This is the second time in two weeks we have interviewed a leader of a new type of sales or marketing service. Today’s interview is with Tom Blue, the founder of Lead411.
Here is his interview:
1. What are the three trends you see emerging in 2009?
- Direct marketing: Direct marketing efforts increase during recessions. Many of the channels that were producing plenty of leads in 2007 aren’t doing the same today. That means more people go back to cold-calling and direct marketing. We have noticed this in our business. While we lost some customers due to users’ losing their jobs, we have seen an increase in new interest in our offering.
- Increased target email marketing: More and more people are doing one to one email marketing. This has to do with the trend I mentioned above, as well as the realization that it can be quite an effective and inexpensive model to depend on. In addition, more and more executives are increasingly more tolerant of email messages coming in their inbox (as long as they are targeted)
- Social media networking: This trend will continue in 2009 and 2010. It is important for sales and marketing people to be in front of as many people as possible. The more sites, networks, etc. you and your company belong to, the more people will be able to find you and will talk about you on these mediums.
2. What are the biggest challenges for 2009?
Fear: Our prospects that aren’t being closed are people that have a lot of fear. They are unsure of how much revenue they are going to have in the next few months so they are very hesitant on purchasing additional services. Even if they need it. The fear isn’t nearly as bad as the end of last year. Things have improved since then, but some fear still lingers.
3. What are three metrics that B2B marketers should care about and why?
I think this varies per company so I am going to refer to my personal experience.
Referring site information: It is important to know where your traffic is coming from. For example, a click from an advertisement usually doesn’t do as well as a keyword from a Google search. If you are like most sites, you are getting referrals from over 100 places a month. They could be ads, partners, search engines, etc. You need to know how valuable each one of these is so you can increase in that area (if needed).
Signup/Lead/Trial Conversion per new visitor: This is very important because this will tell you how good your sales/marketing copy is. If you make wording changes to one of your entry pages you want to know if that increased interest in your prospect. Did you get more trials/signups/leads from it?
Percentage of close/sale: From the lead that comes in you want to know how well your salesperson does with that lead. You can match up each salesperson to see who is doing the best and be able to figure out what would be a good quota, etc.
4. What are the top oversights marketers are making regarding lead generation?
Social Media, PR marketing and news: Larger corporations seem to be missing the boat on the newer Internet marketing methods. Twitter and the like are great ways to stay in touch with Joe Customer and to curb any dissent on your product/service. I also believe that these services could bring in other leads that they aren’t getting. It is also a good PR move for them to be “hip” and cutting edge.
As for general PR, it isn’t just getting a mention in the newspaper anymore. You want every blogger and online site mentioning your company. You want your press releases blasted everywhere. Not only will this increase awareness, but this will increase your authority ranking on Google (Page Rank). This really increases your search engine marketing efforts.
Finally, it is important to follow news in your territory. You can find many leads by looking at companies that are growing, opening new offices or have gotten new large customers in your area. This is extremely beneficial to salespeople.
5. What will you prescribe to marketers to carry out effective lead generation?
In my opinion, the most important marketing focuses are: SEO (search engine optimization), CPC advertising, social media public relations, individual sales rep networking and territory news tracking.
6. What three Web 2.0 applications, cutting-edge technologies or lead generation sources do marketers HAVE to consider to be successful?
Twitter, LinkedIn and some type of news alert system. E.G. Buzzgain, Google Alerts or a site like mine will provide you alerts about companies in your area in which there is a good lead opportunity.
7. What do you hope for in B2B sales and marketing for the new year?
Positivity. I feel things have stabilized and we should focus on getting back to work instead of worrying about the future.
Written by Craig Rosenberg - The FunnelholicSign up to receive emails when new articles are posted
The Funnelholic
