Looking for Leads? Discover the Power of Targeted, Web-based Research

When marketing or sales folk talk about Lead Generation, they’re normally referring to the creation/ generation of prospective consumer interest or inquiry into a business’ products or services. The idea being that in the longer term, this ‘interest’ translates into ‘sales’ of those products or services.

Lead generation can take many forms and is carried out both on and offline. Broadcast advertising, direct mail campaigns, seminars, trade shows, whitepapers, and telemarketing all fall under the umbrella term of Lead Generation.

However, for multinationals offering sector-specific products or total solutions for large-scale projects worldwide, often the most effective form of lead generation is project or cold lead sourcing through targeted, web-based research. A well-trained researcher can, through, highly structured research and well-organized data storage, harvest and deliver long lists of qualified projects and cold leads across both private and government sectors.

There are few companies however that have the luxury of employing such researchers full-time, so it is often down to members of the Marketing department to help out their friends in Sales by sourcing leads. But marketers are likely to be overwhelmed with ad campaigns, upcoming trade shows, product launches…. Unequipped for the task, they are sure to find it hard to spend a concentrated amount of time on the job and will end up lost in the big Web sea, arms flailing, randomly trying to hook a few leads – in vain.

The solution lies in either one or both of the following:
1. Insource an experienced, web-based research lead generator with a set target, for a specified period
2. Follow a tailored, ‘Web-based Research for Lead Generation’ training course

Either way, you’re much more likely to end up with a decent catch.

If you’d like to know how Mach Media can help you feed your sales team with valuable leads – just drop me a line.

Google Analytics announces new features as holiday presents

Google announced a new set of features for Google Analytics to ease the life of the analyst and provide even more relevant in-depth metrics.

Annotations

Annotations allow you to insert information on specific milestones and was one of the top requested features by the users. The launch of a new feature, big announcements, etc. That way you can backtrace the impact your events had on your statistics. Up till now you had to guess, take seperate notes or go around asking people. Not anymore, thanks to annotations.

Custom variables in advanced segments

Every site is unique. Custom Variables allows you to customize the data you want to track that is most relevant to your business and the goal of your website. Each custom variable is a name-value pair and can be assigned to a page, session or visitor. This feature was already implemented in the Visitors section, but is now rolled out to the entire Google Analytics spectrum. An example: you can track a variable which is defined as a ‘logged in member’, and use an advanced segment to see the data all across your reports.

New setup wizard for the Google Analytics tracking code

Setting up analytics on special situations like multiple subdomains, cross-domain tracking, mobile tracking, campaign tagging etc. was a pretty complicated task and took up a fair amount time. Not anymore – Google Analytics has created a  new wizard automating this process by generating the appropriate code for a specific situation.

An upgrade of the Google Analytics API

The details of the new features have yet to be announced later this week, but they gave us a little sneak peek: support for Advanced Segmentation through the API.

Dusting off the Brand

We all know that advertising budgets have taken quite a beating in the current economic client, but I’ve been quite heartened to see that a number of companies are using what budgets they have to take a second look at their corporate brand. For example a branding project that we are rolling out currently has the full support and attention of the very top. The CEO on down to his deputies on down to HR, Quality Governance and Marketing have been actively participating in the brand exercise. Buy-in has been built-in. There’s a genuine enthusiasm company-wide to embrace the newly clarified brand identity since it is an accurate reflection of their values today and their ambitions for tomorrow.

In the article Is AOL Perfuming the Pig or Moving the Needle? on Adage, Dean Cruchfield says: “great brands are built by igniting big ideas, creating dynamic leadership, supporting the right talent and encouraging the culture.” In otherwords, it’s not about new colors and fancy logos and a strapline, it’s about having your true brand warriors (company staff) fully believe in, embrace, support and promote the big idea. Such enthusiasm is infectious and will invigorate/activate current and prospective customers. It’s the best kind of advertisement you can have.

Book to the Future

This Wednesday marks the end of Belgium’s 2009 Boekenbeurs – the annual book fair in Antwerp that this year will have attracted well over 100,000 visitors during its 12-day run. Traditionally, the show appeals to those who appreciate the all-round book experience. Those who not only enjoy reading the words, but who also enjoy the artwork, drinking in the smell of the print, and feeling the paper.

This year’s Boekenbeurs, however, went further and addressed a concept preying on the minds of most publishers at this time: the digital book. Currently described by many witnesses of the device as being impractical, there is however a hard core of believers in this unbound format. Although it may never completely replace its paper or hardback relatives, it is certainly busy forging its place in today’s digitized world; a world where reduction of paper use is also heavily encouraged for environmental reasons.

Many professional readers (those who need to scan read articles or literature on a daily basis for work purposes) are, when given the choice, already opting for digital versions of magazines and newspapers; especially those who spend much of their time on the move. Mach Media’s own publication, FlyCorporate Magazine, is a prime example where many new subscribers are wilfully opting for the online magazine rather than the print version (without price being an influencing factor).

A user-friendly device where one can store whole libraries would seem a logical next step. But is this a major road to be taken by the masses or a side street for specific audiences? I guess time will tell. Or will you?

Twitter: Tool or Fad?

Mention Twitter to a (prospective) client as a potential marketing tool, and they almost inevitably voice their skepticism: “I don’t have time”, “I don’t see the point”, “I’m not interested in what people ate for lunch”. However, it continues to grow as a social media tool, even after recent rumblings that its end was nigh following a spate of down time.

Look around and you’ll see that Twitter is thriving and Tweeters are finding increasing use for it in business life. Ever more conference/seminar holders are embracing Twitter as a way to get discussion points out to a broader public in realtime. Gone are the days where it was rude to consult your mobile phone or laptop during an event. Nowadays it is encouraged, in order to band the topic about, rather than have it kept in closed circles and archived in a post-seminar summary.

Increasing numbers of companies are using Twitter as a customer service tool. Southwest Airline Customers tweet everything from their woes: “Your website is down”, to their travel experiences: “Spotted a beautiful rainbow”, and replies will offer a highly personal and friendly form of customer support . Business aviation publication FlyCorporate provides the busav community with up-to-date news alerts, and many a small start-up company has built up its initial customer base by tweeting about its plans.

While Twitter’s Fail Whale may still emerge from the depths from time to time, the service doesn’t seem to be sinking just yet. So why not jump on board and see what it can do for you?

Investing in morale to attract and retain.

The economic turndown has of course seen thousands of jobs cut globally across a variety of industry sectors. However, many companies have a continued need to recruit. So how should they go about it when even the healthiest companies are playing safe and limiting budgets?

Rather than splashing out on glossy print ads, the wiser company will be investing in its reputation by looking after its employees.

Investment in internal communication is the key for both recruiting companies and for those who, due to the economic situation, are being forced to let some employees go. The latter want to be sure their best profiles don’t go walking on their own initiative.

How is the morale of your employees? What are they saying about your company? Have you implemented a carefully thought out internal communications strategy?

If you look after your people, you may find them defending your need for them to work 4/5 in order to keep the company alive.

Guarding your brand during recruitment

One of Mach Media’s clients is an international executive search company and one of the reasons why I’ve enjoyed working with them for the past two years is their strong committment to serving as ambassadors for the companies they recruit for. In addition to the consultants’ having a deep understanding of the specialized sectors in which their clients and potential candidates operate in, this executive search firm also assists its clients with their branding and marketing initiatives, offering an “outsider’s” perspective on how the company may be perceived and using their “insider’s knowledge” to work with the client (with my help, I should probably add) to ensure that the company/employer brand is promoted and remains visible throughout the recruiting process – from first contact with the search consultant through to the transition to client-side interviews and onto onboarding.

Working with an external recruiter that is actively Guarding your Company Brand,  helps to ensure that your reputation in the market and brand identity remain intact.

Is there a green solution to planned obsolescence?

As a marketing professional I sympathise with the manufacturers who bullishly strive to thrive by consciously bringing out products doomed to become obsolete within moments (e.g nylon stockings), months (e.g. software) or years (e.g. cars) so that consumers are obliged to keep on buying. (see Economist article)

As a woman I curse the craftiness of such manufacturers as yet another pair of laddered stay-ups goes binwards, as in my morning haste, I snag them on… well, just about anything or burn myself in a desperate attempt to save them by dabbing some nail polish at the top of the offending ladder.

As I collaborate with companies in the energy and environment sectors I’m interested to know if businesses concerned with the environment believe that obsolescence and clean/green are as contradictory as one would assume they would be. Or, are these companies managing to force businesses/consumers to keep purchasing the latest models/replacement goods without damaging the environment with a surplus of redundant non-recyclable stuff?

I’m convinced that seriously ladder-resistant 15 denier nylons would be a winner: I wouldn’t be stressed out anymore from constantly checking that they haven’t turned into fishnets, I’d save days of wasted shopping hours and I’d have reduced the nylon waste contribution to the world’s landfills.

Could the same be said for software and cars?

Buy from audited media

Having worked in the trade magazine business in Europe for many years, I’ve seen how tempting it is for publishers to lower their costs by claiming to print and distribute more magazines than they actually do. You see, whereas in the US circulation audits are mandatory, audits are voluntary in Europe. And less than forthcoming publishers will come up with all kinds of  ways to sidestep the issue – sworn statements, having readers/partners vouch for authenticity…

When we started FlyCorporate, our mission was clear – deliver on the promises we make to our advertisers. That means, what we say we print and deliver, we print and deliver. And to prove it, we are third-party audited by BPA. Circulation auditing is no small expense, but it’s worth every penny to provide our advertisers with peace of mind that every penny invested has been invested wisely.

For those marketers out there who’ve not seriously taken into consideration the immense value of circulation auditing when spending ad dollars/buying media, I recommend this site and amusing video that I stumbled upon today: BuySafeMedia.com

Times are tough, and people will try to cut corners. So remember, if your publisher cannot deliver a third-party audit report of their circulation figures, take your ad dollars to a publication that can. You can’t afford duplicity.

Automaker proves perception is everything

The market has slumped. Budgets are slashed and what do short-sighted companies do? Stop marketing and stop communicating.

I’ve asked people in various industries about their marketing and communications strategy to weather this economic storm, and almost all of them referred to their senior management’s ‘wait and see’ attitude. In the meantime, ‘stop spending’ was the rule of the day.

Automakers are certainly having no easy time, but Ford is banking on its marketing and has focussed on managing public perception to help navigate through this storm. What’s this wacky thinking done for them? It has helped them win market share!

The reality is that companies do need to realign budgets. So with the limited funds marketers have, the focus must, must, must be placed on customers and relationship marketing. It may not make sense to take out a TV ad right now, but with a fraction of that budget, you can reach as many or more people one-to-one online and through direct communications with current customers.

Take your website… Is it just a digital calling card or is it actually helping you generate leads and build a dialogue with potential or current customers? How are you using the customer feedback received from your service department? What are people saying about your brand/products/services on online forums? What do your own employees thnk about your brand? Who are your brand ambassadors (do you have any)?

Cash may be in short supply, but if you invest in anything right now, invest in getting the answers to these questions. Then, armed with information, use the findings to ignite your customer-centric marketing campaign. Discover as Ford is discovering that perception truly is everything.