Online Media Versus Print For Marketing
Email, Fax and Internet Newsletters Complement Traditional Channels
With the growth of on-line marketing media, some marketing and sales gurus denigrate traditional methods of telemarketing, direct mail and advertising in print media. However, on-line media are not always better at generating sales enquiries. Here are some considerations of various options.
Business-to-Business Telemarketing
Business-to-business "cold calling" is time consuming and unpopular among sales people, who dislike the risk of rejection, and business purchasers, who dislike being interrupted. It can be effective with a well-written script and a list of likely prospects. An advantage is that the caller makes personal contact with the prospect and can ask questions to uncover needs. The objective is not to make a sale but to gain an appointment for a visit.
Jeff Hardesty, sales trainer and consultant with the Cold Call University, reports that when he asks sales people for their success rate, the answer is that 10 to 25 calls result in 1 to 2 appointments, a 4 to 20% success rate. With training and enhancement of calling strategy and tracking, he claims he can increase this to 80%.
Direct Mail
Business-to-business direct mail has a typical response rate of 1 to 2%. To succeed, the company needs:
- A well-designed mail piece that will catch the eye;
- A list of likely prospects.
The Data Base Marketing Institute recently published an article, by Arthur Middleton Hughes, on a test of direct mail versus outbound calling for Tektronix, a high-technology instrumentation manufacturer, by Joe Krisky, of the Massini Group, and Diane Mayer, of Saligent. The outbound telephoning yielded 2.3 times as many appointments as did the direct mailer.
Fax Blasts
Fax ‘blast’ mass-transmission of marketing material has advantages:
- No printing or mail costs;
- Low cost per fax call with discount rates from a telephone company or an Internet based service such as Skype.
Its disadvantages are:
- No color capability;
- The quality of the copy the sales prospect sees depends on the receiving machine;
Some companies dislike receiving fax blasts; the selling organization will spend time taking calls and deleting fax numbers.
What's needed:
- A well-designed one-page piece;
- A list of fax numbers of likely prospects.
E-Mail Marketing
An email to a list of prospects has the major advantage that recipients can immediately respond. It can contain a website link so recipients can log on for more information.
Other advantages:
- No printing or telecommunications costs.
- Color pieces can be sent.
Disadvantages:
- Filters divert many email blasts to spam.
What's needed:
- A catchy subject line and an attractive graphic design;
- A list of email addresses of likely prospects.
Email Newsletters and Ezines
An ezine is a magazine or newsletter sent as a pdf file via the Internet giving detailed information about a company’s products and services. An example is the 360 Ezine by office furniture manufacturer Steelcase. It can contain a website link and a white paper which, according to research by EnQuiro, is the material technical buyers most frequently read. The ezine works best when sent to people who ask for it. It is important to send it out regularly.
Print Magazines
All of the above methods require good lists of people to phone, fax, mail or email.The advantages of advertising and media relations with industry, technical, business and trade magazines over on-line methods are:
- Business decision makers prefer to read magazines rather than on-line, according to research by USA Strategies;
- Magazines have good lists: publishers sell subscriptions and constantly contact readers to make sure they want to receive a magazine;
- Most business magazines publish on-line versions with website links for editorial mentions and advertising.
Multiple Media Work Best
All of these methods have their place. What works best is a combination of all them:
- Internet for rapid response and information access;
- Business magazines for readership and proven lists;
- Telemarketing for personal contact.
On-line allows fast response
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Print media are still powerful
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Telemarketing works for B2B
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