Did you know that most vaccines contain a little bit of a disease germ?
Having this germ inside your body triggers your defense system to b
uild anti-bodies to fight off this type of germ.
You fight the disease by exposing yourself to it, in a small way.
Knowledge marketing, or content marketing, works in a similar way. Only instead of injecting a germ into someone’s bloodstream, you’re injecting an idea into their brain.
Knowledge marketing and vaccines
Let’s step back and look at the cycle of buying in the logistics industry. It starts when companies recognize a logistics problem or opportunity and begin to educate themselves about how to address it. They look for answers on the web, at conferences, during webinars.
You want to be found during this self-education process.
Knowledge marketing is the process of publishing content that positions you as a thought leader on a topic and increases your chances of being found.
In medicine, a vaccine stimulates the body’s defense system to become active. In marketing, giving people part of the answer stimulates their interest to learn more.
Some logistics businesses are reticent to share new thinking for fear of giving away some secret sauce. NEWS FLASH: chances are what you are doing is not that revolutionary. And, in most cases, educational content deals at the strategic level – what to do, not how to do it.
You want your paper, your speech, your slide presentation to do one thing: to stimulate thinking. To get the prospect to consider her challenge from a new angle.
If you succeed, that could be an entrée to a more detailed discussion.
No pain, no gain
Knowledge marketing is similar to vaccinations in another way. There’s some short-term pain. Someone must invest time to document what you know.
Don’t have the time or not quite sure how to do it? Hire someone to help. Logistics services aren’t the only thing that’s outsourced.
Remember, unless you share your specialized knowledge, no one is aware you have it – other than the ones you manage to talk to directly.
So, to improve logistics lead generation, start educating. Make it your goal to “inoculate” as many people as possible with your ideas and see if it whets their appetite to reach out and learn more.
Free eBook:
Finding a Logistics Provider Is Nothing Like Finding a Plumber (Or Is It?)
