Information. Its our golden ticket when it comes to converting leads into sales. Or, better than that, people who don’t know us into brand ambassadors. But how do we get there? We’re all consumers; what makes us as individuals in our daily lives hand over our contact information? With the junk mail and spam we get on a regular basis, what really gets us to say its worth it? Its all about two things: content and offers.

When you are asking a web visitor to provide contact information, they rightly may be hesitant. Its your job to move them from worried to seeing this as beneficial to them. Bottom line is that its about THEM not YOU. Sure you may have segmented your messaging to them, but truly, is it a benefit to them or to you? What are you providing me – immediately – that is for my benefit and not yours? Offers can be seen as altruistic or as sales pitches. You need to be careful when providing offers so that they do add to the community and aren’t just a ploy to get names and leads.

What does your customer want? What will make life easier for them? Is it connections to others like them? Is it information that you have access to that you can provide for free? These offers are what allow clients to give up their privacy and provide their information to you, because, they see that there is a benefit and that you are a trusted resource.

Content. It really is king. It allows you to be seen as a thought leader and to bring people to your conversations. Its not about pulling or pushing. Its about providing something of use for the overall gain of the community. Its this goodwill that builds rapport with your customer base. By doing this, you may not close sales quickly, but the goodwill you gain will ultimately gain you entry into a much larger base of opportunity than just push marketing ever will.