Top tips on Ten: Lead generation
Peter Bell conducts a reality check on a 'dream channel'
Lead Generation and it's younger sibling Online Lead Generation (OLG) should be a marketer's dream - it's flexible, scalable and controllable and there's a massive choice of media across multiple channels for you to play with.
Online advertising is one of the few areas in the media that has seen continued growth during the recession. In 2009, UK advertisers spent £3.54 billion online, which is an increase of 5.7% on the previous year. With marketing spend constantly under scrutiny, multi channel Lead. Gen is a unique performance marketing channel that is about to come of age and as such it is a serious consideration for every consumer marketer's budget.
However, with so many separate entities involved in the process of generating online leads; each with their own unique technologies, platforms and campaign metrics, it's easy to get confused. In order to cut through the dross and help you access the most relevant and responsive leads it's essential that you apply traditional marketing and direct marketing techniques to your Lead Gen. campaigns:
- Set Goals Set clearly defined expectations and realistic campaign goals or your campaign may not even get off the ground.
- Be the Consumer Think from a consumer's perspective when designing your creative to deliver the right message to your audience.
- Manage Capacity Avoid real-time feeds unless you can respond to consumers in a timely fashion - they'll degrade quickly if not used.
- Prioritise needs Don't ask 'nice to know' information at the expense of vital consumer data. Ask too much and you put consumers off.
- Test and test again! Experiment with as many lead generation approaches as your budgets permit. This will help you to optimise your targeting proficiencies and up your response rates.
- Ad Placement In order to accurately test each media source, don't lose control of where your lead generation adverts appear.
- OLG is the Channel Make sure that your lead generation requirements inform and support your entire integrated campaign strategy. Lead generation shouldn't be pursued in isolation and it's not a channel slave.
Article from Direct Marketing International, March 2011