March 22, 2010

Buyers Want Strategic Content...At The Right Time! by Jim Bloedau





















It’s been argued that since buyers can now get information from anywhere and anytime, they are more interested in insights...or thought leadership as some prefer to call it. I’ve always thought the term “thought leadership” was a bit presumptuous in that it implies intimate knowledge of the buyer’s needs and financial environment. Having been on the buy and sell side, I don’t think I’d have to go far to find agreement with those that say, “Buyers want to efficiently collect information and perspectives and then develop a thought leadership position that fits their buying environment and helps sell to upper management rather than relying mostly on some pundit’s opinion.”

The importance of sharing the right data, perspective and insights, with the right people, in the right way, at the right time, for the right purpose can not be argued too strongly. Research over that past couple of years found that buyers prefer searching on the internet as the first step and suggests that they are best served when the information matches where they are in the buy cycle. It is creating and delivering this content that is quickly becoming marketing’s most important role, as advertising, traditional PR, and events budgets are cannibalized to do so.

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