Comments on: Give the People What They Want: Thought Leadership and Lead Gen http://www.funnelholic.com/2009/03/19/give-the-people-what-they-want-thought-leadership-and-lead-gen/ a blog for those of us who live and work at the top end of the b2b funnel: Demand Generation, Lead Generation, Online Media, B2B Sales and Marketing, Marketing Automation, DRIP, Lead Nurturing, and Fun. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:04:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Christa Tuttle http://www.funnelholic.com/2009/03/19/give-the-people-what-they-want-thought-leadership-and-lead-gen/comment-page-1/#comment-1642 Christa Tuttle Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:19:12 +0000 http://www.funnelholic.com/?p=716#comment-1642 MarketingSherpa recently posted a case study that touched on this topic and supports the above blog post. The focus was on a company that wanted to establish a lead gen campaign to reach a list of cold leads. The company needed a way to communicate the benefits of its products to this prospect list without being off putting. The company ended up emailing the prospect list, including a link to download third-party analyst reports that talked about the company’s product space. This was done in order to provide relevant, educational content the company knew the prospects would find interesting. The company tested its campaign splitting the lists it emailed, and found that the emails that received the greater response were those that promoted the reports and benefits to prospects over the company’s branding. MarketingSherpa recently posted a case study that touched on this topic and supports the above blog post. The focus was on a company that wanted to establish a lead gen campaign to reach a list of cold leads. The company needed a way to communicate the benefits of its products to this prospect list without being off putting. The company ended up emailing the prospect list, including a link to download third-party analyst reports that talked about the company’s product space. This was done in order to provide relevant, educational content the company knew the prospects would find interesting. The company tested its campaign splitting the lists it emailed, and found that the emails that received the greater response were those that promoted the reports and benefits to prospects over the company’s branding.

]]> By: Britton Manasco http://www.funnelholic.com/2009/03/19/give-the-people-what-they-want-thought-leadership-and-lead-gen/comment-page-1/#comment-1639 Britton Manasco Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:17:26 +0000 http://www.funnelholic.com/?p=716#comment-1639 Excellent post. It's clear there is a greater attraction to thought leadership now than ever before. The challenge lies in making the commitment to it. Few companies are willing to actually go that far. They may need assistance. As your example from the Sales 2.0 event suggests, companies often struggle to get outside their own heads and truly engage their audiences/prospective clients on their own ground. They don't mean to make "thinly disguised sales pitches." It's just that they only feel confident -- and credible -- when they are talking about their own solutions. To be a thought leader, you have to truly grasp market trends and customer problems. You need evidence, insight and a compelling perspective. You need to articulate your ideas in a consistent and compelling fashion. You can't just wing it. Thought leadership is an emerging discipline -- and needs to be treated as such. The good news is that the evidence that it is paying off is getting undeniably clear. The game is changing. Excellent post. It’s clear there is a greater attraction to thought leadership now than ever before. The challenge lies in making the commitment to it. Few companies are willing to actually go that far. They may need assistance.

As your example from the Sales 2.0 event suggests, companies often struggle to get outside their own heads and truly engage their audiences/prospective clients on their own ground. They don’t mean to make “thinly disguised sales pitches.” It’s just that they only feel confident — and credible — when they are talking about their own solutions.

To be a thought leader, you have to truly grasp market trends and customer problems. You need evidence, insight and a compelling perspective. You need to articulate your ideas in a consistent and compelling fashion. You can’t just wing it. Thought leadership is an emerging discipline — and needs to be treated as such. The good news is that the evidence that it is paying off is getting undeniably clear. The game is changing.

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