What have you got to lose?
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As a reseller and user of enterprise technology, I have been involved in many lead-generation and marketing campaigns. Not much has changed in the 30-plus years I have been working in the technology industry.
Marketing automation tools have been around for years, and we still have social media sites, with a few new additions like BlueSky Social. And we have Google.
Creating good content so that others will read and click on links, and ultimately give up their personal information has been the goal. Leads will get pushed to a marketing tool and good leads will or should be given to a salesperson.
I can understand why some websites and journalism sites need to have sign-ups and subscriptions.
But content from technology vendors is different in my opinion. You would think that their goal would be to get people to read their content and visit their site. And asking for personal information would be a deterrent for those who aren’t ready to give out their information.
So why do they continue to ask for it?
My assumption is that’s the way it’s always been. Get personal information at all costs. But the reality is many technology vendors do a poor job with their leads. And many companies are downsizing their marketing departments with the hope that an AI tool will handle all of their lead tracking, outreach and ultimately their sales.
In my experience IT departments and management do their own research and will reach out if they see something of interest. When it comes to enterprise technology products and services, I can’t imagine anyone buying from a bot and not wanting to meet vendor representatives in person.
Marketing departments keep losts of analytics and statistics - are they keeping track of those who got annoyed with their tactics and moved on to a competitor?
I can fairly say that I see a lot of different content throughout the day as we curate for my public tech-only knowledge base site, Teckedin.com.
And I get numerous emails and newsletter subscription offers.
I only engage in LinkedIn, Substack and BlueSky Social.
The LinkedIn newsletters are free and easy to set up. And new connections automatically get invited to subscribe. But, who has time to read all these newsletters and you have to be in LinkedIn.
I have found excellent writers and content in Substack. The really great part is that I can provide links to their articles and we don’t have to be in Substack to read.
When I receive an email from a vendor trying to sell me their solution or services I always write back and thank them and let them know I don’t need their service/solution. I also let them know that Teckedin may be a good option for them to reach new customers. Hey, it seems only fair - they are telling me about them, so I take the opportunity to tell them about our site.
On my knowledge base site, we go to every article/link and read the contents and make sure there is a share button. Sure, we miss sharing some great content because it requires personal information or subscription, but there is so much information published daily there is enough to fill our site.
It will be interesting to see what happens with ChatGPT, search and advertisement. Many people are concerned that there will be less engagement and clicks and they will be at the mercy of a handful of tech companies.
We shall see.
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Thank you.