September 2010 Archives

Part 3: Foundations: Email Marketing & Lead Generation

As part of our inaugural Foundations series, this is the third of six posts on managing a lead generation email campaign from start to finish.

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Previously, we covered how to determine a strategy for your email campaign and how to build a list. Today, we get to the fun stuff - designing your email. Even with an ironclad strategy and a hyper-targeted list, if your email creative isn't up to snuff, results could be lackluster. To say email design is important is quite the understatement.

First, let's get a big misconception out of the way. Your email should look good - but it doesn't need to be flashy and over the top design-wise. Madison Avenue this is not.

Here are some key things to keep in mind when designing not only a good-looking but effective email:

HTML versus text: You have a choice when it comes to the format in which you send an email - HTML or plain text. There are pros and cons to both - but most commercial email you receive these days is in HTML format because it offers much more flexibility than plain text and increases response rates (more than 30% according to email marketing firm Constant Contact). With HTML emails, you can track the number of people who open your email (open rate) and also control much more of the design including images, fonts, colors, links and the general layout. A plain text email, while simple, does not allow you to track open rate and affords zero flexibility when it comes to design, since it's...well, plain text. But there are merits to both. We'd recommend HTML, but if you have a specific need for a plain text look (say a simple communication from your CEO to top customers), you can code an HTML email to look like a plain text email, but reap the HTML benefits such as measuring open rate.

This week we thought it would be fun to spotlight some quirky office articles. Let start off with one from our newsletter: Annoying coworker habits to watch out for. Which habit have you seen around your office? Loud eaters? Overtalkers? If we forgot one, let us know!

Working for the weekend? Here are 7 ways from Boston.com to avoid the office burnout. And, if those don't work, maybe it's time to pencil in a vacation. Nothing kicks the office burnout like sitting by the pool with a tropical drink! In the end, you could always think like a golfer (insert Tiger Woods joke here) and you will always feel relaxed.

Sick of boring content? Read the Freakonomics guide to making boring content sexy. They explain:

It's easy to write about certain topics, like celebrities, or technology, or even social media. Everybody wants a piece of it. But what if your passion is botany, supply chain logistics, or cognitive psychology?

Check out their suggestions on making that boring content sexy.

Have you seen some weird résumé tactics from job applicants? This article does a great job of highlighting some of the most comical job applicant mistakes. If you think your company has seen some strange résumés, see how they compare to this list!  Has an applicant tried to hypnotize you into giving them the job?

I hope you enjoyed our diversion. If you have similar articles you want to share, feel free to comment below. Have a great Wednesday!

Part 2: Foundations: Email Marketing & Lead Generation

As part of our inaugural Foundations series, this is the second of six posts on managing a lead generation email campaign from start to finish.

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After defining your targets when you created a strategy for your email campaign, the next step is to set up a list that addresses those targets. There are two main ways to create an email list: build your own or rent a list.

Building your own email list

If you have one (and you should), this should be your first source. These are your customers - people who already do business with you - or at least people who have expressed an interest in hearing from you. These folks are much more likely to respond to your email, or at the very least, understand why you're sending them a message. You also know how you sourced the names, and may have demographic information or a transaction history to draw on. Take advantage of it.

Your goal should be to continually and organically build your 'house' list. Think of all the various touch points you might have with a customer or a lead, and then leverage those interactions by encouraging them to subscribe to your email list.

Sometimes it's good to remember that spending too much time in the details limits your ability to talk about the big picture. Michael Ferree at Lead Critic reminds of that in a great post on The 3 Golden Rules of Lead Management.

Check out the post for the 3 rules -- I'll just say that lead buyers who keep those three goals in mind are going to find that other details fall by the wayside. I'd actually recommend that all BuyerZone sellers print them out and tack them up by the phone to help you stay focused on the rules that really matter.

In other Lead Critic news, they've relaunched the Lead Buyer Network. It's designed to be a place where lead buyers and sellers can network and ask questions. We'll be following the Lead Buyer Network with interest -- hopefully we'll be able to talk to many lead buyers and sellers there.

Webinars are a great way to learn new tactics and ideas you can apply to your business - the problem is there are so many to choose from. Well we're going to do the work for you: each week we will recommend our pick for Webinar of the Week (WoW) on topics including marketing, sales, lead gen, social media and related areas.

You've probably noticed that your sales prospects have less time on their hands and are more stressed out than they used to be. As a result, the way in which professionals conduct sales has changed.

 Jill Konrath, a leading-edge sales strategist and business advisor, explains how marketers and sales reps can adjust to this change in the webinar The New Rules for Selling to Crazy-Busy Prospects.

She begins the webinar by diagnosing prospects with "frazzled customer syndrome."  Sounds familiar, right? She explains that this syndrome affects prospects' ability to digest marketing material, talk to sales professionals, make decisions, and - most importantly - invite a seller to talk about products.

The death sentence

According to Jill, when a prospect invites a seller to a meeting at the last possible step, it disallows the seller the opportunity to prove his or her value. Prospects avoid the seller because they reason, "It's easier to stay with a problem you know than switch to something you don't," when really they are just avoiding a problem they could fix. This reasoning goes hand-in-hand with another frazzled customer trait: Prospects can't handle complexity.

This affects what marketers and sellers do because they unknowingly create complexity. Jill goes into further detail about how you can avoid doing this.

The last trait mentioned is: Prospects are quick to dismiss clones.

"The minute you sound like a seller, they hit the delete button," Jill says. She elaborates on this point and how it affects how professionals do business.

Part 1: Foundations: Email Marketing & Lead Generation

As part of our inaugural Foundations series, this is the first of six posts on managing a lead generation email campaign from start to finish. Though a mature channel, email  continues to evolve, and for many it's still an unsolved challenge. So, sit back, relax and enjoy our trip through email. Even if you're an expert, hopefully you'll pick up something new.

This first post covers the need for having a cogent email strategy. 

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Before you worry about anything else related to an email campaign - the creative, copy, list, or offer - you absolutely need a strategy. That might sound obvious, but it's often the hardest component of the entire campaign. As we dive into creating an email marketing campaign, first's things first: develop a strategy.

Strategy can be a big, scary word - but it doesn't have to be. Simply break it down to the following three components:

Purpose: Why are you sending the email or emails? Do you need to communicate an important announcement? Are you promoting a huge sale? Are you trying to get more leads for your sales team? There are a million reasons why you might want to send an email - but be clear why you want to send this specific email and write it down - even if there is more than one purpose. As the development of the campaign progresses, you can refine it - and once the campaign concludes, you'll know if you were successful.

Target: Once you know the purpose of your email, you can determine who will receive the email - otherwise known as your target. Depending on the purpose (there's that word again!) of your email, this could vary from your existing customers, a specific industry, job title, or other demographic, or even subscribers of your newsletter. Remember, the more targeted the better. And just because you have a million people you could potentially target doesn't mean they should all get an email. Knowing exactly who you're sending to will also help you when it comes time to develop copy and creative.

Action: After a clear purpose and target, the call to action is the final piece of your strategy. In other words, what will your email ask of your target? It could be to click through to your site to make a purchase, reply to the email, call to speak with the sales manager, or download a whitepaper. Again, there isn't a single right answer for what the action should be - it could be multiple things. Just make sure you're asking recipients to take a specific step that aligns with your purpose.

And there you have a basic but effective strategy: a goal, a target, and an expected outcome.

In part two next Monday, we'll discuss how you can build an email list, so when it comes time to discuss the target, you'll have plenty to choose from.

Part 2: Making a list (and checking it twice)
Part 3: Get the creative juices flowing
Part 4: The devil is in the details
Part 5: Just push play
Part 6: Measure your treasure

How often are your prospects left sitting at their computers waiting for a response after filling out a form on your website or sending your company an email? Study after study shows how important immediate follow up is to closing leads. However, even armed with this knowledge, it can be challenging to respond to every lead promptly while running your business. Creating an automatic email response will streamline follow up without adding to your workload.

What is an auto reply message? Similar to a voicemail, an auto reply message automatically responds to your incoming email and information requests. It can be used to provide useful information about your company and your products and services or to simply to confirm that a message has been received.

The information in your auto reply message will vary based on your business, but here is a list of basic information to include:

• Background about your company
• Benefits of your products or services
• When to expect a response from your or your sales team
• Additional contact methods

Each visitor to your site who requests more information is a potential customer. Don't lose your prospects to the competition by leaving them sitting, waiting and wishing for your response.

Too hot? Too cold?

Do you find that you struggle with your prospects and the endless variations of sales personas? What makes one ideal? What scares off prospects? What entices them to buy? Let's discuss!

Persona-based marketing is a methodology that takes into account the buyer, the size of their company, the age of the prospect, and a number of other details that help you take the best approach to convert sales. It's thinking about who you are talking to and catering the message to be exactly what they want to hear. Maybe your best clients are all extremely professional, play golf, and read finance magazines. Let this be an indication of how you should reach out to your prospects and how you should do business. So what characteristics do you look for?

The Company:
What is their budget? What is their industry? How many employees?

The Contact:
Are they the Sales Director? President? Purchasing department?

Are they young? Do they use social media? What is their educational background? What are their objectives? What do they value?

Are they traveling frequently? Do they have a busy schedule and can't take frequent calls?

The times are changing and so are the ways in which you generate leads. However, the old business model isn't dying: it's simply getting a facelift. The old reliable tactics still produce great results - you just need to update your approach.

New tools. Old techniques.

DMNews describes how the current lead gen model uses the same traditional rules - just with different tools:

"Direct marketers have relied on traditional tools and tactics to generate new customer leads and upsell existing customers. Marketers are now beginning to leverage social media to develop leads as well and are seeing some interesting results."

And according to the annual Unisfair marketing survey, social media is the top emerging channel for lead generation among technology marketing professionals. But these emerging tools are just that: emerging.

In other words, investments in new media are on the rise -- but they're still less effective than traditional tactics.

Melissa Davies, director of marketing at Avectra, reiterates this point in the DMNews article when she says she still finds success using traditional incentive techniques.

Davies uses cookies the way next generation marketers use social media: to build relationships. No matter what your tactics or tools are, building a relationship with a prospect is always the key to closing the deal.