Email Campaigns
Email campaigns are an important part of most successful lead generation programs. They often accompany webinars, sales efforts and important product announcements. Two factors are critical to the success of your email campaigns. The quality of content is key -- the more compelling and readable the content the better. It’s important to know your audience to do this successfully. In the high-tech market, you will often find that middle-level employees will be the first warm leads, but the ultimate buyer is typically a senior-level employee, VP or above.
If your client is not absolutely sure who their first selling contact (aka their advocate) usually is, then it is important to ask existing customers, prospect customers and/or analysts what they consider good content for emails. Is it best taking a business angle or a technical benefits angle? Marketing professionals often refer to this as creating buying personas (profiling the type of person that will support the sale in terms of their title, their technical prowess, their interests, their typical day, etc.).
Additionally, the quality of your list can make or break the campaign. One of the biggest challenges is creating a lead flow system that accurately reflects the market for this solution. How many potential contacts will you start with, how many can you source to find the exact right person? How many have projects going on in the next six months that will make it worth your while to nurture them right now. Most people start with too few contacts, so first ask yourself do you have enough contacts? You’ll turn these into qualified leads through your process, and the more qualified leads you can turn over to the sales team, the better.
Beyond the quality and volume of your list, another key success factor is the frequency of campaigns and touch points. Marketing best practice suggests that your prospect must see at least three incidents of your company name and message to remember your brand. When looking at developing leads to the point of qualification, consider what other marketing activities will accompany your email campaigns and how often you want to email (without being considered a spammer). Every industry and persona is different; a good rule of thumb is that emails with the same offer wouldn’t come more than every six weeks. However, there are always exceptions for more frequent communication and less frequent communication.
If your client is not absolutely sure who their first selling contact (aka their advocate) usually is, then it is important to ask existing customers, prospect customers and/or analysts what they consider good content for emails. Is it best taking a business angle or a technical benefits angle? Marketing professionals often refer to this as creating buying personas (profiling the type of person that will support the sale in terms of their title, their technical prowess, their interests, their typical day, etc.).
Additionally, the quality of your list can make or break the campaign. One of the biggest challenges is creating a lead flow system that accurately reflects the market for this solution. How many potential contacts will you start with, how many can you source to find the exact right person? How many have projects going on in the next six months that will make it worth your while to nurture them right now. Most people start with too few contacts, so first ask yourself do you have enough contacts? You’ll turn these into qualified leads through your process, and the more qualified leads you can turn over to the sales team, the better.
Beyond the quality and volume of your list, another key success factor is the frequency of campaigns and touch points. Marketing best practice suggests that your prospect must see at least three incidents of your company name and message to remember your brand. When looking at developing leads to the point of qualification, consider what other marketing activities will accompany your email campaigns and how often you want to email (without being considered a spammer). Every industry and persona is different; a good rule of thumb is that emails with the same offer wouldn’t come more than every six weeks. However, there are always exceptions for more frequent communication and less frequent communication.