Posts Tagged ‘Marketing ROI’

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Marketing ROI Increases With An Organized Lead Capture Stragtegy.

Monday, June 1st, 2009

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?

lead-capture-funnel

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.

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Posted in Lead Generation, Lead Nurturing, Return On Marketing Investment | No Comments »

What Are You Saying To Your ProspectsTo Boost Marketing ROI?

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

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?

Talk It Up

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.

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Posted in Customers, Return On Marketing Investment | No Comments »

Panhandler Offers A Marketing Lesson.

Monday, March 9th, 2009

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.

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Posted in Direct Marketing, Marketing, Return On Marketing Investment | 1 Comment »

Where’s The Marketing ROI Lesson In Groundhog Day?

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

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!

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Posted in Customers, Marketing Intelligence, Return On Marketing Investment, Segmentation | No Comments »

Digital Marketing Can Boost Marketing ROI of Direct Pay Health Care Providers

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

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!

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Posted in Customers, Digital Markeing, Direct Marketing, Lead Generation, Segmentation | No Comments »

The Dentist And Marketing ROI

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

My wife was complaining last night about the dentist our two college age kids see. She was upset that the dentist’s schedule has little room and flexibility during the college holiday break schedule. The dentist happens to be a friend of ours, so I called him with a “customer relationship” suggestion.

I asked him if he wanted to, was it reasonably easy to access his database and produce a list of all of his college age patients.  He said, “sure, why?’ I relayed the perception my wife has about the scheduling issues.

I suggested that he might want to think about sending out an email in October to those parents of his college age patients and informing them of special holiday break appointments he has reserved for those who will be in town during that time.

I told him I thought it would accomplish several things:

1. Using your data to communicate with customers about a specific idea or proposition is always a good idea and strengthens the relationship.

2. By letting parents know that you have special times for their kids set aside during the holiday period signals that you care about their needs and helps distinguish your level of service/brand from others.

3. Regardless if they avail themselves of the offer, it creates good “word-of-mouth” and nothing increases marketing ROI like WOM!

All of us have an opportunity to leverage our customer data and transform it into actionable efforts that will boost marketing ROI.

As for the dentist, he liked the idea and said he looked forward to thanking me in person at my next visit.  Uh,oh.

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Posted in Customers, Return On Marketing Investment | 2 Comments »

Stuff Your Business Stocking With Marketing ROI in 2009.

Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

Can you boost your marketing ROI in 2009? Sure you can. Here’s nine ideas you can put into motion today.

1. If you are like most, the 80/20 rule applies in your business. Segment you customer data and identify those producing the most revenue. Send them a personal note thanking them for their loyalty.

2. Stop marketing to the dead leads on your list. Replace them with leads that better match your best customer profile.

3. Don’t have a best customer profile? Mine your data and develop one.

4. Demand that every marketing dollar spent in 2009 will be measured.

5. Provide information to your prospects and customers that will help them impact their business.

6. Create a digital dialogue with your customers. Notice I said “dialogue.” Ask for feedback.

7. Find ways to add value to the product or service that you market.

8. Actively reengage warm leads.

9. Smile when you talk. Even if you’re on the phone. It works.

There’s no reason to believe that 2009 is going to be any easier than 2008. And, this makes it a perfect time to dedicate yourself and your team to doing everything you can to ensure dollars are deployed strategically and everything has a metric attached to it.

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Posted in Customers, Lead Nurturing, Marketing, Return On Marketing Investment | 1 Comment »

Customer Engagement and Segmentation Top Trends for 2009.

Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

I read an article on the “B to B” site today announcing top trends for 2009 that included customer engagement and segmentation. Social media was also in the top three.

While I applaud marketers for recognizing the importance of both, it’s not new to me. As a direct marketer, intelligence-driven decisions are part of my DNA.

Read the entire article … it’s worth the read. Here’s a quote from Eduardo Conrado, corporate VP-global marketing and communications at Motorola Corporation. ““We will be increasing interactive, coupled with strong analytics for database marketing and better segmentation.”

It’s a good reminder that if you’re not invested in a data-driven marketing strategy, now’s the time to do so.

Your marketing ROI is dependent upon completely understanding your target and then leveraging that knowledge through imagination to produce results.

That’s not a trend. It’s a fact.

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Posted in Customers, Direct Marketing, Marketing Intelligence, Return On Marketing Investment, Segmentation, Social Media Marketing | 3 Comments »

Obama’s Tribe

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

In my last post I talked about Seth Godin’s new book, Tribes. We Need You to Lead Us. Yesterday’s historic election of Barack Obama was the embodiment of Godin’s premise that, “The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow.”

One needed only to look at the scene in Grant Park and from other locations around the country to see first-hand how people followed.

In today’s Ad Age, they summarized it this way: “Nov. 4, 2008, will go down in history as the biggest day ever in the history of marketing. Take a relatively unknown man. Younger than all of his opponents. Black. With a bad-sounding name. Consider his first opponent: the best-known woman in America, connected to one of the most successful politicians in history. Then consider his second opponent: a well-known war hero with a long, distinguished record as a U.S. senator. It didn’t matter. Barack Obama had a better marketing strategy than either of them. “Change.”

The lesson here for all marketers is that capturing the “leadership” position in a market when it is seemingly impossible is very much possible. It takes vision, a willingness to form and shape opinion, and to have a plan others follow willingly and enlist others to do the same.

All politics aside, it was the ultimate case study for achieving stratospheric marketing ROI, and an historic occasion that we can and should learn from.

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Posted in Lead Generation | No Comments »

Leading The Way, Leading The Tribe, Leading The Market.

Sunday, November 2nd, 2008

In his new book, Tribes. We Need You to Lead Us, Seth Godin makes the point that traditional barriers to leading a movement … a market … a “tribe” have been erased because of the Internet. Geography, cost, time are all non-factors because of the Internet’s capacity to connect us with a few or vast amount of people who have a similar passion, point of view or just something in common.

But, the Internet cannot provide leadership, that is still up to us as individuals. (more…)

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Posted in Brand, Customers, Market Leading, Marketing, On-Line Marketing | No Comments »

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