Overview – Targeted, one-to-one outbound marketing programs
We support your sales organization with one-to-one outbound marketing services including email, direct mail and telemarketing.
Whether you manage the activities of a single sales rep or a large sales team, we can provide the tools you need to make that sales effort more efficient.
Target, personalize and connect
Email, direct mail and telemarketing represent the three channels that allow you to reach prospects on a one-to-one basis. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Each comes with a different level of interactivity. Cost is often a driving force for deciding which channel to use – and when.
Email – email is the easiest, fastest and cheapest way to communicate with prospects and customers. But email addresses are often inaccurate and open rates are declining with messages not being seen.
Direct mail – direct mail is more expensive, but it’s tangible and difficult to miss. Getting through to prospects is even easier now as fewer businesses are using direct mail.
Telemarketing – telemarketing is the most direct form of one-to-one contact, but it’s also the most expensive. Telemarketing offers immediate feedback and a higher level of engagement.
Collaboration, not competition
Too often marketers look at email, direct mail and telemarketing as competing marketing channels. They try one channel, and then another, and then another. And they eventually come to the conclusion that one works and the other two don’t. This should not be the way it works.
To be sure, if you represent a business that provides services in one of these channels, you may position yourself against the other channels.
But if you’re a business owner or marketing director, you should know better.
You should be looking for ways to use these channels in collaboration with each other.
See our sample Case Study.
It starts with the list
When you’re targeting prospects on a one-to-one basis – with email, direct mail or telemarketing – nothing is more important than the list. There is no shortage of lists out there. The challenge is finding the right one for you.
As a first step, you need to establish a customer profile that outlines in detail who exactly you’re trying to reach. There’s a process to this, and we can help every step of the way.
Of course, if you already have a list, we can work with that as well.
Know your sales process
We’ve worked with enough businesses to know that not every sales organization has an actual sales process in place. We know that at some places, they just wing it.
You can get by with winging it for a time, but eventually as you grow, you’re going to need to have a process that outlines every step in the sales cycle – from initial inquiry to close.
We’ve mapped a fairly typical sales process with our graphic above Yours may vary but we hope it provides you with a starting point.
Once you have a sales process in place, you can start to assign the appropriate tools to each step.
Find the right fit
There’s no right or wrong way to do this. How you use email, direct mail and telemarketing depends on a number of factors – your product or service, your target audience, your profit margin, your sales structure, your sales process and your sales resources.
We can help you find the right fit, but here’s a typical application:
- Generate leads via email and/or direct mail
- Capture leads with a landing page
- Qualify leads with telemarketing
- Nurture leads with email
- Engage leads with sales force
Test and refine before you scale
No matter what size your sales organization or budget, it’s always best to test this process and refine it before you invest in a large scale rollout.
When we work with you, we’ll show you techniques and strategies for testing the most critical elements of your program.
Then as results emerge, we will help you roll out in a slow, controlled and measured way. Eventually, we will have enough data to exactly how many emails, direct mail pieces and phone calls you will need to generate a consistent flow of new business.
In-house vs. outsourcing
It’s a classic question for any business. Should we do this in-house with our own marketing and sales people, or should we find outside professionals to handle it for us.
You know the arguments of cost and control vs. expertise and experience.
Every organization – no matter how big or small – sees it differently.
Most, however, find a middle ground – keeping some activities in-house, but outsourcing the rest.
Services we provide
We can work with you in a variety of ways and will adapt our services to fit your needs.
List
- Customer profiling
- List research
- List acquisition
- List testing
- List processing (if you have you’re own list)
- Offer planning
- Creative/message development
- Email deployment
- Landing page creation
- Lead capture and process
Direct Mail
- Offer planning
- Creative/message development
- Direct mail printing, addressing and mailing
- Landing page creation
- Lead capture and process
Telemarketing
- Call planning
- Script development
- Call testing
- Call execution
Request an estimate
To request an estimate or learn how we might work together, call Bob McCarthy at 508-473-8643 or bob@mccarthyandking.com