As each product is comparied to others in the market place there is a temptation of the reviewer and others to begin to compare produces against products. When the product is used as a judgement standard it becomes a moving target. The preferred way to conduct reviews is against an established standard.
In the first investigaiton of lead generation systems I used a set of criteria created as part of the syntopical reading process. It developed as the authors of the various sustems explained why their systems were so much better than their competetor. The list of 10 critieria became the standard all systems were evaluated against.
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As we revisit the lead generation systems again it made sense to ask critical questions of the criteria. Two areas of change in the various systems seemed the best place to begin the examination.
The main new feature added to the most popular system and some 0f the newer systems is the idea of content management. Many systems even introduced what they are calling a “Content Management Solution” (CMS). If they are really adding in the full functionality of a CMS then could be a real distinguishing criteria.
As I looked a the existing criteria and this idea of content management it became clear I should not add additional criteria for content management. One of the primary criteria of lead generation system following attraction marketing principles is branding. The ability of the system user to customize their own content to foster personal branding.
Content Management will not become a new criteria for evalution. Instead the criteria for branding will now include a content management consideration. Previously branding examined if personalized content could be entered in or pointed to from the system. Now the branding criteia will also ask if the system has a content management feature where marketing collateral (including images, videos and documents) can be stored and managed IN the system.
Branding will also look at the system to see if it has mechanisms in place to display and present content unrelated directly to lead generation. Several systems, in an effort to provide a single stop solution, have bolted on to their systems blogging or mini website management capabilities. This will also be considered a branding issue as an expansion of the content management capabilities of the system.
Niether content management or blogging/site management tools make or break a system since they can easily be handled outside of the system. Accordingly, these modern features will be considered as part of the branding criteria and not become its own criteria.
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The other feature we see creeping into attraction marketing lead generation systems are tools for integrating with social networks. This type of integration includes the ability to sent a single message from in the system to all you social network friends. Other features include improved communication with various groups of people. These features initially looked like they needed their own criteria.
After careful examination it became clear these social network tools and integrations really were nothing more than additional avenues for building and strengthening your relationships. Just as we did with the criteria above it made sense to NOT add an additional criteria but insead address social network integration tools under the relationship building criteria.
There are some who will place greater importance on personal branding through content management and may want to use CMS as a standard for their lead generation system. Others may feel social network integration is such an important feature they may choose their system based on the precense of such a feature. They will want to establish that criteria as a critical criteria for themselves.
For the purposes of the upcoming investigation criteria you will want to look in the Branding area to see if the system offers enhanced content management criteria and the relationship building section for social network integration features.
Happy investigating,
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