24 Mar

Why Most “Spike” Marketing Campaigns Fail

Understanding 10-60-30 Rule of Demand Generation
 
Companies often initiate tactical “spike” marketing campaigns to overcome a quarterly sales or lead shortfall. “Spike” programs are a series of “one offs” that may yield short term numbers. However, they are largely a self-perpetuating, wasteful mistake that can be avoided if you understand the 10-60-30 rule.

Anytime you initiate a demand generation campaign that includes outbound telemarketing, you will discover that the prospects you contact will always fall into three categories:

• 10% are right time, right place audience, i.e. prospects that are ready, willing, and able to engage now. Turning them into true “sales leads” requires confirming a need and motivating them to request a sales call. Technology marketers often refer to these prospects as “low-hanging fruit.” This category explains why conversion rate is low for “spike” marketers as their true universe is only 10% on every program that is being implemented.
• 60% of your target audience are in the ‘N” phase i.e. the nurture phase. They may be interested in (and need) your product but for a myriad of reasons – timing, budget, or other immediate priorities – are not ready to actively engage in a sales dialogue at this time. This is where the battle for effective demand generation is being won and lost.
• 30% that wants nothing to do with you, as they are quite happy with what they have or simply not qualified to purchase.

Because they are essentially one-off promotions, spike marketing campaigns typically generate lead activity from the 10% (right place right time) segment but do little or nothing to establish and build a relationship with the 60% (nurture phase). Yet, as we all know from countless studies, 80% of all sales are not consummated until the sixth call.

Good demand generation is a marathon, not a sprint

By focusing myopically on the 10%, “Spike” marketers ignore the opportunity to build a relationship with the 60% (by far your biggest potential prospect base) and engage in the dialogue needed to transform them into hot highly qualified leads. At ALEA, we call this activity nurturing.

Effective nurturing requires systematic follow-up by trained human beings (not your sales reps). At ALEA, we have learned that this is more about process than technology and more holistic than tactical. It is also more about common sense than the latest sales automation, CRM and Marketing Automation “fad.”  Fad comes and goes, good process stands the test of time.

No software tool or lead scoring system can truly nurture a prospect but it certainly can help in identifying them quicker. This is when integration for the right reasons really works. Further, these tools provide little added value for marketers that engage continually in spike marketing. The sooner one realizes that good demand generation is a marathon and not a sprint, the sooner one can eliminate the ineffective and inefficient spike marketing approach and replace it with a process-driven demand generation program aided by the right technology platform. We have too often let automation platforms dictate the course of action instead of having the process dictate which tool to adopt. As the saying goes, too many marketers are putting the cart before the horse. At the end of the day, I suspect the issues are more structural than just a “marketing “ issue.