Content is the new outbound

In today’s issue (#60) we’re looking at a new GTM model that takes on a few different titles, I like to call it EGC (employee generated content).

Think user-generated content, but instead of leaning on users to create buzz for your product/company, you empower your employees to do so.

Note: If you’re in sales, developing strong marketing skills is now a requirement. Lean into this.

read time: 4 minutes

We all know it but we haven’t said out loud yet.

Content creation is the new (and best) outbound strategy.

Here’s why:

From the buyer’s perspective; cold outreach is played out. Inboxes are waterlogged and they’re getting calls on their personal cell from complete strangers. Linkedin is where prospects go to get away from work noise, just to get bombarded by eager sales reps in their DMs.

From your perspective; cold outreach is becoming a poor business decision. The math is getting worse by the day. In 2007 it only took three calls to connect with a prospect. Today it takes almost 12. Over the last 4 years, organic email open rates have decreased dramatically.

Now, you’re not completely wasting your time on cold outbound, but you need to be incredibly efficient for the math to make sense.

For a quick refresher on how to make the most of your cold outreach, revisit issue #55 where I analyze in real-time which of my teams emails are working best right now.

Most people (including myself) would say B2B marketing is broken right now - in fact I said just a few days ago.

But calling it broken isn’t even fair.

We just don’t know what’s happening right now. Buyer behavior and intent is more unpredictable than it’s ever been.

Yes, there are keyword strategies you can deploy but we don’t have eyes everywhere. And where do we have visibility, it’s challenging to determine accurate levels of intent.

Here’s a real-life example:

Two weeks ago one of our SDRs received a demo request from an enterprise company with more than 20k employees - a dream come true for us.

The SDR who received the demo request is only a few weeks into the role, so I hopped on the discovery call to ensure she had support.

Within two minutes it was obvious the prospect had no real intent of buying. In fact, she had no clue what an LXP was, no budgeted internal project that would support an eventual purchase, and no executive support.

Nothing real at all, shopping in the same way you might casually shop on Amazon from time to time.

Which is great, we had an educational conversation and added a ton of value to her personally and that’ll benefit us in the future one way or another.

The point is intent.

Demo requests used to mean “I’m ready to buy”

Today they can mean “seems fun, let me take a look”

And we’re sitting there like

Back to my main point: we don’t know what buyers are doing right now.

Now, let’s look at the cyclical nature of this problem:

→We don’t know what buyers are doing.

→That’s because buyers don’t know how to buy.

→And that’s because companies are more focused on internal metrics than buyer experience.

It all starts with how companies are creating content and marketing - that drives confusion to the buyer, which forces them to commit behaviors we perceive as high-intent when that’s not the case at all.

We’re stuck in a cycle and we need to get out.

The solution is simple, but it’s not easy.

The fix:

Any digital ad you run should have a high-intent CTA because, what’s the point in low-intent?

Abandon MQLs as a success metric; each company defines MQL differently which means we can bend and mold the definition as needed to hit target. It’s not an objective measure of success.

Altogether quit high volume cold outreach - it’s a waste of your time, hurts your domain health, and you’re not acquiring new skills by doing it.

Instead, redirect all of your attention to developing authority in your industry, domain, area of interest. Build this authority through content creation & distribution.

Why?

Because people want their content, opinions and advice from people - not companies.

That's why influencer marketing works.

That's also why B2B Marketing has to shift to Employee Generated Content (EGC).

Enabling employees to create & distribute content will take your company's social volume (and eventually, revenue) through the roof.

Imagine sellers & marketers working together to distribute unique POVs at scale with the same underlying message tied back to corporate themes.

If done right, it'll outperform any traditional marketing play.

Now, there are a few challenges with an EGC model:

1. Convincing employees to create content around their current employer.

Most employees won't be with the same company for more than 5 years. Asking your workers to build an industry specific audience based on their current employer is tough because the audience becomes irrelevant the second they switch industries.

2. Playing the game to build authority and influence. Not to drive conversions.

The goal of content is to advise, educate, influence and entertain. Angling towards conversions will set you up for failure.

That's why Linkedin is perfect for Sales tech companies like Clari and Gong.

Salespeople hangout on Linkedin. These companies enable their sales teams to create amazing content that helps salespeople (their target audience) improve performance.

First, this drives attention. Then loyalty. Then interest. Then purchase.

3. Skills & Alignment - the benefit of publishing content from your company page is that it's one unified voice (even if nobody's paying attention) and there's someone (or a team) specifically paid to write compelling content.

Enabling large teams to become content marketers means you need to upskill them on how to write good content.

You also have to ensure everyone is singing the same song differently.

This is the alignment issue.

Everyone involved in company evangelism needs to develop their own POV on whatever the content topic is. At the same time, the underlying message needs to tie back to corporate marketing themes.

4th and final challenge is time ⏰

Companies who want to adopt EGC as part of their GTM need to help their employees carve out time to get smart about their industry as well as create the actual content.

All that said, here’s why it works…

Why it Works 💡

• People care about people, not brands.

• EGC is the most affordable form of marketing we’ve ever known.

• When employees create content, they’re forced to get smarter about the domain, inherently increasing the quality of conversations and interactions with prospects and customers.

• Time is better spent attracting prospects instead of chasing.

How to take action

• Use ChatGPT to learn about the major problems and hot topics in your industry, and to find out how they’re being solved

• Scroll Linkedin to find out what kind of posts perform best from a format perspective

• Develop a unique POV in your domain and start writing about it daily.

There’s no downside and a ton of upside.

At best, you generate opportunities through credibility.

At worst, because you started writing about your industry or domain, you’ve become much more knowledgeable(because to hit the publish button you have to know your s**t). This will increase the quality of your conversations.

Takeaway: become a content creator and opportunities will come to you.

Embrace the weird times, people.