Demand Creation Specialists

Last month, I traveled from Pittsburgh to San Francisco courtesy of Southwest Airlines.  As I was getting settled in for the long, cross country journey I thumbed through the latest edition of SkyMall.  For those of you who haven’t been on a plane in a while SkyMall catalogs are found in the seat pockets of 90% of US flights, reaching about 650 million passengers annually.

As I flipped the pages I could not help but think about how the SkyMall model was relevant to the world of custom content.  SkyMall catalogs are typically over 200 pages and carry about 2,000 products that are relevant to young and old, professional business travelers and folks going on vacation.

The catalogs are chock-full of colorful photos showing folks enjoying the products, with messaging centered on calls to action on how these “will make your life better.”  There is something for everyone – knee wraps, golf clubs, pet accessories, toys, outdoor furniture and that full size video game you played at the arcade that everyone wishes they had.

The common ingredient among all the products was that they the addressed a common pain or perceived need consumers had back at the home front. SkyMall has the advantage of a captive audience, but the products and sales messaging speak directly to their audience.

I’d encourage marketers during their business trip to consider how the blurb for why someone needs a better garden tool could be applied to a new software application or a new business service. If nothing else, it will make your keep you busy at 40,000 feet.

Ed Cleary
Demand Creation Specialists

A few weeks ago we hosted a webinar titled “Utilizing Content To Drive Demand.” featuring Joe Pulizzi, founder of Junta42 and author of the book “Get Content Get Customers.” For those of you that didn’t have a chance to attend the event, The webinar presentation is still available on-demand (provide link).

Attendance for this webinar was outstanding and the feedback from attendees was extremely positive. “Demand Creation Specialists practices what they preach,” said MaryEllen Daniels, Global Business Development Manager for Compuspar. “I found the webinar very informative and the 5 Free Content ideas for 2010 they provided were very useful. I have recommended other peers to review the webinar content and consider the services DCS offers.

What struck me about the webinar was the wide range of companies that attended the event, cutting across industries such as retail, manufacturing, financial, healthcare, high tech, and telcom just to name a few. Companies are quickly learning the value that custom content delivers, not only in attracting new customers, but as a way to keep existing customers informed and engaged.

The cross-reference of attendees seemed to mirror the case studies presented in Joe Pulizzi’s book. During his presentation and in the Get Customers book, Joe uses several real-world case studies including stories on manufacturing, hotel, furniture, and healthcare to demonstrate how custom content can help create conversations with new customers. Joe’s book clearly demonstrates companies of all sizes and all verticals can benefit from custom content, and I highly recommend viewing the on demand webinar and getting your hands on a copy of Joe’s book.

We are planning to host webinars like this on a monthly basis in 2010 and encourage you to keep an eye out for this valuable content.