How Do Buyers Consume Content?

Posted by Jeff Ogden on April 4, 2011

Lead Generation Companies: Creating Content Buyers Want to Consume using Buyer Personas

I’ve been preaching the need to gain deep understanding of prospective buyers for some time. In fact, I shared the belief that we need a new approach to buyer personas in my post, The Crazy, Complex World of B2B Marketing.

Barbra Gago of LeftBrainMarketing wrote a great post for the Content Marketing Institute that says it very well. In fact, Barbra asks great questions to get to the heart of what is needed.

Here’s the start of Barbra’s great article:

Great content marketing starts with one thing: understanding your audience, whether it’s a prospect or customer. Sounds simple in theory, but it can be difficult to collect the important info.

Last week, I shared some ideas on how to research your buyers. This week, I want to take it a step further and delve into how buyers actually consume content.

With the web and mobile apps giving consumers and B2B buyers access to any kind of information at anytime, it’s important that you understand how your prospects are accessing and consuming the content that helps them make a purchase decision.

Developing buyer personas that include psychographic and demographic information is mandatory, but it shouldn’t end there. What are you doing to understand how your buyers are consuming their information on and offline?

Amen, Barbra! I completely agree. Read Barbra’s full post here.

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor, is the President of the B2B Lead Generation consultancy, Find New Customers. Follow Jeff on Twitter here.

Why Find New Customers does zero advertising

Posted by Jeff Ogden on April 4, 2011

B2B Lead Generation: A New Kind of Company

We don’t advertise.

No billboards.
No radio or TV.
No newspaper.
No pay-per-click. (Sorry Google, Facebook and Linkedin. Not a dime from us.)

We don’t want clicks. We only want fans. We want you to LOVE Find New Customers and tell the world.

We hope to earn your trust.

Jeff Ogden is President of the B2B Lead Generation consultancy, Find New Customers.

The Importance of Leadership and Fresh Thinking

Posted by Jeff Ogden on April 4, 2011

B2B Lead Generation: Strong Leadership is Needed

Here’s a lesson in leadership. Sometimes you have to stand up and say “No!”

In 1941, the Japanese has just bombed Pearl Harbor. The country was depressed and the military was weak from years of anti-war passions.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) called in all his military leaders and asked them for plans. They all gave him massive lists of men and materials - for a long, drawn out ground war along the lines of World War One.

FDR said “No.” America needs a shot of confidence. We need to bomb Tokyo.

From Wikipedia: The Japanese people had been told they were invulnerable … An attack on the Japanese homeland would cause confusion in the minds of the Japanese people and sow doubt about the reliability of their leaders. There was a second, and equally important, psychological reason for this attack … Americans badly needed a morale boost.^[1]

Two big problems convinced many it was impossible.

Heavy bombers did not have the range to reach Tokyo. They required long runways and high airspeeds to take off. Those long runways were too far away.
Small carrier planes were too small to carry bomb loads. But carriers were the only way to get close to Japan.

The military men told FDR it was impossible. But FDR refused to accept defeat. He contacted the top air expert of the day, James Doolittle, and asked him to solve the problem.

Over time, Doolittle realized that heavy bombers could take off from a carrier deck. If they used full power and took off with less than optimal airspeed, they could barely take off. It was hairy, but doable. One small problem - this was before the maturation of the tail-hook, so they could not land on carriers.

On April 14th, 1942, the famed Doolittle Raid demonstrated that the United States could attack the Japanese homeland. 16 B-25 bombers were launched from the USS Hornet and bombed the Japanese homeland.

What does an event over half a century ago have to do with B2B marketing today?

Like those generals in World War 2, today’s B2B marketer is using the approaches that worked in the last war - email blasts, webinars, events. What stopped the military men from using older approaches? Their visionary leader, FDR, insisted NO!

Does your business have a FDR type of leader? Has your CEO said NO! Has the Board of Directors insisted on a new direction? Why not? Strong leadership is essential today.

Buyer personas, agreed lead definitions, lead nurturing, lead scoring, customer videos, etc. are all needed today. But only strong leadership can change direction.

What do you think? Do companies need strong, visionary leadership today? We love your comments and sharing.

Did you know this blog publishes 7 day a week and multiple times per day? So if you’ve not visited lately, you’ve missed a lot of great stuff.

Jeff Ogden is President of the B2B lead generation consultancy, Find New Customers, and is considered by many to be one of the top experts. You can follow Jeff on Twitter or download the free white paper on B2B lead generation, How to Find New Customers.

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