Telemarketing Lead Generation Blog

Multi-touch Strategies: Using a Mix of Media in Lead Generation

Posted on Sep 4, 2008 by Melissa Joffrion, Account Executive

Let’s imagine for a moment, the perfect marketing world. You or someone from your team reaches out for the first time to a prospect precisely when they have a need, they are willing to speak with a sales rep immediately, and sales eagerly takes the lead and closes it. As marketers, we know that this is rarely reality. Instead, it takes 14 touches on average to move a contact from prospect to a sales ready lead. How should you effectively integrate these touches into your marketing plan so that the prospects do not feel that they are being stalked?

Many marketing organizations contact their prospect database in a rapid-fire shotgun approach- hitting the audience sporadically without a cohesive strategy. This tactic will result in a percentage of “low hanging fruit” leads- you will randomly hit some buyers at the right time and they will convert to a lead. However, this is not the ideal approach. In recent blogs, TeleNet’s team has written about nurturing and the benefits of a strategic nurturing strategy. Nurturing is a relationship-building approach that uses multiple media to provide relevant information to prospects while engaging in an ongoing dialog until qualified prospects are sales ready. If you already have a nurturing strategy or if you are not currently able to take that step, it is still essential that you integrate multiple media and a unified multi-touch strategy into your marketing plan.

Multi-touch campaigns integrate a mix of media such as telemarketing, email, direct mail, and events into your approach. The most successful marketing campaigns integrate these different media tactics to educate and inspire action. The goal is to move customers through the sales buying cycle, with the end result of a won opportunity for your sales team.

The following details different types of media that can be used to make strategic touches into your prospect database:

• Telemarketing: TeleNet recommends beginning all relationships with a conversation. This allows you to profile the prospect, learn about their pains and environment, and tailor each subsequent touch based on what you have learned. The result is a relationship built on relevancy- you are able to provide them with content and messaging that is pertinent to their specific situation.

• One-to-One Email: While one-to-many email blast campaigns have their place in a marketing strategy, it is equally (if not more) important to send one-to-one personalized emails. This type of email should follow a conversation, pushing the contact to an informational micro website with additional information for download. It can also be sent as a softer touch in between phone conversations to alert them of new collateral or an upcoming event. Some keys to creating successful one-to-one emails were detailed in Kathy Rizzo’s blog, titled- Creating E-mail Templates to Integrate with Your Telemarketing Lead Generation & Nurturing Programs . These tips can be used to create templates that are easily customized
  • Keep the text short and limit the information: Make your message readable from the preview window. If you provide your prospect with all possible information upfront, then you have left little reason for them to speak with you.
  • Personalize your message & tie it to a common business issue. Always address the email to your prospect using their name. Personalize it to their industry or job functions by stating a unique business issue that they likely face.
  • Reference past contact. Reference any past contact, as this catches the attention of your prospect and acts as a reminder of their previous interest. Some examples are: “based on our conversation on March 16th….” Or “thanks for speaking with me today about….”.
  • Solicit a response. Every email should include an invitation to respond. Give them a phone number, landing page, or ask them to email you back. Also, give them a sense of urgency that persuades them to be proactive. Think about triggers that could motivate them to respond.

• Personalized Direct Mail: Traditional direct mail campaigns are still relevant in today’s marketing environment. However, for the purposes of this post I am referring to personalized direct mail. This includes using information learned from previous conversation to create letters or portfolios that are personalized to the prospect’s situation. It can be customized utilizing pain points revealed in previous conversations so that it really speaks to the prospect to get above the “noise” and trigger a response.

• Marketing Matrix: A Marketing Matrix is a document/chart that houses the relevant content available for use (such as whitepapers, third part articles, case studies, events, etc) based on specific prospect segments. Most Marketing Matrixes are built using pain/challenges or industry as the key segments. The marketing matrix allows your telemarketing and marketing team to easily determine what collateral should be provided to each prospect. The goal is to send something that is very relevant to their situation.

• Events: Knowing your prospect’s challenges and environmental information allows you to invite those that would find value in the topic. Webinars, executive breakfast/luncheons, Podcasts, seminars, and tradeshows can be a valuable touch in further educating your audience.

The key to a multi-touch campaign is to make it is relevant as possible to your prospect and using a mix of media and tactics. The result is a relationship built on what your prospect is interested in, rather than trying to conform them to your marketing group’s agenda. The most successful marketing campaigns integrate personalized tactics into a coordinated marketing strategy to continually touch them until they are ready to buy. Following these guidelines will allow the 14 touches to smoothly occur between you and your prospects, and ultimately can shorten the timeframe required to bring your audience to sales ready.

Tagged: lead generation, targeted lead generation, telemarketing sales leads, lead nurturing, multimedia telemarketing

• Anabel Foucart, Program Director
• Ashlea Harris, Vice President of Program Management
• Chris Engel, Vice President Information Technology
• Dana Gill, Program Director
• Jason St Onge, Account Executive
• Jason StOnge, Account Executive
• Jon Plant, Account Executive
• Jon Plant, Program Director
• Kathy Rizzo, Vice President Marketing
• Laura Johnson, Program Director
• Melissa Joffrion, Account Executive
• Mike Usry, Account Executive
• Sharon Dahlhaus, Account Executive