"It doesn't seem to matter what kind of marketing we do, nothing seems to make a real difference," her boss blurted.
She sat patiently, taking a sip of her morning coffee, pondering if a career in marketing was really what she wanted after all. The old-style management, long hours, and increasing expectations were starting to take their toll.
"Marketing is about creative ideas, witty advertising, and skillful copywriting," she thought once. That was back in school. The sobering reality was that those things were only a minority of her job duties, and this reality had snuck up on her like a few grey hairs that one day turn into ten, then twenty, then fifty, until regular hair dye appointments become a common chore like laundry—regular and often. Marketing, like her sneaky grey hairs, had started to feel old, and a hassle to keep fresh. Leads, revenue, and market share were what mattered; accounting was always keeping score along with her boss.
Now, management wanted to see a solid return on investment for the website they sank an entire year's worth of marketing budget into without really establishing any objectives. Was it the website’s job to educate? Build awareness? Reposition the brand? Make competitors envious? She wasn't sure. Nobody actually told her why the website needed a redesign other than they felt the old one was, well...looking old. Fair enough, but now she had to prove the new website was working...at something.
Salespeople wanted more leads, and true to form, were willing to do the least possible work to get them. Now, a good sales person is worth their weight in gold, but the majority of them...well, let's just say you feel like you’re drowning in assholes. So, it was up to marketing, once again, to produce results and keep the overbearing sales guy, Andy, from visiting her office with stupid ideas and requests. You see, Andy was less experienced than she was but had an over-inflated sense of self worth and a terrible mustache that made him look even worse. Oh yeah, Andy had all of the answers - He was the “Sales Manager”. Everybody needed to listen to Andy. Andy was barely tolerable but if he was kept happy (making quota), then it meant marketing got more budget, and her salary might go up. Maybe.
"This time it's going to be different!" she thought, deciding to make a last stand. Producing some serious results was going to reinvigorate her enthusiasm for marketing, and generate some well-deserved recognition. "That mustachioed worm, Andy, is going to have more leads than he can fill his mouth hole with."
Shit just got so real. This was her plan.
Create a Valuable Offer
No, not another discount or coupon! Andy was always suggesting a discount to drive sales, because the economy, because the competition, because the full moon, because whatever. Really, it's because Andy was lazy. But she knew better - the problem with discounts and coupons is that they only appeal to people who are ready to buy right now, but the majority of potential customers are at a stage much earlier in the decision process.
If there was one thing business school had done, besides help develop her alcohol tolerance, it was teach her about the marketing funnel. As you can imagine, the funnel metaphor means the marketing process is wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. The bottom is what most sales efforts target, but it represents a fraction of the wide potential of customers who are still at the top. If she could entice the people at the top with something aside from a promotion that pulled them further into the funnel, then she could theoretically increase what comes out the bottom. It would require something special - something that would be really valuable: information that helps solve a problem. As prospects consumed this information, they would move closer to wanting what she was selling. It was to capture by kindness. So, she created an offer that nobody could refuse.
She knew a good offer could take various forms depending on the business, but it absolutely needed to provide value in the form of knowledge or helpfulness. A brochure or fact sheet about the product wasn't going to cut it; she needed to create a valuable offer that took the form of a "how-to" guide, or "checklist for success", or a "step-by-step process for saving/earning money". It had to be good and it had to carry some weight - Something that a person would be willing to give their contact information for. She knew knowledge was power and people are often willing to exchange something for it. All she needed was their name, email, and permission.
It took some research and work but she got creative and put those copywriting skills to work. It felt good to be creating something new and interesting, and after only a couple weeks the offer was complete – a twenty page eBook complete with illustrations that she had designed by a freelancer she found through 99Designs. The eBook was significant enough that it could be repurposed into smaller content snacks, shared piecemeal as a blog article, pull-quote for twitter, or graphic illustration on Facebook. It could be given away in drips to promote the actual exchange of contact information for the entire eBook. It was marketing gold.
Develop a Landing Page
Her next challenge was deciding how to get this juicy offer into the hands of prospective customers. It would need to be put on the website somehow but going through IT to get this done could be a pain and take forever. The conversation would likely go something like this:
"Hey IT guy! I need something put on the website this week. What do you say?"
"You're kidding, right?" the IT guy would reply dryly. "I've got 25 security patches I'm trying to implement, upgrading everybody's computers to Windows 7, and that idiot Andy from Sales keeps calling to say his coffee holder is broken even though it's a god damn CD-ROM tray! On top of that, I have network protocols to update ever since we switched to...."
"Ok, thanks for the chat," she'd say as slowly backing out of his office and hoping he wouldn't notice she had left as he continued his diatribe about the state of IT affairs.
It was best to avoid this conversation. She would have to get this done on her own. Having limited web programming skills put her at a disadvantage.
The eBook was substantial enough that it needed its own dedicated webpage. It would get lost if it was simply treated as a link on a product page. Besides, she need to capture people’s name and email when they downloaded it. The best way to publish the ebook was by using a dedicated landing page. A page solely devoted to the eBook that extolled it’s purpose, benefits, and gave visitors only two choices - Download it or leave and miss your chance.
With limited budget and programming skills she turned to the do-it-yourself landing page service called Unbounce. Within a couple hours she had a landing page designed, built, and published without the need for any IT help. It was almost as simple as using Word to create a document with pictures. Almost.
Advertise the Offer
If this plan is to fly, it needs some wind beneath its wings, and by wind it really means money for advertising. There wasn't much for marketing budget after the website was built, but that didn't mean there wasn't money from another budget that could be "re-allocated to strategic priorities," as they say in management speak. Accounting would need a special visit, perhaps the kind of visit that involves going out for a Friday lunch...with drinks. It’s five o’clock somewhere.
Budget secured and a wine buzz to boot, she got to planning an advertising strategy to promote the offer and drive people to the landing page. Without advertising it would be impossible to create enough awareness to drive significant amounts of web traffic - Sometimes you have to pay to play, so it's important to pick your advertising methods wisely. She figured Facebook and Google Adwords were a couple of the two best direct response advertising channels available today and for only $500-$1000 per month she could drive hundreds of visitors to the website. Visitors that could be measured, information captured, and added to a database with only a few clicks. "What do you have to say to that, Andy? Oh wait, you’re too busy putting business cards on windshields that end up in the garbage," she mused to herself. It felt good to work smart, and now she had time for another glass of wine.
In addition to the online ads, she had also planned to write a few related blog posts with call-to-action banners linking to the eBook. These same call-to-action banners would be added to the company’s Facebook page, LinkedIn page, and Twitter profile to ensure a consistent campaign experience across all their channels. Finally, an email broadcast would be sent to prospective customers subscribed to the company newsletter.
Use Email Marketing to Nurture Leads
With her offer created, landing page published, and advertising campaign initiated, it was time to let the process fly on its own and deliver leads. However, knowing from past experience, leads are worthless unless they’re actually documented and followed-up on. Typically, it was Andy’s responsibility to follow-up on leads but unless the leads were basically begging to buy they would often go ignored and fall into the abyss of neglect. She knew most leads being generated by this campaign weren’t going to be hot-to-trot right away…They would need some nurturing though subsequent communications and kindness. So, she ensured all leads were automatically sent from the landing page into the company’s email marketing software. Thankfully, Unbounce allowed for seamless integration between the landing page and their email software – a critically important feature.
Sure enough, leads started to roll in as people downloaded the eBook. The campaign was generating hundreds of pageviews, and resulting in about ten new leads a day. The ads were so compelling that they were also being shared on Facebook by people who saw them. As the leads accumulated in her email marketing software, she would segment them into different lists depending on their interest level. If the leads had indicated they were at the buying stage she would send them to Andy right away, but if they were still in the consideration stage, then she’d schedule an automatic follow-up email in a few weeks time to stay top of mind, perhaps with another offer.
After a month she had generated over 300 new leads with a budget less than $1500. And the efforts did not go unnoticed, Andy was busy following up on the hottest leads and her boss was in a good mood (since staff were busy, he could sneak away to work on his golf game).
“Launching the new website has made a big difference to our business.” Her boss proclaimed at the next month’s staff meeting. “It’s the best idea I’ve had for a while!”
Maybe she didn’t get the recognition she had hoped for, but the recent campaign had rejuvenated her enthusiasm for marketing and the idea that maybe she’d at least get a raise as profits increased. She was happy knowing a rising tide floats all boats, and although few recognize what powers the tides, it’s satisfying when you know your efforts are making a difference. As she left the staff meeting she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror and said to herself “Looks like I don’t need that hair dye appointment this week, after all”.
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Did you enjoy the story? Perhaps you've had a similar experience or, if not, now I hope you have some knowledge to prepare you when the time comes. Please feel free to leave comments.
