If marketing worked as well as you believed it is supposed to, then the eight page, four-color glossy brochure you sent your dream client would have compelled them to pick up the phone and place their order. They haven’t ever done that.
If the infographic containing industry and company specific information worked the way you believe it works, the information would cause your dream client to believe they need to change, and they would immediately contact you. The phone does not ring. Your email is unanswered.
If the proof providers you emailed your prospective client were effective the way you think they are, then the logos of the companies you work with, the time your company has been in business, and how well you are doing financially should cause people to flock to your doors. Yet, no shadow darkens your door.
When someone downloads the white paper, the case study, or the lead magnet on your website by agreeing to provide you with their contact information, they are at very best a lead. They may be interested in information, but they are not committed to change, that one thing that magically transforms a lead into a prospect.
Marketing is important, and it is only growing in importance. More and more, the content is being created with the goal of creating the case for change. It’s also being created to support the sales conversations necessary to educating your prospective clients in the decisions they are going to make, including the decisions they don’t want to have to make.
Sending the content that marketing creates and expecting it to do the selling for you is unrealistic. That isn’t even what the content is supposed to do.
Without personalizing the marketing content you use in your sales game, and without providing your insights, your personal touch, and your caring, you should expect it to do nothing for you at all.
And if you harbor ill feelings towards your marketing department for the ineffectiveness of the content they create, it’s likely that the content is fine and your expectations are unrealistic.