The Greatest Misconception in Content Marketing from Moz supports this.
The shameless truth: Most businesses think content works like this:
A B2B buyer reads your blog post. They think,”Wow! That’s super helpful information. Where do I go to buy from this company right now?”
Really, B2B buyers:
Read your blog. They say,”Amazingly helpful. I’ll keep this for the future.” Then they bookmark your website. Or they keep your white paper on their mobile device. They follow you on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Then they read more blog posts. They compare you to other companies. They follow you on Twitter. Then they look at a case study.
And after a long research and comparison process, they buy from whoever gives them the most useful information for making a decision.
Rare exceptions to this do exist if you have a creative mind and like to try new things.
But for the most part, content generates qualified leads over the long haul.
Lie #4: “Great content doesn’t need promotion.”
Why it’s a lie: Think of all the content companies produce. For example, as of of this writing (11:11 AM CST on 2/11/16),175 million blog posts have been written this year (visit the link, and scroll down slightly to “Society and Media” for a live count). And almost 2 million today.
The shameless truth: You could also call this the “If you build it, they will come” strategy. In reality content works more like this:
“If you build it, a few will come. If you promote it, even more will come. If you’re lucky, maybe even a lot will come. And the more you work it, the more that come.”
You don’t need a massive content promotion strategy that gets you in front of thousands of prospects (although that’s nice!). You just need to get in front of the right audience.
Let me explain a shoestring way you can do that right now:
- Promote your content on your employee’s social media profiles. But, only ask them to do this where they have a professional presence. If they have Twitter profiles geared at personal updates, don’t ask them to share.
- Make sure your C-level promotes it on their social profiles too.
- Promote on your company social media profiles (They must, however, have been active up to this point. If you post inconsistently, or not at all, and then suddenly post your own content, you won’t get many leads from it, if any).
- Create a central content bank for your sales and customer service teams. Deliver relevant content to prospects and customers as they show the need.
- Place your content on your home page. Don’t bury it in your “Resources” section where few prospects will find it.
- Offer to promote content for any partners you have relationships with. Ask them to promote yours in return.
- Ask your top customers you already have strong relationships with to share your content with contacts in their network who would find it valuable.
- Share with your LinkedIn groups, BUT ONLY if you have a solid reputation already. If you don’t, you’ll come across as spamming and likely get banned.
- This is the only method of these that costs you money (and not much of it). If you have an active Facebook page already, “Boost” the post promoting your content so more of your audience sees it.
Sounds too simple, doesn’t it?
Long term, promoting content can get as complex as producing it. Maintaining relationships with dozens of influencers and websites gets tough. For now, those 9 simple steps get your content to the right prospects so you can get more leads fast.
Then, use your additional revenues to grow your promotional strategy as you see fit.
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