Last week, we began
a series of posts on how to merchandise your content more effectively. The gist
of it was this: rather than offer a one-off download of a white paper, make
sure that readers have full access to your entire collateral library.
Think about the homepage of Amazon.com.
If you use Amazon with any frequency, you know that whatever you've purchased
in the past—in fact, whatever you've even looked at in the
past—generates a whole array of individually targeted suggestions right on the
homepage. Obviously, that kind of capability requires an entire login system,
and you probably don't want to bug prospects with the hurdle of registering to
view your collateral library. But you can still apply the concept of
merchandising your collateral based on the interests of particular audiences.
If someone shows interest in a white paper, make sure that they know about any companion pieces—related white papers, blog posts that expand upon a specific point, datasheets that take a deeper dive on a particular technology element. Approach it like Amazon's "Customers who bought such-and-such also bought..." In other words, make sure your readers know that they're not just looking at an isolated piece of collateral. Show them how each piece of content fits into an overall collateral system.
