HFTB Marketing Blog

Should content always be free, or can you spare an email address or two?

In David Meerman Scott’s work “Lose Control of Your Marketing,” he makes the case that offering content on your site that requires some user information is an old tactic which is ineffective in the world of new media.  Of course I paraphrase, but this is the general gist.  He goes on to say that to be an effective new marketer (my term, not his) one must give up control.  This includes putting your information out there for anyone to access… no strings attached (or info requested).  While I agree in principle with the giving up control part, I’d ask you, how valuable is your email address?

Of course, I have a couple addresses that I consider extremely valuable.  But then I also maintain addresses that I use for content offers.  As a marketer myself, I’m more than happy to play the game.  I figure that if someone can get my attention through email, great.  But I want to know how they did it.

In other words, it’s not just the content that is interesting.  I also study their methodology and tactics.  We all know how crowded the email space has become.  But there are still those that stand out.

Scott’s idea that all information should be free is fine.  But for the majority of the content that I request online, I don’t mind providing an email address. With CAN-SPAM I can always unsubscribe if I find I don’t like the content showing up in my inbox.

The idea of giving up control where measurable marketing ROI is concerned I largely agree with.  If you are putting out bait pieces strictly to grow your list, bad idea.  The content must be relevant, valuable and timely, or I would suggest not putting it out there in the first place.  But assuming these criteria are met, why not ask for a name and an email address?

While Scott assumes this is an ROI tactic relegated to CMOs intent on pleasing CFOs, I advise my clients to simply use an email address as the first step to a longer relationship.  A relationship that is not sales-based until a certain level of expertise and trust has been built up.

I get the idea that if you provide compelling, valuable content people will come back to your site.  Think it’s a great idea in fact.  But quite frankly, there are a lot of very good sites out there putting out very valuable info.  I don’t have time to get to all of them on a consistent basis.  But if they are willing to remind me of their content, and every once in a while their products, in an unobtrusive and convenient way that I agree to first, my email address is not all that much to ask.

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Email Marketing, Social Media content, Email Marketing, marketing ROI, new media

photo by jswieringa

Seth Godin had an interesting post on how new media, particularly blogging, is allowing the relative increase in leverage for individuals (the small), while larger companies, or brands (the large), are losing relative leverage.  Leverage in this case, is attention to, or eyeballs on, a company’s marketing efforts.

His point is that more traditional marketing tactics in most cases have a significant barrier to entry – a budget.  In other words, you needed cash to play in the big leagues.

With new marketing, or blogging in this case, this barrier has been largely removed.  And as a result, individuals have been empowered to get their message out, whatever that may be, brand related or otherwise.

He makes the case that this has made it relatively more difficult for big brands to garner eyeballs in the online arena.

Maybe. But I would add that while there certainly has been an increase in leverage for individuals, it doesn’t necessarily have to be at the expense of larger companies.

A great example of this is Scott Monty and Ford.  Take a look at his Social Media Marketing blog and you’ll see what I mean.  Ford, in recognition of Godin’s point, has Scott heading up their Social Media efforts.  In other words, they’ve found a way for the power of the individual in the blogosphere to create value for their (large) company.  And guess what – I’d be willing to bet there is a fairly significant budget behind it.

Individuals can, and often do have greater clout than companies when it comes to blogging and social media.  This is one of the aspects of new marketing that sets it apart from many of the traditional tactics that Godin mentions are inherently budget driven and therefore skewed towards larger companies. But using the power of the individual, as long as the integrity of that bloggers posts is maintained through honest and frank relatively unfiltered content, can be a powerful tool that large companies can incorporate into their new media strategy.

As blogging becomes more of a business (and yes, don’t kid yourself, it is), corporations that understand the nature of what is valued online and have the budgets to allow a Scott Monty to head up their efforts, can turn the trend of small competing with large to their advantage.

This is not to say that blogging will ever resemble television advertising with expensive budget barriers.  But as thought leaders such as David Meerman Scott, Brian Clark and Seth Godin get their new marketing messages through, and large companies begin to incorporate those strategies more and more into their marketing efforts, small may not be the new large anymore.

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New Marketing, Social Media, Uncategorized blogging, marketing efforts, new media, new media strategy, Social Media, traditional marketing tactics