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It’s the marketing mix that leads to better demand generation — not a focus on one particular approach. To fill your sales pipeline, it’s best to use a combination of new and traditional marketing techniques. Don’t ignore social media, but at the same time, be sure to build in some direct mail and telemarketing. The key is to pull it all together into an integrated go-to-market strategy.

Instead of thinking about marketing tactics, start with your objectives. What do you want to accomplish? This can include revenue goals, new account wins and existing client penetration. Once you’ve figured out what you want to reach, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to get there.

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Telemarketing is a crucial aspect of IT channel demand generation — there’s no doubt about it. Even in a world where we have Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and e-mail campaigns, there’s definitely a place for having a bunch of guys work the phones … effectively. The problem with most telemarketing efforts is that they are basically random. Even if you buy or rent a list, you know very little about the names on it except company, title and telephone number. Fill your telemarketing campaign with actionable sales intelligence, and you’ll get better results.

Our approach is that telemarketing is best paired with something else — like a steak that’s screaming out to be joined by a glass of cabernet. Each on its own can be good, but together, they create an unbeatable taste. So, we tend to use telemarketing as part of an integrated program that includes direct mail and online surveys. The result is that our telemarketing team is able to focus on prospects who have already opted into the sales cycle. They’ve told us exactly what interests them about a particular IT challenge or solution set. In the end, we’re able to drive higher quality appointments for IT solution providers.

Telemarketing without other marketing tools lacks substance. Pour some intelligence into a vacuous telemarketing campaign, and you’ll get more than just calls: you’ll get results.

“Are you free on Tuesday at 9 AM?”

This question tips the odds of getting an appointment with an IT buyer in your favor. Yes, it’s a bit specific, and there are other times that work as well. Thursdays at 2 PM are pretty good, too.

At enter:marketing, we schedule a lot of appointments for our clients. Through the demand generation and lead cultivation programs we run, we’ve learned a considerable amount about how IT buyers prefer to be engaged, the best survey questions for triggering interest and even when they want to talk.

What we’re about to show you isn’t the result of some survey: it’s live data. Real. These insights are based on the actions of IT buyers.

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There is no shortage of IT marketing agencies on the market that would be thrilled to have you as a client. You get calls regularly, have listened to countless pitches and reviewed what feels like a never-ending stack of presentations on demand generation. So, how do you choose? If you have a partner in place, how do you evaluate its effectiveness?

The most important aspect of your relationship, of course, is the result generated. You are looking for a return on your marketing investment, and sluggish demand generation is probably an indicator that you need to take a closer look at your IT marketing agency. And, strong results may be effective now, but you need to think toward the future — is your agency equipped to help you grow and mature?

To help you answer these questions, you’ll find below five characteristics of an
optimal IT marketing partner. Take a look to get a sense of what you are receiving
from your current relationship.

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The declaration “We need to do an event” is one of the most damaging sentiments uttered in the IT industry – that is, when it is declared outside of a meeting that involves a goal of creating a comprehensive marketing plan. An ad hoc, reactive event planning approach to marketing has one of the highest costs per touch in the marketing arsenal (when you truly factor in all the human resources it requires to throw and event) and generally sets IT resellers up for a degraded ROI.

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You should focus on marketing constantly. It communicates and reinforces to prospective and existing clients the value of the services you provide. Telemarketing is an important part of this, and it can be a great way to fill your lead pipeline. To maximize the value of your marketing investment, though, the “tele” variety of marketing should be part of a larger campaign.

Implication: telemarketing itself does not constitute a marketing campaign.

Directionless telemarketing – which occurs when there is no guiding strategy involved – is focused on the myopic goal of getting meetings scheduled. Of course, this is what you want … as long as the meetings are with likely buyers. However, there in lies the rub!

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