We’ve been developing lead gen programs for more than ten years — and I think we have researched every tactic imaginable. Here are 7 tips to improve the quality of leads you generate from any medium you use.

Tip #1:
Know Your Audience

You have probably already had success with email — so you know who is reading and responding. I know this sounds like a duh! — but, build an audience list with the same types of people that are already responding.  We all acquire prospects through a variety of sources — make sure the names in your campaign have been vetted and are complementary to the types of people who can really make a decision about your products. Ever have a list bounce more than 30% of the people emailed?  Not very productive, was it?

Tip #2
Keep the Message Focused

Do not try to get more than one concept or offer into a single ad or solo email. My experience is that the response rates improve greatly when you ask the prospect to consider one primary call to action.

Tip #3
White Papers & Webinars Further Qualify You

You would be surprised at the number of prospects that are searching for information. The web has become the de facto encyclopedia of today — so use it to its fullest potential. Prospects that are searching for solutions to their problems are using the web to gather information. Make sure that your product or service provides relevant information that answers their questions. A topic whitepaper or invitation-only webinar are great lead generation tools to help the prospect better understand your value proposition. And for you to begin a relationship with them that will lead to a sale.

Tip #4
Add A Benefit To Your Subject Line

The right email formula can be daunting.  Prospects have to sort through email to select what they want to read and what they will automatically delete. Your subject line is like the handle on the door — if an immediate benefit is communicated, the prospect will “turn the handle” and read the email.

Once inside, get to the point, when there is one to be made. People actually do like relevant pitches. And then ask the prospect to take action.

Tip #5
Let Your Competitors Help

What are your competitors are doing? What media are they using? How do they get prospects? It’s not that you want to emulate what they are doing — but if you don’t have an idea of what tactics they are using or how much media weight they are investing, you won’t be able to compete. But if you see the same type of campaigns and they are showing sales growth — pay attention, they just might be doing something that will help you make lead generation investment decisions for your brand.

Tip #6
Own Something — Get Noticed

While observing the competition will be helpful for you. It is just as important to find something where they are not and to try to own it. I call it a franchise media placement. The medium should be analyzed and a reason identified to use it — then find something that can be exclusively yours. It might be a media insert or repetitive use of a fixed location ad in a publication, it will be yours and your prospects will come to expect information from you in that location. Use it wisely and you will build your brand and increase the number of leads you generate

Tip #7
Match The Medium With Your Brand

Be careful where you allow your brand and offer to appear. Verify the medium — does it reach your target prospects, has it generated qualified leads in the past, is it consistent with the attributes of your brand? Get proof. Talk to current users. Increase the likelihood that this medium will generate the types of leads that you need.

The Hardman Group is a business-to-business advertising agency that focuses on brand building, lead generation and new product introduction. If you need more qualified leads, contact Mike Hardman — mike@hardmangrp.com or 330-285-4141. www.hardmangrp.com

I just read a study from Fournaise Marketing Group, a London consultancy, about the challenges we marketers have gaining credibility for our initiatives with C-Level management. Three issues particularly interested me:

1. We talk too much about brand, not enough about revenue. 77% of CEOs say marketers talk about brand, brand values and brand equity but fail to link this back to the results they care about: revenue, sales, earnings or market valuation.
2. There isn’t enough emphasis on measuring effectiveness. 72% say marketing departments ask for more money but can’t explain how much incremental business this money will generate. What’s worse, when asked to increase their marketing ROI, 73% of CEOs see marketing respond with cost-cutting ideas stemming from better economies of scale or tougher negotiations with their third-party partners, instead of top-line growth generation like more prospects and sales opportunities.
3. Marketing tends to focus on the wrong things.  67% of CEOs believe marketers don’t think enough like businesspeople: 67% see marketers focus too much on the creative, “fluffy” side of marketing and not enough on business science. These CEOs think marketing relies too heavily on agencies to come up with the next big idea.

Does that sound like you? It may be hard to believe – but the theme here is that we think there is more art than science to what we do – and marketing can only have success if we start thinking scientifically about generating business value.

Laura Ramos, a former Forrester consultant, suggests that we put “analytics into action”.  We must:

1. Plan and execute marketing programs based on business results. Measure opportunities generated, like “influence on sales pipeline”, conversion rates and other metrics that relate to business outcomes.
2. Develop lead-management processes. Put processes in place to help both sales and marketing generate new business opportunities, manage volumes of business inquiries and improve potential buyers’ propensity to purchase.
3. Use their language to describe our marketing results. As the Fournaise survey clearly demonstrates, C-Level executives are not interested in the “art” behind marketing. Plain and simple; they want marketing to send qualified leads to sales that generate revenue.
4. Determine what customers want, not what you’re trying to sell them. Get to know your buyer by listening to them and learning why and how they buy. Make it an ongoing part of the planning, execution and measurement process by asking, “How will this change the nature of our relationship with customers and how will we know we achieved that?”
5. Use analytics to help distinguish signal from noise. Invest in tools and process to help gather and analyze data. And to better understand customer segments and purchase patterns. Then apply these insights to campaigns and show how marketing impacts revenue, earnings, and market share.

The Fournaise study is an eye-opener for those who believe they can use marketing creativity as a key strategy. Success comes from knowing your customers and how marketing programs affect their purchase behavior, and our ability to duplicate the initiatives that are generating true business value.

In a prior blog post, I discussed how loyalty influences consumers’ participation in promotions. Though brand switchers are often the target of sales, I found that the biggest boost can come among brand loyals. What about ways to bring back customers whose interest has waned?

As part of a project with a medical supplies company, I took aim at just that group.

At the time of the study, the company had 5,809 customers who had last placed an order between four and 12 months earlier. Another 5,120 customers had last placed an order 13 to 33 months earlier.

To reactivate customers, I encouraged the company to identify its best-selling items and offer a few of them each month as free rewards with a qualifying purchase. As lapsed customers returned to the fold, the company extended its reach, each month mailing out 3,000 fliers to customers who had placed no recent orders. The spending levels per customer increased from $83 to $145.98 during the study period.

By the end of the trial period, 987 of the targeted customers had placed orders totaling more than $140,000. This level of reactivation was achieved at a cost of $29,000 over the course of three months.

Like many companies, the medical supplies company has few new customers from one month to the next. For it, the benefits of trying to win back lapsed customers came at a reasonable price – and offered hope for increasing loyalty. After seeing that they would be rewarded for their purchases, the reactivated customers can be expected to become repeat buyers.

Along with prospecting for new leads, businesses need to remember to reward the people who have helped them succeed in the past. With a little initial investment to address the needs of customers who have fallen by the wayside, you can actually bring them back to the fold and grow your business.

In the current economic crunch, couponing has become trendy. Penny-pinching has gone viral, with new ways to distribute coupons on websites such as LivingSocial and Groupon. On TV shows, blogs and Facebook entries, people are realizing a new passion for saving money.

Clearly, consumers are responsive to sales promotions, but how many new customers come on board when a brand goes on sale?

In a study published in the “Journal of Promotion Management,” I looked at how a rebate offer on paint affected consumers with three levels of brand loyalty – low, moderate and high.

Marketers often hope a promotion can win over consumers who have low or moderate levels of brand loyalty, but I found that wasn’t the case this time. In fact, the brand loyals were the customers who were most impressed:

• The highly loyal purchased 8.92 units of paint, compared to 5.58 units for the moderately loyal and 4.71 units for brand agnostics.
• The highly loyal and moderately loyal comprised 77% of the paint store’s customers but produced 95.5% of revenues brought in by the paint during the promotional period.
• Customers with the lowest level of brand loyalty comprised 23% of the paint store’s traffic but only 4.5% of the revenues generated by the promotion.

The rebate offer demonstrated the benefits of rewarding brand loyals. Though brand switchers are often the target of promotions, the paint sale most engaged the highly loyal – a group that proved the most lucrative. Of all the store’s customers, 26% indicated in a followup survey they had high loyalty to the brand of paint I studied. That group represented 43.2% of all revenues during the promotion period.

As expected, purchase volumes among all customers increased during the promotion. Buyers of all loyalty levels are influenced by a sale, but the biggest payoff can come among the customers who like you the best. Keep them rewarded, so they’ll keep coming back.

Go back a decade. “The West Wing” was popular. Bill Clinton was moving out of office. Your music was on CDs. Newspapers were still thriving.

Meanwhile, Apple was working on its latest must-have: The iPod. Sure, MP3s were already around, but Apple’s idea was even better. By designing both the device and the distribution process, Apple changed how people listen to music .

Anticipating a need its competitors had not acknowledged, Apple has forged into the unknown with stylish products that are easy to use and fun to own. Even in tough times, it has not backed down.

Innovation isn’t cheap, of course, but the failure to innovate can be costly.

That newspaper on the driveway? Depending on the publication, it has watched its advertising and circulation collapse over the past decade or so. While Apple took advantage of the potential of the rapid growth of the Internet, newspapers and the music industry shrugged. They might never catch up.

Even though overall consumer spending has been sluggish, Apple has never failed to draw customers. It’s now promoting the iPhone 5.

Don’t hang back. Create excitement and be disruptive.

It’s a tempting to cut back on advertising when times are tough. Don’t do it.

While the economic crunch can strangle weaker rivals, it also presents new opportunities. Investing now can give you an edge.

Worried about the risk of spending during bad times? The McKinsey & Company consulting firm has found that’s not uncommon. But those fears shouldn’t steer your strategy.

In a study of 1,000 companies over 18 years, the firm discovered that increased advertising spends during recession allowed up-and-comers to become industry leaders. The companies that showed the most growth were the ones that hesitated least about spending. By pressing their advantage while their rivals were digging in, the up-and-comers were able to cut costs when times improved.

“Marketing to Manufacturing” by Professor Patrick Barwise of the London Business School found similar results. It reported that the companies that made the biggest spends were the ones that made the most impressive strides in a downturn.

Professor Barwise’s report quotes analyst Tony Hiller, who looked at the data of 1,000 companies:

“The natural reaction of many businesses experiencing a downturn is to cut costs in areas like advertising and promotion. Our findings prove that they should do exactly the opposite if they are to ride out the recession and thrive thereafter,” Mr. Hiller said.

Don’t be afraid to spend more now. You’ll reap the rewards later.

Ramping up your advertising spends is a good idea in a downturn. So is cutting back on the number of agencies that handle your account.

In a tight economy, it pays to know how to take advantage of all messaging platforms. A company that uses multiple firms easily falls victim to confusing its customers and paying for redundant services.

By finding one agency with horizontal competencies, you can save time and money. You’ll also avoid muddying your message.

Begin by defining what you want to say – and stick with it.

Speak with one voice – whether the opportunity comes behind a press podium or on a poster. Remember: The only difference between public relations or advertising is that one charges for the space.

Just look at Netflix, Inc.

The video company’s decision to raise its prices and split its services has outraged its fans. Netflix Co-Founder and CEO Reed Hastings admits he “messed up,” but that apology hasn’t gone over well with customers who feel they have been betrayed.

Market research could have prevented the need for an apology.

“Are you trying to alienate people on purpose?” one man wrote in response to a Netflix blog post. “What would give you the idea that people would stay with Netflix, Qwikster, whatever the current name is, without listening to what your subscribers want?”

Netflix’s arrogance stands to cost it a bundle. The public relations mess comes as a new study shows that 35% of all US consumers use Netflix at least once a month. Prices for the company’s shares have plunged.

Whether its DVD-rental spinoff will succeed remains to be seen, but Netflix has already hurt the brand. Its critics are right: Successful companies respect the people who made them profitable. If you’re making changes, pay attention to your customers’ needs or you’ll wind up with enemies.

Netflix’s arrogance should be a lesson: Never lose sight of your customers’ needs.