Optimarketer: The Marketing Optimization Blog

Is It "Old School" To Use Inbound AND Outbound Marketing?

A friend recently told me about an inbound marketing advocate who called him "old school" for using a mix of inbound and outbound marketing.

For those unaware of the difference:
-Inbound marketing pulls in prospects and customers via organic search, blogs and other social media.
-Outbound marketing pushes out messages using paid media, live events, etc.

So is everything but inbound marketing sorta obsolete these days? Short answer: No. 

I was surprised the inbound aficionado even made that remark, as was my friend, who told me how many marketers he knows who still consider a good chunk of their inbound marketing experimental.

Some personal history: I embraced inbound marketing early (signed on with Typepad in 2005, and before Facebook pages existed, launched a FB marketing group that became the largest of its kind). My entire career has been in marketing. I’ve obviously been a bit involved in outbound stuff as well. 

My take: There’s little to debate here. Naturally, if your objectives, goals, and dreams are met through organic search, blogs, Facebook pages, a YouTube channel, and so on, you needn’t bother putting money into paid media.

Not in that boat? You’re far from alone. Many if not most marketers need a combination of inbound and outbound. They simply don’t acquire enough of the right leads, customers, donors, members, or subscribers through inbound marketing. In these cases, it’s best to optimize the use of inbound – and then add the most cost-effective mix of outbound until objectives are met.

You’ll find two common ways of deriving a marketing mix. One is based on speculative leaps – often linked closely with long-held opinions and biases. 

Now that’s what I call “old school.”

The alternative is to optimize your inbound marketing program – and then test your way through relevant outbound marketing options. It’s key to measure these experiments and make important decisions based on facts.

Think of your potential acquisition sources as “buckets.” After making the most of your inbound buckets, fill up your most productive outbound bucket, followed by the next, and so on, until your objectives are reached.

How do you know which acquisition sources are best for you? Again, the answer is to test your way to success. You may find that inbound marketing yields the highest ROI percentage, but outbound marketing provides the highest total profits.

Don’t expect your answers to be entirely obvious. An integrated media mix often makes it difficult or impossible to track 100% of revenue back to original sources. In some cases, it’s even debatable what is inbound and what is outbound: email is one example.

Doesn't really matter. What counts is that you go in with an open mind, run interesting experiments, and make the right moves to optimize your outcomes.     

Marketing success results from trial and error. Not a single try.

Imagine a CEO telling a highly accomplished Sales VP, "I’m giving you one shot at your sales strategy. If what you implement doesn’t work out of the gate, you’re out."

Of course, that scenario rarely happens in rational businesses. But in marketing, here’s an all-too-common scene: An important experiment gets okayed, but those implementing it are given a single test cell – one shot at success. Even when a minimum of say, three, are justified. Limitations of this nature often result in inadequate sample sizes; experiments aimed at inferior targets; and more failed tests.

Marketers who’ve run lots of multi-cell tests have seen a full range of outcomes from cell to cell. What isn’t profitable in one test cell may perform very differently in another.

So when testing, do it right the first time, so you’re not left asking, "What if?" 

What say you?

 

B2B Marketing Is Now a Revenue Machine. Really.

Business-to-business marketers generally enjoy an advantage over their business-to-consumer counterparts. With average lifetime customer value reaching the five-, six-, or seven-figure range in many cases, the breakeven point on B2B marketing programs is often quite low.

At our marketing shop, we’ve created B2B programs needing just one high-value conversion to make an entire campaign profitable. This isn’t uncommon: Odds of success have traditionally been outstanding for higher-end B2B marketers with worthwhile offerings, evolved sales teams, solid demand levels – and smart marketers.

Now they’re even better.

Until recently, it could take B2B marketers years to dramatically expand a prospect database. Now, thanks to newer data sources, you can do it quickly – for a small fraction of the conventional cost.

These records include email addresses in compliance with CAN-SPAM. So you’re able to regularly market to prospects via cost-effective email advertising – without constantly paying rented media or offline production charges.

Of course, this also means prospects can tune you out by ignoring your email – or simply opting-out. And if you ask prospects to fill out a form to receive a reward, the overwhelming majority will essentially say “Thanks but no thanks.”

So while B2B marketers are able to grow the database rapidly, they won’t win hearts and minds so fast. What’s typically needed is an email campaign that breaks through, makes the right impression on prospects, and gets them to act.

This brings us to the all-important offer. B2B marketers have a story to tell. One that’s multi-faceted. Tied to prospect challenges and opportunities. Product or service differentiators. And benefits.

After saving substantially on media and production, it’s important to plow some of the savings into the experience you provide prospects – from the email advertising to the content series that educates and nurtures prospects as they move through the pipeline to the sale.

Web video is an increasingly popular way to educate B2B prospects. It’s the power of television, without the waste. Video enables you to run a conceptual series packed with emotional ideas – pulled off in brand-appropriate ways. When Web video is executed properly, engagement rates often soar.

In addition to being educational and fascinating, these short movies are easily digestible. Because the campaign is aimed at database prospects, no forms need to be filled out by viewers. And these interactions are measurable. When a prospect has a meaningful moment with your brand through video, the session is recorded. The same is true when a prospect interacts with some of your other marketing content.

Marketing automation technology not only takes results reporting to another level, it transforms the relationship between sales and marketing. The two functional areas agree on precisely what constitutes a sales-worthy lead. Marketing finally stops hearing “All the leads suck” from sales. And sales continually sees more genuine prospects to pitch through real-time reporting and instant lead-routing; triggered campaigns; and other good stuff from the marketing team.

Place all the stars in alignment and B2B marketing really, truly can become a consistent revenue machine. What say you?

 

Rush Limbaugh, Advertisers, and Doing the Right Thing

Talk radio has, for decades, made many advertisers a lot of money. Listeners tend to be devoted to their favorite broadcasters. These personalities often act as talent in radio ads – especially for advertisers making a large commitment. With stars doing the shilling, outcomes have at times been phenomenal.

Some of the most popular radio personalities broadcast outrageous stuff. It's why they're popular. This presents a chronic dilemma for advertisers who love earning multiple dollars for each one spent on radio but have zero interest in courting controversy.

This week, Rush Limbaugh took advertisers on a wild ride after calling Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a "slut." Instantly, The Rush Limbaugh Show became way more than another media buy. Rush (and his behavior) suddenly began dominating the brands that have supported his broadcasts. After making comments considered highly offensive by almost every reasonable adult, this brand "makeover" was the last thing advertisers wanted.

Sponsors began quitting the Limbaugh show. Many are likely to also turn away from talk radio and even the entire medium. I suggest they stop. And think.

Advertisers who believe in separating church and state (keeping advertising from meddling in content) are correct. But companies shouldn't throw money at broadcasters they don't respect, who could seriously damage their brand.

Because there's another key consideration: Doing what's right. Not chasing every last buck. Or doing what interest groups push you to do. In fact, as we recently saw with Lowe's, which succumbed to pressure from a hate group and paid a steep price, and J.C. Penney, which went the opposite route with Ellen DeGeneres and received priceless publicity, the optimal answer isn't to simply oil the squeakiest wheel.

Chances are, you'd never advertise on a Ku Klux Klan show, even if you knew it would be your most profitable buy. Not simply because you'd consider it brand-inappropriate from the get-go and fear a negative backlash. But because supporting them would be, in your opinion, wrong.

Corporations are run by people who can base decisions strictly on short-term profits – or choose to be good citizens. It's not enough to say, "Our audience spans the political spectrum, so we'll advertise on media attractive to the far right, regardless of content." 

Forget political affiliation. If you're convinced a broadcaster misinforms – or worse – you have the power to rule him or her out. I'm not referring to those who simply perform controversial stunts or aren't in line with your political views. I'm speaking of personalities who spread disinformation, misogyny, or bigotry. Paying them doesn't signal impartiality – it feeds them oxygen.

It's a copout to claim it's all in the eye of the beholder. You don't have to check your integrity at the door when representing stakeholder interests. In fact, if we learned anything this week, it's that advertisers who consistently do the right thing are less likely to encounter the sort of public relations nightmare Limbaugh's advertisers are enduring.

Thoughts?

"Freaking Marketing" Is Now "Optimarketer: The Marketing Optimization Blog"

I launched Freaking Marketing in 2006 to address rarely-discussed marketing topics. Including controversial ones. The blog exposed, among other things, unscrupulous advertisers and absurd practices. No topic or personality was off limits. Not even the sainted advertising legend David Ogilvy.

After joining Facebook, like many bloggers, I began posting less and less. Recently, I created Optimarketing: The Marketing Optimization Group on LinkedIn. It’s already sailed past the 250-member mark. The group apparently struck a chord.

Marketing optimization has long been a personal passion. For most of my adult life I’ve run the Mothers of Invention marketing agency – a shop that's broken records for dozens of clients and won more than 50 results-based awards.

We invented and trademarked Optimarketing. The term is simply about making the most of every major marketing element. If I find the time, in the not-too-distant-future, it'll also be a book.  

A side of me is bummed about putting the name Freaking Marketing to rest. But I'm excited about blogging once again. And from running thousands of tests for more than 125 marketers, I have much to share on marketing optimization. 

So here we go again. Thank you for being part of this thing.