In Marketing, Give First to Get Later

This seems to work well in our personal lives, but in our business? Well, yes, you do have to give to get. Let me give you some examples.

Let’s say you want to turn your static website into something more interactive. You want to build a community of people interested in your product or service, or you want to sell something online. How do you gather your prospect’s contact information, and keep them coming back to your site

One of the best ways is to give them something. Developing fresh, innovative content is one way to do this. And distributing the content through a variety of avenues, such as blogs, blog responses, eNewsletters, email programs, white papers and eBooks helps you reach people you probably wouldn’t have without it.

And speaking of white papers, they may not be the best choice anymore. Often times white papers are outdated and many people perceive them to be boring. Once downloaded, they do not always serve as a very good catalyst for further interaction.

Instead of doing a white paper, how about creating an eBook. And, in order to get the valuable eBook, people fill out a form, so you can collect prospect data in exchange for giving something valuable.

So, you see, you have to give first to get.

Additionally, the eBook can be sliced and diced into a variety of blogs, tweets, eNewsletter content, emails and more.

Do you know how to do something really cool within your business? Create a YouTube video. Distribute information about it.

Give to get. It’s a simple principle that goes a long way with your web content strategy.