The Funnelholic

Marketers ask me all the time the benefits of thought leadership, and I have only one thing to say: “Make it happen.”  When it doesn’t work, it’s often for a number of reasons:

1.    Poor execution.
2.    Not enough effort. In b2b, there really is no such thing as over-exposure.
3.    Poor choice of superstar – a.k.a., your thought leader. The one who is going to fill the house, put butts in the seats and pretty much make your brand the equivalent of a household name.

Masters of thought leadership include:

1.     Wall Street (the latest happenings not withstanding). Think Mary Meeker and the cult of Alan Greenspan.
2.    College Basketball and football coaches – remember, these dudes have even written books that smart people actually read! At least we are led to believe they actually wrote the books.
3.    Politicians – duh – for the most part.

And they can come and go. Witness Henry Blodgett.

But my favorite master of the thought leadership game is T. Boone Pickens.  In a nutshell, T. Boone is a wildcatter who made billions in the oil game.  Since 2001 until earlier this year, T. Boone could move the crude oil markets like no other.  He was always the thought leader du jour on CNBC, “The Wall Street Journal,” and you name it with his oil price predictions.  He always brought data to his commentary and was the first person to call  for the $100 barrel of oil.  What people were never told was that he was the single biggest holder in oil futures on the Nymerc (where oil is traded).  Pure brilliance: An oil speculator from Oklahoma, looked upon as the oil expert, who every time he got on tv made tens of millions for himself and his beloved Oklahoma State University (he donated $60 some-odd million to their athletic department).

Check out this Bloomberg article from ’07:

Boone Pickens, chairman of Dallas- based BP Capital LLC, told financial news network CNBC that crude-oil prices will rise to $100 a barrel, perhaps before the end of this year. “It could come this quarter,” Pickens said today on CNBC. “Within a year, you’re going to see $100 oil.”

Guess what this “genius” is doing now?  Selling alternative energy.  Guess what that means? He started selling his oil contracts at $150 a barrel and could be going short.

What’s the moral of the story?  I used to giggle at PR folks, but the reality is, companies need to create superstars in their industry.  I am not saying it’s easier in the b2b world, but there is a massive desire for content and b2b organizations need to take advantage.  Here are my tips:

1.    Think like a political strategist or Hollywood PR machine: Make sure the message, ideology, and goals are clear and well fleshed out.
2.    Pick the right superstar: its usually a CEO, but it can be a resident “smarty-pants.”
3.    Blog, panel and speak: Get in front of the masses.  Keep in mind, all three are realistic.  How many trade show companies send out requests for speakers?
4.    Pictures: Learn from the best, the face works.
5.    Leverage the other thought  leaders:  get yours in the loop with other bloggers, columnists, writers and talking heads.  These are the guys who will turn to your guru for quotes.

Take it from T. Boone, the thought leader can move the market in your direction.

How many times these days has the trailer been better than the movie?  Movie marketing is more important than the actual movie production itself.  The job of the Hollywood marketer is to get people into the movie house on opening weekend. That’s it.

They don’t worry how much of the plot they have given away in so-called spoilers, whether they have away the best jokes or scenes in the entire movie in the previews, or whether they market the actor  that sell vs. the actual “star” of the movie. Forget the fact that  actor getting top billing may only be on “stage” for a brief stint in the movie. You could almost argue that the shooting of the film is where the marketing machine gets rolling. How many shots of movies midproduction have you seen in the pages of “People”? And don’t forget The old bait and swith. Dark dramas have been cast as comedies in TV ads just to lure you into the movie theater. Been there. Seen that.

Case in point: “The Dark Knight.”  It should have been called: “Joker Returns.”  As a matter of fact, did we even see the actual Batman in the previews?  Batman was played by the obscure Christian Bales, whereas the movie was all Heath Ledger, all the time.  He basically had an academy award nomination from the preview alone and the record shattering box office stemmed largely from the studio’s brilliant marketing campaign. Unfortunately, the untimely death contributed  to the posthumously released film, but the marketing cogs were moving full throttle before his tragic demise.

So, what can we as b2b marketers take from this?  Two things:

1.     Get ‘em in the seats. Sound crazy?  There is a difference between marketing to get buyers to register and commit vs. overwhelming them with your overall messaging platform goals. The b2b marketer often falls trap to two things: A new, fancy acronym or market they are trying to pioneer (insert acronym flavor of the month here) or a high falutin’ value proposition that doesn’t really say anything.  Yes, you want to get your point across, but you can’t do it if no one is listening. Don’t let your ego get in the way. Yes, you know the latest terms and technologies, but does your audience? How can you convince someone that they need something when they don’t know what it is?

When you are promoting your white paper or webinar, think about what actually sells. You can explain everything until the cows come home once you have captured the audience.   Focusing on the benefits and targeting is key to get interest, not big words and obscure acronyms.  “Seven Reasons your business needs…” will work better than: “The primer on Acronym X, the dynamic, robust, dada, dada…”.  Give them a call to action. Give them something they can print out and give to their boss to justify a new investment.

2.    Don’t be afraid to give away some of your best scenes to get buyers to bite:  Yes, there is a fine line between temptation and giving it away, but there are sooo many choices today and so little time.  This is especially true in the case of business targets. Remember, they have their day jobs.  I talked to one of my contacts at ON24, the webinar platform company.  He sees what works and doesn’t work in both producing and marketing webinars.  He said one of the better advertising vehicles is to preview the webinar itself when users click on the page. Nothing sells like the real thing.

See you at the movies.