Why Funnelholic Part II?
Amendment #1; the first two blog posts are the hardest. Anyway, I want to continue to answer the question “Why the Funnelholic”. There is a major movement going on in Lead Generation/Marketing Optimization. Venture Capitalists are giving money to new startups coming up in this genre. I am not sure exactly what spurred this as I have been in this business for awhile now. There are many theories such as Google adwords which has given life to a new world of remote controlled lead generation and some fairly solid reporting tools to go with it. Adwords has made the position of lead generation hip once again.
Overall, many of us we have been around the world of lead generation are starting to get excited with some of the new tools at our disposal. Trade shows, print media, and to a large extent cold calling are still part of the repertorie but are fast showing the least ROI. Don’t get me wrong, you have to do it.
- Trade Shows — great for business development, channel development, and for major industry announcements. For lead generation, ask any sales rep — trade shows just don’t do it for leads.
- Print Media — Advertisements in off-line magazines will die off soon. I have talked to alot of marketing managers who say today they but off-line ads in just so their bosses can see them working. (In other words, he/she reads it not prospects) On the other hand, I talked to someone the other day who said their ad in Southwest Airlines Magazine was one of their highest converting lead types.
- Cold Calling — I am not against cold calling. I think there is a place for it, especially in strategic account selling and in sales with long sales cycles. It doesn’t scale as your only source of leads….it does get you pretty good quality leads if (a.) done right (both process and messaging) (b.) backed up by marketing via email blasts, webinar invites, activity tracking of the lead. Again, cold-calling cannot be the only source of leads.
The Funnelholic is extremely relevant as we enter a new era of “hotness”. Its very exciting for those of us in the unglamorous world of lead generation.
Written by Craig Rosenberg - The FunnelholicSign up to receive emails when new articles are posted
Want to connect directly? Email me at craig AT funnelholic.com<
