What is traditional marketing?
Traditional marketing is nothing new… keep reading, Traditional Marketing Way Back in The Day.
As is it was a form of marketing that we have been exposed to at one point or another.
Traditional marketing actually belongs to the previous era but is still used in many ways to reach out to a semi-targeted audience, It is hard to ignore, as it includes the traditional ads we still encounter on a daily basis.
Many of the common traditional marketing tactics come under the following five major categories:
- Print (magazines, newspapers, etc.)
- Broadcast (TV, radio, etc.)
- Direct Mail (catalogues, postcards, post mail, etc.)
- Telephone (telemarketing, SMS marketing, cold calls, etc.)
- Outdoor (billboards, flyers, etc.)
Traditional marketing way back in the day
Traditional marketing may have evolved over the past few decades, but the fundamental aspects remain the same.
The marketing techniques that we use today still heavily rely on the famous four Ps of marketing which are:
- Product
- Price
- Place
- Promotion
A lot of you might not even remember or know how things use to work with marketing many years ago… Traditional marketing was way back in the day.
I want to share it with you because it will help you better understand how to deal with the leads you will get from us on a daily basis.
Traditional marketing history
If you did your marketing yourself, as I did many years ago, with the more traditional marketing way…
Then you would have more than likely:
- Grabbed the yellow pages or the telephone directory
- Find possible leads or contact details
- You would have looked at the name of the potential customer in the directory
- And then decided if it was a potential person or an entity that you could contact
Hence, Traditional Marketing Way Back in The Day has not changed much in the outcome we all search for.
What did you get in the directory?
Usually a company name and telephone number and if you were lucky a fax number or telex number too.
The next step was to research the contact via business journals, and the stock exchange if they were listed.
This was where the real work started.
You have realized that I am older than the average business owner or salesperson of today, but that is how it worked in the past and it’s no different today.
Today, this process takes place online, as it is where our customers are.
The main differences of today are that:
- Salespeople have the internet at their disposal
- Everything happens at the speed of light
- You now have access to almost every detail of your customer, competitors and products or services which you can compare yourself to
Even with all the information available on the internet regarding potential customers, your potential customers are still just contacts (leads).
And they are still cold if you call or send them emails.
And I am sorry to tell you…
…if you don’t understand digital marketing properly or have a team of experts like RAS Digital Marketing running the show for you…
Then these potentials will remain cold and more than likely never turn into customers.
Digital marketing is a very complex process, and most of the activities are behind the scenes, where complex algorithms (AI) determine who sees what.
Before we go any further, I want you to understand that we are marketers, meaning that we get you the leads, and it is then the responsibility of your sales department to convert those leads into sales.
First leads
I am glad you are still with me and I encourage you to read on because you either will or have already discovered you can relate to what I said above.
When you get your leads, you will be very excited, and the expectations are high at that moment because you have so many “buyers” for your product or service.
But this is where you need to hold your horses and let me explain…
These leads are not “buyers” yet!
So please don’t start to mentally count the money on its way to the bank yet, because these are not customers, they are cold leads or contacts you can call.
Here’s where your sales team comes in, after we send you the leads, they now have to convert the leads into buying customers.
What to expect when calling your leads, but note that they won’t all be bad, so keep your head up and keep processing the leads in your funnel, it is still very much a numbers game:
- “The number is not working, this guy had the audacity to give me the wrong number and I gave him such a nice lead magnet and the worst is, I paid for it”
- “They are not picking up their phones, maybe they are not meant for me” – or maybe they’re just not available, or possibly a cold lead
- “If they answer, most of them were not interested in what I wanted to sell” – this indicates a cold lead
- “Only a handful listened and told me they want some time to think about it, and asked me to call them back, or that they would call me back” – typical of a warm lead
- “One or two were interested and listened to my sales talk” – this is a typical warm-to-hot lead
I’m sure you can relate to some of the above statements…
You have paid good money and you want customers from this list of leads, so now what?
What is the problem with digital marketing?
The problem is simple…
“Leads Are Not Customers“
Strangers become leads when they’ve expressed their interest in your company, product or services through a specific marketing channel.
These are people who exchange their contact details for something valuable to them for free, for example:
- A blog subscription
- Downloading software
- Or people who took some type of action, which can be seen as an interest
In other words, leads are similar to contacts in a phone book.
The only information you have is their contact details and that they have shown potential interest in your offer.
79% of leads never convert into customers
As many as 79% of all marketing leads don’t convert into sales.
Let’s put that into perspective…
Imagine how much prep work your company did to get an MQL (marketing qualified lead). Now imagine that only 21% of it was worth spending money on…
According to Steven Tulman, 67% of your lost sales are due to sales reps not qualifying leads properly and then still going ahead with the rest of the sales process…
And even after all that wasted effort, just 27% will actually end up qualifying.
So, it’s really no surprise that only 56% of companies have systems for qualifying marketing leads!
If you are part of that 56%…
And if you want to come out ahead of your competition with a competitive edge…
Then the best advice I can give you is to get a lead qualification system in place ASAP is…
“Make sure your salespeople follow the funnel or hourglass qualification process, to convert leads into potentials to become customers” Thus, Digital Marketing is the way to go!
Conclusion
Online marketing is not a get-rich-quick scheme, alias, Digital Marketing. Traditional marketing way back in the day has not changed much, except for new technology on hand.
Remember that when you get your leads, they aren’t customers yet.
And please also take note…
There are salespeople out there who are converting leads very successfully into long-term customers!
The difference is they work hard to get it right. Obviously, all leads are not customers, as this is not possible, but you have leads to work with.
So, here is your challenge…
So, get your lead qualification system in place, as soon as possible. Digital Marketing is the way to go, traditional marketing way back in the day has been given a new “face”.
If need assistance with digital marketing click on the link and contact us.
