SpeakPipe

SpeakPipe is a widget that lets people leave you voicemails via your website. Below is a screenshot of it in action on my home page. You can place your “send voicemail” button along the side, bottom or top of your screen. When visitors click it, they will see the pop-up box below. Then, they can send you a voicemail directly from your website. This saves them the time of typing an email, completing your contact form or finding their phone to call you. The easier you make it for people to contact you, the more leads you will get.

SlideShare PRO

SlideShare offers a PRO version that lets you collect leads from the social sharing site. You can include lead generation forms in your presentations, so people can request more information after viewing one of your slide decks. You can create different forms for each presentation and target leads based on their geographic region. The only drawback is that SlideShare’s lead generation forms do not currently integrate with any email marketing platforms. This means that if someone fills out your SlideShare form, you still need to get their permission to add them to your e-list. However, some CRM platforms, such as Salesforce, have tried to work around this problem by creating apps that integrate with Leadshare.

ContactMonkey

ContactMonkey is a Gmail and Outlook add-on that shows you when someone has opened one of your emails, along with how many times they opened it. It also shows you their location and the type of device they used to open your email. This is helpful for both sales teams who want to track hot leads and marketing teams that need to know how people are interacting with their content. The add-on lets you filter messages, so you can focus on leads and filter out colleagues who are always forwarding you stupid memes.

Google Authorship

If you have a blog, then all of your contributors should apply for Google Authorship. After they set this up, Google will put the author’s picture next to all of their published articles in search results. This makes your links stand out, lends credibility to your blog and can bring more visitors to your website. For instructions on how to set up Google Authorship, see this helpful post from KISSmetrics.

WordPress SEO by Yoast

This plugin lets you know if your WordPress pages and posts are optimized for your keywords. Simply upload your content to the page and enter your keywords. Then, WordPress SEO will tell you if you need to update your title, meta description, URL or body copy. This plugin is especially useful if multiple people add content to your blog, as it guides them through the SEO process, so they can optimize your content without being SEO experts.

What about you? What are your favourite B2B lead generation tools, apps or plugins? Feel free to share your top picks below.

After preparing your email’s content, you might only have a few seconds to dash off a quick subject line and send out your email. However, since the best B2B customers often come from in-house email lists, you should spend more time crafting subject lines that get readers to open your emails.

Plus, competition for your customers’ attention is fierce. Dan Zarrella’s The Science of Marketing: When to Tweet, What to Post, How to Blog, and Other Proven Strategies revealed that 88% of respondents no longer separate their work and personal inboxes. This means that “Your e-mail messages are appearing alongside not only other work-related information but a variety of more entertaining social e-mails as well. You are not competing against only other communications professionals trying to sell products or services; you’re also competing against friends and family.”

With this in mind, here are five ways you can improve your B2B email subject lines to increase your open rates:

1. State the benefit of reading the email.

One of the keys to writing any kind of marketing copy is showing the reader the benefits of your offer. This is especially true for email subject lines, where you only have a few seconds and words to convince someone to open your email.

When you write subject lines, think of your email’s content as your offer. Your subject line should explain its benefits. For example, will readers gain access to new research that will help them drive more business? Will they learn something valuable in a how-to article? Will they receive a special discount?

If you’re promoting a product in your email, don’t make the mistake that many B2B marketers do and focus on your product’s features. Instead, list one or two of your product’s major benefits in the subject line. For example, a reader may not initially care if your landing page software has a new-and-improved user-friendly interface. However, you’ll get their attention if you mention increased conversions and sales.

2. Use these top-performing words in your subject line.

Adestra recently published a “B2B Subject Line Analysis”, which looked at over one billion B2B emails to determine which subject lines performed the best. Words showing that the email contained newsworthy or exclusive content – such as “alert”, “news” and “breaking” – performed well. However, the term “newsletter” did not result in many opens. To increase your open rates, you may want to call your “newsletter” your “news”.

When it comes to the type of content in B2B emails, words that show business benefits, such as “money”, “revenue” and “profit” performed well. Meanwhile, words related to just about any kind of B2B event – from webinars to conferences – did not lead to many opens. If you’re promoting an event, try subject lines that explain the benefits of attending the event, such as how applying what you learn at a conference can boost your revenue.

The report also stressed the importance of using “industry-specific terminology to really get into the psyche of your recipients. Consider switching out of trite, overused terms and testing out some long tail terms. You can find the optimal words by enacting an intelligent split testing methodology. Start by assessing the real benefit to the reader and lead with that in your subject line.”

3. Drop the jargon … and the manners.

According to The Science of Marketing: When to Tweet, What to Post, How to Blog, and Other Proven Strategies, email subject lines containing words such as “please” and “thanks” didn’t perform well. This suggests that readers don’t want to be asked to do something. Hold off on the ask until you provide them with something of value first.

Business jargon such as “administration”, “evaluation” and “implementing” also appeared in the book’s list of least-clicked words. While these words rarely make it into everyday speech, they seem to appear everywhere in B2B content. To increase your open rates, use conversational English.

4. Consider how your emails will display on mobile devices.

According to Marketo, 64% of B2B decision makers read email on their mobile devices. As this percentage increases, it will become even more critical to format your subject lines for mobile devices. For example, many mobile devices will display between 30 and 60 characters in an email subject line before cutting off the rest of the text. If possible, keep your subject lines under this length. If this is not possible, then put the most important information in your subject line up front, so mobile customers will see it and be intrigued.

5. Use personalization.

Studies have shown that including the reader’s first name in the subject line will increase your open rates. However, most B2B customers are aware that a software program inserted their name into a bulk message.

It’s more important that your readers have a relationship with the person who is sending the email. If possible, include the name of the reader’s account or sales representative in the “from” line – even if a marketing automation program is sending the email. This will increase your open rates.

And finally, be sure to test your subject lines to see which ones perform the best. Just because something performs well or badly in a study doesn’t mean you’ll have the same results.

What about you? What do you like to see in a B2B email subject line? Feel free to share your thoughts below.

This surprised me, because with the rise of content marketing, many B2B technology companies are putting a lot of time and effort into educating customers and positioning themselves as trusted advisors. According to the “B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends – North America” report, 91% of B2B companies are now using content marketing. However, the message may not be getting through.

So, as marketers, what can we do to build a deeper level of trust with customers? Here are some ideas:

1. Make social media your new BFF.

In today’s social world, if you’re not using social media to engage with customers, it may look like you have something to hide. Customers expect to find you on their favourite social networks, so they can receive support and engage in conversations.

2. Share content – and not just your own!

In addition to sharing your content, you should also find great content that others have published and share it with your social networks. While it may seem counterintuitive to direct customers to other websites, sharing valuable content from others can enhance your credibility. First, customers will see that you’re not just interested in pushing them to your landing pages. Second, when you share others’ content, they will want to share yours in return. It’s a win-win.

3. Encourage reviews of your products and services.

While case studies and success stories can enhance your credibility, IT buyers also want to see reviews of your products and services on social sites, so they can get unbiased information on your company. You can encourage this by giving customers and bloggers samples of your products and asking for reviews. You can also participate on social networks and in forums where customers are already leaving reviews, so you can respond to suggestions and let customers know that you care about what they think.

4. Stop selling. Start helping.

Customers are tired of being sold to all of the time. If you want to connect with customers, you must remove a lot of the sales-speak from your marketing.

For example, if you’re using white papers as a content marketing strategy, you will come across as too sales-focused if 80% of the copy in a white paper talks about how great your product is. Instead, flip those percentages around, so 80% of the copy is educational, while the final 20% talks about your product.

If you deliver a message that your customers find valuable, they will be more willing to learn about your product at the end. They will also see you as providing them with value, as opposed to just trying to sell to them.

5. Contribute guest articles to blogs and trade magazines.

Advertising in popular blogs and trade magazines can cost a fortune. Plus, customers are so skilled at tuning out ads that they probably won’t notice it. However, writing a guest article for the same publication can get more eyes on your content and boost your credibility. When a customer reads one of your articles in a popular publication, they will see you as a trusted advisor who understands their key problems.

Getting customers to see you as a trusted advisor will take time – especially if you’re transitioning from an old-school marketing model that focuses on sales. Publishing a few educational blog posts and following customers on Twitter isn’t enough to break years of old habits. However, if you use content marketing best practices and spend time getting to know your customers, you can transform skeptics into your biggest fans.

What about you? How do you think we can build credibility with customers? Feel free to leave your comments below.

I recently attended Spiceworks Unplugged, where a room of IT marketers had the opportunity to do just that. The panellists represented a variety of organizations – from a government agency to a family-owned business. And some of what the panellists said was surprising.

Here are some of the questions that the IT marketers asked, along with how the panellists responded:

What types of marketing content do you want?

The panellists agreed that they want unbiased reviews from customers who have used your product. Ideally, these reviews should be uploaded to communities such as Spiceworks. They believe that any information on a vendor’s website – including case studies and testimonials – can be filtered and may not represent the full picture.

Do you care about white papers?

The panel was not excited about white papers, but some panellists would read them if they couldn’t find the same information elsewhere. However, if they do download a white paper, they don’t want a sales representative to call them 10 minutes later, as this doesn’t give them enough time to read the content.

Would you opt in for a white paper or other type of marketing content?

The panellists agreed that they don’t like to opt in for product trials, as they want to see if the product will work for them before they give out their contact information.

One panellist said he would opt in for a webinar but not for much else. He prefers webinars, because they are more interactive and contain audio and images.

How can an IT company communicate its value to you?

The panellists said that IT vendors should give their products to customers or others who will provide unbiased reviews. They also believe that service is key, and that IT companies can communicate their value by responding quickly to requests.

What is more important to you – product, price or service?

Service was the top priority for all of the IT buyers. The panellists said they would look elsewhere if an IT vendor wasn’t providing them with good service.

What are the top three websites that you visit during work?

SpiceWorks was the top response, followed by Google. TechRepublic, CNET and LinkedIn were also mentioned.

Do you use SlideShare?

The panellists were not familiar with SlideShare.

Would you click a Google or LinkedIn ad?

None of the panellists click Google ads, as most of the paid ad results are not relevant to them. They prefer to check out the organic search results. The panellists would be open to clicking ads on SpiceWorks, as these ads are relevant and they trust the vendors more than someone advertising on Google. One panellist said that “SpiceWorks is a relationship, while Google is cold.”

None of the panellists look at Facebook or Twitter ads. However, some of them will follow vendors on Twitter.

Would you look at a direct mail piece?

One of the panellists said that direct mail ads do not make it to his desk. However, some of the other panellists stated that they like direct mail if it includes swag. They agreed that a simple flyer or postcard would most likely get tossed.

For me, a key takeaway from this panel is that IT marketers need to get more involved with communities where they can build relationships with potential customers and earn their trust (although swag doesn’t hurt).

What about you? What do you think about these responses? Feel free to share your comments below.

With the rise of social networks, earned media (e.g. social shares and positive online reviews) is becoming more valuable in the eyes of customers. Because many customers now base their buying decisions on social proof, the chat questioned whether paid media (e.g. ads) and owned media (e.g. your website) are still valuable marketing tactics.

One of the questions that the moderator posted was, “In two years, will the corporate website be less important than it is today?” Most of the B2B marketers in the chat answered with a resounding “No.” Here are three reasons why:

• Although the number of channels is increasing, they all point back to the website.
• Blogs, which are usually housed on a corporate website, are becoming the center of many companies’ social presence.
• Businesses are using their websites to anchor their marketing.

However, Eric Wittlake made the prediction that “the relative contribution of other outposts will increase” as B2B companies rely less on their websites and split their presence across more channels. One reason why other channels, such as social media, are becoming more important is because they provide companies with valuable user-generated content. You usually can’t get this type of content from paid or owned media.

The Change You Must Make for Your Website to Be Relevant – Both Now and Two Years from Now

Although most of the B2B marketers in the chat believe that corporate websites will still be important in two years, they had a stipulation …

To be relevant – now or two years from now – B2B websites must shift from a brochure format to a format that encourages conversations.

As Maureen Blandford tweeted, “If it’s helpful, dynamic, engaging – it wins. If it’s static, it loses.”

#B2BChat hosts a weekly Twitter chat for B2B marketers every Thursday at 8PM Eastern. To join, simply look up the hashtag in TweetChat. You can also click here to see a full transcript of the chat.

Whatever you call them, they are an important part of any B2B salesperson’s toolkit. However, many B2B marketers load their data sheets with too much text and visual clutter. This not only causes your core message to get lost, but it also overwhelms your readers.

Here are five data sheet dos and don’ts that will help you turn more leads into customers:

1.  A compelling title. Your title is what motivates people to click a link and read your post, so it’s worth investing time to come up with something compelling. Studies have shown that top-performing blog posts tend to include the words “how to” or a number, such as “the top 5 ways to…” The reason why these posts perform well is that they promise readers will learn something specific when they check out the post.

It’s also critical to include your main keyword or key phrase in your title, as this will help your blog rank higher on Google. Just make sure that your title reads for humans, not robots.

2.  A summary. While a summary is not mandatory, it is often a good idea to include a one- or two-line summary of your blog post just under your title. A well-crafted summary can convince people to read more of the post. You can also copy the summary into the WordPress Excerpt plug-in, and WordPress will automatically display it on your search and archive pages.

3.  A strong lead. The opening paragraphs of your blog post must engage your audience so they continue to read the post. You can achieve this by telling a personal story that your readers can relate to, asking a question that the blog post will answer, sharing interesting statistics or showing readers that you understand their biggest challenges.

4.  Sub-headers and bullet points. The majority of people skim articles on the Internet, rather than read them word for word. That’s why you must break up your text using sub-headers, bullet points, numbered lists and short paragraphs.   

5.  A call to action. What do you want people to do after they read your blog post? Leave comments? Share your post? Visit another web page? Whatever you want them to do, you must spell it out at the end of your blog post.    

6. An opt-in form. In addition to a call to action at the end of your blog post, it’s also wise to tie each post into one of your marketing campaigns. For example, if you’re writing a blog post on how to increase your e-commerce sales, include a banner ad that directs readers to a webinar or a white paper on the same topic. Doing this can greatly increase the size of your list.    

7.  Social sharing options. Be sure that your blog contains a tool that allows readers to share your content with their social networks. One of the biggest mistakes that I see in this area is social tools that don’t allow you to post to newer networks. Another common mistake is including your social sharing tool either at the top of the post or the bottom of the post. This means that your readers will have to scroll a lot to share your content. I prefer social sharing tools that float along the side of the screen as you read, such as Digg Digg and Flare.    

8.  An image. An image not only makes your page more visually appealing, but it can also improve your SEO when you tag it with your keywords.    

9.  An author bio. Instead of attributing your blog posts to your company, you should give authorship credit to your team members. Doing this can build morale and get more of your colleagues interested in contributing to the blog. It also shows readers that you are not just a faceless corporation.    

10.  SEO optimization. WordPress plug-ins such as Yoast make it easy to optimize your posts. What I like about Yoast is that you enter the keyword that you want to target, and it automatically shows you what areas of the post need more work. This is a great plug-in if your contributors upload their own posts, as it guides them through the SEO process   

11.  Categories and tags. Don’t forget to assign each post to the appropriate category and tag it with relevant keywords. This will make it easier for readers to find posts on your blog. One of the biggest mistakes that I see in this area is blogs with too many categories. Narrow your categories down to five or fewer core topics, and use tags to be more descriptive.

Is there anything else that you like to include in all of your blog posts? Feel free to share your comments below.

You’ve finished a draft of your white paper and are ready to move it into production. But before you email the file to your designer and head out for a celebratory beer, review this checklist to confirm that your white paper contains all of the pieces that you need to engage readers and increase your conversions.

1. Does your white paper have a compelling title and subtitle?

Your title is often what motivates readers to download your white paper, so make sure that it contains the most important benefit that readers will gain when they opt in for your white paper.

For example, “ABC Company’s Landing Page Optimization Software” sounds like a product brochure – not an educational white paper. This is a really bad example, but it’s amazing how many companies use this format for their white papers’ titles. Meanwhile, “How to Optimize Your Landing Pages: 10 Easy Changes for Greater Conversions” clearly states the benefit of reading the white paper.

2. Does your introduction entice your audience to read more?

Your first few paragraphs should provide an overview of what follows in the rest of the white paper. You should quickly highlight your audience’s key challenge and explain the benefits that they will gain if they continue to read the white paper. One way to grab your readers’ attention is to open with a shocking statistic.

3. Did you provide enough context?

Statistics, charts, market drivers and quotes from industry experts lend credibility to your white paper. Including these early in your white paper also sets the stage for the discussion of your product or service that comes later. Without knowing the context, your readers might not understand why your product or service is valuable.

4. Did you push the pain button?

Before jumping into a discussion of the solution, you must first show readers that you understand their pains. Be sure to discuss their key challenges, along with the risks of not addressing these challenges or taking the wrong steps.

5. Did you discuss the solution … without discussing your solution?

While it’s essential to discuss your product or service, you shouldn’t do this until the end of the white paper. When you first introduce the solution, you should do so in general terms. For example, if your white paper is on increasing online conversions, you can discuss the benefits of using landing page optimization software (without mentioning your software by name).

6. Does your white paper contain a list of helpful tips?

 Readers often opt in for white papers because they are looking for “how-to” tips. Make sure that your “top 10” tips or best practices section covers a large portion of your white paper. The better your tips, the more value readers will find in your white paper.

7. Is your pitch compelling?

Finally … it’s the end of the white paper. You’ve provided context, discussed the problem, presented a solution and offered helpful tips. Now, you can discuss how your product or service can help. At this point, it’s wise to include a short customer success story or testimonial, as studies have shown that buyers want to see more case studies in white papers.

8. Did you ask readers to take the next step?

Lots of marketers include a generic “contact a sales representative” line at the end of their white papers. While this is acceptable, you can do better. Offer readers an incentive for taking the next step, such as a free trial or assessment. Also provide a benefit that they will achieve by contacting you, such as “Discover exactly how many more leads you can attract each month. Contact us at …”.

9. Is your white paper formatted for easy reading?

You can have the most amazing copy in your white paper, but poor formatting can ruin your efforts. Be sure to include lots of sub-headers, bullets, and white space. Also try to keep your paragraphs short, as readers will often skip over large blocks of text.

10. Is your white paper too long?

According to an IDC Connect survey of B2B buyers, white papers should be seven pages in length. How long is yours?

How is your white paper looking? Are you ready to head out for that celebratory beer or back to the drawing board? Feel free to share your comments or questions below.

1. How to Increase Email Newsletter Subscribers by 200% (RazorSocial)

If your opt-in rates leave much to be desired, you should check out this article. It offers solid (though often overlooked) best practices on how to get more subscribers. One of the most interesting tips recommends adding more subscription options. For example, many websites feature an opt-in box on the right- or left-hand side of the screen. However, you can also consider placing an opt-in box at the end of your blog posts or on your “About Us” page.

2. B2B Email Newsletter Content Ideas (BrainRider)

This article offers 16 content ideas for your email newsletters. The thing that I like about this article is that it not only offers ideas, but also aligns them with your target audience’s stage in the sales cycle. The article also provides statistics on how many links you should include in your emails to maximize your click-through rates. The number is surprising!

3. The Science of Email Marketing (HubSpot)

What’s the key to growing a large following? Following others. An easy way to find followers is to search for hashtags that your ideal customers follow or for keywords that they use in their bios. Twitter also has a “Who to Follow” feature that sometimes makes good suggestions.

4. The Top 7 Reasons Why Customers Unsubscribe from Your Emails and How to Stop Them (Business 2 Community)

This article outlines seven bad email marketing habits that could be causing you to lose subscribers. It discusses everything from the frequency of your mailings to the possibility that your email subscribers may not feel special.

5. How Opting People OUT Can Actually Improve Your Email Marketing (HubSpot)

This article offers a case study on how one company attempted to engage their inactive subscribers by sending them a “we’re removing you from our list” message. The “opt-out” email was very clever and can provide you with inspiration on how to better engage your audience.

For more B2B marketing, copywriting and content marketing tips, be sure to connect with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and SlideShare. I look forward to sharing great ideas with you!

What about you? What are your favourite B2B email marketing resources? Feel free to share them below.

According to the “Tweets in Action: Mobile/Tech” survey, 59% of people who have seen a tweet from a B2B technology company have visited the company’s website, as compared to 40% of Internet users who have not seen a tweet.

When it comes to conversions, the survey states, “The impact of tweet exposure is even more noteworthy on lead generation than site visitation, suggesting a correlation between tweet exposure and lead quality … While 4% of average Internet users completed sign-up on a B2B tech site, Twitter users converted at more than double the rate (11%).”

However, opening an account on Twitter and sending out the occasional tweet or new product announcement isn’t enough to see these results. Here are seven ways that you can use Twitter to bring more leads to your website and increase your conversion rates.

1. Make Twitter a part of all of your marketing.

If you create lots of content and use multiple channels, it can be easy to forget to share something on Twitter. That’s why Twitter needs to be integrated into all of your marketing. Every time you develop a new piece of content, have your copywriter create tweets to go along with it. For example, every time I write a blog post for one of my clients, I provide them with two or three tweets that they can use to drive their Twitter followers to the post. Using a similar process will ensure that Twitter becomes an integrated part of your marketing and no content gets left behind.

2. Automate some of your tweets.

This advice is controversial, as many marketers feel that auto-tweeting is not authentic. However, I see nothing wrong with auto-tweeting or scheduling content that you want to tweet regardless.

For example, Hootsuite has an AutoSchedule feature that determines when your tweets will get maximum exposure and allows you to pre-schedule tweets to go out at these times. The TweetOldPosts WordPress plug-in auto-tweets your older posts to bring more people back to your blog. In addition, you should set up your blog so your new posts are automatically tweeted as soon as they go live.

If you’re using tools like this, just be sure that you’re also going on Twitter every day to respond to people and engage in discussions.

3. Follow. Follow. Follow.

What’s the key to growing a large following? Following others. An easy way to find followers is to search for hashtags that your ideal customers follow or for keywords that they use in their bios. Twitter also has a “Who to Follow” feature that sometimes makes good suggestions.

4. Get some PR.

In addition to following customers and potential customers, you can also use Twitter to connect with the media, bloggers, analysts and other influencers. You can get on their radar by sharing their content and mentioning them in tweets. Just don’t ask them to share your content until you have an established relationship. However, once they decide to share your content, you can gain a lot of exposure with your target audience.

5. Make it easy for people to follow you.

In addition to following others, you should encourage others to follow you. The best way to do this is by posting great content that others want to share with their followers. The more this happens, the more you multiply the people who interact with your content and follow you.You should also include Twitter “Follow Me” buttons on your website, on your blog, in your emails and in your other social channels where possible. The more you cross-promote, the more you will increase your followers.

6. Advertise on Twitter.

Twitter’s advertising features allow you to promote specific accounts, tweets or trends. Promoting your account helps you grow your following, while promoting your tweets helps you get clicks. Promoting a trend is the ultimate in Twitter advertising, as it gets your hashtag on the trending list that is visible to everyone on Twitter.

7. Hold Twitter chats.

While you want to share all of your content on Twitter, you should also consider doing something unique for your Twitter followers. One fun way to use Twitter is to hold Twitter chats, where you invite your followers to log onto Twitter at a certain time and ask one of your experts questions or engage in an informal discussion around a specific topic.

And finally, don’t forget to share others’ content. Ideally, you should share your content 10%-20% of the time and engage in discussions and share others’ content the rest of the time. Doing this will provide your followers with more value and useful information, as well as build goodwill with the people whose content you share.

What about you? How do you think B2B technology companies can use Twitter? Feel free to share your comments below.

Whatever you call them, they are an important part of any B2B salesperson’s toolkit. However, many B2B marketers load their data sheets with too much text and visual clutter. This not only causes your core message to get lost, but it also overwhelms your readers.

Here are five data sheet dos and don’ts that will help you turn more leads into customers:

1.  Do press the pain buttons. B2B marketers often discuss their customers’ key pains on their websites and throughout their other marketing materials. However, these drivers tend to get overlooked in sell sheets, as many marketers launch straight into a discussion about the product. While discussing the product is the whole point of a data sheet, you should still highlight your customers’ key pains and drivers, as this will put the rest of the data sheet in context and show your customers that you understand what they are going through. 

2.  Don’t forget the benefits. Many B2B marketers discuss their product’s benefits on their landing pages and its features in their sell sheets. However, you should include both features and benefits in your data sheets, as this will make your copy more compelling and provide customers with more reasons why they should purchase your product. A standard data sheet format includes a benefits list on the front page and features on the back page. However, you can also mention the benefits along with your features.

3.  Do explain why customers should partner with you. In addition to features and benefits, you may want to include a sidebar or section that explains why you are different. This section can include your brand messages or proof points, such as a customer testimonial.

4.  Do aim for two pages. Ideally, your data sheets should be a two-page document that prints on a single sheet of paper. This makes it easy for your sales representatives to give copies of it to prospective customers.   

5.  Don’t fill your data sheet with visual clutter. Many customers today don’t have time to read a document – whether printed or on the web – word for word. That’s why you should format your data sheet for easy scanning. I see a lot of data sheets that cram too much into a tiny space. So, even if the copy is good, many customers won’t read it. Be sure to include compelling headers and sub-headers, as well as bullets, bold text and lots of white space. If you find that you need to cut text to give your data sheet a clean appearance, focus on your top three core messages and drop the rest.     

You should also link to your data sheets from your product pages, so potential customers can learn more about each product. However, I wouldn’t recommend asking leads to complete an opt-in form to download a data sheet. Most people wouldn’t trade their contact information to look at a data sheet, so you’ll get more eyes on your content if you leave your data sheets ungated.

What about you? What do you think makes a good data sheet? Feel free to share your thoughts below.