No genuine relationship ever starts with one person asking another for money.
– Kyle Dunn
You know why people like free samples? Not a trick question. Free is good. And while it’s understood the objective is to get you to make a purchase, you know you are under no obligation.
You know why sellers like to give free samples? Because “show” is more powerful than “tell”. The conversion rate is always going to be higher if customers can conclude on their own how good your product is without your shoving it down their throat.
Generating and disseminating content can be thought of just like a free sample. It’s a free sample of how you think. A glimpse inside your brain. And in asset management – that is really what an investor is buying: how you think.
It’s a way to add value without directly asking for anything in return. It is also a great tool to shape your audience’s perception of you.
We have gotten into more conversations and have ultimately driven more in sales through “content marketing” than any other cold lead generation approach that we use.
The best part – it’s free to produce.
OK – not totally free. Time has an opportunity cost. And like PR or anything else, content marketing done well requires a commitment. It involves quite a bit more than simply launching a one-off blog post through LinkedIn.
While the pushback around making the investment in time is a reasonable one, other pushback we tend to hear on this is absolutely not. Most everything else is mere rationalization, “I don’t want to dilute my proprietary ideas by blasting them to the world” or the inverse, “I don’t have anything worth writing about.”
Silly.
If there was an open seat on CNBC, most would jump at the opportunity to occupy it. “We were hoping you could do a Ted Talk for us – interested?” Panel spot? Wall Street Journal quote? Yeah – you would find something to “blast to the world.” Because if you are worth doing business with, you have something of value to share that does need to involve giving away the secret sauce.
And…I have proof that anyone can do it.
We recently put out THIS POST. It’s interesting stuff but like most content, we are not claiming it will change anyone’s life. Nonetheless, what it did do was elicit a fair amount of feedback along the lines of, “thanks – that was thought provoking” – which in turn, resulted in a number of new conversations (and over time, that is what ultimately drives business).
Sure – all good but hardly notable. However, the kicker is…
It was written by our 20 year old intern.
And if a college student can find a relatable experience that adds value, it’s hard to think that someone with years of industry experience cannot.
By JD David