At the tail end of a recent sales call, the CEO of a healthy, growing VAR said:
“And… when you explain the plans for next year, tell me… why are my marketing programs not delivering leads that close? I’ve talked with many of my colleagues. They say the same thing.”
Fair question. Good question. Of course, there is no single valid, correct answer, but the question demands an answer. What do we all do in this content-dense, buyer-empowered, digital marketing world to drive leads that matter – leads that close as sales?
The short answer is that there are five key areas to inspect to determine why something isn’t working:
- Right Objectives
- Right Market
- Right Offer
- Right Mix
- Right Follow Through
Now, you’ve got to define “campaign” the right way – all the steps and actions needed to take an offer to market and achieve a targeted bookings outcome. If you do that, you can analyze these five levers and determine what is truly contributing to success… and what might be getting in the way.
In our newest opinion piece, Why Marketing Programs Fail to Deliver, we describe these levers in more detail.
You’re at the right time of year to ask, “what is working and what isn’t.” The right answers to those questions will enable you to get the mix right, the plan right, the budgets right, and, most importantly the outcomes right for 2015.
Let’s get to work on the right plans that will drive profitable growth… now. The fate and health of the first half of 2015 hangs in that balance.