I don’t know about you, but the mysteries of what people like on Twitter continue to elude me. I’ll spend hours crafting a thread of my cumulative decade of marketing experience and… crickets.
What can you do?
Well, below I’ve suggested something you could do to build an audience instead of going down the path of the website that irked me so.
Stop Caring So Much About Lead-Gen
Now hear me out. I am fully behind the “marketing is responsible for revenue just as much as everyone else” train. A belief that the department cannot meaningfully contribute to the bottom line is the reason why some B2B companies still view it as nothing more than a swag factory.
But you can swing too far the other way, where every activity is measured against short-term, revenue-based metrics. Or, to phrase it differently, you dedicate 100% of your time and energy to generating leads.
This is problematic for two reasons:
- It leaves little room to invest in brand building activities that will influence long-term growth
- It can turn every interaction with your customers into a value exchange – “we’ll give you this asset, you give us your email, sound good?”
There’s courage in committing to campaigns that don’t use pipeline as the only measure of success.
One thing I’ve been thinking a lot about in this context recently is Clubhouse. Some sector-specific rooms I’ve attended with one or two big-name speakers have had audiences in the high triple-digits, where the equivalent as a webinar would probably only collect a fraction of that.
Sure, you’re not getting email addresses. But you’re reaching an audience organically who you would otherwise either need to a) already need to have on your mailing list or b) pay through the nose to target.
It’s just one example of how you can grow your company’s credibility and position as a thought leader in a zero friction, non-transactional way.
And, if you must, you can always include a strong CTA throughout the talk. Direct people to your website where you have a high-value lead magnet plastered all over the home page.
Takeaway
85% of B2B marketers say lead generation is their most important content marketing goal. IMO this should be closer to 50%. The other half should be dedicated to thought leadership brand-building without a direct focus on ‘building pipeline’ so as to capitalise on out-of-market demand for your product or service in the future.
And to do this, you have to get comfortable with giving away value for free. Over and over and over again.
