Sometimes markets change and leads and sales stall. The growth just isn’t there. That’s when you need to change up your marketing with something new and different – a marketing turnaround.
And that’s what happened when I talked to Surf Control.
Surf Control is a global provider of corporate security software. The marketing goal they presented to me was to increase the corporate sales of their premier product, a new internet filtering software.
The problem was that it is a very competitive field.
And the IT prospects had pretty much shut down entertaining new products and services that would cost money, and end up being similar to what they thought they already had. Plus a downturn in the economy hurt the flow of leads and sales.
The leads to Surf Control’s sales team were drying up, and its sales force was harmed because IT would not talk to them.
So I decided the best way to overcome the problem was to create a campaign that would:
- Better define the unique selling proposition (USP) that separates Surf Control from all the others.
- Breaking down the IT resistance by communicating to the corporate officers -the CEO, CFO, COO, etc. – about the security problem not being solved by current IT systems.
- Cut through the clutter with dynamic marketing that the competition was not using.
- Use powerful direct response copy, tactics and offers to be able to maximize response.
My ad agency, Creative Direct Marketing Group, developed a marketing campaign that:
- Divided the product and services by vertical markets.
- Integrated new media and formats for a complete marketing campaign.
- Bypassed IT as a primary audience and concentrated on the top corporate audience decision makers, so that the corporate officers would pick up the phone and say, “Why aren’t we using Surf Control?”
Here are examples of what we accomplished for Surf Control:
Breakthrough integrated marketing strategy with a magalog
CFOs, CEOs, CTOs and other company officials were the core audience that we targeted with a unique marketing campaign that cut through the clutter and created attention.
I chose using a magalog — something no one else in this vertical was using.
This meant the primary lead generation used direct mail with digital support.
A magalog looks like a magazine. And it feels like a magazine. But it’s not a magazine. It gets by the gatekeepers. It’s a powerful direct mail sales piece. It’s an infomercial in print.
Two magalog covers were created to test the creative concepts. The 20-page magalog used direct response copy, but it had a similar appearance to the Forbes magazine, designed for the top executives to read through.
One cover test, “How fortune 1000 companies are losing billions of cyber slackers”, was tested against “How an email joke costs Chevron 2.2 million dollars.”
Results:
“How an email joke” generated 36% higher return and became the control for over 2 years, opening up new leads and sales, despite the recession.
Bypassing the MIS and IT managers, and then directly purchasing influencers and decision makers, were the right decisions. Corporate executives picked up the phone and asked IT why they were not using the Surf Control product. Surf Control was able to strategically educate and drive new leads at a cost per lead lower than they ever had experienced before, and a steady flow of quality leads came in for a conversion rate higher than the past.
An integrated marketing campaign to vertical markets
Another strategy to open up leads was to look at vertical markets.
For example: the health industry.
A Unique Selling Proposition (USP) was developed not only for Surf Control corporately, but also as its product in the health industry. We created a primary theme for privacy and the legal exposure for lack of quality compliance.
We started with utilizing a powerful landing page, direct mail and email marketing.
A direct response offer was created for a free special report and then a separate campaign for the prospect to listen to a webinar.
CDMG was able to dramatically increase new leads and sales and break into the lucrative market.
I’d love to look at your marketing problem and come up with some alternatives to what you’re doing now. Call me at 310-212-5727 or email Caleb at [email protected].
