Once I stepped into my function as head of content material at Gong, I did not include a decade of promoting expertise. I got here with a gross sales background and a complete lot of time spent chasing leads. That have turned out to be my unfair benefit.
Right here‘s what I knew from the trenches: Most individuals aren’t prepared to purchase once you attain out. Most of them don‘t care about your product, no less than, not but. They’re not waking up hoping for an additional chilly e mail or questioning if they need to try another demo web page. They’re busy doing their jobs.
That psychological mannequin led me to a query that modified every little thing. What if we might earn consideration earlier than somebody was in-market? What if, as an alternative of attempting to “seize demand,” we might create it?
That is what we got down to do at Gong. And, we did it by flipping the standard SaaS playbook on its head.
What’s the 95-5 rule?
The 95-5 Rule, popularized by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, got here out a number of years later and immediately validated every little thing we’d been doing.
Right here’s what it says: At any given time, solely 5% of your whole addressable market is actively shopping for. The opposite 95% isn’t.
But, most advertising groups make investments closely in bottom-funnel, high-intent ways concentrating on simply that 5%. This method is shortsighted and simply exhausted.
Once I joined Gong, we took a totally totally different path. For the primary yr, we have been top-of-funnel targeted. So, my workforce had one arduous rule: No speaking about our product. None. Zero. We would not write about Gong, push options, or create comparability posts. We would go away that to product advertising.
As an alternative, our mission was to supply probably the most partaking gross sales content material on the planet. We targeted completely on our viewers and their issues, positioning ourselves as friends moderately than distributors.
For those who’re solely advertising to patrons once they’re prepared to purchase, you’re too late. The actual alternative is to win mindshare with the 95% who aren’t prepared but.
What Gong Did to Make the Many of the 95-5 Rule
So, how do you really implement this technique? Listed below are some sensible approaches we used at Gong which are nonetheless related and efficient at the moment.
We obtained obsessive about figuring out our viewers.
We made a aware determination to know our viewers higher than anybody else in our class. Not simply who they have been on paper — job titles, firm measurement, vertical — however how they thought, what they struggled with, and what saved them up at evening.
At Gong, our viewers was gross sales reps and gross sales leaders. And no shock, their major focus was hitting quota. So, we began with that objective and labored backward. We mapped your entire journey to that objective, figuring out all of the obstacles alongside the best way:
- Creating pipeline
- Writing efficient chilly emails
- Making profitable chilly calls
- Working discovery calls
- Managing demos
Then, we turned that gross sales course of right into a content material roadmap. We didn’t speak about Gong. We talked concerning the on a regular basis friction factors and pains of being in gross sales.
We targeted on the issue, not the product.
That is the place most SaaS firms get caught. They default to writing about their product. That’s what they know. As a result of it’s simpler to say, “Right here’s what we do,” than to say, “Right here’s what you’re fighting — and right here’s what would possibly assist.”
However our perception was easy: Nobody cares about your product till they consider you perceive their drawback.
That meant going deep on the “earlier than” state — the messy, irritating, day-to-day challenges that reps face. And from there, providing helpful, actionable steerage that made folks really feel seen and supported.
We requested ourselves:
- What are they doing at the moment that’s not working?
- What have they accepted as “simply the best way it’s”?
- What assumptions can we problem with a greater means?
For instance, most reps settle for {that a} 1% chilly e mail reply price is regular. So, they ship extra emails. That’s the “outdated means.”
We reframed it. What for those who might enhance your reply price and truly ship fewer emails? That story is immediately extra compelling.
Even small particulars matter. Utilizing insider language indicators that you just actually perceive the viewers — it‘s “pipeline,” not “pipelines,” and “finish of quarter,” not “finish of the quarter.” These delicate variations make your content material really feel prefer it’s coming from a peer moderately than a marketer.
They appear like small issues, however they sign insider information. They inform your viewers, “We’re considered one of you.”
Ideas for Shifting from Lead Gen to Viewers Nurturing
Making the shift from lead gen to viewers nurturing is a substantial mindset shift. You must let go of short-term dopamine hits like MQLs and attribution charts, and begin considering like a media firm. Then, ask, “How will we earn consideration at the moment to win belief tomorrow?”
Listed below are 5 issues we did at Gong to construct future demand and develop a model that scaled.
1. Create high-value content material that solves actual issues.
If you’d like folks to concentrate earlier than they’re prepared to purchase, you must assist them. You want helpful content material that solves actual, irritating issues.
We mapped the customer’s journey and zoomed in on all of the micro-pain factors alongside the best way. Every one turned an opportunity to create one thing useful:
- Find out how to write a greater chilly e mail.
- Find out how to run a discovery name that doesn’t really feel like an interrogation.
- Find out how to deal with pricing questions with out fumbling the deal.
These weren’t characteristic pages in disguise. They have been standalone, high-signal sources, and we regularly didn’t even point out our product.
Why? As a result of we weren’t attempting to promote. We have been attempting to earn belief.
To do that nicely, you want subject material experience, both your individual or from somebody in your group.
- What’s actually arduous about this a part of the job?
- What do folks get improper about it?
- What’s the recommendation you would like you’d gotten a yr in the past?
Use that as your place to begin. And make your content material really feel prefer it got here from a practitioner, not a product marketer.
2. Use storytelling to create emotional resonance.
One among our flagship content material collection was Gong Labs — our authentic data-backed analysis about totally different features of the gross sales course of. However moderately than simply presenting data, we targeted on making it emotionally resonant.
That is one thing I see plenty of B2B firms fail at as a result of they need to sound like the neatest within the room. Plenty of the content material comes throughout as too data, too dry, and it’s not partaking or memorable.
So as an alternative, we took a web page from Hollywood and used a screenwriting method referred to as “in medias res,” which drops the reader straight into the center of a narrative. As an alternative of beginning with “This is what the information says,” we would start with a relatable, high-tension state of affairs.
- You‘re 5 minutes right into a discovery name. Your purchaser’s on mute. You‘re scrambling via slides questioning if anybody’s even listening…
Then we would pose the query, “Must you even be utilizing slides in any respect?”
This method hooks readers instantly and creates an emotional connection earlier than delivering the information. It makes your content material memorable in a means that purely informational content material cannot match.
3. Present up persistently throughout a number of channels.
This one comes from my (short-lived) educating profession: Folks be taught in a different way. Some choose studying. Some choose listening. Some have to see it.
Advertising is not any totally different.
That’s why we confirmed up throughout codecs:
- LinkedIn posts and weblog articles for readers
- Podcasts for audio-first people
- Webinars and quick movies for visible learners
This method had two advantages:
- We reached extra folks by diversifying codecs.
- Our greatest followers (we referred to as them raving followers) consumed content material throughout a number of channels, deepening their reference to our model.
Not solely did this assist us construct a loyal viewers, nevertheless it additionally made certain that we didn’t have any weak spots in our content material based mostly on when and the place you have interaction with us.
4. Measure success like a model, not only a funnel.
Measuring model impression might be difficult, however that doesn‘t imply you shouldn’t attempt. As an alternative of obsessing over last-touch attribution, we tracked:
- Viewers development: LinkedIn followers, podcast downloads, publication subscribers
- Direct net site visitors: Folks typing our URL straight (a transparent signal of name recall)
- Inbound alternatives: Offers that got here to us with out us chasing them
This method requires documenting your technique clearly: who you‘re serving to, what issues you’re fixing, the place you‘re exhibiting up, and the way you’re measuring progress.
5. Get buy-in to play the lengthy sport.
When stakeholders push again with questions like, “Is LinkedIn too saturated?” or, “Does anybody nonetheless learn e mail?” I flip it round: “Whenever you’re in search of new concepts or merchandise, the place do you go?”
The reply is nearly at all times their community, LinkedIn, newsletters, and podcasts — precisely the place your patrons are already spending time.
For those who’re going to get buy-in, you want a documented technique. You have to clearly outline:
- Who you’re serving to
- What issues you’re fixing and your impression on strategic priorities
- The place you’re exhibiting up
- The way you’re measuring progress
That turns into your armor when the “What’s the ROI?” questions roll in.
Create Gravity, Not Simply Leads
Most entrepreneurs are preventing for scraps: The 5% of individuals already available in the market. However for those who play the lengthy sport and spend money on the 95%, you possibly can construct one thing higher: a model that earns consideration earlier than there’s ever a gross sales dialog.
At Gong, this method helped us develop our LinkedIn from 12,000 to over 220,000 followers. Our podcast crossed 100,000 downloads within the first 18 months. Webinar registrations jumped from 500 to over 2,500. And we noticed e mail open charges hit 28%, with constant inbound pipeline that aided and accelerated our gross sales outbound efforts.
However the qualitative shift was much more vital:
- Gross sales reps telling us they used our content material in onboarding
- Leaders mentioning that our materials was continuously shared of their Slack channels
- Patrons exhibiting as much as demos already believing we might assist them
That’s the magic of mindshare. It turns your advertising from an interruption right into a pull. From a transaction right into a relationship. From “Who’re you once more?” to “We’ve been following you for some time.”
And when urgency strikes or when somebody’s boss says, “We’d like a brand new gross sales device,” or “Let’s rethink our technique,” you’re the primary identify they keep in mind.
That’s not luck. That’s model.
So for those who’re bored with chasing leads, possibly it’s time to flip the script. Construct content material that helps. Present up persistently. Communicate to the 95%.
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