Two truths:

1. Prospect insight is incredibly valuable to grow a customer base, to lift marketing ROI, to speed up sales cycles. It’s a smart investment for a CMO. A secret weapon.

2. The most advanced technology for prospect insight, which I talk about in my book, is not for everybody. Sorry.

It’s most appropriate for mid- to large-size organizations who use content marketing extensively and often. Who want to be seen as thought leaders. Who have many (usually undifferentiated) suspects-who-might-be-prospects.

For example, B2B services firms. They might be tempted to send content to a vast universe of prospects since virtually every business they can imagine needs accountants, lawyers, IT help, etc. An impractical investment, yes? Yes. Sending targeted content, however, to segments proved to be really interested is gold.

Catalog issuers are another good example. Typically, Pottery Barrel and Things mails content on 200 items, then waits passively for orders. How much more powerful would it be to learn these particular prospects spent time looking at these particular items?

Colleges, for a third example, will send recruiting content to large audiences. Spray and pray. Read my book to see how they can segment their database, gain insight, focus, then win more often, more efficiently.

So, who can’t use the tools of Insight Swap? Very small businesses, for one. The engagement tactics, such as animations, video, quizzes and surveys, plus the investment in analytics all require an investment in time and attention. That is to say, money. Another non-starter would be brands that are basically impulse purchases. They derive little value from content marketing, so these tools are not appropriate.

Would it be a prudent investment for your messaging? How quickly would it pay out? How much of a lever would it be to get to substantial growth? Let’s talk about it.