B2B Marketer Tom Pick says white papers are right up there with sweepstakes when it comes to generating quality leads.

His words:

White papers are a popular and productive incentive for response. They weed out the pure prize-seekers attracted by sweepstakes because anyone willing to take the time to download and (hopefully) read a white paper at least has an interest in the particular technology area addressed. White papers also have far more branding value than sweepstakes. They are one of the most commonly used response incentives because of the balance of relatively high quantity and quality they provide, although sales will still often end up “throwing back” many of these leads.

However, Tom goes on to identify survey results, webinar registrations and free trials as far superior lead generation mechanisms than white papers.

Is he right?  Let’s see… (more…)

According to Larry Chase, “When done right, nothing pulls in qualified sales leads like a well-targeted offer for a juicy white paper.”

I would strongly agree.

Larry recently crafted a list of white paper marketing tips. Here are a few of his better tips (with my commentary). (more…)

Are you responsible for generating leads for your business?

If so, you might be able to relate to this new finding:

The biggest challenges for marketers is filling the pipeline with leads, according to MarketingSherpa’s new Business Technology Benchmarking Guide.

To address this problem head on, Marketing Experiments has put together a VERY interesting video.

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Want your white paper to go viral? Yet you still need to collect that lead??

What is a marketer to do?

My friend, David Meerman Scott, is a big proponent of letting your white paper (or ebook) live unrestricted, not bound by registration forms.

However, many marketing and sales folks need leads. Their argument: If you let the paper go you never get the lead.

Is it possible to accomplish both? You might be surprised…

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Just arrived back from the MarketingProf’s convention with a fresh new study in hand from MarketingProfs Research Insights.

What’s interesting about this study is the examination of white papers in relation to B2B sales leads.

What follows is a detailed review of the findings:

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Join myself and Brian Carroll (author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale) for a LIVE (free) teleconference this Thursday, May 15th at 3pm Pacific.

Brian is a lead generation guru and, well, you know me :).

The Cool Part…

Brian and I will be taking your questions LIVE (yes we have a moderated operator).

AND, I plan on asking Brian some tough questions about lead generation.

You won’t want to miss this…

BTW, once we get 1000 signups, I will be taking the registration link down, so if it doesn’t work, you know why…

DID YOU MISS THE CALL??:  Click here to listen to the recording.

If you market your business, you need to check out this video.

It shows how to generate mass interest in your business.

• Prospects literally line up, ready to purchase after experiencing this.

• Following the strategy, businesses are becoming the thought leaders of their industries.

• Once set in motion, the strategy keeps generating quality leads literally for years.

Watch the video now.

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Do you find it hard to engage with prospects or customers? If so, keep reading…

I was recently on the phone with Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies.

I explained a project I am working on and she said, with great excitement, “You MUST read this article I wrote.”

What follows is perhaps one of the best lessons on why we fail to engage.

It is simply a letter from a customer.

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I am looking to collect a repository of ads that leverage white papers in any capacity.

These can be online or print ads.

I am also looking for well-done landing pages specifically related to white papers.

Would you please respond to this post with links the ad or landing page.

If you see something on a site and you want to send me a screen capture or image, please send it to mike at writingwhitepapers dot com.

Thanks in advance!

Marketing information is sales gold.  However, often a disconnect exists between sales and marketing.

For example, if someone reads a white paper, especially a big prospect, how does sales know this event has occurred.

Cisco has recently implemented a very interesting program. According to the January edition of Target Marketing magazine, “at Cisco, a dramatic shift is underway within the organization as it ventures into the a new world of web strategy, challenging its traditional tactics.”

Cisco introduced a marketing to sales linkage program. Here’s what they are doing: (more…)