B2B Web Strategy Blog - eMagine

Value of Thought-Leadership Offers (Not Just for Conversions Anymore)

February 14th, 2007 Posted by: Bill Gadless

OK, most of you probably know about using thought-leadership offers (white papers, webinars, blogs, newsletters, podcasts, etc., etc.) as “bait” for the purpose of converting your B2B site’s visitors to nurturable prospects.  It’s certainly something we’ve preached about (some may say harped on) in our various communications for years.

And we’re not the only ones.  Taking just the example of white papers, you might want to stop by Michael Stelzner’s Writing White Papers blog to find Need to Persuade? Try Using White Papers (along with a vast amount of other useful information).  The title nearly tells all;  but he describes how white papers tend to bypass the palace guard and gain direct access to key people …because they help those people make necessary decisions.

But did you know… making thought-leadership material available on or via your website confers benefits above & beyond lead conversion.  For example:

• the authors of that content – presumably your company’s stars – will be more likely to be asked to speak at industry conferences and/or sought out by press and industry analysts as domain experts …all of which builds your company’s image / “street cred”
• such content is likely to result in more inbound links from industry directory, analyst and media sites …which translates to higher page rankings and more qualified traffic being driven to your site

All the time …not just one time 

Btw, there’s no rule against making thought-leadership content available to your prospects all through the nurturing phase, not just at the precise moment of conversion.  In fact this is a very good thing, since your “B” and “C” leads are in research mode and will make their eventual purchase decision based largely on that research.  To the extent that you can stand out from the crowd and help shape their decision criteria by demonstrating thought leadership …well, you get the idea.

If your roadblock is freeing up staff who can write… well, you have a couple of choices:

• Bite the bullet and hire a writer.  Anne Holland felt strongly enough about this to state, in summarizing MarketingSherpa’s still-relevant research summary, Best & Worst Lead Generation Offers for 2006:  “The best offers are high in perceived educational value. Content rules. In fact, if your marketing budget were to expand by say $60,000 this year, instead of investing in (various alternatives), hire another writer for your staff.  Someone who can kick out must-read white papers, keyword-heavy blog entries, etc.  Content is your best marketing investment for 2006 and beyond.”
• Rent a freelancer.  If you don’t have a good one in your Rolodex yet, you can probably find one at Freelance Work Exchange, Online Writing Jobs, or among the 1000+ profiled on MediaBistro’s Freelance Marketplace …not to mention CraigsList and the traditional internet job boards.

Testing for leadership

Oh yeah… how do you know whether your material is truly “thought leadership”?  Well, it probably isn’t if:

• it’s merely an expanded description of your company’s product/service
• it reads just like your print ads or brochures, minus the nifty graphics
• it simply regurgitates someone else’s work, with no original thought added (note that extreme cases of this have another label – plagiarism)
• it comes across as someone’s rant, rather than a cogent, fact-based analysis

Your content is likely to qualify as thought leadership to the extent that…

• it discusses broad industry or technical problems and solution approaches
• it contains real data or research/survey results, vs. merely opinion
• it goes beyond what can readily be found elsewhere

Still unsure?  Check out RainToday’s recently-released report from a year-long research project called “How To Become A Thought Leader”, available for a modest fee.

So… aim for thought leadership, and watch the many rewards pile up for your company! 

Entry Filed under: B2B Web Strategy, Converting