Why did we do a doctor testimonial video for Bindex in the first place?

We have learned that video, in general, performs better in digital advertising than other kinds of content. We’d already done a test for Bindex in which video performed better on LinkedIn advertising than any other kind of ad, including sponsored message ads and carousel ads. In our tests over the last couple of years for multiple clients, well-done video pulls an average of five times better than other kinds of content on digital media. And, properly optimized video is very good for SEO on a website. So it made sense to do more video.

A testimonial video made sense for this audience, because while physicians welcome being informed, they don’t like being “sold.” Physician-to-physician communication is especially effective when presenting a medical technology that’s new and unfamiliar.

Bindex founder, Dr. Ossi Riekkinen, suggested that we talk with Dr. David Soffa, a radiologist with special expertise in practice management and a member of the Bindex Board as the subject of our interview. We had a conference call with Dr. Soffa, and it was clear we didn’t need to look any further. He was knowledgeable and personable. But most important, because of his lifelong experience as both a radiologist and as an expert in practice management, and his experience working within the complex and baffling U.S. healthcare system, he was terrific at articulating how Bindex could help address the osteoporosis screening needs for U.S. physicians and practice managers. He’d been there, done that. He knew their pain points and how Bindex addressed them. That’s why he became interested in the company in the first place, so his voice was completely authentic.

A lot of companies are creating testimonial videos. What mistakes do they typically make?

We wanted to avoid mistakes we’ve seen in other poorly implemented testimonial videos, and we know that invariably disappointing results in testimonial videos come down to insufficient planning. Companies often have the expectation that they don’t have to do a lot of pre-production for scripted video, but that they can do testimonials without any planning at all. The idea is that you just show up with a camera—or ask a client or customer to film themselves on their phone—and you’ll get testimonial gold. This may work for consumer testimonials, where you’re looking for a Tik Tok video style affect, but we don’t think it works very well for high ticket sales products like medical technology.

For complex sales technology products, you need to plan for what content you want to get and what points you want to make, plan for how you’ll make the subject comfortable, and even plan your setting.  We’ll never forget the client who came to us to promote testimonial videos they’d made themselves. The speakers had all agreed to give video testimonials, but they had been given no direction, guidelines, or cues—they were just parked in front of a camera and told to speak about their experience. They really liked the service they were promoting, and wanted to be helpful and complimentary, but had no idea what to say. As a result, the testimonials were vague, repetitive, and rambling, and the subjects were clearly uncomfortable. But worst of all, the service they were talking about was a program that helped patients with physical disabilities due to disease or injury restore mobility—yet the subjects were shot in a tiny corner, against a step-and-repeat backdrop, while sitting still.  They couldn’t have moved if they wanted to, let alone demonstrate their improved mobility. There was no footage of what’s called “B-roll” showing the clients moving about. The videos countered the message the testimonials were intended to convey, rendering them unusable.

Another common mistake is to send a video crew without a creative director. Filmmakers are experts on all the important quality details that no one else will think about. But the creative director is the leader of the marketing creative for the project, the advocate of the client and brand, and the person who is most responsible for translating all the information about the product or service into benefits that will make the target audience want to buy. There’s a level of knowledge and nuance in that role that can’t be duplicated by anyone else in the room.

While this decision is often made to save money, it’s penny-wise and pound-foolish. While there are exceptions—for example, when you’ve been shooting a series with the same crew, and the filmmaker/director has been an integral part of the marketing team from the beginning, they can certainly go on their own to capture, say, another workplace interview in a series, or B-roll of workplace activity—however most of the time, everyone, including the client, is disappointed with the results when there is a video or photo shoot without a creative director. We even know a few world-famous, award-winning filmmakers and photographers who won’t take an advertising project unless a creative director will be on set. They know it makes them look better when their magical work also performs spectacularly for the client’s marketing goals. It’s a creative director’s job to get the best out of everyone, and to have that reflected in the end product.

Technical mistakes are common, too, but they’re easy to avoid if you think about them for five minutes. Poor sound, poor video quality, and poor lighting are the obvious ones, but another common mistake is the framing. Putting someone smack in the middle of the frame for long periods of time, for example, is static and boring. Positioning subjects a bit off-center in the frame, varying your camera angles, and changing up the visuals with other content besides a talking head, makes a video much more dynamic and interesting.

Another common mistake is only using one camera. We always use two, an “A” camera—the one that the subject is usually looking at—and a “B” camera, which captures the same action from a different angle, usually from one side. This gives you more options in editing.

Most of our videos are intended for the web, which only need a resolution of 1080p. But we shoot at a much higher resolution, 4000k.  That process takes more memory cards, hard drive space, and processing power, but it  gives us additional editing options in post-production. For example, by shooting at higher resolution, we can “punch in” on a subject, change the framing options, or focus in on a detail without losing quality.

What is the typical ideal length of a testimonial video?

There’s no “perfect” length. There’s a common myth that videos should be a certain length—usually very short, as little as 15 seconds long—but we’ve never seen any actual data attached to those myths, and there are never any examples of the videos that were tested. Are those recommendations based on value-added content, presented in a compelling way, that is appropriate to the audience? Or, are they based on someone standing in a backyard, holding their own phone in front of their face, yelling, “Don’t click away”? Those distinctions matter. In the first instance, two or three minutes might not feel long enough. In the second, 15 seconds might feel like an eternity.

One of our B2B clients has had great success using very long testimonial videos—45 minutes or longer—as an offer. Customers for their tech product present detailed descriptions about how they use the product in their enterprise application. Sometimes they’re interviews, and sometimes they’re solo case study slide presentations. What they have in common is that they’re lively, interesting, authentic, and filled with useful information that can help prospects decide to buy.

One guideline we use is where and when viewers will see the video. Is it an ad that they’ll see when they’re doing something else online, such as using social media, viewing YouTube, shopping, or research? In that case, shorter is better, somewhere between 30 seconds and two and a half minutes; you’re not likely to nab much more attention than when the prospect was really intending to do something else.  When it’s content on your website, the video can be as long as you like, as long as you don’t bore them. Think of the shorter ads as teaser trailers for your longer testimonial “movie”.

How did we seek to avoid the mistakes others typically make with their testimonial videos, while making the Dr. Soffa video?

We did two kinds of planning: planning for the content and planning for the shoot. One decision we made right away was to film the testimonial as an interview, even though we’d be cutting out the questions and the voice of the interviewer.

Although Dr. Soffa has appeared on video before, most non-actors are quite uncomfortable on camera, and it shows. When you have a person asking questions, it becomes much easier for the subject to relax into the conversation, to become more natural, and to forget that the camera is there.

What planning for the content did we do?

We met with the client, their marketing advisors, and their sales rep to ask about points they wanted to make, and also objections they encounter. Bindex’s founder, Dr. Riekkinen, had recently attended some U.S. conferences and had fresh insights about questions that needed to be addressed with the target audiences.

We then made a list of topics we wanted to cover and wrote a script of interview questions for the client to approve.

What planning for the shoot did we do?

Before we did anything else, we addressed the most basic of production questions, which is, where are we going to shoot? The video crew was in Los Angeles and Dr. Soffa was in Northern California. In a rented studio or on location? Normally we shoot business videos in a workplace, but during COVID, like everyone else, Dr. Soffa was working from home. He sent us some cell phone video of his home, and we decided to go to Northern California and shoot there. The Soffa home is beautiful with natural light, and Dr. Soffa’s wife is a talented interior designer, so it was gorgeous and perfect.

A few days before the shoot, the videographer and creative director had a pre-production meeting. They talked about the look we wanted, which cameras and lenses to bring, and how we might address challenges related to shooting in tight spaces or unexpected lighting issues. We already had very nice B-roll footage from a Bindex training video that had a specific look and knew that we would be incorporating that into our finished product, so that was a consideration in our color decision.  Since we hadn’t had a technical scout—a visit to the location where you can visually see the issues, plan for them, and make decisions about things like shooting angles—we needed contingency plans.

When we got to Dr. Soffa’s house, we did a walk-through. We’d originally intended to shoot in his home office, but when we saw the room in person, we realized that once we got lighting and two cameras in there, it would have been both cramped and hot. The large living room gave much better camera angles and the beautiful tall windows meant we didn’t need additional lighting.

It took us about an hour to set up before we were ready for Dr. Soffa. With his permission, we moved some furniture, set up our gear, and did some test shots.  When we were ready for Dr. Soffa, our last step was to get him mic’d up with a lavalier and test the sound levels. Then we started rolling. The creative director was asking the questions, sitting behind the “A” camera, at eye level with Dr. Soffa as he was talking. The videographer knelt behind the “B” camera, controlling, and monitoring the “A” camera through an iPad and monitoring the audio through headphones. She also slated the takes, which is when you write info on a re-usable board and “clap” the zebra-striped wooden sticks together at the beginning of the take. We’ve all seen slating a million times on TV and in the movies, and it looks a little silly and theatrical, but it has a very useful purpose. The sharp and precise sound of that “clap” makes a visual spike on the editing software that you can use to sync sound properly in post-production.

What was the purpose and process for creating the video master?

Our first finished video product was the video master which was about 12 minutes long, and it contained the entire interview.  As we said above, we know that there’s no magic length for videos, and that longer videos can be very effective when they provide value. And, since we were having Dr. Soffa speak on a variety of topics that would be released as separate short videos, we thought that some physicians and practice managers might want to see the whole conversation.

Finally, it would provide good content for both the client’s website—a visitor coming because they have interest in the product might want to watch a longer video. When properly optimized, it would also be useful on YouTube.

There’s a misconception that editing of documentary (non-scripted) footage is simply a matter of cutting out the bad takes and awkward pauses, then slapping on an intro at the beginning and a CTA (call to action) at the end. But, the editing process is really where you shape the content into a compelling and interesting story.

Sure, you’ve done as much preparation as you can with your questions and script, but there are still surprises. For example, while we were setting up, Dr. Soffa told a story about how he’d become involved with Bindex. The story conveyed a lot of insight about him, about the founder, Dr. Riekkinen, and about their shared values and dedication to excellence, even when it’s hard. Although it wasn’t in the script, the creative director asked him to repeat the story on camera. Also, whether a testimonial is being given by a true expert, like Dr. Soffa, or someone who has personal experience with a product or service, they have a unique take on answers to the questions that bring authenticity, color, life, and unexpected details to the story. The comfort level that arises out of the conversation-like interview process helps bring a lot of that added value to the surface.

Once we had our footage in the camera…and backed up in at least two places, because now it was precious and irreplaceable—the editing process began. We started by reviewing all of the footage and noting what we liked and what we didn’t. We created a transcript for the client to review. The main purpose of this was for the client to tell us anything we shouldn’t use. Did Dr. Soffa use any terminology or address any points that shouldn’t be included in the video? In this case, there wasn’t anything, but what often happens is that a subject will use jargon that isn’t familiar to the audience or discuss a detail that’s very important. In a customer testimonial video, a subject might praise an individual by name who no longer works at the company or talk about a product that the company no longer offers or wants to promote. In interviews with an organization’s team, it’s common for staffers to speak enthusiastically about a product or service that’s still in development and not yet available.

The editor does most of the heavy lifting on the next part of the process, working closely with the creative director. The editor did a first cut of the footage, re-arranging and shaping the clips into a story that had good pacing and rhythm. We had B-roll footage from a Bindex training video that we used as well. Having that footage was critical. When you have video that is just footage of one person talking—no matter how compelling they are or how well they speak—it’s hard to hold a viewer’s interest. The viewer also needs to see what the speaker is talking about. That additional footage also helps cover cuts that you don’t want to see. For example, they cover the transitions between spoken phrases from two different clips, or when the editor trims out the “ahs” and repetition that occur naturally in speech.

It’s much the same process as when a news editor shapes a story from an interview. They have an idea of what they get before they start, but they never know exactly what the subject will say until they hear it. Depending on what they capture, the story could be told from different angles or perspectives or emphasize different points.  You’ll notice in news stories that the camera never lingers on the speaker for very long, and the speaker is always broken up with additional visuals. It’s the same process.

We produced a rough cut for review and approval, then did color correction and final sound editing, then added graphics and music.

How did we decide what content would be included for the five final video ad cuts?

In the master, Dr. Soffa made about a dozen different points about the Bindex product. We made a list of those points and asked the client to choose the five that he thought were most important and would best address target audience questions and objections.

The topics were introduced with opening graphics and closed with a closing graphic with call to action. There were two different audiences for the five cuts. One video was created for the Medicare provider audience. Four were intended as ads to physicians and practice managers. For the former, we chose graphics and B-roll that emphasized the ability of the product to close the gap in osteoporosis screening and raise something called HEDIS measures and STAR ratings—a primary benefit for Medicare providers. For the latter, we chose graphics and B-roll that helped physicians and practice managers visualize how Bindex would function in their practice, such as improving patient compliance with Osteoporosis screening, being able to screen easily in their practice, and adding to the practice revenue.  You can view the five final video cuts below.

The five video ads:

• Spot #1—HEDIS and STAR
• Spot #2—Normal workflow
• Spot #3—Patients prefer Bindex
• Spot #4—Practice Revenue
• Spot #5—Barriers to screening

What purposes will the client use these videos?

The videos will be used as digital ads, for sharing on social media platforms, and on the client’s website and landing pages. They can also be used in emails and as part of electronic press kits to support press releases and in response to press requests.

Four of the five short cuts were intended specifically as ads.  Offer testing is always key in digital advertising.  The end goal was to produce these with two calls to action: a free-trial offer tied to a specific landing page, and a general “learn more” message. We also recommended that Bindex test a third CTA—an invitation to “watch the full conversation” with Dr. Soffa, which would be a link to the longer “master” video.  We’re interested to see if physicians and practice managers who view one of the short topics would be intrigued enough to watch more. We’re also interested in which offer results in more trial requests and more conversions to sales. This testing will be on-going.

Conclusion:

Since we have learned that video, in general, performs better in digital advertising than other kinds of content, we are always looking for ways to produce better, more authentic video content, and testimonials definitely fit into that category.  But producing a testimonial video for complex sale items must be done with proper planning for the content and for the shoot. Finally, the editing should make it clean, with as few “ahs” and “ums”, but also add in other content, perhaps borrowed from B-roll content, all with the intent to hold interest and inspire your audience to act on your call to action.

Written by Laurie Beasley
Co-Founder and President
Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc.

The post Case Study: How We Successfully Created a Series of Doctor Testimonial Videos for Bindex appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

Launching a new brand of consumer electronics products is always a challenge. To raise brand awareness and drive the eventual purchase of a new product takes effort and time. The consumer electronics category is by its very nature competitive with short product cycles and shifting consumer expectations.

Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. was approached by a European speaker manufacturer to launch a new brand of high end, wireless speakers in the US market. The company decided only to launch into the online channel, focusing its efforts on selling direct to the consumer and not via retail.  While this made for a more efficient sales model from a cost perspective, it did present a challenge around building brand awareness.

The visibility of a product on the shelf in a retailer, with the ability to interact with it in person, can be a compelling experience that adds to a brand’s awareness and eventual sales.  The “touch and feel” element, along with the experience of the speaker’s sound in person cannot be underplayed for a new brand. The downside of filling the retail channel is of course the product sitting on a shelf, with its revenue being frozen as it waits for a customer to purchase it.

We Implemented a Three-Step Brand Awareness Building Process for Launching this New Brand Online

We worked with our client to overcome the challenges inherent in launching a brand online in a very competitive category by developing a three-step strategy:

1. Raise awareness through display advertising and social media
2. Remarket to consumers who have seen the first “touch” with additional display ads and focused search ads
3. Take advantage of the awareness created by online media, driving the customer directly to the company’s website and giving them the chance to purchase either directly or with a “Buy with Amazon” link.

This approach allowed for the brand to go from being unknown with virtually no sales early in the year to meeting its revenue and margin goals in time for the holiday season.

Step one involved identifying the right target profiles and reaching out to them using the Google Display Network and Facebook.  The client came to the table with a robust profile of who the likely target buyers were based on focus groups and product research. We used that profile to put the ads in front of the right consumer.  The profile shifted over time as dynamic purchase data replaced static research.  This was done by paying close attention to click metrics, time on site, add to cart and other metrics with a focus on marketing channel and campaign attribution using Google Analytics.

As the marketing outreach progressed, we embarked on the second step of launching remarketing programs, testing both marketing channel sources (Facebook, specific sites on the display network, mobile vs. desktop traffic) and geographies.  Over time, the focus of these campaigns was narrowed to a select set of cities that demonstrated a high propensity to buy.

We Discovered Branded Ads Performed Better Than Product Feature Ads

One surprising result of the monitoring and testing of the messaging for search in AdWords was that the branded campaigns performed exceptionally well over time, but the general feature/benefit campaigns remained lackluster. Many of the individual feature/benefit campaigns were paused due to under-performance no matter how much the ads were tested and revised. Paying attention to the data was key in this decision to shift spend to where it performed the best.

The third step in the process, not necessarily linear, was to update the website to optimize it for the traffic once it arrived.  The site went through two iterations in design with input from us, improving overall metrics.  But most importantly, it was recognized early on that a challenge existed with brand recognition and trust for the consumer landing on the site.  This was addressed in two ways: shifting reviews to a more prominent location on the site and by adding the “Buy with Amazon” button in the checkout. This created a level of trust and endorsement from the Amazon brand, as well as allowing for an easy checkout process.

Throughout the campaign, the success metrics, sales, add to carts, time on site and repeat visits were refined and tied to actual revenue.  This allowed for a continual testing program that narrowed focus on supporting what was successful.

Net Revenue Goals Were Achieved in Time for Holiday Sales

The wireless speaker launch and follow-on marketing were very successful by the holiday season despite being part of an incredibly competitive segment of the consumer electronics category. The brand met its goals in both raw unit volume and overall net revenue.  This success of building brand awareness would not have been achieved without a well thought out strategy that had a willingness to revise underlying assumptions and a high degree of flexibility resulting in implementation changes as the market dictated.  Constant testing and refinement of messaging, targeting, ad creative, landing pages and the shopping cart were key to this success. By paying close attention to the real-time results of the marketing initiatives, constantly building off of successes and quickly ending poor performing campaigns, the brand, with our help achieved its goals and positioned the company for future growth.

By John Thyfault, Vice President of Search and Social Media Marketing

Would you like to build your brand’s awareness? Contact us for a free consultation.

Learn about optimizing landing pages to increase sales in this article.

The post Building an Online Only Brand Using Display and Search Advertising appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

The client is a large wide-area network (WAN) software optimization company, XYZ Software (not the real name). The sales process for this category of product is complex. It’s not made any easier by the fact that XYZ sells to IT professionals, who are extremely busy and difficult to reach. The pain point for these professionals is slow-running networks. But, isolating the speed issue is often difficult and easily trumped by fire-fighting situations that demand immediate attention.

XYZ Software had been IT marketing with email campaigns, webinars, pay-per-click (PPC), and trade shows. As is often the case, there was no process in place for tele-qualifying inbound leads or generating sales appointments or demos. This resulted in a large number of unqualified “warm” leads in the sales funnel. As a consequence they either dropped out of the funnel or remained in the funnel without further attempts to qualify them. Furthermore, Sales was not following up on the majority of leads because they were not sales-ready.

Turning “Warm” Leads into Prospects, then Customers

XYZ called us in to figure out how to turn more “warm” leads into prospects and turn more prospects into customers. Our recommendation was a multi-touch, multi-channel lead nurturing program. The program integrated a tele-qualifying process owned by Marketing, which resulted in Sales appointments and demos. We tested two offers: a Gartner Magic Quadrant report versus an on-demand webinar/seminar featuring a Gartner analyst. We also tested three lists.

1. The house lead file.
2. A rental list of the primary competitor’s customers.
3. Lastly, a webinar/seminar attendee list.

Later, as the program rolled out, we included webinar attendees and inbound responders in the lead nurturing program.

Test 1: a Gartner Magic Quadrant report.

Interpreting Metrics to Generate Revenue

As it turned out, both offers performed equally well, splitting nearly 50/50. All of the lists were productive. Because we tracked the metrics, we were able to determine that the webinar list outperformed the others.

We tracked the number of attempts to reach IT titles for each list. The number of touches required to convert a prospect into a sales-ready lead ranged from two to nine touches. The an average was 7.51. Webinar attendance outperformed the other outbound marketing techniques with an average of 2.5 touches, moving prospects through the buying process more quickly than other efforts.

Test 2: On-demand webinar/seminar featuring a Gartner analyst.

Implementing the Winning Campaign

We started out with campaign messaging provided by a product manager, but after a week of tele-prospecting, we realized the messaging was off. When conversion rates don’t manifest at a satisfactory rate fairly early, it’s time to make a change. We addressed this quickly, listening to prospects and revising the messaging to suit. Also, we provided more training to the tele-qualifiers, improving their product knowledge and training them on different ways to overcome objections.

We also changed the messaging about XYZ’s prime competitor. Instead of talking about the competitor as such, we repositioned XYZ’s technology as a solution to problems encountered by users of the competition’s product.

As part of the lead nurturing program, the calling team followed up with prospects by sending informational material such as white papers and case studies as well as invitations to on-demand webinars designed to refine the sequential touch points, improving the quantity and quality of dialogue with prospects. This helped to establish a sequence of nurturing by educating prospects on the viability of XYZ’s offerings.

We cannot share the actual numbers that resulted from this multi-touch, multi-channel program, but we can say that the program is still in place at XYZ Software, and the competing company has experienced some loss of market share as a result.

Author

Laurie B. Beasley

Laurie B. Beasley is co-founder and president of Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. Beasley Direct is a Silicon Valley direct marketing agency that has managed search, email, online, and demand generation campaigns for nearly 100 companies. Ms. Beasley serves as President of the Direct Marketing Association of Northern California. Laurie manages the eMarketing Roundtable for the BMA Northern California. She is also an instructor of online marketing at UC Berkeley Extension and teaches for the Online Marketing Institute. Ms. Beasley frequently speaks on online marketing and demand generation topics for marketing organizations, including the DMA, BMA, AMA, Tech Council, and the Online Marketing Summit.

Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. is known for bringing the latest marketing strategies to online and direct marketing. The company provides services in email marketing, search engine optimization, social media, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, website design, media planning, direct mail marketing, lead generation and nurture campaigns, and database management. Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. helps clients in both B2B and B2C marketing. Beasley Direct and Online Marketing is privately held and headquartered in the Silicon Valley suburb, Morgan Hill, California. For more information, go to www.BeasleyDirect.com or call Laurie Beasley, President, at 408-782-0046 x21 or email lbeasley@beasleydirect.com.

The post How We Executed a Meeting Maker Campaign for a Network Software Company appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

The ABC Glove Corporation (not the real name) is a leader in the field of industrial gloves. The average value of a new customer account to ABC is high -— around $50,000 per customer per year. The target contact is a decision maker in safety, operations or purchasing within metal manufacturing industries.
ABC’s ambitious goal was to gain $2.5 million in incremental sales. The corporation’s marketing department tried everything: pay-per-click advertising, email, tradeshows and more -—-but could not acquire enough qualified sales leads to hit this target. ABC called us in to help them take a fresh and more productive approach that would result in more appointments for the sales department.

First, we identified the sales-ready “A” lead criteria based on their selling process and marketplace. Then we did some simple, back-of-the-napkin analysis of the needs of the lead-to-sales funnel. Based on the estimations of the vice president of marketing, we found that achieving an incremental $2.5 million in annual sales at $50,000 per sale meant they would have to close 50 new sales in a year. At a 20% proposal close rate, they needed 250 qualified sales opportunities in the proposal stage. At a 25% conversion rate (qualified sales-ready A leads to proposal rate), ABC needed 1,000 “Qualified A” leads in the sales team pipeline. And the conversion rate of marketing inquiry level (MQL) leads to sales-ready A leads is 10%. The bottom line: ABC Corporation needed 10,000 MQLs in the top of the demand generation funnel process to be able to hit their incremental sales target.

Why Wouldn’t Email Alone Work?

The VP of marketing estimated that on the high end, the available universe of contacts in companies in metal manufacturing was roughly 7,500. If ABC emailed all 7,500 and got a 1% inbound response, that would equal 75. If 50% of those leads filled out a form, that would result in 35 marketing-level MQL leads. ABC would have to email to this list at least 285 times to get the 10,000 marketing-level leads in the pipeline. (But it is unlikely that every email would result in a 1% inbound response as the response rates from this small audience would decline over time.) So email alone could not achieve the sales goals.

Multi-Touch and Multi-Channel Solution

Under the conditions of this small but highly valuable target market, we determined that ABC needed a much higher lead-to-sale conversion process to meet their sales goals. We recommended a multi-touch and multi-channel sequence of email and tele-prospecting. This would result in actual appointments being made for the sales department.

We normally recommend testing different approaches with a small sample of prospects to see which approach stimulates the highest response level. In this case, we tested two offers. A book about physical safety in the metal manufacturing environment versus the offer of a free pair of gloves. The VP of marketing suggested the offer of a free pair of gloves because in his experience, the prospect would request a sample pair in any case, so he felt this would short-circuit the process to some degree. We were less certain, as we have found in the past that a free sample sometimes feels like too much of a commitment early in the relationship. We also tested two lists, an in-house list versus a rental list.

The test showed that the appeal of the offer was about equal between the gloves and the book. (We went with the gloves for the roll out campaign). Both lists performed equally well.

The Multi-Touch Lead Nurturing Process Involved:

Initial email campaign.

• Initial call (left voice message or in some accounts we must be directed to proper contact).
• Call to engage new contact in the value prop and offers.
• Email to the correct contact, and or email content as requested to support our dialog.
• Call to complete the value prop and offer conversation, listen to needs and pain points and gather those critical data points into the lead qualification script-record, and if qualified, close on ABC sales rep appointment.

Marketing collateral for Glove Company campaign.

We often find it takes seven to thirteen touches to deliver a sales-ready lead. In this case, the average number of touches was 4.28. Why did our campaign for ABC require so few touches? The answer is embedded in our multi-touch best practices:

Have a good list (few incorrect contacts).

• Develop creative that captures hearts and minds and have follow up content and dialog to support it.
• Offer something of high perceived value.
• Optimize the value proposition delivery by adding tele-prospecting to the mix. This creates a personal relationship with the prospect. Remember: people buy from people, and prospects don’t share their qualifying pain points on lead forms.

We were able to generate enough qualified sales appointments to help them meet their additional $2.5 million sales goal, and we taught them how to sustain this level of growth year over year.

Laurie B. Beasley

Laurie B. Beasley is co-founder and president of Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. Beasley Direct is a Silicon Valley direct marketing agency that has managed search, email, online, and demand generation campaigns for nearly 100 companies. Ms. Beasley serves as President of the Direct Marketing Association of Northern California. Laurie manages the eMarketing Roundtable for the BMA Northern California. She is also an instructor of online marketing at UC Berkeley Extension and teaches for the Online Marketing Institute. Ms. Beasley frequently speaks on online marketing and demand generation topics for marketing organizations, including the DMA, BMA, AMA, Tech Council, and the Online Marketing Summit.

Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. is known for bringing the latest marketing strategies to online and direct marketing. The company provides services in email marketing, search engine optimization, social media, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, website design, media planning, direct mail marketing, lead generation and nurture campaigns, and database management. Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. helps clients in both B2B and B2C marketing. Beasley Direct and Online Marketing is privately held and headquartered in the Silicon Valley suburb, Morgan Hill, California. For more information, go to www.BeasleyDirect.com or call Laurie Beasley, President, at 408-782-0046 x21 or email lbeasley@beasleydirect.com.

The post How We Helped an Industrial Glove Manufacturer to Schedule New Sales Appointments that Resulted in $2.5 Million in Incremental Sales appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

This is a successful meeting maker campaign that includes an appeal to emotions, multiple touches, and a carefully designed offer. The call to action was to set up an appointment for Sales. We were marketing to engineers — always a tough sell because of their skepticism. We sought to persuade them to consider replacing a tried-and-true instrument with something they may not even have heard of. Our team did this not by leading with product features. Instead, we pulled on their heartstrings — reliving a recent event in which engineers were heroes because of the quality of their instruments and their work.

Background:

Anritsu’s VectorStar Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) is used to measure microwave and mm-wave frequencies in design, testing and manufacture of electronic components where extreme accuracy is required. A new model leapfrogged the competition in features and performance, providing the opportunity to generate sales leads through a multi-channel marketing campaign.

Electrical engineers (EE) are the primary audience for this campaign. They think in a methodical way and demand proof of product claims. Engineers require detailed specs and technical information to make a buying decision. They are not at all impressed by marketing copy and claims unsubstantiated by statistics.

The Challenge: Marketing to Engineers

Anritsu’s predecessor company, Wiltron, invented the modern VNA tester in the late 1950s. While Anritsu continued to improve VNA high-performance technology, several well-funded companies have entered the market and developed similar versions of Anritsu’s products, taking the lead in sheer sales order volume. We needed to get Anritsu back on our buyer’s “short list”.

Electrical engineers are process-oriented. Consequently, if they are comfortable with a tool and that tool satisfies their requirements, it’s difficult to get them to switch. VNA testers start at $100K and have a long sales cycle because they are considered a capital equipment investment.

Campaign Objective:

Our goal with the campaign was to bring Anritsu to the table with new customers that the sales force had not yet penetrated, creating awareness of the Anritsu VectorStar solution and ultimately generating face-to-face consultation meetings with qualified firms. A consultation requester who met key budget, purchase authority, need and timeframe-to-purchase criteria was considered an “A” category sales lead. In addition, the “B”-rated leads are prospect contacts with proven interest that opted in to future communications, but were not yet qualified.

Creative and Marketing Strategy:

The creative focused on the Mars Curiosity Rover, which had made a spectacularly successful landing on Mars about the time this project began. Engineers are inherently interested in the accomplishments of other engineers and how they solved tough problems. The Mars Curiosity Rover landing was one of the toughest, with thousands of measurements and calculations that had to be coded into the landing and could not be altered during the “seven minutes of terror” during which the Curiosity Rover descended to the planet’s surface. To quote from our letter to prospects:

Marketing creative focused on the Mars Curiosity Rover.

As it descended through the atmosphere of Mars, the spacecraft carrying the Curiosity Rover fired its rockets 79 times, went through five configuration changes, and slowed from 13,000 mph to a standstill. In the final operation, a “sky crane” was used to gently deposit the Curiosity on the surface since retro rockets would stir up too much dust.

We pointed out the extreme precision this required, and then made the transition to the reader: we think of the NASA and JPL engineers as heroes, but you are required to make equally exacting measurements every day. That’s why you deserve an instrument like the VectorStar.

The Campaign’s Focus

The centerpiece of the campaign was a direct mailing in a transparent tube containing a poster. An artist’s rendering as a constant reminder of the Curiosity Rover’s descent sequence was on one side (NASA has done renderings but the client did not want to violate any potential copyrights so we commissioned our own) with Anritsu product specs at the bottom. Our hopes were that engineers would mount these in their cubicles, thus providing a constant reminder of the VectorStar, complete with a call-to-action. In addition, we followed this up with an email on the same theme, and then began the telemarketing campaign.

Personalized direct mail envelope with Mars Curiosity Rover.

Twenty-four to forty-eight hours after the email delivery, the calling team began to engage email and direct mail recipients. As a result, this multi-touch process had the effect of increasing the number of contact presentations and shortening the lead generation cycle. And, most contacts recalled receiving the direct mail piece or email. Many were familiar with the offering and willing to engage. Program metrics are indicative of the effectiveness of this process with the high volume of completed call scripts as partial evidence.

Call-to-Action

The call-to-action was a free gift when a prospect completed a VectorStar sales presentation. We tested two offers: an Anritsu-branded backpack (appealing because our target likes to carry lots of gadgets around) versus a VNA technical manual valued at $50. Because of concerns about accepting gifts, government and government contractors were offered only the book.

Additionally, all prospects that registered their contact information were immediately provided a free download link for a relevant white paper.

Because the price of the VectorStar VNA is $51,000 and up, we knew that repeated contacts—and often multiple contacts—within the same company would be necessary to close the sale. The goal of the multi-touch approach was to start the process by gathering as much information as possible. At the same time we gained initial commitment to enter the lead pipeline.

Results:

Overall, the campaign was highly successful. Based on the sales CRM reports, the program generated over $2.8 million dollars in the sales pipeline during the three-month campaign window. Furthermore, many high sales potential leads are still being nurtured.

The campaign had a specific goal of developing 69 “A” leads that were considered opportunities in the CRM system. Through direct response and follow-up calling we developed 115 leads, which put us at 167% of the goal. In addition, the Calling Team gathered 426 opt-in contacts for continued nurturing and development.

Personalized email for Anritsu VectorStar with Mars Curiosity Rover.

In conclusion, the VectorStar campaign shows best practices for an effective multi-part B-to-B nurturing campaign: start with a memorable contact sequence, then follow up with multiple touches that develop the prospect into a sales-ready lead. Because so many recipients remembered and engaged with the mailing and follow-up email, it was easier to get them on the phone and easier to complete an initial sales conversation. Because of this effective warm up approach, calls were completed faster, allowing more contacts to be made within the allotted time and budget. The result: more leads and sales opportunities.

Marketing collateral for Anritsu VectorStar campaign.

Laurie B. Beasley

Laurie B. Beasley is co-founder and president of Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. Beasley Direct is a Silicon Valley direct marketing agency that has managed search, email, online, and demand generation campaigns for nearly 100 companies. Ms. Beasley serves as President of the Direct Marketing Association of Northern California. Laurie manages the eMarketing Roundtable for the BMA Northern California. She is also an instructor of online marketing at UC Berkeley Extension and teaches for the Online Marketing Institute. Ms. Beasley frequently speaks on online marketing and demand generation topics for marketing organizations, including the DMA, BMA, AMA, Tech Council, and the Online Marketing Summit.

Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. is known for bringing the latest marketing strategies to online and direct marketing. The company provides services in email marketing, search engine optimization, social media, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, website design, media planning, direct mail marketing, lead generation and nurture campaigns, and database management. Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. helps clients in both B2B and B2C marketing. Beasley Direct and Online Marketing is privately held and headquartered in the Silicon Valley suburb, Morgan Hill, California. For more information, go to www.BeasleyDirect.com or call Laurie Beasley, President, at 408-782-0046 x21 or email lbeasley@beasleydirect.com.

The post How We Helped Anritsu Exceed Lead Goals 167% With a Meeting Maker Campaign appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

IT decision makers are a wily bunch. They tend to ignore most marketing efforts. They’re usually engineers and thus highly skeptical of advertising claims. And they’re so busy that even if you do connect, it’s difficult to keep their attention for more than a microsecond.

Our campaign for a Fortune 500 network storage company was designed to leap over all these hurdles. We needed to reach the executives in charge of backup solutions. Then tell them, in a nice way, that the tape systems they used and trusted were unsafe and obsolete. Our success would be measured by our ability to set up appointments for Sales to present a live product demo.

Fortunately, Beasley had worked with our immediate client at a previous company on a successful strategy to generate sales appointments. This was through a multi-touch campaign built around a high-impact direct mail effort. Such a campaign is not inexpensive. But the rewards are great because of the prospect of a high value sale (in this case in excess of $40K) at the end of the process. We estimated that if we could generate 42 demos the campaign would pay for itself. Our client was able to sell it internally, and we were on our way.

Direct Mail Design

The first step was to design an engaging, memorable, viral direct mail package. We didn’t want to offend their loyalty to existing backup-to-tape systems and “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. We needed to convince prospects that backup-to-cloud might be a superior solution and they could learn about it risk-free.

Our direct mail package was built around a “pocket survival tool” mounted on a shelf with verbal call-outs to situations where engineers might need it in their daily job.

Our approach was to talk about “surviving backup to tape” and focus on all the challenges that might make life difficult for the manager using that solution. A dimensional box teased “Pocket Survival Kit Enclosed” with the subhead: “Are you still using tape for backup? Then you’ll need this.” Inside, the prospect found a credit card-size pocket tool with screwdriver, bottle opener and similar capabilities. The gadget was mounted on a shelf with callouts to the functions that tied them to the hazards of tape backup—like weekends lost in the data center fixing problems (use our can opener to enjoy a can of beans).

A letter countered with a presentation of the benefits of our client’s solution, and made the offer of an “even better toolkit” as a reward for a phone demo. Additional flyers spotlighted our client’s backup to cloud technology and the “IT Geek’s Dream Toolkit” which they could get with a demo.

Building a Contact List

While the creative was in development, our teleservices partner built the contact list. We wanted to be sure everybody who entered our contact stream was a prospective buyer. Therefore, we merged several list sources then called storage departments to verify name, contact information and buying authority. As a result, this process had an unexpected benefit: when they were exposed to our message and creative platform, six prospects set demos on the spot, putting us on the path to achieving our goal before we even went in the mail.

Strategizing Your Distribution

The direct mail went out with a staggered distribution so we could control the lead flow. We followed up with two email touches. Even with the high-impact format we didn’t anticipate a large initial response. The reason, because of the many distractions faced by our target audience of overworked engineers. We expected 10-15% of our demos to come from response to the direct mail and a follow-up email contact. Instead, 28% of demos would be generated through these channels: 48 mail responses plus 18 email responses. (If you’re keeping track, you’ll notice we were already ahead of plan.) Six of the inbound responses were from prospects not in the original database. This meant the recipient had taken the trouble to pass along the offer to someone else in their company—a rare phenomenon in tech marketing.

An email followed up our direct mail with the same offer. Once a prospect filled out the registration form, they were called to schedule a demo appointment.

Follow-Up Calls and Closing the Sales Appointment

A few days later, a series of follow-up calls began with the objective of completing a sales prospecting script through one or multiple calls. Telesales reps reported that the executives they spoke with were highly engaged. They remembered the direct mail and offer, and were eager to talk about it. They found the “Ultimate IT Geek’s Toolkit” an appealing reward for their time sales appointment to get the demo. Recipients appreciated the research we had made to match the premium (a set of jewelers-quality tools used for tinkering with electronics) to their interests. As a result, 65% of completed scripts were converted to demo appointments, vs an anticipated 10%.

At the five-month mark, two hundred and thirty demos had been scheduled vs plan of 42—a 5x improvement over our goal. Based on conservative estimates and extensive previous experience with similar campaigns, we project that the sales-to-cost ratio to be $4.62 in revenue for every dollar invested.

Lessons Learned

The lesson: even the most elusive tech target can be found and engaged in a sales demo. If you are willing to make the investment to build an appealing message with offer and gain their attention through a high-impact first effort, then spend the time to follow up.

Laurie B. Beasley

Laurie B. Beasley is co-founder and president of Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. Beasley Direct is a Silicon Valley direct marketing agency that has managed search, email, online, and demand generation campaigns for nearly 100 companies. Ms. Beasley serves as President of the Direct Marketing Association of Northern California. Laurie manages the eMarketing Roundtable for the BMA Northern California. She is also an instructor of online marketing at UC Berkeley Extension and teaches for the Online Marketing Institute. Ms. Beasley frequently speaks on online marketing and demand generation topics for marketing organizations, including the DMA, BMA, AMA, Tech Council, and the Online Marketing Summit.

Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. is known for bringing the latest marketing strategies to online and direct marketing. The company provides services in email marketing, search engine optimization, social media, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, website design, media planning, direct mail marketing, lead generation and nurture campaigns, and database management. Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. helps clients in both B2B and B2C marketing. Beasley Direct and Online Marketing is privately held and headquartered in the Silicon Valley suburb, Morgan Hill, California. For more information, go to www.BeasleyDirect.com or call Laurie Beasley, President, at 408-782-0046 x21 or email lbeasley@beasleydirect.com.

The post How We Made Sales Appointments for a High Tech Company: Using a High-Impact, Multi-Touch Marketing and Tele-Prospecting Campaign appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

MORGAN HILL, CA

News Facts: Laurie Beasley, President of Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc. (www.BeasleyDirect.com) was asked by the Western Independent Bankers association to speak on email marketing (including mobile email marketing) and desktop email marketing at the 2015 Education Summit and Expo, September 21-23, 2015 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. Ms. Beasley’s session title will be “Optimizing Email for Desktop and Mobile Viewing: Keeping Email Users Satisfied and Engaged.”

Ms. Beasley’s session will discuss how email marketing is evolving from desktop to mobile viewing, however financial services, of all industries, must not stop optimizing for desktop viewing. While 52% of email opens happen from mobile, only 2% click on links in the email from mobile vs. 11% who click from desktop. This means financial institutions must optimize emails for BOTH the desktop and mobile viewing if they are going to maximize click through. This session will cover the essentials of how to make sure email marketing is effective no matter where customers are viewing, responsive email design and cross brower compability. About us:

Laurie B. Beasley is co-founder and president of Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc. Beasley Direct is a Silicon Valley direct marketing agency that has managed search, email, online, and demand generation campaigns for nearly 100 companies. Ms. Beasley serves as President of the Direct Marketing Association of Northern California www.DMAnc.org. Laurie manages the eMarketing Roundtable for the BMA Northern California www.NorCalBMA.org. She is also an instructor of online marketing at UC Berkeley Extension and teaches for the Online Marketing Institute www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org. Ms. Beasley frequently speaks on online marketing and demand generation topics for marketing organizations, including the DMA, BMA, AMA, Tech Council, and the Online Marketing Summit.

Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc. (www.BeasleyDirect.com) is known for bringing the latest marketing strategies to online and direct marketing. Beasley Direct provides services in email marketing, search engine optimization, social media, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, website design, media planning, direct mail marketing, lead generation and nurture campaigns, and database management. Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc. helps clients in both B2B and B2C marketing. Beasley Direct Marketing is privately held and headquartered in the Silicon Valley suburb, Morgan Hill, California. For more information, go to www.BeasleyDirect.com or call Laurie Beasley, President, at 408-782-0046 x21 or email lbeasley@beasleydirect.com.

Western Independent Bankers www.wib.org was established in 1937 and is the premier networking and educational organization for community banks in the West, connecting leaders from a wide geographical area to engage in focused exchanges of experiences that typically don’t take place elsewhere. WIB informs, educates and connects community banks with the resources and services to achieve the highest standards of personal and organizational performance. WIB has 180 bank members and 130 community bank service providers.

The post Laurie Beasley, President, Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc. Will Speak on Email Marketing (including mobile email marketing) and desktop email marketing at the Western Independent Bankers 2015 Education Summit & Expo. appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

By John Thyfault, Vice President of Search & Social Strategy, Beasley Direct Marketing

Client:        A law firm specializing in family practice.

Issue:        The client wanted to reduce cost per lead, which was more than $220.

Solution:    Segmented marketplace to reveal which segments were most productive; refined keywords used in online advertising; reworded ads; analyzed lead history to optimize ad placement.

Results:     Within six months, reduced cost per lead by about 50%; increased conversion rate by about 15%.

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A law firm specializing in family practice in New Jersey asked Beasley Direct Marketing to reduce its cost per lead and acquisition. The practice handled a broad range of issues, including divorce, marriage, child custody, naturalization, immigration and pre-nuptial agreements. When we started with the firm, cost per lead was more than $220. The law firm advertised both online and in print in local publications.

Our first step was to determine if the client wanted to target all types of business that it handled, or only specific segments. We discovered that, historically, the types of clients providing the most revenue at the lowest cost per acquisition were divorce, child custody arrangements and pre-nuptial agreements. Further analysis showed that the quality of pre-nuptial leads was poor (lots of people were voyeuristically searching for celebrity “pre-nups”), and this was dropped from the ad program. In the case of divorce and child custody, we were able to identify clients, segment by male versus female, and target those who were in the process or just thinking about it.

The overall quality of the leads coming in from the firm’s advertising program was poor. Quality scores tend to vary by market; similar click-through rates in two different markets may yield very different levels of quality. We did geographical targeting, aiming at commuters in the bridges and tunnels in the tri-state area, and we also developed localized ads to support the firm’s different offices, getting the ads in front of people who worked or lived in proximity to those offices. So instead of bidding on “New Jersey family law firm,” we bid on specific towns and regions. This was especially effective on the New Jersey turnpike corridor, where towns tend to run into one another. (Geographical targeting alone yielded a 10% decrease in cost per lead.)

We analyzed the language of the online ads and refined them with cleaner, less cluttered language (keeping in mind at all times the restrictions on lawyer advertising by the New Jersey Bar Association). We also looked at the list of keywords to identify those that had historically converted well, winnowing out the less-productive ones. We continue to do this on an ongoing basis.

We also looked at timing considerations. When we first started with the firm, it was running all the ads at the same price 24 hours a day and seven days a week, all year long. Examining their Google Analytics data, we were able to identify where they derived their most leads by time of day, week and year. For example, Sunday evenings from 10 pm to 1 am were highly productive times; apparently, the end of the weekend is a time when many people begin considering divorce. Another spike occurred just after lunch during weekdays. We also noticed that suppertime on any day and mid-morning and mid-afternoon during weekdays were not productive. This allowed us to pare about 30% off the cost of acquisition, simply by running ads only during the times of greatest productivity. The remaining cost reductions came about through keyword expansion and refinement and constant ad testing, which allowed us to drop losing ads and retain or develop ads that were proven winners.

The client wanted to try remarketing—the practice of identifying a searcher’s interests and targeting ads that follow that individual around the web. We were not in favor of this because the client sells services with many privacy concerns. For example, if a man has been searching for divorce lawyers and his wife uses the same computer, she may be able to discern from the ads she sees that her husband is contemplating divorce—information that, if true, should come from her husband, not the Internet. But we did a limited test, and actually saw a decrease in click-throughs and conversions, so the downside was greater than even we had anticipated.

In addition to abiding by the advertising regulations of the New Jersey Bar Association, the client also wanted to stay within the bounds of good taste and a genuine concern for clients’ privacy and wellbeing. This concern extended to which keywords we selected, as well as the wording of ads. Despite these restrictions, we were able to slash cost per lead by about 50%, while increasing ad productivity by about 15%.

Of course, this kind of process is never “done.” We continue to keep track of keyword productivity, ad scheduling and other data to assure the client’s promotional program is cost-effective and productive.

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This post was authored by John Thyfault, Vice President of Search & Social Strategy, of Beasley Direct Marketing. Contact John at jthyfault@beasleydirect.com.

John has more than 18 years of marketing, sales and product development experience, and he brings a proven track record of successful campaign, program and product development expertise. His knowledge of search engine optimization and marketing, combined with an in-depth understanding of customer identification, market analysis and segmentation, allows him to deliver high returns on our client’s marketing investment for both business-to-consumer and business-to-business markets.

Prior to working with Beasley Direct, John was Senior Client Services Project Director at ThirdAge.com, a first wave baby boomer lifestyle and community website. At ThirdAge he successfully led major client sponsorships for Fortune 100 companies in healthcare (Tylenol), financial services (American Century), technology (Intel & IBM) and consumer products areas (Revlon & Viactive). He was responsible for strategic and tactical goal setting, project management, new product creation and web site production. John previously worked in Channel Marketing and National Account Sales for IDG Books Worldwide, the publishers of the immensely popular “…For Dummies” book series. Additionally, he managed the wholesale distributor sales channel for Tor/Forge Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press.

 John is active in local marketing associations, including the Direct Marketing Association, the Business Marketing Association and is currently serving on the board of directors for the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association.

John has taught search engine marketing fundamentals extensively. He has led workshops for the Silicon Valley American Marketing Association, Northern California Direct Marketing Association (DMAnc) and the Business Marketing Association. He also teaches Search Engine Marketing at UCSC Extension (Silicon Valley).

The post Case Study: Lowering Cost Per Lead/Acquisition with Data Analysis appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.

Poster of the Mars Curiosity Rover created by Beasley Direct Marketing for Anritsu’s VectorStar Campaign

by Laurie B. Beasley, president, Beasley Direct Marketing

Here is a successful multi-channel B2B direct marketing campaign case study that followed many of the guidelines we’ve been talking about, including an appeal to emotions, multiple touches, and a carefully designed offer. The audience was engineers—always a tough sell because of their skepticism—and we sought to persuade them to consider replacing a tried-and-true instrument with something they may not even have heard of. We did this not by leading with product features but with a pull on the heartstrings—reliving a recent event in which engineers were heroes because of the quality of their instruments and their work.

Background

Anritsu’s VectorStar Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) is used to measure microwave and mm-wave frequencies in design, testing and manufacture of electronic components where extreme accuracy is required. A new model leapfrogged the competition in features and performance, providing the opportunity to generate sales leads through a multi-channel marketing campaign. The primary audience for this campaign is electrical engineers (EEs). They think in a methodical way and demand proof of product claims. They require detailed specs and technical information to make a buying decision. They are not at all impressed by marketing copy and claims unsubstantiated by statistics.

The Challenge:

Anritsu’s predecessor company, Wiltron, invented the modern VNA tester in the late 1950s. While Anritsu continued to improve VNA high-performance technology, several well-funded companies have entered the market and developed similar versions of Anritsu’s products, taking the lead in sheer sales order volume. We needed to get Anritsu back on our buyer’s “short list”. Electrical engineers are process-oriented. If they are comfortable with a tool and that tool satisfies their requirements, it’s difficult to get them to switch. VNA testers start at $100K and have a long sales cycle because they are considered a capital equipment investment.

The B2B Direct Marketing Campaign Objective

Our goal with the campaign was to bring Anritsu to the table with new customers that the sales force had not yet penetrated, creating awareness of the Anritsu VectorStar solution and ultimately generating face-to-face consultation meetings with qualified firms. A consultation requester who met key budget, purchase authority, need and timeframe-to-purchase criteria was considered an “A” category sales lead. In addition, the “B”-rated leads are prospect contacts with proven interest that opted in to future communications, but were not yet qualified.

Creative and Multi Channel Direct Marketing Strategy

The creative focused on the Mars Curiosity Rover, which had made a spectacularly successful landing on Mars about the time this project began. Engineers are inherently interested in the accomplishments of other engineers and how they solved tough problems. The Mars Curiosity Rover landing was one of the toughest, with thousands of measurements and calculations that had to be coded into the landing and could not be altered during the “seven minutes of terror” during which the Curiosity Rover descended to the planet’s surface. To quote from our letter to prospects:

“As it descended through the atmosphere of Mars, the spacecraft carrying the Curiosity Rover fired its rockets 79 times, went through five configuration changes, and slowed from 13,000 mph to a standstill. In the final operation, a “sky crane” was used to gently deposit the Curiosity on the surface since retro rockets would stir up too much dust.”

We pointed out the extreme precision this required, and then made the transition to the reader: we think of the NASA and JPL engineers as heroes, but you are required to make equally exacting measurements every day. That’s why you deserve an instrument like the VectorStar.

Letter to prospects linking the precision of the Mars Curiosity Rover with the precision of engineers’ every-day problem-solving.

The centerpiece of the multi channel direct marketing campaign was a direct mailing in a transparent tube containing a poster with an artist’s rendering of the Curiosity Rover’s descent sequence on one side (NASA has done renderings but the client did not want to violate any potential copyrights so we commissioned our own) with Anritsu product specs at the bottom. Our hopes were that engineers would mount these in their cubicles, thus providing a constant reminder of the VectorStar, complete with a call-to-action. We followed this up with an email on the same theme, and then began the telemarketing campaign.

Twenty-four to forty-eight hours after the email delivery, the calling team began to engage email and direct mail recipients. This multi-touch process had the effect of increasing the number of contact presentations and shortening the lead generation cycle. Most contacts recalled receiving the direct mail piece or email. Many were familiar with the offering and willing to engage. Program metrics are indicative of the effectiveness of this process with the high volume of completed call scripts as partial evidence.

The call-to-action was a free gift when a prospect completed a VectorStar sales presentation. We tested two offers: an Anritsu-branded backpack (appealing because our target likes to carry lots of gadgets around) versus a VNA technical manual valued at $50. Because of concerns about accepting gifts, government and government contractors were offered only the book.

Additionally, all prospects that registered their contact information were immediately provided a free download link for a relevant white paper.

Because the price of the VectorStar VNA is $51,000 and up, we knew that repeated contacts—and often multiple contacts—within the same company would be necessary to close the sale. The goal of the multi-touch approach was to start the process by gathering as much information as possible while gaining initial commitment to enter the lead pipeline.

Results

Overall, the campaign was highly successful. Based on the sales CRM reports, the program generated over $2.8 million dollars in the sales pipeline during the three-month campaign window, and many high sales potential leads are still being nurtured.

The campaign had a specific goal of developing 69 “A” leads that were considered opportunities in the CRM system. Through direct response and follow-up calling we developed 115 leads, which put us at 167% of the goal. In addition, the Calling Team gathered 426 opt-in contacts for continued nurturing and development.

The VectorStar campaign shows best practices for an effective multi-part B-to-B nurturing campaign: start with a memorable contact sequence, then follow up with multiple touches that develop the prospect into a sales-ready lead. Because so many recipients remembered and engaged with the mailing and follow-up email, it was easier to get them on the phone and easier to complete an initial sales conversation. Because of this effective warm-up approach, calls were completed faster, allowing more contacts to be made within the allotted time and budget. The result: more leads and sales opportunities.

Appendix

A brief look at benchmarked targets versus actual productivity metrics in several key areas clarifies why the program was so successful:

The most telling metric from this group is Total Scripts per Hour, because it quantifies the calling team’s ability to engage prospects with the Anritsu VectorStar offering. This ability to engage prospects and their receptivity to Anritsu’s offer of a technical consultation was the basis for the substantial number of lead conversions.

Over the life of the initiative, 2,094 scripts were completed during 540 calling hours. This number exceeded program goal by 260%. To look at it from another perspective, when the program launched, the expectation was set that 810 Anritsu VectorStar dialogues would take place. In fact, 2,094 Anritsu VectorStar dialogues occurred. The additional 1,284 Anritsu VectorStar dialogues over the course of the campaign celebrate its success.

For more information on this topic and other, request our free Case Studies.

* * * *

Laurie Beasley, President, Beasley Direct Marketing

Laurie B. Beasley is co-founder and president Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc., a Silicon Valley direct marketing agency that has managed search, email, online, direct mail, and demand generation campaigns for over a hundred companies. Ms. Beasley serves as president of the Direct Marketing Association of Northern California. She manages the Online Roundtable for the BMA Northern California www.NorCalBMA.org. She is an instructor of online marketing at UC Berkeley Extension and teaches in the Level 2 Certification program for the Online Marketing Institute. She frequently speaks on online marketing and demand generation topics for marketing organizations, including the Online Marketing Summit, Interactive Marketing Week, DMA Annual Conference, and the Marketing Executive Networking Group.

The post Case Study: B2B Direct Marketing Multichannel Campaign appeared first on Beasley Direct and Online Marketing.