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We have previously talked about how telemarketing has evolved to keep up with modern-day marketing challenges and demands. In this article, we thought it would be interesting to look at how telemarketing can enhance and support your digital marketing strategy.
Telemarketing is one of many channels in your arsenal, and just like your email marketing or social media, it is only as effective as your data and strategy. When it comes to data, telemarketing is only as effective as the data the campaign is being run on. As for strategy, not only will you want to think about a strategy on an individual campaign level, but also how telemarketing will fit into your overarching marketing strategy.
Get both your strategy and data right, and telemarketing will be your most efficient and effective way of generating and qualifying leads. But the opposite is also true. If you get it wrong by running your telemarketing on poor data or calling people when they have not been nurtured enough, it can become marketing hell.
Before you begin any telemarketing campaign, you need to think about what information you want to gather, what information you have and what information is not needed. Making sure you segment your data correctly is also vital, and this needs to happen before anyone picks up the phone.
If you need help with planning out where telemarketing and Inside Sales fits into your marketing strategy, feel free to give us a call. We are always happy to help.
Telemarketing is a marketing tactic that we refer to as being “active” rather than being “reactive”. What we mean by this is with telemarketing, you are actively reaching out and engaging with your audience. Whereas tactics like social media or content marketing, you are waiting for your audience to reach out to you, you then react to this engagement.
We believe that a mixture of both active and reactive marketing tactics should always be used. Focusing efforts on active marketing tactics will enable you to get short-term wins, but reactive ones will give you longer-term benefits. Get the balance right and you will see your reactive channels fuel your active ones, ultimately leading consistent business growth.
We mentioned earlier in this article that we see telemarketing as being an immensely powerful channel during the identity and engagement phases of the marketing mix. But you might have noticed we did not say it is a great channel for nurturing. That is because we believe that other channels like Email, Social Media and Content are far more suited for sustainable nurturing campaigns.
Does that mean telemarketing cannot be used for nurture campaigns? Absolutely not. It is a powerful nurturing channel when the campaign is focused on high-value transactions or where the solution has complex value-proposition. But for general brand and solution awareness, we do think the previously mentioned channels are more suitable.
Picking up the phone and speaking to someone provides a two-way conversational avenue, that very few other marketing channels allow for. Yes, channels like live chat, chatbots, email and social were all supposed to provide a back and forth dialogue, but in practice, this is rarely the case in the B2B world.
But why is that?
There is a certain level of personalisation that people expect in the B2B space. People have a subconscious need to feel like their issues are unique to them, and unless you speak to them, you will never understand what they need. It is also an element of building trust. Without having an open conversation about their challenges, they will never trust you know how to solve their problems. In the B2B market, where there are typically much higher transaction and complex value-proposition, trust is a requirement, not a desire.
Try thinking about it like this. Would you trust your doctor to solve your problems without speaking to them first? … So why would you trust a random email or social media post to solve your business problems?
Are we saying you shouldn’t use live chat, chatbots, email and social media? Absolutely not. We are simply saying they have a set purpose and place in the market, as does telemarketing. And those channels highlighted above will only get you so far. So, when planning your marketing strategy, make sure you think about what channels you need to be using, and when, to get your prospects from subscribers to active customers.
Everyone is looking for that window of an opportunity and telemarketing can be the way to open the door. The problem with most marketers is they try and cram every goal into every marketing tactic they have access too. Unfortunately, most prospects cannot handle this anymore. Most people need to have benefits drip-fed overtime for it really to sink in; this is something modern telemarketing and inside sales excels at doing.
Like most things, the best telemarketing strategies are the simplest. Simple one-liner scripts or a single clear goal that saves your prospects time but gives them enough of a hook to arrange the next call is what the focus of any effective telemarketing campaign is all about. Modern telemarketing, or inside sales, is all about taking one step at a time and building a relationship with your prospects. Make sure you plan every call carefully!
Need help with your next telemarketing strategy or support getting meetings with those hard to nail down prospect? Get in touch today, we are always happy to help.
