Telemarketing Lead Generation Blog

You Must Remember This: A Lead Generation List is just a List. Or is it?

Posted on Jun 18, 2008 by Chris Engel, Vice President Information Technology

Often, one of the most challenging parts of executing a lead generation marketing campaign, whether it is email, mail, telemarketing or any combination of the three, is the targeted list. Where will you get it, what data should be in it, how do you merge and sort it and what do you do with it afterwards? Choose wisely and you look like a hero, but choose poorly, and the results can be disastrous.

There are several components to consider regarding lists for your lead generation campaigns, including: sources, data content and desired outputs. If you are using multiple list sources, you may also need to decide which source(s) have priority in de-duping and sorting your lists. Here are some things for you to consider, especially for your telemarketing lead generation initiatives:

1. Sources: List sources are varied and can be an extract from your SFA/CRM, purchased from a broker, pulled from previous marketing efforts or any combination of these. It is always important to make sure the list(s) fit your need and has required data fields. For example, make sure that a list for an E-marketing campaign has email addresses and that the contacts have either opted in to receiving emails, or you provide a vehicle to easily allow them to opt out. Mailing lists should have complete USPS addresses, and telemarketing lists must have phone numbers. The more complete information you can provide, the easier it is to normalize and sort your lists.
2. Data Fields: The data within the list is also important beyond just the demographic information of name, address, phone, email etc… Many times there are data points you want to include that will help sort or segment the list, or provide better intelligence in a marketing effort. Many in-house lists have data fields such as annual revenue, number of employees or current products, and often you can get a wealth of information from purchased lists on the same data. With this additional information, you can choose where your “sweet spot” is to prioritize your lead generation efforts. If you are working with multiple sources, it is often beneficial to merge all the lists together and then organize the data by site or account so that you can apply this intelligence across all the lists, especially if only one of the sources contains this additional data. This will also allow you to remove duplicate contacts from the final list, which will save you on costs and time.
3. Desired Outputs: For any marketing where you are eliciting feedback, a BRC form, email survey or telemarketing call, a key consideration is what outputs do you want after the transaction? If you need to report on data such as list source, sales territory or revenue, you need to make sure that data is either in the original list source and/or is part of the data capture. Often clients do not think to ask about these and there may not be a way after the fact to back into the data. It is helpful to decide on the data export for the results and then work backwards to ensure all the important data elements you need will be provided or captured as a result of the lead generation marketing effort.

Tagged: lead generation, targeted lead generation, telemarketing lead generation, telemarketing lists

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