Boost Your Marketing ROI

I often get a quizzical look from prospects and clients when I tell them there is a difference  between “generating” leads and “capturing” leads.

What do I mean?

Companies spend money to generate leads, right? ( if you’re in retail substitute customers for the word leads)

Once generated it’s time to maximize return by capturing as much information as possible about that lead. Most important is capturing contact information.  With this in hand you can now initiate an organized lead nurturing program. You will likely have to provide something of value in return for that information. It could be a free report, a time sensitive discount offer, etc.

Let’s face it, every lead doesn’t convert immediately. And depending on your particular enterprise, your conversion cycle may be longer than others.  You can’t afford to let leads simply evaporate because you couldn’t convert them today.

I’ll talk about the essentials of a lead nurturing program in a future post.  Take time to hone your lead capture process and boost your marketing ROI.

What is the last thing you said in an ad … an email … a conversation with your prospects that actually got them excited about your business or service? If you can’t remember, it’s time to get to work.

Which of these do you think a prospect is more likely to respond to:

1. Our Services Can Save You Money.

2. Every New Customer Saves At Least 35% When They Use Our Service

Obvious, isn’t it?

Think about it … If you’re spending money to generate business, the surest way to boost your marketing ROI is to make certain that what you say, and how you say it is compelling and offers the prospect every reason to make you their preferred  choice. It does not matter if you’re selling software, solutions to combat eye wrinkles, engineering services … the same applies.

I know it sounds simple, but simple is often overlooked.

Have you ever wondered why so many small businesses were successful years ago? The answer is simple. They really knew their customers.

I’m reading a book about Latonia, Kentucky right now. It’s where I grew up.  A couple of chapters are devoted to stories and images of small businesses in the town and how they served their customers.

My grandparents owned and operated a jewelry store in Latonia that my great-grandfather started in the 20’s. As I read the book I was reminded by the way my grandparents nurtured their customers. They would (mostly my grandmother) would send handwritten notes to those who made purchases thanking them for their patronage.  They also sent birthday and anniversary greetings. If they saw an engagement announcement in the paper they would cut it out, laminate and mail it to the bride’s family with a congratulatory note. Railroaders needed to have their watches regulated (I guess at some point trains ran on time) and they would mail reminders so that the engineers and yardmen would all be in sync.

Here’s the lesson from those stories that can help you boost your marketing ROI.

It’s critical to fully leverage the customer relationship to maximize lifetime value.  While my grandmother kept a card file of names and addresses, we can utilize data mining and automated delivery systems to stay in front of our customers.  And because my grandparents’ customer universe was small, they could get to know those who traded with them personally.  Today, we have sophisticated profiling tools today that help us know our customers and enable customizing communications based on those understandings.

Occasionally it’s good to look back to see where you can go.

Go with me on this one. Look at your phone. What do you see?

I know, buttons … a screen … a handset if it’s on your desk.  But, what do you really see?

This may sound elementary, but I see a way to increase marketing ROI.  When is the last time you picked up the phone and called your customers?

The simple act of just saying “thank you” for your business is a powerful statement.

Your customer will appreciate the fact that you actually care and took time to say so.

And as you move through the conversation, offer up a couple of business building ideas that have nothing to do with what you do.

Just pay it forward.

Personal contact doesn’t cost you anything but time. If you’re looking for a way to increase your marekting ROI, I can’t think of a better return than you can achieve by picking up the phone and saying, “thanks.”

I was in San Francisco for meetings the past few days and one of the city’s growing number of panhandler’s offered up a marketing lesson in cutting through the clutter.

As we were walking to a restaurant on the wharf we encountered no less than eight or nine individuals asking for money. Some had cups they simply held out, some were standing, and others sitting and making a general motion in our direction, suggesting what they wanted.

But one guy had a sign that read: “Why lie. I’m gonna spend it on booze.”

This is not to minimize the struggle of  those who find themselves in desperate situations or the issue of alcoholism

But, this particular individual was grabbing the attention of everyone who passed by and his cup was full. Talk about effective direct marketing.

The point is that if you are in a highly competitive, cluttered market, you need to make sure that your message manages to stand out, and as a result you boost your marketing ROI.

I subscribe to blogs that offer practical insight and inspiration.  As a rule I don’t re-blog about what I’ve read, but there’s exception to every rule. Right?

Today, Seth Godin’s blog about “Looking for Yes” was very insightful and inspirational.

Seth contrasts experiences at the post office and FedEx.  It’s about the importance of looking for a “yes.” You know, those encounters where someone tells you “no”, what you want is not possible versus those where you hear, “yes”, we can get that done for you.

It made me think about the impact a “yes” can have to boost your marketing ROI. If the common denominator of a customer or prospect interaction is “yes”, it creates incredible leverage for establishing a lasting relationship.

What a mistake it is when employees think of a prospect or customer encounter as an interruption of their work.  The customer is the reason for the work.

And as we persevere in this economy, I can’t think of a better way to improve business than finding a way to say, “yes.”

In the high stakes, winner take all game of internet marketing, if you’re not on the first page of Google, it’s game over.

These marketers go to great lengths, using all types of tools to put themselves in that coveted first position. It’s worth about 40% of the clicks from the prospective searchers.

Let’s assume you have a brick and mortar business. Can you imagine if 40% of the traffic driving past your store were to stop and come in.  What would that mean to your business?

You want your prospective customers to find you, right?  Why not take the time and resources to ensure that they can do so. Managing your Web site’s effectiveness is an excellent objective if you want to boost your marketing ROI.

Search engine optimization is certainly the first step. But there are many more legitimate tools you can and should use to get your site on Google’s first page. Google makes it easy to follow their guidelines.

Even if you are in a crowded space like weight loss or eye skin care or lasik surgery, you can separate yourself from the competition and make it easy for your prospective customers to find you.

So the groundhog says there will be six more weeks of winter.  But, six more weeks of winter may mean something entirely different to someone in Waterville, Maine than it does to a guy in San Diego.

And that’s the lesson on this first Monday of February.

A predictive model is not “one size fits all.”  You have to understand your audience.

To the person in Maine who has been buried under five feet of snow since November, winter won’t be anywhere near over in six weeks.  In San Diego, it will probably be just another 74 degree day accented by a nice soft breeze.

Beware of marketing using broad assumptions. Segmenting your customers and prospects into specific categories and then applying that understanding to your marketing efforts will boost marketing ROI.

And, today’s economic reality mandates that companies get maximum return out of every marketing dollar.

Now’s the time to market aggressively with a intelligence-driven campaigns that resonate appropriately with the target.

Remember, you have to power to create your own marketing forecast!

I heard a report on NPR yesterday about the 13 million email addresses the Obama campaign collected during the campaign.  They plan to leverage them for the creation of a post-election movement to more directly involve Americans in the legislative process.

The report raised the issue that those on the list most likely had varying degrees of partisan viewpoints … from hardcore DNC members to those who were attracted by President Obama’s bi-partisan campaign rhetoric.

This is the perfect case study in waiting for the importance of segmenting customer data.

Let’s exchange the word supporter for customer and then think about how the Obama team can boost the ROI of their efforts.

1. By developing customer profiles from the list, they can readily segment them into various categories. These could range from those who would support any effort put forth by the Democrats to those that would be more responsive to initiatives which included more people “under the tent.”

2. With that knowledge, the team could communicate with and mobilize those that would most likely respond to a particular issue or idea.

3. Metrics could be established to measre varying goals and the results used to predict likelihood of future efforts’ successes.

4. Each sgement could be polled to determine degree of support in advance of introducing legislation or positions.

The same principle applies to any business.  Think about your enterprise.  If you have a list of customers and/or prospects, you possess a valuable asset.  It’s time to leverage it for success.  You can boost your marketing ROI significantly if you take the time to understand your customers.

Once armed with a highly segmented list, you can develop campaigns with pinpoint accuracy that will produce results.

My last post about our dentist resulted in another dentist following my Twitter updates.  First, I was impressed that a health care provider was using Twitter and then when I went to his Web site … I have to applaud his digital marketing acumen.

Check out his site. It is an excellent example of using multiple digital markeitng tools to boost marketing ROI. The site:

• Uses video which is a great tool for SEO
• Has two “opt-in” offers that result in list building of qualified prospects
• Features video testimonials from patients
• Targets mid-life dentistry issues
• Contains a blog with an RSS feed

As the economy struggles along it’s vital to develop a realtionship with prospects through a two-way dialogue. Those who offer direct pay medical services can learn a lot from this site. And, that goes for anyone else who is trying to maximize their marketing ROI.

Let me know what you think of this Dentist’s efforts.  He’s my marketer of the day!