If you build it, will they come?

In B2B marketing, decisionmakers (and influencers) are always gathering information about products before they take the next step in the sales cycle. So how do you make sure they have access to, and get, what they need and want?

Many corporate websites are chock full of product information -- but often located in disparate locations. For a cold prospect, landing on the website home page makes information gathering a daunting, time consuming task.

Instead, build a Resource Center, and organize it such that your target can find and consume it quickly and easily. If you're targeting key verticals, then organize your site by vertical industry. Then, within each vertical, organize your whitepapers, case studies, product spec sheets etc.
Use your outbound marketing efforts to drive targets to that microsite. To determine who is visiting and downloading information, "lock" your pages and require visitors to register before they can access the information. Yes, you will get a few "Mickey Mouse" registrants, but those who are most serious are happy to share who they are -- if you don't ask that pesky "how soon are you looking to purchase?" question. Of course we've all figured out that you'll be calling us first if we answer "within 1 month!".

Be sure to have a plan in place to get a list of who has been visiting your Resource Center every day -- and a plan as to how to follow up with these leads. There is NOTHING more annoying than getting a phone call that says "You downloaded a white paper last month and I'm calling to see if you want more information." My response is "I download lots of whitepapers -- I can't even remember which whitepaper you're talking about, so no, I'm not interested."

A better follow up plan is to have a real reason to follow up -- an invitation to a webinar where a professional user of the product is talking about his/her experience with the product. Or an invitation to a breakfast briefing where some C-level is going to talk about how his/her business was transformed (and the product was part of the solution).

Business leaders are always seeking ideas and ways to make their business more productive. But if you make them do all the work to find out how, or where, they may show up the first time, but they will not come back. Ever.