AI rewards original insight, proprietary data and firsthand experience over length and polish. Here’s how content strategy must evolve.

There was a time when content marketing followed a predictable formula: pick a keyword, write 2,000 words around it, sprinkle in some headers and wait for Google to notice. It worked. Pages that said very little but said it at great length climbed the rankings and stayed there.

That era is ending, and most content teams haven’t realized it yet.

When we read web pages, we start at the top, skim the introduction and decide whether the author sounds smart. Google’s AI processes content differently. It breaks content into small semantic units – individual claims, definitions, data points and explanations – and evaluates each one on its own clarity and usefulness. A 3,000-word article that circles the same idea for 20 paragraphs doesn’t look comprehensive to an AI. It looks redundant.

This is a fundamental shift in how value gets assigned to content. Length used to be a proxy for depth. Now it’s just noise unless every section carries its own weight.

The long, keyword-circling blog posts that once dominated search are quietly losing ground to something leaner and more specific. AI Overview panels, featured snippets and conversational search results all pull from content that answers questions directly. They don’t reward buildup. They don’t care about your brand voice. They care about whether a specific paragraph contains a specific, helpful answer.

The old content playbook – where you’d research what competitors wrote and then write a slightly longer, slightly more polished version – is becoming a dead strategy. If five sites all paraphrase the same general knowledge, they’re not sources. They’re echoes. AI is getting remarkably good at telling the difference.

If you’re not a source, you’re a remix

If you’re not publishing original research, proprietary data or genuine firsthand insight, you’re not creating source material. You’re remixing what already exists. Remixes don’t get cited.

Think about how a large language model builds its responses. It synthesizes information from across the web, but it gravitates toward origin points – the study that produced the statistic, the company that ran the survey, the practitioner who documented what actually happened. Everyone downstream who rephrased that information is, from the AI’s perspective, a less reliable copy.

This isn’t speculation. We can already see it happening. Sites that publish original benchmarks, case studies with real numbers and first-person accounts of specific processes are showing up in AI-generated answers at disproportionate rates. Meanwhile, the ultimate guides that aggregate other people’s findings are getting compressed out of the picture.

Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up.
The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need.

The new content strategy

The path forward is more straightforward than most people want to hear. Stop trying to sound authoritative. Be the source of the information.

That means running your own experiments and publishing the results, even when they’re messy. It means sharing internal data that your industry would find valuable – conversion rates, timelines, costs and failure points. It means writing from experience rather than just research, because experience is something AI can’t fabricate and can’t find anywhere else.

It also means getting comfortable with shorter, more focused content. A 400-word post that introduces a single original insight is worth more in this new landscape than a 4,000-word guide that synthesizes 10 other people’s ideas. One is a source. The other is a summary.

This doesn’t mean writing quality is irrelevant. Poorly structured, confusing content still fails. But the competitive advantage has shifted. Clear thinking matters more than elegant prose. Having something to say matters more than saying it beautifully.

Add something new or don’t publish

The content teams that will thrive in an AI-driven search environment are the ones that treat publishing as a knowledge contribution, not a marketing exercise. Every piece should add something to the conversation that didn’t exist before – a number, result or perspective earned through doing the work.

The question to ask before you hit publish is no longer “Does this rank?” It’s “Would an AI cite this?” If the honest answer is no, you’re not writing content. You’re writing filler.

The post Why original thinking is your competitive advantage in the AI era appeared first on Carbon Design.

By Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 5 Minutes

Last week we finished a new website for a client. It’s the third time in the last 2 years we’ve been the “rescue” vendor on a website build that had gone wrong.

If you are thinking about updating your website, and/or are an agency building sites, here’s what we’ve learned through those experiences that you need to know.

1. Building a new or “refreshing” a website is not just a website build – it is also a rebranding, repositioning and a messaging project. Know that going in and plan for it. You may also want to scope in a competitive assessment.
2. Don’t build anything until everyone that counts has a say or has reviewed a page, content, images, etc. To hell with project timelines, don’t do a thing until the right people are on the same page.
3. Make it “paint by numbers.” Use pre-designed templates, provide direction on what you need from the client and be specific….”We need 250 words that describe your corporate culture.”
4. Scope in a copywriter. You’ll need one to either fill the gap on content or at a minimum, edit copy.
5. Give the client access to the staging server. Let them see the site as it is being built. Full transparency, do not wait to the end to share the site. At each client update meeting, walk them through the new updates and get their input. This is a collaborative effort.

And finally, if you offshore or nearshore the build, see the paint by numbers point. Give exact and specific directions to your developers. Stay on top of the development at each stage of the process. Plan reviews before showing anything to your client. Look at EVERY single detail.

The post How Website Disasters Uncovered 5 Critical Tips To Ensure a Successful Launch appeared first on Carbon Design.

By Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 5 Minutes

Off we go into 2023!

For us, 2022 was an odd year. The first half was on fire. The second half…it was hard to even get a spark ignited.

One thing was clear, at least for our clients, the recession mentally hit during the late summer. It began with budgets being clawed back, and then the ax came down hard for 2023!

Heading into the new year, I believe we are going to see a similar situation. The first half will be slow, then improve during summer, and momentum significantly gaining into 2024. As a result, I’m going to segment my predictions for the year into two parts.

For the first half of the year, I envision the following:

• Hiring freezes and staff cuts. This is probably not shocking, but where it occurs might surprise you. Covid hit event and travel budgets in 2020, but during this downturn, I see
  it hitting digital spending. And when it does, companies will freeze their digital staff hiring (once viewed as a never-ending need).
• CMO exhaustion. It’s already happening. CMO’s are exhausted from the internal battles over budgets, staffing, strategy, etc. The last three years have been a rollercoaster of highs and lows.
• Message confusion. Never have I seen the wild swings hitting the B2B market in such a short amount of time. From supply chain disruptions to overstock warehouses, and endless job openings to layoffs, it’s gone from one extreme to the next. It’s virtually impossible to stay current with your value proposition with so many swings between effectiveness and efficiency.

The second half of the year, as I mentioned, should show some improvement in the economy.  As a result, I think we’ll see:

• CMO turnover. The burn out mentioned above will fuel CMO’s desire for a clean start. As soon as the economy and hiring outlook improves, I suspect you will see a lot of
  movement.
• Big time AI adoption. Chat GPT is just the beginning. Expect to see agencies widely embrace AI for all types of creative – not just content. Open AI’s CEO Sam Atlman sees the greatest application of AI for creative use, not in replacing blue collar jobs as many had predicted. (more on this topic to come soon in an article of The Drum).
• Better tools for improving ROI. Better tools will come online to improve; 1) the quality of intent data, 2) the cost of content syndication, and 3) the effectiveness of ABM programs.

And of course, as with any prediction, I could be entirely wrong. I am genuinely optimistic, though, that we will be in a much better position kicking off 2024 than we are today.

Good luck and much success this year. I hope your year burns brightly!

The post What Does the Future Hold? appeared first on Carbon Design.

The post Reignite stalled deals and create ABM programs that produce results – now! appeared first on Carbon Design.

By Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 5 Minutes

The third installment of our four part series on how to navigate decision making blockers. 

Nothing sets off lead nurturing scoring system alarms more than the presence of a C-level Influencer hitting content. They’ve got the right title, hit your content, probably more than one and you’re thinking there has got to be intent. But unfortunately that’s not the case, here’s why.  

Influencers are information seekers to the extreme. In fact, you probably know one in your personal life. They’re the first to find out about a new restaurant or a new band. They’re your go to when you’re looking for a weekend getaway or vacation spot. And they love to do it. Influencers are motivated by being the first to know and sharing the information with others. 

And that’s why there is no real intent. The information that they are consuming or downloaded is going to someone else. Recently we found a C-level Influencer that forwarded an email invitation to a webinar over 30 times! Influencers often are a “false position” – giving off a signal of intent, but the real need or opportunity is with someone else. 

Influencers are great MQL’s, but terrible SQL’s 

The upside of Influencers is that they are a key channel for introducing new ideas into organizations. Even better, they’re great at selling people on ideas. They consume a tremendous amount of information from a vast amount of sources, online and offline. Marketers this is your number one personality type to target, but they have a unique preference when it comes to content. 

Sales, the good news is Influencers keep a loose schedule and enjoy meeting new people, but don’t chase them. Because of their position in the organization (often senior exec), and their personality type they are off to the next thing. 

Influencers don’t usually own projects or budgets, their staff does, and that’s who you need, especially a “Champion” personality. The good news is that they often come back into the deal at the end to deal with any resistance from others in the buying group. 

Here’s how to get the most out of leveraging Influencers in the account. 

1. Give them the right assets. Influencers prefer short highly visual content that travels easily. They LOVE short (30 sec or less) animated videos that they can forward. An interactive infographic that they can play around with it like a moth to the flame. Short, visual content pieces that convey information easily work with them. Additionally, opportunities for people to learn about something like events or webinar invitations also travel well as I mentioned. 
2. Find them in your data.  Since they have a habit of forwarding information, it’s easy to spot them in your data. Look for emails that have been opened multiple times over a 2-3 days period. Once you’ve identified them, see if that pattern repeats on other occasions.  
3. Tag and track them.  You can also use PURLS or forms to track where they’re sending information. This is a key insight, sharing (or forwarding) is a much better indicator of interest than a download or click thru. But that comes with a caveat, where the information lands has to resonate or address an issue that person has currently. Unfortunately, because of the Influencers behavior mentioned above they have a tendency to forward information that never gets actioned.  
4. Sell them on the idea, not the solution. In all of our research over the years we have only found an Influencer being a blocker on one occasion and it provided an interesting insight. Influencers want credit for the idea.  
5. Give away ideas.  One of our most important clients has an Influencer personality and a CMO title, but he’s never signed a contract. Give away free advice. It will usually come back to you in business from others within the organization.  
6. Use them to remove blockers. Influencers are present at the beginning of the buyers journey, and they will reappear at the end. In particular, to reinforce the value of the idea or solution. Influencers (hence the name) are very good at selling others on the idea, keep them posted on your progress and use them to get past Blockers in the buyer group.   

B2B marketing campaigns are often DOA before they even launch. Why? Because of the influence of sales, we often target titles, roles and budget owners. Sounds pretty common, right? And that would be fine if marketing’s job was to sell…but it’s not. 

Our goal as marketers is to grab someone’s attention and have them take action (click on this link, download a piece of content, and register for a webinar). Targeting roles or titles alone doesn’t give us the best opportunity to make that happen. Do you know what does?

Targeting Influencers, but know that they love your ideas or solution more than they love you, your company or brand. It’s nothing personal…it’s just the personality. Influencers play an important role for us as marketers. They react and take action. It’s not personal for us either, it’s just the type of personality that gets us the performance we need. 

To read the previous installment of the series, 6 Ways to Engage Champion “Blockers” click here. 

The post  6 Things You Need to Know About Influencer “Blockers” appeared first on Carbon Design.

By Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 5 Minutes

The second of four part series on how to navigate decision making blockers. 

Plot twist…in all of our research, we’ve never found Champion personalities to be true blockers. That said, they do exhibit two behavior traits making them appear as if they are blockers. 

What is a Champion personality?  A Champion is someone who is very driven and career oriented. They make things happen inside organizations. In the book, The Challenger Customer, Champions are referred to as a “Go-Getter Mobilizer” because of their willingness to champion and drive initiatives through the organization. If you’re using DISC segmentation they will be identified as Dominants. 

You don’t have to read the book (although you should) or use a personality profiler to identify them. Just go to their LinkedIn page and look at how many different companies and roles they’ve had. If it averages 1 new position or company every year or two, you’ve got one. Champions are very ambitious and climb the corporate ladder quickly, or they will go elsewhere. \

For example, we just finished building an ABM program for a client and found the best example of a Champion we’ve ever seen. He’s been working for 22 years and has had 19 updates (new roles) to his LinkedIn page. 

Champions are heads down doers.

Now for the downside, of all the buyers we’ll cover in this series, Champions are the most important to connect with because they drive the buying process. But, they are one of the hardest to engage. Because of their personality, they typically have a lot on their plates and are heads down on delivery. 

As a result, you (or someone in the buying group) have to attract their attention by aligning whatever you’re selling against their immediate priorities (in their field of vision), which means you need to know them. Additionally, you have to connect your solution to one of their priorities (fit) and to them personally (motivation). 

Here comes the second challenge, because of their career ambitions they are very savvy at reading the organization.  If they sense a shift in priorities, or an opportunity to get a greater reward/recognition for another initiative they may drop you like a hot potato. About a third of the “no decision” sales opportunities we evaluated had a Champion shifting priorities.   

The game plan for engaging and motivating Champions to stay in the buying process. 

1. Research their background. I already mentioned what to check for on LinkedIn to identify them. Scan down their profiles and look for certifications and executive education posting. Note what content they are engaging with (Likes and Comments). Look at the groups they belong to and any volunteer experience. You are trying to get a 360 degree view of them as a person, not just a decision maker or budget holder. 
2. Connect to them personally.  Now that you’ve done your homework  it’s time to use it. Of the four personality types we’ll cover, the Champion is the one most personally invested in your solution (and brand) and what it can do for them. Personalize your value proposition and DO NOT “BS” this buyer, they will read through it in a second. 
3. Use relevant examples.  Champions like to see themselves in your examples. When pitching them make sure to use case studies or use cases in their industry. Get as close to their situation as possible. Most importantly, connect the results to what it could mean for them professionally and personally. 
4. Show them off. They are ambitious and looking to advance their career so help them. Feature them as speakers at industry or peer conferences. Highlight their success in case studies, articles and advertising. 
5. Understand what motivates them.  You’re in it for the long haul. If you typically have a buying process longer than a year, your Champion is critical for keeping it moving. They’re your advocate in the buying group, so arm them with the right information that motivates them to continue to fight for your solution.  
6. Use other people in the buyer group to help sell them. Locate an “Influencer” in the organization and arm them with the information they’ll need to get the Champion excited. They love to “champion” (hence, the descriptor) other people’s ideas, especially Influencers who are “heads up” looking for something new and better.  

Unlike Challengers, which skew towards being more male, Champions skew towards being female. Not only do they get things done, they often deliver more than what is expected, which is the reason they climb the ladder so quickly.

Speaking of getting things done, their boss (and the organization) knows they’re good at driving projects forward and over delivering.  If the sales process seems to have slowed or stopped, it doesn’t necessarily mean the deal is dead.They may have been asked to take on special projects that are stalled or just a priority for the moment. 

As a result, you may find that they may have high engagement early on and then drift off. Stay in contact with them. B2B buying cycles are long, often because of a shift in priorities. If Champions still find a win in your solution they will come back to it. 

Finally, if they are successful using your solution or services they will take you with them as they advance to their next position or organization…and then they’ll be your Champion.  

To read this first installment of the series, 6 Ways to Get Through and Around Challenger “Blockers” click here.

The post 6 Ways to Engage Champion “Blockers” appeared first on Carbon Design.

As previously published on 7/5/22 in The Drum

By Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 5 Minutes

Somewhere along the way, B2B marketers have been “consumerized.”  I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but I do know where to place the blame – MarTech companies. 

Lacking the ability to prove that their technology can actually improve the performance of marketing programs, they have traded on the ability to do more. Their value proposition basically follows the line that in order to reach performance targets you need to go broader and more often…if you’re getting a 3% response rate, you need to reach the largest audience possible.  

So let me help remind marketers that in B2B, it’s not always about reaching a broader audience. In fact, most times it’s not. After spending a dozen years in the consulting business analyzing customer revenue, I can safely say that in B2B, the Pareto principle is ALWAYS true, 80% of your revenue is coming from 20% of your customer base. 

If you’re in certain industries, like financial services or one that targets the enterprise segment, the 90/10 may be the case. In fact, if you evaluate the “long tail” of customers you will most likely find that the smallest segment of customers (20% or less of your revenue) are most likely unprofitable. 

Which begs the question, why do we need a platform to reach our smallest, least profitable customers? You know the answer…because we need the largest list so we can get to hit our numbers. 

We are at a crossroads. 

We are investing in going another mile wider, rather than going an inch or two deeper. To get the greatest return on our marketing dollars we should be focusing on the largest accounts, but we have acquired tools built for scale. 

As a result, any success we have at improving conversion is always met with the same response; “Will it scale?” 

Here are some other data points to help us guide ourselves back to the real world of B2B. Eighty-five to ninety percent of your revenue comes from the sales channels. Said differently, only 10-15% of the year’s revenue will have been sourced by marketing. 

So what is all this investment in scaling buying us? 

It keeps our performance metrics low because of the size and volume. A majority of our content marketing engagement efforts are with non-decision makers, and if we’re lucky enough to snag a buyer in mid-cycle, it only accounts for potentially 10-15% of revenue. 

Because sales is smart enough to avoid small customers, we may end up creating a lead in an account that is actually costing the company money. Bottom line, the focus on scale often devalues marketing’s impact to the organization. 

What should marketers do? 

Marketing should be exploring better ways to motivate targeted audiences to take action. Everything we do as marketers is about getting someone to do something – open an email, register for a webinar, download a report, etc. None of our existing “scaling” tools help us understand how to make that happen. 

To do this we have to understand audiences at a deeper level, beyond the “offer” which is most often not aligned to buyer preference. Let’s break this down into simple steps. A response is an action. An action is created by motivation. Motivation varies by individuals, based on their interest, but mostly, their personality. 

Knowing a buyer’s motivations and behaviors by understanding their personality type is the key to understanding how to get them to take action. It’s that simple, and it gets even easier when you know that in every industry we assessed (9 so far) there are 1-2 dominant personality types that make up 65-75% of that audience. 

Now to bring it all together…for most companies the top 20% of accounts easily represents more than half of the yearly revenue goal. If you are targeting the enterprise segment it will be higher. The top of the customer pyramid is often less than fifty accounts.

Focusing on going deeper into finding ways to connect with 1 or 2 personality types in less than 50 accounts doesn’t require scale, it requires strategy…it’s about being smarter and building a customized ABM plan for each account. 

Embracing this approach offers B2B marketers a huge new opportunity to redefine their value to the organization, in particular, sales. Having success in those accounts far outweighs anything that requires scale. 

Yes, many of the tools in the MarTech stack are useful, but they are not the answer and unfortunately, we’ve let them influence our behavior, decisions and activities too much. 

It’s time to refocus our efforts from all potential contacts, to better understanding buyers in your largest opportunities. And, it’s time to stop resisting and deflecting opportunities that take effort to make real improvements by asking the question, “Will it scale?” Unless of course, if you’re Microsoft or Google targeting the SMB, then it’s perfectly fine to ask.

The post Please Stop Saying “Does it Scale?” appeared first on Carbon Design.

By Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 5 Minutes

This is the first of four part series on how to navigate decision making blockers. 

We’ve all experienced them, in our personal and professional lives – people whose first reaction to anything is to say “no.” For me, it was my father. I knew if I wanted to do anything or go anywhere as a teenager, it was going to be a battle. 

“Blockers” come in all shapes and sizes.  Most are born that way, others react to a situation or information, while others are of our own making. After studying how buyers behave in the purchase decision making process for the last three years, here’s what we’ve learned about how to make progress with Challenger personality types.

Challengers are skeptics 

My dad is a Challenger. After saying no, he would follow up with asking why I needed or wanted to do something or go somewhere. Eventually, I figured out how to make a convincing case for myself through many frustrating years of trial and error. 

I eventually realized that if I want the car to do something on the weekend, I’d have to start on Monday. Expecting a “no,” I’d come back with an argument (that would benefit him) on Wednesday, then involve my Mom on Thursday, and then by Saturday I’d be in the car on my way to the mall.  

Much like my father to me, challengers are the scariest and most difficult buyers for young and inexperienced reps, for a number of reasons. 

First, they don’t realize the “objections” they’re hearing are actually the Challenger’s way of gathering information. If they are actively engaging in a back and forth discussion, that is progress. When they stop challenging you, then you’ve lost them.

Second, reps have a tendency to give up mainly because they’ve run out of answers. You need to prepare for a duel, and arm yourself with the facts. Their goal is to exhaust you. 

If you are currently blocked by a Challenger, you most likely haven’t convinced them of one or more of the following; 1) there is a valid need; 2) your solution is credible and best fits the need, and/or 3) the investment (including time) is worth the return/effort.  

Here’s what you need to do next

1. Your homework. Credibility is everything when wrestling with a Challenger. if you have not done your research on the company’s issues/needs and the Challenger, you need to do that immediately. Without it, you’re in a knife fight without a weapon. 
2. Do not use the words “new,” “innovative” or make claims that you cannot support with data or research. Again, this relates to your credibility. Give them an “anchor” reference. Instead of saying this will “revolutionize the way you do…” instead say “this is an evolution of the existing XXX but improves its functionality in these areas” and be specific. If you cannot solidly state or source evidence that it improves those areas…then don’t mention it. Also, have references of clients that have experienced those improvements ready to go. 
3. Talk moderate downside improvement vs large upside potential. One of the things that immediately shoots sales people in the foot is to make a claim that is too bold (improve productivity by 40%, increase profits by 100%, ROI’s of 400%) Being born skeptics, Challengers immediately will try to match your claim with their own beliefs and experience. Not only will they challenge your claim, they’ll pick apart, and it will go downhill from here. This is a sport for them. Instead, talk about risk reduction and/or cost savings. Buyers are much more open to believing the value and credibility of smaller claims related to risk reduction rather than large returns on investment or time.    
4. Never offer an opinion, instead lean in on making a  logical argument. Your opinion doesn’t matter to them unless you’re credible (one of the reasons why they’re a challenger for young and inexperienced reps). Your response to their first question will determine whether you’re worth their time. Know that, and be ready. Lay out a logical argument that is relatable and believable. “Dad, I need to be at an event on Friday night, if I don’t have the car, then you’ll have to drive me.” Give them the opportunity, through options, to answer, or make the decision for themselves. (After a long work week, does my Dad really want to have to drive me across town at 7:30 pm on a Friday?)  
5. Prepare for a journey.  Challengers are often the last hurdle to overcome, don’t let them stand the way of your deal. As I mentioned earlier, their goal is to outduel you. Do a dry run internally and anticipate where they will attack, get armed with data, research, use cases and references.
6. Use other people in the buyer group to help sell them. Locate an “influencer” in the organization and arm them with the information they’ll need to advocate for your solution. Influencers enjoy the dance as much as the Challenger, but they are better at selling ideas than the Challenger is at rejecting them. 

Are they really worth the trouble?  Yes, Interestingly enough, once convinced these natural born skeptics will be one of your best advocates, and are the most powerful movers of the buyer group. 

Why? Other members of the buying group are keenly aware of their skepticism, and as a result, they default to them as sort of a “due diligence officer.” Once the Challenger is convinced, the others fail in line. 

Lastly, if you are in certain sectors of technology, finance and life science industries know that every other person you speak with may be one of these personality types. There are no easy wins. Do your homework, stay persistent and win these people over because if you do – they’ll also be your most loyal customer. 

The post 6 Ways to Get Through and Around Challenger “Blockers” appeared first on Carbon Design.

By Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 3 Minutes

One of the biggest concerns for marketers is watching their hard work doing buyer research, positioning and messaging fall apart in the last mile….when the rep speaks with the prospect or customer.

In fact, I experienced this first hand last week.

A BDR for a PR firm reached out to me a few weeks ago after listening to a recent podcast I did on a well known show. Their email immediately captured my attention by stating they believed we had a story that would get the attention of national publications.

Not having a great experience using PR firms in the past, I was ready to hit delete until I read the next line that said, “we know that 85% of buyers that have used PR firms report not having a good experience, it’s why we have a pay for performance model.”

Now they had my interest, and I agreed to a meeting. In the weeks in between, I received nurturing emails containing links to testimonials, recent stories placed, and assurance that they could do the same for us, including this from their email; 

“Our team has done extensive research on your project and is excited to guide you towards more success.”

Up to this point, all good work by the marketing team.

Last Tuesday at 2 PM, I had a call with the “Client Director.” He explained their unique model, working on the “buy” side with publishers which gives them insight into the stories publishers want ( a nice piece of positioning) which sold me, and I was excited to know what they heard in the podcast that was newsworthy.

And that is where it ALL fell apart. The rep hadn’t even listened to the podcast and apparently didn’t talk with the BDR to find out the details. He literally had no clue.

After the rep stumbled to make something up, and then called us a “tech company” I ended the conversation at 2:09 PM. All the previous great marketing was wasted by a rep that didn’t do his homework. The final steps of the last mile left untraveled because the rep thought the journey was over.

The post Case Study: How Sales Sabotaged Good Marketing appeared first on Carbon Design.

As previously published on 5/17/22 in The Drum

By Scott Gillum
Estimated read time: 5 Minutes

Fred Reicheld developed the Net Promoter Score in 2001 using a single survey question asking respondents to rate their likelihood to recommend a company, product, or service to a friend or colleague. 

Since then, NPS has been adopted and widely used by corporations as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) but, there is one key piece missing from many organizations that would make this important metric an even more powerful indicator of performance. 

What’s Missing 

Ironically, the answer to the question, “Would you recommend the company, product or service?” is rarely tracked. Organizations place a tremendous amount of focus on developing, interpreting and reviewing the results, yet spend little to no time tracking the measurable proof the referrals. 

Depending on where one sits within the organization, there are various reasons as to why this happens. If you’re in marketing, referrals just aren’t a focus. CMO’s are more concerned with tracking the results of their team’s outbound activities and the return on their spend. 

In sales, inbound referrals are often coded as rep generated leads, or no source is given. Why? Because reps have a quota to hit and want credit for creating and closing self generated leads. Inbound referrals (aka, “blue birds”) are high quality and the quickest opportunities to close.   

For customer service, the focus is more aligned with efficiency metrics, and/or the team receives no credit for inbound referrals, even within accounts. 

Regardless of what part of the organization reps are in, like everyone else, they capture the data relevant to how they are being measured, which often doesn’t include inbound referrals. There is no close loop, and as a result, it leaves a gap in the organization’s ability to link the real impact of NPS on performance. We only get half of the story. 

Why It’s Important

The genius of NPS is that it’s a simple and straightforward one question survey that measures the performance of the entire organization (from marketing to product, sales and through customer service). It encompasses the entire customer experience and journey. 

It’s also a great indicator of brand health. The customer feels a connection to your organization, strong enough to put their personal reputation on the line. Think about that for a minute… they’re willing to risk their credibility for a promise that your organization will fulfill or at least that’s the theory of net promoter. 

This highlights why actual referrals are a more important performance indicator than NPS – the person making the referral (and we know who they are) is one of your most valuable customers. By making the referral, the customer is validating their connection to your brand. And according to the research, that connection means more than just a referral for at least two reasons beyond the obvious. 

First, they are twice as likely to pay a premium for your product/services, and second, they are more likely to advocate for your brand (which they just demonstrated with the referral). Not only are they the source of potential new customers, they are also the key people to advocate for your solution or company within the account. 

Referees are key to starting and moving the internal buying process…but only, if you know who they are by capturing that information, which too many organizations fail to do. 

Tracking referrals should be a corporate KPI because it cuts across the organization, and as a result, has to be driving it from the top down to eliminate the gaps I pointed out earlier. 

Keep in mind, you will also have to motivate reps to capture the information and give them an incentive for asking for a referral. Assign a higher value to referring customers given their importance, and then begin to estimate the amount of inbound revenue in your annual forecast. 

Creating a goal in your forecast will drive the active management of referral tracking. As mentioned, these are your most valuable leads so be proactive versus just let the “bluebirds” leads come in. 

For marketers, especially if you are in the tech sector, this presents an opportunity to track word of mouth. The top four most used and credible information sources for buyers are people oriented channels (peers, influencers, consultants, etc.). 

Finally, reward customers who put their reputation on the line for you. They see something in your brand that connects to them at a personal level, find out what that is, and reinforce it because not only is it the reason they’ll advocate for you, it’s also key to their loyalty…but that’s the topic for another post.    

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