Joe Ellis

on September 27, 2007

category: lead generation

Business Development Director

Gotta love the leads

In my experience, nothing causes marketers more sleepless nights than running a campaign that the sales team hates. You’d almost rather get no response at all than listen to unhappy sales executives complain about lead quality day after day.

If that’s your fear, I have an idea for you. Consider holding back leads from your sales team. Not all of them, of course! Just the ones that will cause the furrowed brows and shaking heads.

I’m talking about investing in a lead qualification system. It doesn’t have to be fancy . . . just accurate. It could be handled with a few (very few!) questions in a web response capture page – or with outbound telemarketing. You create rules for lead quality. Then you can pass on only the leads that are ready to buy. I know one marketing director who doesn’t even tell the sales team where the leads have come from.

I have another idea for the remaining leads: You’ve got to love them! After all, they showed an interest in what you have to offer. The only problem is that something’s keeping them from buying right now. Maybe the timing is off, the price seems out of their budget or they’re just not ready to engage.

Show them you love them with a lead nurture program. Talk to them. Educate them. Engage them in a dialog. But don’t make too much work for yourself. Use mail and email. Get a telemarketing service to do a little survey for you.

I’m not saying it’s easy. It’s work. But it’s all under the control of the marketing department, so you have the opportunity to make a success out of any campaign, even one the sales team hates.
 

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Brian Gilbert

on September 25, 2007

category: integrated marketing

Vice President/Integrated Marketing

If it doesn't have an address, is it still direct?

In direct, we’re used to thinking about mail and email. But other media can be measured – and that’s why they’re great opportunities for direct response marketers.

Direct response TV may not be right for your product. However, if you’re marketing a consumer product at a decent price point, you can’t dismiss TV out of hand. Is there a niche audience that particular programs or channels target that’s right for you? Radio can be less expensive than TV, and possibly more targeted. Print ads can have a toll-free phone number call to action – or a web address. And there are a number of alternative media, including free-standing inserts in the Sunday supplements, card decks and coupon mailings that may look like national media but can be bought for a specific geography.

One thing to remember is that the cost-per-thousand reached in non-addressable media will almost always be much lower than with direct mail. And you’ll be able to reach far more people than with email or even mail. It all depends on your goals and your ROI target.

So don’t get caught with a half-baked media plan. Think outside the mailbox.
 

Comments:

9/26/2007 at 8:24 p.m.
Great whitepapers!
Reading through your whitepapers I learned a lot about direct marketing - especially from a business-to-business standpoint. Also liked the one about evaluating market strategies. Very informative information about direct marketing!
>>James Whitesand, San Jose CA

Spyro Kourtis

on September 20, 2007

category: miscellaneous

President and CEO

What this space is for

I work with some smart people. I’m not just talking about Hacker Group employees – I mean our clients as well. I like hearing from them all. That’s a huge advantage for me. I get to soak up some wisdom and pass it along to my team.

The reason for this space on our Web site is to get some smart people to talk about what they know best in marketing. It’ll come in bite-size chunks, so you can take it in, incorporate it into something you’re working on or decide it’s not helpful to you, all without taking a lot of time.

Some of the things we’ll talk about are tried and true. Some are opinion or speculation. We’ll let you know the difference!

The good thing about opinion is that they inform our hypotheses. Hypotheses are what direct marketing tests are all about. At Hacker, an interesting opinion doesn’t stay opinion for long. We test it. We get an answer. And, often, we’ll double-check our answer – or fine-tune our hypothesis.

So we’ll be letting you know what we’re thinking and what we’re testing. If you want to join in the dialog, you’re welcome to comment here in this space – or pick up the phone and call me. I enjoy talking with smart people about marketing issues.
 

Comments:

9/26/2007 at 4:46 p.m.
Congratulations
Nice job on your new site. I'm looking forward to reading more.
>>Ross Arnold, Seattle WA