Internet Marketing Digital_marketing_for_dummies | Page 63

generating business-to-business (B2B) leads.
Primary research
Primary research is research that you or your business collects. It can include interviews
and observations. When you take the time to create new research, you’re providing a
service and saving others from having to do their own primary research, which is why
people opt in to a gated offer of this nature.
Webinar training
If you’re an expert in your field, or can partner with one, you can host an online training
via a webinar that teaches or demonstrates a topic that is relevant to both your brand and to
your target audience. You create a gated offer that requires prospects to fill out a
registration form for the webinar, thus capturing prospects’ contact information and
allowing you to follow up with them after the webinar takes place.
Sales material
In some cases, the most desired pieces of information for your market are pricing and
descriptions of your products or services. This information helps people who are
interested in buying your product or service make informed decisions. The sales material
gated offer tends to be longer, in text and content examples such as images or customer
testimonial videos, than the other examples in this chapter so far. However, this length is
necessary because a person generally needs more information before making a purchase,
especially if a big-ticket item is involved. However, this also means that anyone who opts
in is more likely to be a qualified lead. A qualified lead is someone who is actively seeking
more information about your products or services because he or she is interested in
buying from you. (An unqualified lead may not have been nurtured enough to make a
purchase yet, or isn’t sure of what your company does or even what solution he or she
seeks.)
IKEA provides a wonderful example of the sales material gated offer. The Scandinavian
chain collects contact information in exchange for its catalog, which lists all its products.
Figure 3-3 demonstrates IKEA’s gated offer, and because IKEA can deliver its catalog
digitally, it speeds up the delivery of value to the new lead.