Why Your Content Marketing Should Alienate (Some) Prospects

Recently, I attended a webinar presented by Doug Kessler titled Insane Honesty in Content Marketing. If you're not familiar with Doug Kessler, he's one of the co-founders of Velocity Partners, a content marketing agency based in the UK. Velocity consistently publishes great resources regarding content marketing, and this webinar is a must-see for B2B marketers.

According to Kessler, insane honesty in content marketing consists of:

• Actively seeking out your weaknesses and sharing them openly; and
• Strategically putting your worst foot forward.

Obviously, this approach runs counter to a whole laundry list of widely-accepted marketing principles and practices, and the idea is probably difficult for many marketers to swallow. In the webinar, Kessler shared several examples of insane honesty at work, which is another good reason you should view the presentation.

Six Reasons to Practice Insane Honesty

Kessler identified six reasons to practice insane honesty in your content marketing:

1. It surprises and charms - Because this type of content is rare, it is more likely to capture the attention of potential buyers.
2. It signals confidence - Kessler contends that confidence is the most powerful attribute of all effective content marketing.
3. It builds trust - If you're insanely honest about the weaknesses of your solution, potential buyers will be more likely to trust what you say about the strengths and benefits of your solution.
4. It alienates less likely buyers.
5. It attracts your ideal prospects.
6. It focuses your sales and marketing team on the battles you can win.

All of these reasons are important, but I want to focus on reason #4 in this post. Marketing content that is insanely honest will alienate some of your prospects, and that is a good thing because of the economics of B2B demand generation.

Insane Honesty Supports Economic Demand Generation

The diagram below illustrates the point that your investment in a prospect increases as the prospect moves through the marketing/sales funnel. On average, you will have much more invested in a Sales Opportunity than you will in an Inquiry. Therefore, it's important to determine whether your solution is a good "fit" for a prospect as early as possible in the prospect relationship.

Marketing content that is insanely honest serves two critical marketing objectives. It functions as a magnet that simultaneously attracts prospects who are a good fit for your business and repels those who aren't. The result is a more effective and efficient demand generation process and a lower likelihood of winding up with frustrated and unhappy customers.