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Why Sales Hates Marketing

July 11, 2011

Tags: Lead Generation, marketing, sales
Categories: Strategy

Are you using email marketing to its greatest potential?

As a marketing guy, I have a passion for the partnership shared between marketing and sales. However, I’m not sure the feeling is always mutual.

As a former head of marketing for a big investment firm, I was one of the top 12 executives at a $7 billion company. Depending on the day, I was either number 11 or 12, taking turns with the head of HR in the pecking order.

Such is often the feeling of many salespeople – and business owners I’m afraid – toward marketers (and marketing). We are a cost center. A consumer of resources with no real way to measure our contribution to the business.

Wasted time and money

The reality is, many marketers haven’t taken enough responsibility for pulling their weight in the sales process. Fortune 500 and other large concerns have already made marketing more accountable to revenue generation. One of the ways they’ve done this is expect leads to be better qualified before handing them off to sales.

Lead qualification is an area that presents great opportunity for B2B marketers. As represented in the accompanying chart, not many organizations go past simply getting a form with basic contact information submitted on their website. Few attempt to verify that there is a valid business need or real interest for their products or services before passing the lead on to sales.

This marketing “fail” can cause a number of issues including that Sales hates Marketing!

Utilizing email qualification. Conversion layers with video and/or other interactive tactics. Even a qualifying telephone call can improve the quality of a lead. Salespeople and your bottom line will love you for it.

Want to Know More about Albany Marketing firm Burst Marketing?
Visit us at www.burstmarketing.net

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Leads – get em while they’re hot!

May 9, 2011

Tags: Lead Generation, marketing
Categories: Lead Generation

Sales resources are scarce in terms of both money and professionals. The last thing you want are your salespeople (you included!) chasing around prospects that are a waste of your time. There are too many that aren’t qualified or aren’t ready to buy.

So how do you stop chasing your tail and improve the quality of the prospects you spend your time and money on?

Here is one principal to keep in mind.

The 24th time’s the charm

We’re often asked how long it takes an advertising campaign to work. The answer is…it depends. But we do know that it takes persistence.

In 1972, researcher Herbert Krugman detailed what has become a famous advertising mantra called the three hit theory. His theory basically went something like this –

All marketing messages must be received at least 3 times by a target audience member. The first so that she senses that you are communicating. The second so that she understands what’s in it for her. The 3rd so that she decides what she wants to do.

With so many marketing messages bombarding your audience, in our experience, particularly when a message includes a call to action – like in lead generation (or any good marketing message for that matter) – the 3 hit theory actually behaves more like a 3 x 3 x 3 hit theory.

It takes 3 exposures for your audience to realize you are communicating to them, 3 x 3 or 9 exposures for them to grasp what you’re asking them to do, and 3 x 3 x (nearly) 3, or 24 exposures for them to decide whether to accept your request for action or not.

So, one simple “hotness” test is how many times a prospect has been exposed to the message and did they actually take the actions you’ve asked them to take.

To clarify, the 24 exposures is required to be absolutely certain you have exhausted any hope of having a citizen (Seth Godin’s word for a member of the universe) make a final decision to accept or reject your request for action.

Are your expectations realistic in light of this? Are you prepared to make sure your message is received 24 times by your target audience?

Maintain focus on your marketing priorities and perseverance. Nurture your targets with continuous communication. In time, the ones you seek will be on fire.

Want to Know More about Albany Marketing firm Burst Marketing?
Visit us at www.burstmarketing.net

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“Just Do It” – Um, Do What?

March 2, 2011

Tags: call to action, Lead Generation, marketing
Categories: Lead Generation

Everyday, we are inundated with direct mail, commercials, online pop-ups and advertisements, each telling us to take a different action. Call now! Click here! Visit for more information! In order to drive sales and boost conversion rates, you need to create powerful calls to action. But what do your calls to action actually ask your audience to do? Your audience is awaiting and expecting a prompt from you, so you need to create motivating and resonating calls to action.

A call to action (CTA) is a phrase that asks for the customer’s business. It should be attention-grabbing and tie in with your company’s goals. But why should people follow your CTA? What’s in it for them? You need to clearly demonstrate why following the CTA will benefit them and make their lives better or easier. This explanation will increase customer motivation and conversion rates.

Give clear examples of how the CTA will make life better throughout your copy. For example, try to use phrasing like this:

Using our new book-keeping software saves you time by allowing you to combine all your accounting functions into one program. Click here to download a free trial.

The above sentences do three things: First, it tells the customer the ultimate benefit of using the product. Second, it provides an example as to how it works. Lastly, customers are prompted to take a tangible action to learn more. These three elements need to be included in your CTA.

If you don’t have a product you can allow customers to sample, you should direct them to contact your offices. Be mindful of the best way for customers to contact you. Is it better for them to call your sales department, or should they email you to gather information? Either way, include the best contact method in the CTA by either placing a phone number in the copy or linking to an email submission form.

Make it easy for the customer to fulfill to CTA. Don’t lose your chance to gain business by providing complicated conversion processes. Make the action clear and easily understood. The action should also be something immediate – making a phone call, downloading a product, proceeding to the next page or completing and submitting a simple form. If necessary, make the CTA time-sensitive to encourage immediate action.

Clear and concise CTAs will engage your audience and increase conversion rates. CTAs are an essential factor in your sales that asks your audience for a specific action. Regardless of your end goal, your CTA is the first step in driving people into the sales funnel. It needs to capture attention and be easily understood and fulfilled. These handy tricks will help you achieve this undoubtedly.

Want to Know More about Albany Marketing firm Burst Marketing?
Visit us at www.burstmarketing.net

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The Importance of Free

September 27, 2010

Tags: bottom line, customer appreciation, Customer Service, free, Lead Generation, whitepaper
Categories: Business Development, Lead Generation, Lead Nurturing

Burst Marketing: We all worry about our bottom lines. Whether we deal in products or services, the constant battle to make the numbers line up. We want to offer a competitive price, but we need to bring in enough to keep the business afloat. You don’t want to devalue your work, but you still need to make your customers feel that they are getting something of special value in their transactions.

It’s a constant dilemma we all face, and it’s hard to make your customers feel “important.”

Some people feel that offering a free item (like a seminar or informational report) means you don’t value your product or service. But free products can create incredible valuable in your customer relationships.

Consider offering a freebie to repeat customers. First, make sure you offer quality products that encourage return business. Then offer the free item as a customer appreciation effort. It’s a great way to show your gratitude and build customer loyalty.

When you take this approach, you’ll demonstrate that you reinvest your earnings into the interests of your customers in efforts to create products and services that make their lives easier and better. You want your customers to believe you are a leader in your field, and offering value-added products will convey your confidence.

So, don’t let “free” deceive you. Giving free materials could actually make you richer in the long run.

We all worry about our bottom lines. Whether we deal in products or services, it’s constant battle to make the numbers line up. We want to offer a competitive price, but we need to bring in enough to keep the business afloat. You don’t want to devalue your work, but you still need to make your customers feel that they are getting something of special value in their transactions.

It’s a constant dilemma we all face, and it’s hard to make your customers feel “important.”

Consider offering a freebie to repeat customers. First, make sure you offer quality products that encourage return business. Then offer the free item as a customer appreciation effort. It’s a great way to show your gratitude and build customer loyalty.

So, don’t let “free” deceive you. Giving free materials could actually make you richer in the long run.

Want to Know More about Albany Marketing firm Burst Marketing?
Visit us at www.burstmarketing.net

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Burst Marketing Lead Generation – Get Intimate

March 21, 2010

Tags: Burst Marketing, direct mail, Lead Generation, ROI, variable printing
Categories: Lead Generation, Lead Management, Lead Nurturing, Marketing ROI, Strategy

Plopped right on your desk is today’s mail. Bills, magazines, direct mail.

The competition for your attention is in full swing…and it’s survival of the fittest. Getting to the top of the pile has always been a challenge for direct marketers, no more so than now when time is at such a premium.

No, direct mail is not dead. Far from it. One client of our drops over 4 million pieces of mail each year and generates a very healthy ROI, thank you very much.

There are a number of tactics you can use to improve the response of your direct mail program. Lead among them is the use of variable print data. Enabled by technology, personalized messages can be created on each piece by pulling information from your database.

Research shows that mail with your name on it, along with a relevant message, generates a significantly higher response rate than those without it. The additional costs of variable printing can be highly justified by the higher returns generated.

Does it makes sense for you? Calculations depend on a number of factors including -

- What is the value of an individual sale?
- What has it cost you in the past to generate a qualified lead?
- What other elements are included in your communications mix?

Direct mail is a highly measurable form of lead generation. Testing the effect of variable printing is a matter of organizing and tracking the effort properly.

Want to Know More about Albany Marketing firm Burst Marketing?
Visit us at www.burstmarketing.net

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Lead Generation Tips

October 4, 2009

Tags: Lead Generation, marketing, seo
Categories: Strategy

Lead generation is at or near the top of every client’s list of concerns.

On balance, two target groups that are part of nearly every campaign are the ones already in your pipeline and those you’ve not yet found. In the most recent Marketing Sherpa B2B Marketing Summit – there were some specific tips shared pertaining to these two groups.

(see more details from MarketingSherpa’s summary here for a limited time)

Older leads in the pipeline

Brian Carroll, CEO, InTouch, shared a stark fact: Research has shown that about 80% of leads marketers generate end up getting lost, ignored or discarded.

Rather than continually struggling to find new leads for the sales team, marketers must develop a lead re-engagement process that returns dead or unwanted leads to the marketing pile.

Carroll described how a nurturing process that used relevant industry articles emailed to old leads and timely telephone follow-up generated a 375% increase in sales-ready leads when compared to the conversion rate of new leads. Those old leads eventually added $4.9 million in sales pipeline value.

Hunting for fresh meat online

SEO and PPC are never-ending processes. The painful truth is that search marketing is never finished. Search engine algorithms are constantly evolving. Competing content is always being developed. Keyword prices fluctuate with demand. You’ve got to evolve to stay ahead of the game.

Marc Joseph, President and Founder, Dollar Days, recommended writing keyword-rich articles to improve your search engine results page positioning for particularly competitive keywords. He showed examples where a continuous stream of content achieved top-five results listings for some of the most competitive product areas.

The last couple of years have knocked many competitors back on their heels or out of the game completely. When confidence begins to seep back into the market, there will be many potential customers up for grabs.

Now is the time to look at your lead generation program with a critical eye.

Posted by: Steve Banis

Want to Know More about Albany Marketing firm Burst Marketing?
Visit us at www.burstmarketing.net

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Lead Them to Water…Automatically

May 31, 2009

Tags: Albany marketing, autoresponders, email marketing, Lead Generation
Categories: Business Development, Lead Management, Lead Nurturing, Marketing Blueprint, Sales Process, Websites

A recent case study on MarketingSherpa.com demonstrated the effectiveness of autoresponders.

This is a tool offered within better equipped email platforms that allows you to program a series of messages to be delivered to your target lists at designated intervals.

What makes this so powerful is the ability to let these campaigns run by themselves. Further, with some extra work, you can separate, qualify, and bring your targets closer to doing business with you by following multiple communication paths.

Scooby Doo, where are you?

For example, say you want to reach customers that are interested in collecting old lunchboxes. (I had Scooby Doo in 2nd grade.) Some of these babies go for thousands of dollars. (Mine got thrown out, along with my baseball cards. Thanks mom.)

So you set up a landing page showing off examples of some boxes you have for sale. It also explains that you have a real nose for locating those hard to find boxes that make a collector drool.

Then your targeted communication program brings you visitors to your site who sign up to receive more information. Now here’s where the autoresponders get to work.

You’ve written a series of messages that goes to every new person who signs onto your list. Out goes a welcome message immediately. Next day, you send them a little biography about yourself, and the big finds you’ve made in the past and how you’ve seen some of your clients make lots of money on their lunch box investment.

Lead them to water

One week later, you send out a testimonial letter with a story from one of your customers. It says that you helped him relive his childhood and connect with his son by finding him the exact box he had when he was 8 – the Rocky and Bullwinkle one with a bright blue background. It made him cry.

Two days later, you send an email asking your reader to let you know what kind of interested party he is…a real collector looking for that hard to find, expensive treasure or someone just interested in the topic. You can now create two lists from those who respond – qualified buyers and tirekickers.

Now separate them into two lists, and send each their own set of email messages. For the qualified list, it may pay off to make them personalized. All the while, you’re bringing the qualified prospects closer and closer – without ever picking up the phone.

It takes thought, creativity, intuition, hard work, and a little bit of talent. But once you’ve got your process, it’s all automatic.

Posted by: Steve Banis

Want to Know More about Albany Marketing firm Burst Marketing?
Visit us at www.burstmarketing.net

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Turn A Competitor’s Strength to Your Advantage

March 15, 2009

Tags: Albany marketing, Albany Sales, Business Development, Lead Generation, recession marketing, Sales Lead Generation
Categories: Advertising, Brand/Reputation, Business Development, Marketing Message, Strategy

We’re always on the lookout for interesting examples of companies that won’t take no for an answer.

Friday, Mary Ann Rogers told me about a recent national promotion she caught wind of that seems to embrace that spirit. It seeks to use a competitor’s momentum and strength against itself. Like in the art of Jujitsu.

This type of “we try harder” campaign may spark an idea for your business as you fight to win in the economic jungle.

[from Mary Ann Rogers]

A new twist on Coke vs. Pepsi

I was reading an article on Bnet.com today and was impressed with the recent and bold marketing efforts of Coca Cola. According to Wikipedia, CC is the world’s largest beverage company and also one of the largest corporations in the United States.

I am the biggest Diet Coke fan on the planet. It’s true. My fiancé fancies it an addiction, which might explain the shaking and headaches around lunchtime everyday that are only quenched with a deliciously satisfying sip of DC.

But I take solace in the fact that I am not alone in my soda “addiction.” Millions of consumers spend millions of dollars each year on the sugary good-stuff, even during the recession. We need our fix, people!

Recently, Coca Cola decided to get aggressive in their marketing tactics and threw down the beverage gauntlet to their largest competitor, Pepsi. Coca Cola isn’t satisfied with the limited amount of market share their lemon-lime soda, Vault, compels in the citrus beverage arena, especially since Pepsi’s Mountain Dew, is the market leader.

The Bnet article says, “According to Beverage Digest, juggernaut Mountain Dew commands more than an 80% share of the citrus segment, while Vault holds about 4%.”

Riding your competitor’s coattails…to sales

Yikes – that’s a lot of ground Coke needs to make up. But they’re not daunted by the task at hand and are willing to try anything to get the job done.

As a result, Coke has launched the “Don’t Dew It” campaign, which gives every purchaser of Pepsi’s Mountain Dew, a Coca Cola Vault for FREE!

“Simply put, it’s designed to drive Vault consideration and recruitment among Dew drinkers,” said Scott Williamson, a Coca-Cola spokesman. “We believe that when Dew consumers are offered the opportunity that they’ll like Vault better.”

This tactic is an excellent way to generate goodwill, especially during a recession, and get the brand’s identity out to the public. Coca Cola definitely knows what they’re doing – and its aggressive marketing warfare.

That is the mindset business owners should adopt right now! Even if the competition is greater, richer, more popular, etc. – so what? This economy is leveling out the playing field and opening doors for smaller businesses to seize larger chunks of the market.

So when it comes to marketing your business – be bold, take no prisoners and don’t give up!

Posted by: Steve Banis and Mary Ann Rogers

Want to Know More about Albany Marketing firm Burst Marketing?
Visit us at www.burstmarketing.net

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Burst Marketing

Why Sales Hates Marketing

Wasted time and money

Leads – get em while they’re hot!

“Just Do It” – Um, Do What?

The Importance of Free

Burst Marketing Lead Generation – Get Intimate

Lead Generation Tips

Older leads in the pipeline

Hunting for fresh meat online

Lead Them to Water…Automatically

Scooby Doo, where are you?

Lead them to water

Turn A Competitor’s Strength to Your Advantage

[from Mary Ann Rogers]

A new twist on Coke vs. Pepsi

Riding your competitor’s coattails…to sales