Link Thought Leadership to Intelligent Client Discovery

Posted by Ambal Balakrishnan February 18th 10

Conventional approaches won’t deliver – and inbound marketing is not enough. We asked Britton Manasco "What are key marketing trends and predictions for 2010? What actions should marketers take in 2010?". Britton Manasco helps firms become thought leaders and trusted authorities through value-rich content such as white papers, success stories and executive presentations. Britton is the producer of the thought leadership marketing blog Illuminating the Future.

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"Companies engaged in a complex sale must link thought leadership to intelligent client discovery."

Britton Manasco's Marketing Prediction for 2010

B2B marketers will increasingly realize that one of their key challenges is to guide decision teams through challenging decisions using compelling thought leadership and other forms of decision-driving content. One factor driving new investments in rich content will be growing disillusionment with returns on search engine and social media marketing. They’ll increasingly realize it’s difficult – if not impossible – to engage decision-influencers/makers in these media without compelling perspectives to offer.

Britton Manasco's Marketing Action for 2010

B2B marketers should increasingly shift money from activities such as advertising, trade shows and conventional business development into thought leadership marketing and intelligent client discovery. While thought leadership drives conversations and builds credibility, client discovery work is about targeting, profiling and provoking specific prospects with relevant value propositions. It goes beyond inbound marketing and brings back intelligent, yet persistent outbound outreach.

Summary: Companies engaged in a complex sale must increasingly link thought leadership to intelligent client discovery. That’s how they confront today’s Guidance Imperative. Conventional approaches won’t deliver – and inbound marketing is not enough.

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2 Comments

Mark Delfeld said:

Can you provide an example of intelligent client discovery? Is it outbound segment marketing campaigns integrated with inbound content?

Britton Manasco said:

Mark--

Good question. Your definition -- "outbound segment marketing campaigns integrated with inbound content" -- is pretty consistent with my view. In other words, it's foolish to simply rely on inbound marketing if your solution is a high cost, high value, complex one. You should be profiling your targets and then provoking them them with relevant content, communications and value propositions. Don't wait for them to find you. In cases like this, business typically won't begin with a search or a referral. It begins with a provocation: the seller taking active steps to identify, engage and discover a new client. Now, if you are selling $500 Weber Grills on the Internet, that's a totally different story. It's all about inbound. But in the world of B2B marketing, it's crazy to become overly reliant on inbound marketing. We just have to be smarter about how we engage in outbound and how we validate our efforts with content. Make sense?