Put the Fun Back in the Funnel

Content marketing is a gaping maw, endlessly begging for a variety of words and pictures and videos, insatiable in its need for the new and better and more attractive.

Some of the hottest trends in B2B marketing this year -- Facebook pages, LinkedIn groups, Twitter, Inbound Marketing -- all require you to have something to say and an interesting way in which to say it.

So why is content marketing so boring?  Does it always have to be this way?

In working with hundreds of demand generation marketers this year, I've seen the same situation over and over again:  Folks have been told to focus on people, process and technology.  

And dutifully, they get their organization primed for change management, organize dozens of meetings (held while standing, because that's also the trend these days) with sales and marketing leadership to get alignment, and buy sophisticated marketing automation systems to power it all.

Then they write copy like this:

The proliferation of mobile devices within the enterprise is one of the hottest technology trends in business today. The explosion of mobile devices in use has created a headache for IT managers struggling to cope with the security implications of this growth. At the same time, this disruption has created a unique opportunity for solution providers to capitalize on this need.

XXX has expanded our XX lead delivery service to adapt to this rapidly growing segment of the market and help our customers identify and reach qualified prospects at every stage of the purchase cycle... Blah blah blech

We need to step up our game. But how?   Here are a couple of ideas:

• Hire a great direct response copywriter.  
• Find an out-of-work humor columnist to write for you.  
• Get a little loose and attempt it yourself.  

Just stop with the boring corporate-speak, please?

And if you think you don't have it in you, you need only to look to our B2C colleagues for inspiration, this one from Woot.com's web site on August 2, 2011 this year, selling a ballistic grey looking USB drive:

BURIED TREASURE

There’s gold in them there USB Flash Drives.

Legend has it that Thornton B. Centon, reclusive billionaire and founder of Centon Electronics, buried his treasure in one of these here 32GB USB flash drives. Legend has it that upon his deathbed, as his twelve spoiled-rotten children begged him to reveal the secret of the location of his wealth, he screamed “I shall never tell. I will take the secret, compatible with both Windows and Mac and ensconced in durable aluminum, to the grave!” And then, legend has it, he patted his pockets nervously and said, “Oh crap, I think I forgot it!” and with those words, he died.

Some say that the treasure is the access code to an off-shore bank account. Some say that what is on the drive is not a treasure but a map to a treasure. And some say it is a map that leads you to a treasure map. And some say the second map will bring you to a chest, in which is a second USB drive which contains a document that says, “there is no treasure.” And some say that the knowledge of there not being a treasure is a treasure in itself, but those people are just dumb.

Some believe that the treasure is an executable file that takes up all 32 gigabytes of the Flash Drive. And when its finder runs the file, his computer’s DVD-drive will eject a platinum DVD ofRequiem for a Dream except all of the characters are played by cats, making it hilarious and fun to watch. Others claim that the file will transform the finder’s computer, in front of your very eyes, into the woman of his dreams, as long as he dreams of a woman who only likes to talk about backing up his hard drive and has lips that taste like hard plastic...

 You can do it.  Put a little more fun into your funnel.

Comments

[Steve Gershik]

Thanks, Jeff. We should all be on the lookout for the waving freak flags.

- Steve

[Jeff Ogden]

Amen, Steve. Well said. Put some fun back in the funnel. Content marketing is deadly boring in most companies today.

To say companies need to loosen up is an understatement. I urge companies to "Let their freak flag fly." and have fun!

Jeff Ogden, the Fearless Competitor
Host of the weekly B2B marketing show Laugh and Learn
http://www.findnewcustomers.com