February 26, 2008
SUMMARY: Most marketers would be thrilled with an SEO strategy that delivers a 240% improvement in Web traffic. But converting more of those visitors into leads is even better.
One marketer built on the success of an SEO campaign with tactics to maintain traffic and increase conversions. Includes a new content strategy with a link-building campaign and homepage design tests that lifted leads 58%.
CHALLENGE
Poland-based Argos Translations redesigned its website in 2006 with a search engine optimization strategy and saw a 240% boost in Web traffic. But Marketing Manager Michael Malik wasn’t satisfied.
“The increased traffic is great. It’s something you can show off to management. But more traffic doesn’t do anything for your business unless it converts,” says Malik.
Argos caters to businesses in need of document translation, foreign language voice-over talent and other services. Malik used keyword-rich content and enhanced page headers and description tags to boost Web traffic. But for 2007, he needed to develop other tactics that would keep Web traffic flowing while converting more visitors into leads for the sales team.
CAMPAIGN
To keep boosting Web traffic and convert more leads, Malik and his team turned to a new combination, including:
o New content
o Page design tests
o Additional SEO tactics, such as link-building
Here are the four strategies they used:
-> Strategy #1. Develop new language versions of the website
The company’s customer base is primarily US- and UK-based firms that do business in Europe, so their website was originally written in English. Malik wanted to branch out to Eastern European companies that needed translation services, so they created two new language versions of the website: Polish and German.
- To optimize the new versions, Malik and his in-house team of translators conducted Polish Web searches to identify key words and phrases for their services. The list was sent to a colleague fluent in German for translation into that language.
- They double-checked those terms with online services that help identify keywords. The process identified approximately 30 terms per language.
-> Strategy #2. Create new white paper to qualify leads
Next, Malik and his team developed a white paper that would resonate with their UK-based customers: how banks, airlines, telecommunications providers and other companies could capitalize on a recent wave of Polish immigrants moving to Britain.
In particular, the white paper focused on the best way to take advantage of this economic opportunity: Reach recent immigrants by marketing to them in their native language.
Visitors could read only a portion of the article online; they had to provide a name, email address and phone number to download a PDF of the entire article.
Malik identified key words and phrases from the text that would position the white paper on search engines, such as:
o Poles in the UK
o Polish immigrants
o Immigration in Britain
o British economy
Then, they used those terms in the page header and description.
-> Strategy #3. Boost incoming links from relevant sites
Search engines analyze the number and relevance of incoming links to help assign a website’s natural search results. To maintain the rankings achieved through the previous year’s SEO efforts, Malik increased the number of links back to the Argos homepage.
Here’s how they did it:
Step #1. Conduct searches on the company’s top 20 keywords and find the top-10 sites in the search results.
Step #2. Analyze all websites linking back to those 10 sites and identify the ones with the highest Google page rank.
Step #3. Send emails to the most relevant and highly-ranked third-party sites asking to trade links.
The email message was a straightforward explanation of the company’s intentions, saying Malik’s team had found the site on the Web and noticed it provided a link to one of their competitors. It then explained why linking to Argos would also be relevant and offered to trade links between the two pages.
-> Strategy #4. Test design and placement options for links to Web forms
Besides the white paper, Malik’s team used two other primary features to collect contact information from site visitors:
o Request form for free translation quote
o Online promotions, such as 20% discount for new customers, that require registration
They conducted several A/B tests to determine whether changes to the design and placement of those links on the homepage would boost conversion rates.
Tests included:
o Placing links in the top left, top right, center left or center right of the page
o Using an image of a cake, a flower or a piggy bank for the online promotions link
o Using a photograph of a man’s face or a woman’s face for the quote- request link
RESULTS
Malik didn’t expect another year of triple-digit traffic growth. But he didn’t want traffic to stagnate either — and the 2007 efforts paid off:
o Web visits increased 24%
o Page views increased 34%
o Bounce rate decreased 12%
o Time on site increased 46%
They also converted more of that traffic — their primary goal. Web leads increased 58%. “As happy as I was in 2006, in 2007 I was ecstatic for having leads go up,” he says.
The Polish and German versions of the page were big contributors to the traffic growth. Web traffic increased 30% month-over-month after launching those new versions and that increase has been sustained into 2008.
The white paper also provided a big boost, becoming the fifth most visited page on the company’s site.
Tests on placement and design options for its promotions and quote- request links showed that the center left of the homepage was the best location. The image of the piggy bank for promotions and a picture of a woman’s face delivered the best conversions.
The results of the link exchange program have proved difficult to analyze. Malik knows the campaign generated new inbound links for the Argos homepage, but he can’t be sure exactly how many because each time he checks Google to see new links he finds different results. He suspects the ever-changing nature of Google’s site-indexing program causes those fluctuations.
Malik has seen evidence, however, that new links are improving the site’s search engine rankings. Two months after launching the link-exchange campaign, the site’s rank for the term “localization services” improved from a top-30 placement to a top-10 placement.
The 2007 results demonstrate the value of building on SEO results. And Malik and his team have already identified a strategy for this year: they’re focusing on additional homepage design tests and techniques to further improve conversion rates.
Useful links related to this article
Creative samples from Argos Translation’s SEO Campaign:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/cs/argos/study.html
Wordtracker - helped identify Polish key phrases:
http://www.wordtracker.com
Argos Translations:
http://www.argostranslations.com
From Marketing Sherpa
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?id=30349
Posted by copiasolaris under Case Studies | Comments (0)
February 20, 2008
SUMMARY: Your email marketing works but it could be better. Maybe it’s the content or your deliverability … or something else. Admit it — you’re not sure what works and what doesn’t. It’s time for an email audit.
An email audit might sound intimidating (let’s face it, the word “audit” alone can be scary), but this can be a valuable tool to evaluate your email campaign(s). Here, we have everything you need to conduct an email audit.
Before you take the first step, here are some questions to ask yourself:
(Don’t worry – we provide the answers!)
1. Why do an audit?
Ignoring problems won’t make them go away. It’s better to know. Trust us.
2. Do you need a comprehensive audit?
This toolkit is designed to help you audit your entire email campaign/process. If you simply want to evaluate a single email newsletter/message, you may need to do only a mini-audit.
3. What will it cost?
Maybe nothing, if you use in-house staff.
4. When should we do an audit?
The sooner the better.
5. Who will do it?
You may be able to do it in-house. If not, we provide a list of vendors.
6. How will we do it?
This one’s easy – by using MarketingSherpa’s toolkit as your guide.
7. How hard is it finish?
The name sounds worse than it is. And if you don’t want to do a full audit, we’ve put together a how-to for a mini audit.
This Sherpa Kit includes the following parts:
-> Tutorial – An overview, step-by-step process, creative content, tracking/managing stats and technical basics
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/tk/AuditTutorial.pdf
-> Glossary – Know what the terms mean
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30325
-> Checklist – Steps to conduct your own audit
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/tk/AuditChecklist.pdf
-> Timeline – When you should expect to have what parts completed
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/tk/AuditTimeline.pdf
-> Cost calculator – We’ll help you calculate your costs
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30326
-> List of Vendors – A look at service providers who can help if you don’t want to do the audit yourself
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30328
-> Resources & Case Studies – Past Sherpa articles to give you inspiration and other resources
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30327
From Marketing Sherpa
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?id=30324
Posted by copiasolaris under Tools | Comments (0)
February 16, 2008
SUMMARY: Pitching bloggers isn’t easy — especially if they’re considered among the best in their business. Their in-boxes can bulge with emails.
To have any chance of grabbing their attention, you should know many dos and don’ts of pitching them. And the pitch should start well before you write.
Before You Pitch
- Do think like a blogger. Yes, they blog because they enjoy the subject matter and want to share opinions and expertise. But there is another issue to consider: a little something called money. So, while newspapers think, will this story sell copies, bloggers reflect on whether the advertisers will be impressed with the traffic.
That thought translates to the more immediate reflection: will the post inspire readers to comment? Also, bloggers question whether their visitors would want to share what they read about with their friends and colleagues by linking to the blog or by pasting a portion of the post on their own sites with the intention of inciting discussion.
- Do check out the sidebars for content categories. Know in advance what is relevant to each blogger. In short, be familiar with what they like to write about.
- Do send your pitch in advance of your news happening or your product release. If time constraints are an issue, make sure the blogger understands and honors embargoes.
Craft Your Pitch
OK, so now you’re ready to make your pitch.
Do follow these steps:
- Write a precise subject line.
- Briefly introduce yourself at the start and mention the blogger’s name in the greeting.
- Explain why you have chosen the blogger as recipient of your pitch. If a blogger suspects you are merely crossing a name off a long list of contacts, you will probably be ignored.
- Reveal why you think your pitch would interest a typical reader. Be straightforward and secure in the importance and value of your news, but not overconfident. Keep in mind that objective descriptions work better than personal notes. Facts are preferable to flowing prose.
After Your Pitch
You’ve made your pitch to a blogger. Now what?
- Do consider time zones while awaiting a reply.
- Do give the blogger a chance to digest what you have pitched. Remember bloggers’ overflowing in-boxes.
- Do more than simply ask if your pitch was received. If you get a reply from a blogger or if you follow up with a phone call, do provide some interesting information that your pitch didn’t include.
- Do carry on a conversation, but remind yourself that bloggers are the ones with the final say. Besides being the creators, the bloggers are most likely authorities on the subject matter. Treat them with respect. Relinquish control unless asked to provide more input.
- Do be honest when answering questions. It’s important to suppress the urge to exaggerate the benefits of your product and the positive aspect of your news.
-Do consider the nature of the site where your piece will appear and realize that the truth will eventually be revealed (think of all the fairy tales you read as a child). So, fess up any potential conflicts up-front.
- Do link to the blog you are pitching if you have a blog of your own.
- Do send swag. Bloggers like complimentary products that they often review, sometimes without having been asked. Exercise caution, however. Bloggers want to maintain their own credibility by remaining objective. So their reviews might not be positive when they offer an honest opinion. Before sending anything of value, in fact, contact the blogger to see if they are interested.
What Not to Do
Here are tips so you don’t get on a blogger’s bad side:
- Don’t make the huge mistake of being pushy with a blogger. Bloggers are usually their own bosses; they are in charge. Dictating when you want your information to be blogged or by what date your product needs to be reviewed is a no-no.
- Don’t pitch old news; keep it fresh. Move onto something else if your info has already been featured on popular blogs dealing with Web 2.0, social networking and content-sharing sites (e.g., del.icio.us, Facebook).
Remember — bloggers like to be a step ahead of journalists. Otherwise, you will be wasting their time since most popular marketing bloggers receive their news via RSS feeds. If they see a stale pitch, they’ll know you are not offering exclusive content. Bloggers all look for original material, not info that makes them look like they’re jumping on a bandwagon.
- Don’t include the entire press release in your email or attachments. Bloggers usually prefer a bare-bones pitch. Write no more than 50 words or so, but offer a URL that a blogger could include to direct readers who would like more information. That’s particularly useful in instances where bloggers don’t have the time or desire to cover your topic. Never attach a Word document, PDF or PowerPoint presentation.
- Don’t flatter. If you don’t read the blog on a regular basis and are not a huge fan, don’t claim that you are. Buttering up a blogger to try to get coverage can backfire.
- Don’t be exceedingly familiar. Even though personal information about a blogger may be readily available, try not to think of them as your acquaintances. They may be completely ignorant of who you are and turned off by the informal nature of your email.
- Don’t leave advertorial comments. Be relevant and professional; otherwise, you’re going to make a bad name for yourself. Why? First, your comments are probably moderated anyway. Second, you are looking to establish a solid relationship with the blogger.
- Don’t put words into a blogger’s mouth. Present your information without telling them they will just love the subject of your pitch. Asking for their opinion on how useful it might be for their readers is the way to go.
- Don’t try to control the write-up. If a blogger bites at your tidbit, act as an assistant rather than as a director.
- Don’t retaliate. You have done everything correctly, but your news still haven’t been featured. Refrain from sending an angry email reply unless you want to risk being ridiculed in a post. Bloggers are not obligated to write anything; they are the masters of their own domains. Don’t take their lack of interest personally.
- Don’t violate someone’s trust. If a blogger mentions your product or service, don’t assume it’s acceptable to use them in a future testimonial without their permission. You still need to ask. If you don’t, you will lose a potential advocate.
From Marketing Sherpa
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30342
Posted by copiasolaris under How To's | Comments (0)
December 14, 2007
SUMMARY: If your company has big plans for a product launch but a tiny marketing budget, Web 2.0 can come to the rescue.
Worried about the high cost of direct mail, email and telemarketing, a marketer turned to social networking, blogs and a four-figure search budget to debut a complimentary SEO tool to find leads. Includes seven strategies and results that surpassed all goals.
CHALLENGE
Startup company HubSpot began 2007 with very few customers for its new, Web-based online marketing optimization system. With those tools coming out of beta, Mike Volpe, VP Marketing, needed a promotional strategy to rapidly spread the company’s message and identify qualified prospects for the sales team.
Volpe worried that the high cost of traditional methods, such as direct mail, telemarketing and even email, wouldn’t deliver the best ROI for his small budget. Those methods also didn’t match the company’s emphasis on using search, social media and other online channels to attract potential customers.
“The whole premise of HubSpot is that the way people search for, evaluate and purchase products has changed,” Volpe says. “We focus on inbound marketing, and were trying to come up with a campaign to embrace that as a concept.”
Volpe and his team wanted to test a viral campaign that relied on blogs, social networking sites and searches to help prospects find and approach the company. But they knew they didn’t want to rely on a funny online video or some other typical marketing creative element to attract qualified leads interested in improving their online marketing.
CAMPAIGN
Volpe and his team created a new, online SEO tool called Website Grader, which automatically analyzes the marketing effectiveness of any URL and generates a free report. With Website Grader, the team hoped to create a pool of prospects for the company’s paid services, which are designed to improve the performance of websites.
First, though, Volpe needed to generate tons of traffic for the Website Grader website and then convince users to run a report on their URLs.
Here are the seven steps they followed to spread the word:
-> Step #1. Give bloggers advance peek
Volpe’s team focused their early efforts on making Website Grader an effective centerpiece of the viral marketing campaign. They needed to ensure that the tool was useful, easy to use and compelling enough for bloggers to share it with friends.
They turned to bloggers with expertise in online marketing and search engine optimization to help evaluate Website Grader and recommend improvements.
- Volpe’s team had spent several months monitoring the appropriate bloggers to keep on top of trends in the industry. Using Technorati, Google’s blog search and other tools, they identified and kept tabs on hundreds of industry bloggers.
- During their product-development period, they formed relationships with several of these bloggers by adding comments to their posts and participating in ongoing dialogues.
- When preparing to launch Website Grader, they contacted 100 bloggers, including those with whom they had formed relationships. They asked them to use the tool to run a report on a website and provide feedback on the process and results.
They specifically avoided the biggest, most popular blogs in the space. “They get a lot of inbound inquiries, and we didn’t feel like we had great relationships with them.”
- At this point, they did not ask bloggers to write a post about the tool — they only solicited feedback.
-> Step #2. Launch with blog mentions
After receiving mostly positive feedback from bloggers, they incorporated changes recommended by them. Volpe’s team was then ready to launch Website Grader.
- They replied to the bloggers who had responded to their initial requests for feedback, noting that their requested changes had been made and inviting them to write about the tool.
- They included links to Website Grader in relevant posts on their own company blog, such as a post analyzing the SEO performance of top venture capital firm sites.
-> Step #3. Promote tool through social networking
Big believers in the value of social media, the team submitted the Website Grader link to several social media sites.
- Volpe’s team sent the link to StumbleUpon, which allows members of the community to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on sites submitted. The more approval votes a site receives, the more it is forwarded to other members of the community who have expressed interest in that type of content. The process helps sites develop an overall approval rating and determine how prominently it is displayed on the StumbleUpon site.
- They bookmarked and tagged the site at Del.icio.us, where bookmarked sites are shared among members with similar interests and preferences.
-> Step #4. Post messages on discussion forums
Next, the team looked for opportunities to post messages about Website Grader on search marketing discussion forums, such as the Digital Point Forums.
They were careful not to create new threads or post blatantly promotional messages in these forums. Instead, they looked for places where they could include a mention of the tool as an answer to a member’s question, or as a relevant addition to an ongoing discussion.
“You wouldn’t walk into networking party and say, ‘Hey, let me tell you how awesome my company is.’ It’s the same thing online. You don’t cram your sales pitch down their throats.”
-> Step #5. Test paid promotions
As traffic to the site began to build with the blog mentions, social media exposure and links to message boards, Volpe and his team tested whether limited paid promotion would further boost traffic.
With a budget of approximately $5,000, they tested:
- Pay-per-click campaigns. Because search engine marketing is a competitive space in the pay-per-click universe, the team tested a series of low-priced, long-tail type keywords to attract Web users interested in site optimization.
For example, rather than bidding on broad terms, like “Internet marketing,” they bid on long phrases, such as “website marketing, search engine optimization, free report.” In addition to the click rate, they tracked how many of those clicks actually used the tool to generate a report.
- Paid promotion on StumbleUpon. The service allows sites that are already ranked by the community to pay for additional promotion through the service’s “Stumble” feature. It’s a button that lets members see a new piece of content relevant to their areas of interest.
When an advertiser pays for promotion, StumbleUpon delivers the link to interested users who click the “Stumble” button. Advertisers pay per visitor who lands on the site.
-> Step #6. Issue press releases highlighting data
To further raise awareness for Website Grader, Volpe’s team prepared two reports based on data generated by the online tool:
- The first report reviewed the SEO tactics employed by the top 20 blogs as ranked by Technorati. The report highlighted whether these sites were using important SEO techniques, such as description metadata and keyword metadata.
- The second report analyzed the SEO performance of presidential candidates’ websites.
They promoted these reports with press releases distributed through MarketWire, and by having their PR team approach a select group of bloggers and media outlets.
-> Step #7. Follow up with prospects who ran site reports
When users ran a Website Grader report on a URL, Volpe’s team used three techniques to qualify them as leads and follow-up to discuss additional services.
- Automatic email response. Website Grader visitors could enter their email address to receive a copy of their report. The outbound message that delivered results also contained a personalized note from the company’s VP of Sales. The VP invited the prospect to set up a time for a telephone call to discuss the results and potential improvements.
- Online registration. For users who chose to read their report results online, Volpe’s team included an offer on the bottom of the screen that invited users to receive a personalized expert review of their site.
The call-to-action featured the headline: “Need to improve?” It included a link to a registration page, where the prospect could enter contact information for follow-up.
- Sales team follow-up. Volpe’s team periodically reviewed all the sites being evaluated on Website Grader to find companies that seemed the best fit for HubSpot’s paid services, based on company size and other qualifying factors. Those sites were assigned to a sales rep, who followed up with an email and a phone call to see if they were interested in learning more about the company’s inbound marketing services.
RESULTS
Since launching Website Grader less than a year ago, the tool has become Volpe’s best source of leads and sales. “It has far surpassed any of the goals we had,” Volpe says, with the site so far generating reports for more than 150,000 URLs.
Volpe’s team has converted about 1,000 Website Grader users into leads for HubSpot’s paid services, and has already signed more than 30 new customers to contracts with a lifetime value of more than $250,000. At least 60 more opportunities sit in the pipeline.
Volpe’s sales team also uses Website Grader as a demonstration tool in all its sales presentations. After showing prospects how well their sites are optimized for search marketing, sales reps discuss ways their paid marketing services can help improve lead generation.
Carefully seeding the viral campaign through blogs and social media sites was the key to generating prospect interest. About 20 of the bloggers initially contacted wrote reviews of the tool, and interest from the blogosphere resulted in dozens more small sites each week including a link to the site. To date, that activity has generated more than 34,000 inbound links to the Website Grader website, boosting the site’s overall search engine ranking.
StumbleUpon members continue to rank the page highly, with the site receiving an 81% approval rating from the community. And at Del.icio.us, the site has been bookmarked more than 2,000 times, further boosting traffic and interest.
Paid promotions also proved a valuable component of the team’s marketing efforts: About 60% of users who clicked on a search advertisement used the tool to run a website report.
Creating reports based on the tool’s data also kept the campaign’s momentum going. Thanks to their two press releases, the team garnered write-ups from high-profile sources, such as Guy Kawasaki’s blog and PC Magazine.
Most importantly, they’ve created a viral campaign that’s relevant to the services the company provides, helping demonstrate the problem the company can solve for its customers.
“This campaign isn’t over, and I’m not sure it’s ever going to end. We’re constantly thinking about ways to enhance the reports generated by Website Grader,” says Volpe. “Three years from now, we may be talking about how we got to 1 million unique URLs, which is a response you’re definitely not going to get if you put up one funny video on YouTube.”
Useful links related to this article
Creative samples from HubSpot’s Social Media campaign:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/cs/hubspot/study.html
Del.icio.us:
http://del.icio.us/
Digital Point Forums:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/
StumbleUpon:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
Guy Kawasaki’s blog:
http://blog.guykawasaki.com/
Website Grader:
http://www.websitegrader.com/
HubSpot:
http://www.hubspot.com/
From Marketing Sherpa
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30261
Posted by copiasolaris under Case Studies | Comments (0)
December 12, 2007
SUMMARY: When you outsource marketing to an agency, you expect them to handle most of the work. But that doesn’t let you off the hook in your marketing. Far from it.
You remain a key partner with the agency, which means you have to be a great communicator … and that takes effort. See what the head of one marketing agency says they need from their clients to work effectively. Plus, tips on how to help your marketing by helping your agency.
Communication between your company and your marketing agency is critical. You need to tell them what’s working, what’s not and how your customers react so they can create the best possible marketing plan for you. And you need to heed your agency’s counsel.
You might say: “Why wouldn’t I listen to my agency’s advice? After all, I hired them.” You would think that’s always the case, but ego and stubbornness often interfere.
Rich Carr, Founder and CEO, Carr Knowledge, for instance, has had clients refuse his advice on many occasions. “You know, it’s almost as obvious as you know you have to drive on the right-hand side of the road and when the lights are red you need to stop. They were saying, ‘Well, you don’t necessarily have to drive on the right, and we don’t see lights.’ And it’s like, do you want to be in the car with them? Well, hell no. Go crash.”
To avoid accidents, Carr has 10 strategies and suggestions on how clients can communicate better with their agencies:
Give Your Agency Lots of Information
When you first hire a marketing agency, you must provide a great deal information. The more you provide, the more the agency can help you:
->Tip #1. Have a goal
The first question Carr asks every new client is: “What are we celebrating this time next year?” This goal serves as the focal point around which an agency builds a marketing effort. It could be anything, including:
o Increase sales
o Boost market share
o Sell a certain product
o Sell through a certain channel
o Other
If your goal is one of the above, make sure it’s tied to an exact percentage. Without that benchmark, your goal will be too vague to be targeted and met. “If you have no idea of where you’re going, you’re not going to get there. And if all the people that work for you don’t know what that goal is, then they’re just showing up at work and waiting until 5 o’clock to go home. Everybody has to be working for this goal,” Carr says.
-> Tip #2. Hand over all your sales and marketing information
Before you meet with the agency, have enough information to answer any questions they might have; it needs it to give you a thorough investigation. “To use an analogy, it’s as if you’re a high school athlete and I’m going to give you a physical,” Carr says. “I mean I’m going to know everything about your business.”
This includes:
o Prior marketing efforts, including duration, cost and ROI
o Sales information broken down by source, location and item
o Know what types of marketing work for you and what don’t
“Most businesses have their P&L [profit and loss statement], they live by their P&L,” Carr says. “And we can go through that and ask questions like, ‘What happened when you did this?’ ‘What are your best sales months?’ ‘What do you do during those months?’ ‘What do you say you’re doing during those months?’ I mean literally dissect everything that works.”
When asking these questions, Carr and his clients often stumble into things that work better.
->Tip #3. Leave your ego at home
By hiring an agency, you’ve admitted that your marketing needs help. Keep your ego out of the relationship. Don’t withhold information that makes your earlier marketing look better or stronger. Provide accurate information and numbers. The more honest information you can provide, the more the agency can help.
Offer Feedback
After your marketing plan is up and running, continue to provide feedback. This will help the agency discover new tactics and learn which campaigns are working and which aren’t.
“Generally, they’re just discussions. Think of your doctor. You go in there, ‘How are you feeling.’ ‘Well, everything’s great, except when I do this, it hurts.’ It’s the same thing with marketing. We talk a lot, just like, ‘How are things going? How are you feeling about stuff? How’s this location?’ ” says Carr.
Types of information an agency wants includes:
- Sales
Your sales figures are usually the first numbers most agencies want after your new marketing campaigns begin, Carr says. “We want to see what happens right away with the till, because, again, what we’re here to do is sell more stuff.”
Keep track of your change in sales. Whether the change is positive, negative or flat, provide the information so the agency can adjust your marketing plan accordingly.
- Company and customer buzz
Many agencies involve every type of employee in a marketing campaign. For example, some of Carr’s restaurant clients have their wait staff collecting email addresses from customers. That’s a change in the customers’ and the employees’ experience, and it will cause a reaction.
Whatever the reactions, pass them along to the agency. The information will help it implement future campaigns.
- Ideas
Typically, an agency is not in your office or in your stores, so it’s not in your environment. You have to be the eyes and ears for the agency.
If there’s an event in your area that could be incorporated into marketing, for instance, pass the idea along. Is your competition doing something that you’re interested in? Send a quick email. Tell the agency about any ideas you have.
“For example, Seattle is putting in this new street car, it’s like a trolley. It’s a big deal for Seattle, it’s nice. It ends up, one of our [restaurant] clients happens to be right toward the end of the line of the proposed street car route. He originally pinged us saying, ‘Hey, did you know they’re putting in a street car, and, you know, we should find out some information about it,’ because he’s in touch with that … [Now,] when the street car makes its first run here next week, it does not only end up right in front of his particular business, but he’s advertising in the street car, he’s on the street car maps, which are all over Seattle, and there’s an offer that once they get off the street car and come and eat at his place … they get a free appetizer. It’s little, but it just started with a ‘Hey, did you know.’ ”
Send Ideas & Concerns
To get into quick contact with your agency, the best way is to send an email.
“I would say email is probably our primary communication tool. Clients say ‘Hey, I was thinking about this. … Take a look at this. … I think we should do this.’ ” Get some interchanges going back and forth. Schedule a conference call. If the conference call goes well, schedule a meeting. If the meeting goes well, implement the strategy and make it happen.
“If you’re driving home and you’re stuck in rush-hour traffic, you look at a billboard for root beer — and all of a sudden you’re thinking of a great way to sell. The greatest thing you can do with that little flash is call or email me what just happened and say, ‘You know, is there anything we can do with that?’ ”
Listen to Your Agency
Agencies are hired usually because they know more about marketing than their clients – so, listen to your agency’s advice. Many marketers ignore common sense; they have a hard time letting go of favorite tactics.
With one client, “it was one element of their email marketing campaign, where they wanted emails to go out [in a certain way]. Well, we know how to get an email delivered to an inbox. There are certain things you have to do. There are best practices. … [They started] getting bad flags from IPs because they’re sending out these giant images and PDFs … and their opt-out rates would increase every time an email went out. Eventually, we just said we’re done,” says Carr.
“We found it much easier to, rather than fight with a client like that … just get rid of them and spend that time and resource on somebody who does want to improve.”
Useful links related to this article
Carr Knowledge LLC:
http://www.carrknowledge.com/
From Marketing Sherpa
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30250
Posted by copiasolaris under Interviews | Comments (0)
November 23, 2007
SUMMARY: Wholesalers who supply products to independent retailers still depend on face-to-face meetings as their bread and butter even as ecommerce evolves. But one national wholesaler has embraced the Internet to boost orders for their reps.
See the steps they followed to create an email newsletter program. Retailers who subscribe are ordering 36% more often than those who don’t, plus their orders are 13% larger.
Even as ecommerce evolves, wholesalers for independent retail stores — often known as mom-and-pop stores — still live and die by their sales reps. One wholesale marketer wanted to see what could be done online, particularly with a targeted newsletters, to better connect their 60,000 customers with their field reps while keeping the sales force in the loop.
“The tradition in this industry is for the manufacturers to produce a print catalog, to ship these catalogs to their sales representatives and to ship some samples,” says Suzy Teele, Marketing Strategy Consultant, OneCoast. “The sales representative [then has] to load that into his or her car, drive to a retailer’s store, hope that the retailer … has some time to sit down with us and look through this catalog, usually while the store is open. For about 40 years, this is how the entire industry, not just OneCoast, sold.”
OneCoast helps their retail clients stock their shelves with wares from more than 400 manufacturers in the home decor, gift and collegiate markets. Direct, face-to-face sales make up 80% of their annual revenue. With such a high percentage of sales coming from field salespeople, any online marketing strategy has to include them as a central component.
Teele knew that email marketing could drive more retailers to their regional sales reps, who could then generate more sales, so she and her team developed an email newsletter program that sent tips on better retail management practices and feature manufacturers’ products. The newsletters also prominently displayed their regional sales representatives.
Response from retailers who received OneCoast’s Advisor newsletter has been significant.
- Retailers order 36% more often than those who don’t subscribe to the newsletter.
- Their orders are 13% larger.
- Overall sales to the average retailer are 54% higher with those who receive email than those who don’t, says Jeremy Hirsch, VP Marketing, OneCoast.
Creating a Newsletter - 6 Tips
Here are tips from Hirsch and Teele on how to create an email newsletter that encourages face-to-face sales to retailers:
-> Tip #1. Send targeted emails
If your sales reps are separated by region, target your subscribers by region. If your sales reps are separated by product type, target your retailers in the same way. This focuses on the sales rep that your customer should deal with.
“We don’t drive [our customers] to the Web site. We drive them to their specific sales person,” Hirsch says.
-> Tip #2. Advertise your vendors’/manufacturers’ products
Don’t rent out advertising space in your email to third parties. Instead, use the space to sell your manufacturers’ products. One way is to promote their discount offers and promotions for holiday items.
-> Tip #3. Send timely information
“Our industry tends to be four to six months ahead of when you see [seasonal products] in stores,” Teele says. This means retailers start thinking about Christmas in July. Your email newsletter should reflect that thinking.
-> Tip #4. Include useful, specific and concise information
Retailers are busy. Many are on the sales floor by day and manage their business by night. They don’t have time to read long-winded or irrelevant information. The content in your newsletters must be to the point and useful.
-> Tip #5. Create an attractive email
Your email newsletter should look as good as it is functional when it’s marketing to retailers. It is a sales tool, after all. “This industry is very fashion-oriented, so the email can’t be just functional. It has to be pretty flashy,” says Teele.
Consider going outside for help from an agency specializing in enewsletters if you don’t have a creative department.
-> Tip #6. Keep sales reps in the loop
When your business depends on your sales representatives, it’s important to make them feel comfortable. You don’t want them to think you’re pushing them aside for a Web site.
“Many sales people, whether it’s this industry or other industries, are afraid of the Internet because they think it’s going to replace them. We would never expect that to happen in our industry, because at the end of the day, it’s all about human relationships, and we look at the Internet as augmenting that human relationship,” Teele said.
6 Strategies for Sales Reps
Here are six strategies to ensure that your online effort includes and promotes your sales reps:
-> Strategy #1. Compensate sales reps fairly
OneCoast sells products through four different channels:
o Web
o Phone
o In-person
o Product shows
Their reps are compensated equally across all channels for any sales coming from their active accounts. “If [the rep has] sold to that customer once in two years, that’s an active account. If it’s a new customer, then [the rep] won’t get it the first time, but if they go to visit that customer, then it becomes an active account, and they’ll get [a commission] from that point on,” says Teele.
This policy is important because it helps your sales reps feel supported by your company, and makes them want to evangelize your company’s Web site.
-> Strategy #2. Notify reps of new customers in their region
OneCoast’s Web site is a big driver of new sales leads. A third of their online orders come from first-time purchasers, who are then contacted to sale reps.
Make sure you alert sales reps to new buyers in their territory so they can follow up and make it an active account. This earns them commissions, and helps them sell more products.
-> Strategy #3. Communicate regularly with sales reps
Always let your salespeople know when their retailers are being contacted. This will help them coordinate their sales approach and keep them from sounding “out of the loop” when talking to their clients.
-> Strategy #4. Mention your rep as part of any communication with a retailer
Your sales reps should be a part of any message mailed, phoned or emailed to retailers. Messages should be sent on behalf of your sales reps. This will help coax retailers to contact the sales reps and not just place orders.
-> Strategy #5. Add a sales representative locator to your Web site
Your Web site is a customer resource. If a Web-savvy retailer has a question about your company, they’re likely to check your homepage before making a call.
Include a tool on the site that locates a sales rep in a retailer’s area. It will expedite the sales process and avoid frustrating potential buyers. This can be done with a simple tool, like OneCoast’s Find Your Rep; it accepts a ZIP Code and returns a list of sales reps for the area.
-> Strategy #6. Provide online tools to the sales rep
OneCoast offers the Web service My OneCoast to its sales people. The service lists new orders and new Web site registrations that have come from the rep’s territory. It’s another way for the reps to generate leads from the Web site and view it as a benefit to their jobs and the company.
Useful links related to this article
Creative samples from OneCoast’s email program:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/cs/onecoast/study.html
Past Sherpa articles -
Eretailer Tripled Conversions with Internal Search Changes:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29965
How Eretailer Doubled Conversions With Better Web Analytics - 5 Real-Life Tactics:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29862
OneCoast:
http://onecoast.com/
From Marketing Sherpa
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30209
Posted by copiasolaris under Interviews | Comments (0)
October 26, 2007
SUMMARY: Online video advertising is coming into its own. But can you simply use a TV commercial? What length have marketers found to be the most effective?
We have the answers to those questions and more in our latest Special Report. Discover essential marketing know-how, formatting and creative tips. Plus links to lots of useful resources to help you get started.
We’re in the calm before the storm of online video advertising. Rich media and video advertising now account for 8% of the total revenue being generated online, according to the first-half 2007 revenue report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. This represents a 2-point jump industry wide over last year.
But eMarketer predicts online video ads revenue will hit $775 million this year, and grow by more than five times by 2011 to $4.3 billion.
“Pretty soon, you are going to see video icons all over Web pages,” says John McIntyre, CEO, PixelFish Inc. “The key to making videos work will be putting the different types in the right environment.”
Why Consider Video Ads?
Here are three reasons why online video ads are seen as the industry’s *next big thing*:
- Visual or fluid ad formats attract more consumer attention than static ones.
- Consumers don’t like to work if they don’t have to. They would rather watch a five-minute product video demonstration than read three to four Web pages.
- Google’s distribution of videos via AdSense could mean an explosion in the marketplace, with online video ads about to go local.
Major players, such as Google, Yahoo!, AOL, Yellow Pages, Yellow Book, Super Pages and Local.com, are going to be an absolute boon to national marketers with local chain-store interests.
Still, video advertising has a couple drawbacks worth mentioning:
- Costs can get out of control if you’re not careful.
- Execution can be complex compared to other marketing tactics, in terms of tapping expertise for creative, production, post-production delivery via networks and tracking results.
3 Types of Video Ads
There has been a lot of discussion about videos running on third-party networks that include big user-generated-content sites, such as YouTube, MySpace, MetaCafe and blip.tv. To protect marketers, these sites weed out inappropriate videos before they’re posted. And users aren’t running scared. But what’s out there right now?
First of all, the most widely used ad units running on UGC sites are the following:
o Pre-rolls (ads appear before the content)
By most accounts, these are the top performers. The benefit to pre-rolls is that viewers have just begun playing the video and are unlikely to abandon before experiencing the brand.
o Mid-rolls (during the content)
These have been around for awhile, but they are still kind of the baby in this family — especially at UGC sites. Many marketers are leery of the “interruption factor” of television. But if you can place them in popular programs, the stickiness factor could succeed for you. People are not going to click out before they see the end of the show.
o Post-rolls (after the content)
These can be tricky. “Right now, the post-roll often only performs at a 40% level compared to the pre-roll,” says Neil Perry, CEO, XLNTads.com. “People get to the end of the video clip and they tend to click out before the ad gets going.”
Other Video Formats
Other types of online video ads also exist. Here are four basic formats that are most relevant now:
-> Format #1. Banners. It seemed that streaming Flash banner videos would trend downward as marketers’ choices became more dynamic. But statistics over the last two years show that in-line banners can perform almost as well as pre-rolls.
An increasing number of vendors also have premiered rollover technology that reportedly works well on banners on content sites and blogs. The systems let viewers mouse-over the ad to start and stop the video without having to click on it.
-> Format #2. Video listings. These let marketers show product demos, testimonials and repurposed TV commercials to reach a large, targeted audience via search marketing. National chains, for instance, can use these to help promote their local businesses with video ads.
PixelFish’s McIntyre says this type of advertising will take off in a matter of months. He suggests that marketers would be wise to start off with documentary-styled DIYish productions that cost less than $1,000 to create.
“CNET is doing that style of video brilliantly. The reason why online videos are attractive to consumers, too, is that it’s so much easier than going across town to see and learn the same things about a Chinese restaurant or car repair garage.”
-> Format #3. Branded entertainment videos. This longstanding medium is being reinvented online at sites dedicated to original content, such as Heavy.com. Brand managers for CPG firms should be particularly interested in this area due to the potential for product placement. (See T-Mobile’s success story below.)
-> Format #4. Text-based overlays. These widget applications allow a marketer to send copy inside the video content itself or at the top or bottom of the player. They’re similar to tickers that roll across the bottom of your TV screen.
What Works Best?
You want to avoid producing a TV vibe, which doesn’t normally work online — especially at user-generated content sites. And while repurposing broadcast commercials should be avoided, if you must, chop them up and present them in a different fashion than what is aired on TV. Nothing tunes viewers out faster than seeing an ad on YouTube that they’ve already repeatedly caught on FOX.
To bolster the impact of any of the ads, consider buying a display ad to accompany the video. Most sites accepting video ads offer the display ads, which will appear nearby the video player.
However, be sure that the network of sites receiving the video-and-display combo doesn’t include ones that are unfriendly to advertisers in general. Make sure your agency handling the media buys is cognizant of this concern.
“With the display ad, the extra visual impression helps overall branding,” says B. Scott Taylor, President & Founder, TAOW Productions. “But, it will work much better at an automotive site or a television network site where you expect to see the tactic than it will at an online destination with a lot of Mac users, who really hate feeling like they are getting hit over the head with ads.”
Mort Greenberg, President, MetaCafe, says normal campaigns at his site usually run about three months with a median cost of $45,000. He has found that shorter is better but that longer lengths can work in the right situation.
“The best pre-roll for our environment is less than 10 seconds. Ideally, we will [someday] be able to work with the ad community and create a standard of five seconds, plus or minus a few seconds. I know from abandonment curves that you want to keep pre-roll short-form.”
Success Story: T-Mobile
T-Mobile is one marketer using online branded entertainment on Heavy.com very well. The company has been sponsoring the Internet-only “Ashford Lawrence” series by comedian Donnell Rawlings, which involves 4- and 5-minute episodes or clips.
Before clicking on the first clip, the viewer sees a three-second ad for T-Mobile’s campaign, “Talk Longer. Find Out More.” The static ad splits into two and then slowly leaves the screen like a set of playhouse curtains opening up.
The episode begins and is flanked by static ads that are viewable and clickable throughout the video. In addition, at least one subtle T-Mobile product placement occurs in each episode. Viewers who choose to watch another episode see a 30-second ad that’s similar to a mid-roll.
Of the nine episodes that have been added to the site since spring, each has received at least 400,000 views and some episodes have had more than 700,000 views.
The cost for these campaigns is lower than for a TV spot, as the brand is not responsible for making the video content. And, repurposing broadcast commercials for the mid-rolls doesn’t have the same “ugh factor” that seems to permeate their appearances on user-generated content sites.
7 Creative Tips
You’ve seen the types of online video ads out there and what some marketers are doing with them. Here are some dos and don’ts:
-> Tip #1. Do keep your online video ads short. Industry players agree that it’s better to make a 5- or 10-second spot instead of a 15-second one. In fact, 60.6% of consumers surveyed by Advertising.com cited “shorter ads than TV” as the No. 1 factor that would make video ads better.
-> Tip #2. Do get the ball rolling by contacting your agency. Brainstorm to determine the type of ad you need and to work out details, including length of the video, online location of placement, etc.
-> Tip #3. Do keep it real. Simple yet innovative messaging often works best online. “I think it’s important to come up with original ideas when preparing for this space,” says TAOW Productions’ Taylor. “It’s worthwhile to try to separate yourself from what everyone else is saying and doing.”
-> Tip #4. Do test and measure, test and measure. Through your analytics, pay attention to the percent of your entire video being played by the viewers, the abandon rates and, when possible, directly attributable sales conversions.
-> Tip #5. Don’t do something funny in the video unless everyone in your target audience will get it. Instead, do create a campaign that will work at various UGC and content sites so that you can optimize an entire network buy.
Networks aggregate videos from multiple sites, providing you with incremental reach. Because networks gather inventory from multiple channels, they are often priced more competitively than single-site buys. You’ll get more bang for your buck if your ad is funny at both MySpace and ESPN.com.
-> Tip #6. Don’t follow rules of television advertising; they simply don’t apply to the Internet. “Consumers are not looking at this as just some other way to watch television. They want the experience to be different,” says XLNTads.com’s Perry.
-> Tip #7. Don’t immediately sour on post-roll or mid-roll opportunities because there’s more buzz for pre-roll. “It comes back to what are you using video for,” says Shawn Gurn, Interactive Media Director, Moroch. “For instance, if you’re using video to be entertaining and to add that sort of value to it, you can definitely use post-roll.”
Next time: A marketer’s guide to vendors with online video ad services
Useful links related to this article
Past Sherpa articles—
Video Surges While Search Lags - 5 Trends to Watch in the Online Content Industry:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29864
How to Use YouTube to Generate Leads: 7 Video Posting Strategies & Tagging Tips:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30150
Research data sources –
Advertising.com:
http://advertising.com/index.php
Interactive Advertising Bureau:
http://www.iab.net/
Online Publishers Association:
http://www.online-publishers.org/
PricewaterhouseCoopers:
http://www.pwc.com/
Google AdSense formats page, including video information:
https://www.google.com/adsense/static/en_US/AdFormats.h
ml
NewTeeVee - industry site and blog dedicated to online video:
http://live.newteevee.com/
Online Video: It’s a small world! blog:
http://prerollvideo.blogspot.com
Example of a Macy’s mid-roll ad:
http://www.harvesteating.com/public/729.cfm
Links to key video sites –
YouTube:
http://youtube.com
MySpace:
http://myspace.com
MetaCafe:
http://metacafe.com
blip.tv:
http://blip.tv
Heavy Inc.:
http://www.heavy.com/
Uvouch.com:
http://www.uvouch.com
Imeem.com:
http://imeem.com
Superdeluxe.com:
http://superdeluxe.com
CosmoTV – a video-based search engine site that allows consumers to query for TV shows:
http://cozmotv.typepad.com
Blinkx.com – a video-based search engine site:
http://www.blinkx.com/
Links to sources’ sites –
XLNTads.com:
http://www.xlntads.com/
Moroch:
http://moroch.com
PixelFish Inc.:
http://pixelfish.com/
Taow Productions LLC:
http://www.taowproductions.com/
From Marketing Sherpa
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30178
Posted by copiasolaris under How To's | Comments (0)
August 16, 2007
SUMMARY: Digital print capabilities have made it possible so you don’t have to send out the exact same postal mail piece to each of your prospects. In fact, you can arrange products based on past purchase behavior and other data or even change the size of your mailer.
Reader’s Digest Canada has results from a new mailing where they tested four catalogs with varying levels of customization. Conversions increased as much as 74%.
CHALLENGE
Reader’s Digest Canada typically sees response rates that are one or two percentage points higher than the industry average for their catalog mailings of CDs, DVDs and books. But with better data mining technology and digital print capabilities, Mathieu Peloquin, VP Marketing, Product Lines, and his team were intrigued with the notion of customizing their print catalogs based on past buying data.
“We wanted to remove the barrier of ‘one-catalog-for-all.’ We wanted to test fully customized catalogs and determine how the variable model can impact the customer,” he says.
Peloquin wondered if they could increase sales enough to pay for higher printing costs by using past purchase information to create a truly personalized catalog for each customer. Could they make their catalog merchandizing operations act more like an analytics-driven ecommerce site?
CAMPAIGN
To begin, they set up three tests of varying catalog customization involving 47,103 customers who had purchased an item in the past 10 weeks. The number of consumers receiving each mailing would be different, as it was determined by how many fit the varying criteria for each test.
Because Peloquin and his team wanted to find the best ROI scenario, they tested catalog lengths of 16, 20 and 24 pages, as well as correlating, full-color self-adhesive sweepstakes product stamp sheets against versions without.
Moving forward, all three tests were measured against a control group of 15,701 who received a typical version of their non-personalized promotion.
The control mailing included:
o A 24-page, 5-1/4-by-8-1/4-inch booklet with information on 43 best-selling CDs
o A sweepstakes package with a letter/certificate that included the consumer’s personal information in black type.
They used only music items for the control group because that category had the widest margins and Peloquin wanted to establish a hard-to-beat ROI benchmark.
The tests involved an algorithm system that produced numerous product-affinity combinations and patterns. As a result, each test included a catalog populated with four personalized products based on most-recent purchase and/or affinity patterns (items bought by other consumers).
Peloquin didn’t want any changes in design to affect the findings, so they kept the same catalog layout for the control and test packages.
Here’s how they modified the test catalogs:
- Test #1A. Customized catalog, but no cross-sell
Peloquin wanted one package to help them see what kind of variations could be achieved without going too crazy with customization. The catalogs, which mailed to 10,468 consumers, used a handful of personalized touches.
Key elements:
o A 16-, 20- or 24-page booklet/catalog, with size depending on the number of products relevant to the customer’s history
o One product line — either CDs, DVDs or books — based on the customer’s most recent purchase
o Due to affinity purchase patterns dialed up by the system’s algorithms, products were placed inside the catalog in sequence of relevance
o A full sweepstakes package, including a personalized letter, prize offer and stamp sheets
o Product images in the catalog and on the stamp sheet were sequenced to relevance
o All items were printed in four color
- Test #1B. Simplified catalog version
Notable differences for this version included:
o No sweepstake elements at all — and, therefore, much less personalization
o Volume of the mail drop: 5,234
- Test #2. Customized package/cross-sell multiple products
This test allowed Peloquin and his team to create a package with hundreds of merchandising combinations that went to 15,700 consumers.
Key elements:
o Products based on previous purchases and an affinity pattern, but included items from all three product lines (CDs, DVDs, books)
o Items were sequenced based on affinity patterns
o A full sweepstakes package, including personalized letter, prize offer and stamp sheets
o The product images in the catalog and on the stamp sheet were sequenced to relevance
o Varying stamp sheet length based on page count
o The size of the catalog — 16, 20 or 24 pages — was decided by the number of products relevant to the customer’s history
o All items were personalized in four-color process
RESULTS
The results proved that even an old direct marketer like Reader’s Digest can learn new DM tricks. Indeed, the findings gave Peloquin and his team overwhelming reason to move away from the concept of “one-catalog-for-all.” Overall, their test results saw average sales lifts over the control package: 49% for Test #1A, 16% for Test #1B and 74% for Test #2.
Here’s how the response data broke down by product category compared to the control package:
Test #1A: Customized catalog without cross-sell (and one product line per recipient):
o CD buyers, 27%
o DVD buyers, 111%
o Book buyers, 45%
Test #1B: Simplified version (and one product line per recipient):
o CD buyers, 7%
o DVD buyers, 68%
o Book buyers, 9%
Test #2: Customized package/cross-sell multiple products (multiple product line offers):
o CD buyers, 35%
o DVD buyers, 78%
o Book buyers, 83%
Peloquin and his team also received very encouraging anecdotal feedback when it came to all three tests. “We heard comments like, ‘I could have bought every item in the book.’ So, those products really resonated.”
Going from a system of creating one catalog for all vs a digital template where customer behavior fills in the key spots wasn’t easy for Peloquin’s design team, but the results prove that it’s worth it to test. They still need to conduct another test or two to determine the exact size of the catalog. “We were near our ROI requirement. We are only months away from rolling out.”
Useful links related to this article
Creative samples from Reader’s Digest Canada’s catalog test:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/cs/readersdigest/study.h
ml
Xerox 1:1 Lab - provided the technology for the variable catalog tests:
http://www.xerox.com/1to1lab
Terminal Van Gogh - handled 1-to-1 marketing consultancy and solutions for the tests:
http://www.terminalvangogh.com/
Exstream Software: - provided additional technology for the tests:
http://www.exstream.com/
Reader’s Digest Canada:
http://www.readersdigest.ca
From Marketing Sherpa
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30092
Posted by copiasolaris under Case Studies | Comments (0)
July 27, 2007
SUMMARY: Marketers have so many fancy online options at their fingertips, they forget how useful (and successful) telemarketing can be for lead generation. So many don’t follow the right rules or give up too soon.
We have exclusive new data and strategies to help you to make the right calls in your next campaign. Includes:
-> How many attempts it takes to complete a conversation with a C-level executive
-> Nurturing a lead through the entire process
-> A sample voicemail message
Business-to-business telemarketing has survived every technology that’s come along in recent years. Even with the development of the Web, email and now Web 2.0 as marketing tools, the telephone still remains a crucial piece of a B-to-B lead generation strategy.
Why? Telemarketing works. Business prospects surveyed by MarketingSherpa earlier this year were surprisingly positive about the telemarketing experience:
o 53% said they added a technology vendor to their database for consideration after receiving a cold call
o 40% said they invited vendors to provide additional information by phone or electronically
It’s clear that prospects respond to a well-conducted telemarketing effort. But with so much pressure to try sexy new lead generation tools, some marketers might not be paying enough attention to this old-school tactic. “People are using telemarketing, so how can you make sure you’re doing it right?” asks Kathy Rizzo, VP Marketing, TeleNet Marketing Solutions. “What are some things you need to look at to make sure you’re not becoming complacent?”
To answer these questions, Rizzo and her team conducted a survey of 205 B-to-B marketers in Q4 2006-Q1 2007 and analyzed thousands of telemarketing campaign records in their database. Based on some key findings of this research, we have identified five tips to help you tweak your own telemarketing campaigns for maximum effectiveness:
-> Tip #1. More calls to fewer, more targeted contacts
Conventional wisdom in the telemarketing industry says that failing to connect with a prospect within three or four calls means it’s time to move on. But Rizzo says marketers who give up after three calls are missing out on prime opportunities.
Analyzing their database of completed telemarketing records, Rizzo’s team found:
- The average number of telemarketing attempts required to complete a conversation is 3.68.
- For C-level executives, it takes roughly seven calls to connect.
What’s more, the rate at which return on investment starts to diminish for call attempts (and getting completed interviews) is higher than most people expect:
- The average number of telemarketing attempts for the daily call returns to start dropping is 5.76.
- For C-level executives, it’s not until 12 call attempts that daily call returns start dropping.
This means that it takes an average of four calls to connect for most contacts. Yet, many marketers still start with a large list and try to touch every name on it — often by limiting the number of attempts per name to only two or three calls.
Instead, given tight marketing budgets, Rizzo suggests that marketers spend more up-front time analyzing their list of names to find the best prospects, then making a minimum of four calls. “It’s the difference between taking a shotgun approach — calling all names one or two times — and being really more strategic about your contact list.”
-> Tip #2. Develop a voicemail strategy
Further analyzing their call records, Rizzo’s team found that nearly 75% of all calls reach a prospect’s voicemail. Yet, there is surprisingly little focus among marketers on improving their voicemail messages.
Most marketers spend a great deal of time — as they should — on telemarketing scripts that guide phone reps through key questions and outline offers of significant value for prospects. But when it comes to voicemail messages, most take a generic approach, such as, “Hi. I’m calling on behalf of Company X, and we saw that you downloaded a recent white paper on X topic. I’m calling to follow up and see if you have any additional questions I can answer for you.”
Messages like this don’t give prospects a compelling reason to call back. “People download a lot of white papers,” Rizzo says, “and they don’t tend to follow up on a telemarketing call 24 hours later, let alone weeks or months later.” Instead, she recommends creating a Critical Business Issue message that truly captures a prospect’s attention.
The good news is that the focus of this voicemail is probably the same industry pain point or value proposition contained in your telemarketing script.
-> Tip #3. What’s in a Critical Business Issue voicemail
Specifically, a CBI voice mail message should:
- Be no longer than 45 seconds long.
- Mention an industry pain point or issue that the prospect is likely to have.
- Describe a solution your company offers that can address that issue and offer additional resources, such as a case study relevant to their industry, another white paper or webinar or a product demonstration.
- Mention the prospect’s name twice, at the beginning of the call and at the end.
- Offer a callback number twice, also at the beginning and end of the message.
A sample CBI voicemail could sound something like this approach, which Rizzo might use to contact prospects for their lead nurturing service:
“Hello, John. This is Kathy with TeleNet Marketing Solutions. My phone number is X. The reason for my call is that we’re experiencing a dramatic growth in the area of lead nurturing because a primary challenge among marketing managers is seeing their leads fall into a black hole when they’re passed along to sales staff too early. If you share that challenge, I’d like to pass along our methodology to you. Please feel free to contact me at X phone number. Thank you, John.”
“Ideally, you want them to call you back. But even if they don’t call you back, next time you contact them they may remember who you are because your voicemail caught their attention,” Rizzo says.
-> Tip #4. Assign different telemarketing teams to different tasks
Companies can use telemarketing to support a range of projects, including registering people for an event, following up on prospects who downloaded a white paper or viewed a webinar and setting appointments for salespeople. But assigning this workload to one group of phone agents won’t yield the best results.
In fact, Rizzo’s survey of technology marketers found a trend among companies to assign specialized tasks to different telemarketing teams. Nearly 30% of companies currently using telemarketing said they planned to evaluate telemarketing vendors within the next 12 months.
Of that group, 55% primarily used an in-house team, but were looking to external sources for specialized activities:
- 25% of the companies said they were evaluating vendors to help an internal telesales team that is handling “too much,” and needed to become more focused by offloading specialized projects.
- 29% of companies said they were evaluating vendors to supplement internal teams during the volume peaks that come with special projects.
Whether you choose to employ an internal team, an external team or both, it makes sense to assign teams different tasks depending on the skill set that is needed for the conversation. For example, a high skill level may be needed for lead nurturing projects, which form long-term relationships with prospects to check in on current needs and provide appropriate marketing information over time. The type of conversation required when following up on a response to a white paper might call for a less skilled phone agent.
The key is to make sure there is good communication between the teams and a way to integrate different databases, so prospects can be passed along to different teams or to the sales group without losing data. “You want different teams doing different tasks, but you don’t want to silo information,” Rizzo says.
-> Tip #5. Follow-up tactics and the big picture
A telemarketing mistake Rizzo often sees is teams that are too focused on an immediate goal and not on the long-term marketing potential of a telephone conversation. “There is so much time and attention spent on locating the ‘hot’ lead or appointment among your prospects, that it’s easy to bypass having quality conversations with qualified prospects who are not ready to buy.”
Indeed, when MarketingSherpa recently asked technology decision makers about their key concerns with telemarketing calls, the second-most important factor (after respecting the prospect’s time) was that callers listen to what they say and follow up with relevant information.
To encourage teams to stay focused on opportunities that deliver relevant follow-up information to prospects who aren’t sales-ready, Rizzo recommends developing a prospect profile. The prospect profile is developed by telesales reps asking key questions and should be broken down by two types of information.
Details that you need to know to determine qualification:
o Is the person a decision maker
o In the right industry
o From the right size organization
o In the market for a new product or service
o Ready to buy, with a timeline and budget in place
Details that are nice to know:
o What vendor/solution are they currently using
o What business factors would make them seek a new vendor
o What are the most important industry challenges they face
o What kind of information is most useful to them when making a buying decision
You don’t have to capture all this data on the first call. If a prospect isn’t a hot lead, a good conversation that delivers some of the need to know/nice to know information will create openings for additional contacts or nurturing over time.
If you know what business factors or industry issues are most influential to a prospect’s buying decision, you can offer to send additional white papers or invite them to a webinar on relevant topics. If you know what vendor a prospect is currently using, you can target the person with a competitive marketing campaign that offers case studies or product information that outlines the advantages of your company.
“The data captured in the profile will prepare you to deploy nurturing strategies and can provide key market intelligence to aid your next marketing campaign,” Rizzo says.
Useful links related to this article
TeleNet Marketing Solutions:
http://www.telenetmarketing.com
From Marketing Sherpa
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30060
Posted by copiasolaris under Interviews | Comments (0)
April 17, 2007
SUMMARY: Renting a permission list for the first (or even third) time can be a bit confusing. What’s normal for transmission fees? How speedy is the turnaround? Should you pay extra for brand endorsement? Should you rent more names than the minimum to run a test? etc., etc.
Here’s a handy toolkit from MarketingSherpa to help you (also useful for training staff). Includes two sample contracts with key legalese noted, as well as a How to Read a Data Card PDF.
This MarketingSherpa Toolkit comes in three parts, each of which you can download as separate PDFs. (Note: If you share the word about this resource, please give folks the direct hotlink to this page. It will remain good for years to come.)
Part I: How to Read a Data Card
Every list on the market has an official “data card” for shoppers to review. The data card may be available online and also may be postal mailed to you. Although data cards from different managers can look slightly different, most share similar information.
It’s not everything you need to know to rent a list — but it’s enough to add the file to your “under serious consideration” pile. Discover what each part of the sometimes mysterious card means, and what critical questions you should ask in further research before making a buying decision:
How to Read a Datacard
Note: Yes, this is a real-life data card. We chose it fairly randomly and do not have an opinion as to the wonderfulness of the list it promotes.
Part II: Document of Legal Compliance
In addition to standard list rental contracts, some best-of-breed list owners and managers also distribute a Document of Compliance to elaborate on how their list gathering practices match the law and, most importantly, how they require your broadcast to be legal as well.
Laws are often shaded in gray until enough court cases define nooks and crannies of confusion. So just saying, “We obey the law and expect you to as well,” is not enough. It’s better to spell things out.
Most importantly, be sure to review the “Suppress File” information on page three. We recommend that no marketer or manager do rental business without agreeing to this.
Here’s the PDF link:
CAN SPAM Compliance Document
Note: The Document of Legal Compliance we chose for this exhibit is a real-life document from a list manager we regard quite highly. It’s extremely well worded, and we feel it could be taken as an example of best practices. That said, we’re not lawyers. If you’re considering signing a document or creating your own, please consult legal counsel first.
Part III: List Rental Contract
No one should ever rent you a list without requiring that you sign a contract first. Some things to be sure to look for in the fine print:
o Landing page requirements:
Is a hotlink to your privacy policy required on your landing page? It’s a best practice … however, in our experience many Web designers forget to put that link on landing pages or registration forms. Make sure you conform.
o Advertisement disclosure:
If the list owner wants to include language on your creative making it clear your broadcast is an ad, that’s fine and dandy. Except, the word “advertisement” may be filtered by content-based filters (especially a problem for B-to-B sends.) So, you may need to negotiate to a less problematic, albeit equally clear, word.
o Suppression list:
Are you ready to hand over your Do Not Email (DNE) list for suppression purposes? If you’re renting with a reputable firm you’ll be required to. However, you may be able to negotiate using a third party merge/purge house to run the suppression on your behalf as an intermediary if you are extremely concerned about security. Also, be sure to check your own privacy policy wording to be sure if you need to use that third party or if you can hand over the DNE list directly.
Here’s the PDF link:
List Rental Contract
(note: sample is as of April 2007)
Note: This real-life sample is one of the more thorough contracts around. Many are only one page long. Those are not bad at all — we chose this one because we wanted you to see the full realm of contractual possibility. If your legal team is cool with this, getting them to sign off on shorter contracts will be a breeze.
More Useful links related to this article:
Companion Sherpa Tutorial on renting email lists:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=29930
List managers and brokers that assisted with this toolkit:
Bethesda List Center:
http://www.bethesda-list.com
DM2-DecisionMaker:
http://www.dm2decisionmaker.com
IDG List Services:
http://www.idglist.com
Millard Group:
http://www.millard.com
From Marketing Sherpa
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=29939
Posted by copiasolaris under How To's | Comments (0)