Sales Literature and Sell Sheets
Evaluating
Sales Channels: Getting ROI
for your marketing communications
Jim Schakenbach
Managing Partner, SCT Group Inc.
www.sctgrp.com
From a marketing communications perspective, conventional wisdom used
to be “throw some money at advertising and marketing to create awareness
and sales will follow”. Marketers were more interested in building
awareness and brand recognition and there was no linkage between sales
and marketing. Lots of assumptions were made and there was little accountability.
All that has changed, especially within the past few years. Now sales
and marketing are inextricably linked and it’s all about return on
investment. Marketing budgets are now scrutinized to squeeze the most
value out of media plans and PR activities.
ROI, return on investment….what is it and how do you get it when
you’re trying to reach a target market with sales information about
your product or service?
ROI in marketing communications is all about taking the time to really
understand who you are trying to reach and what it is that they really
want. It also requires finding the most cost-effective way to reach that
very specific target audience. No longer can the strategy be spray and
pray, identifying the largest trade magazines in your market and then
hitting the biggest audience with a general message, assuming that you’re
going to benefit from trickle down. Traditional vehicles like trade magazines
are suffering from their lowest advertising page counts in years, which
translates into reduced readership and effectiveness as audiences look
to other vehicles such as the Internet for their industry information.
So, despite some very attractive deals out there, chances are industry
trade magazine advertising right now doesn’t offer very good ROI.
So what do you do? You practice something called guerrilla marketing.
You find multiple, more focused ways to reach a highly qualified, targeted
audience. And you start by doing your homework on who you really want
to reach. For example, don’t say your target audience is engineers.
Go that extra mile to confirm that the person you really want to talk
to is the senior design engineer who’s driving specifications for
board-level components. Target, target, target.
Now you can concentrate on how to most effectively reach your highly qualified
target. Because you’ve selectively reduced the audience to a critical
few, perhaps they can receive a hand-addressed post card or letter, or
a personalized email with helpful links and a relevant white paper or
case study. And everything you do should drive them to your web site for
more complete information and an interactive contact vehicle that enables
them to query you and provide some details on what they really need. Send
abstracts of white papers to relevant trade journals for use as articles
to further reinforce your credibility. Tweak your web site to contain
a wide range of links out to relevant trade pubs and industry or trade
association web sites, and try to get them to post a link to yours on
theirs. All these things cost very little money, yet they can go a long
way toward creating visibility for your company and product or service.
Five tips for achieving marketing communications ROI:
Know your target customer
Do your homework and research who REALLY would buy your product or service.
Avoid generic job titles or descriptions as much as possible and try to
drill down to the job responsibilities and purchasing needs of the person
you’re trying to reach.
Hone your message
Focus on customer pain – the thing or things that really present
a challenge to your potential customer and that your product or service
will “cure”. Avoid the trite and hackneyed and communicate with
clarity.
Be creative in disseminating your message
Don’t blindly rely on traditional methods that may or may not work
for your specific circumstances and in these economic times. Seek alternative
methods, such as Internet-based initiatives and viral marketing.
Find ways to “get found”
Generate case studies, abstracts, and articles for trade publications.
Make sure your web site is updated regularly to include new and better
content and links for increased visibility. Foster online relationships
with industry marketplaces, trade journal sites, and professional organizations.
Position yourself as an industry expert -- line up speaking engagements
and conduct seminars where possible.
Repeat
Once you find the right mix of message and media, repeat as often as possible.
If you have a limited budget (and who doesn’t?), don’t mail
a fancy full color brochure once, produce several 2-color postcards instead
so that you can hit your target several times for increased awareness.
Good ROI for your marketing communications efforts comes from doing your
homework, understanding what you’re trying to accomplish, and setting
goals. Do this, and you can sleep easy, knowing your program is working
as hard as it possibly can.
©2007 SCT Group, Inc.
sctgrp.com
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