It’s appropriate when everyone is talking about March Madness, and the many upsets we’re seeing this year, to think about upsetting the marketing status quo a bit with a little Marketing Madness. 

Our agency provides two “buckets” of services – “wow” creative, or corporate identity and design that makes our clients say WOW!, and lead generation. That last service, lead generation, is a catch-all phrase for a wide variety of programs.  However, I’ve really come to the conclusion that, these days, lead generation is easy.  Anyone can generate leads, and they do.  We run lead generation programs for clients that produce hundreds or thousands of leads every year.  The tactics are well known.  We know what works and what doesn’t.  And we squeeze efficiency out of our programs so that every year we try to produce more leads at a better cost/lead than the year before.

Yawn.

Been there.  Done that.

In truth, company CEOs and Sales/Marketing VPs have never really wanted any of the leads we generated.  They’re not looking for leads.  We all have stories about leads sent to clients that just sit in an admin’s inbox, never to be passed on to anyone.  Ignored.  Unwanted.  Unloved.

So while they’re not looking for leads, they ARE looking for opportunities.  Who wants a quote?  Who’s about ready to buy?  Who’s an “A” lead, a “hot” lead, a “sales-ready lead,” or whatever label we want to apply.  Can you generate hundreds or thousands of THOSE, they ask?

Increasingly, now, with marketing automation software like Hubspot, Pardot, Eloqua, Marketo, etc., the answer is yes.  We’ve moved beyond counting clicks to generating high quality opportunities that salespeople WANT, and we’re now able to see which clicks actually matter.  So the goal isn’t a stack of leads, or 1000 clicks.  It’s opportunities.

But there’s more.  When we integrate our marketing automation tools like Hubspot into CRM tools like Salesforce, we see which clicks close.  We SEE where revenue comes from.  It’s been what marketing professionals and agencies have been trying to do for 30 years.  Just as we’ve moved past bingo cards and trade show lead forms, it’s time now to leave behind clicks and routine leads as performance metrics we point to.  We’re now able to run marketing programs that matter.  We can send the CFO back to his or her office when they ask, “just what is all this marketing expense doing for us.” Now we can provide ROI data, tied to REVENUE not clicks or even leads, that is proven and measurable.  Aaah.  Finally.

So in this season of March Madness, let’s have a little Marketing Madness.  Walk into your CEO’s office and declare, “I’m tired of generating leads and I’m not going to do it anymore!”  (Anyone get the Network movie reference there?)  Or if you’re the CEO, walk into your Marketing VP’s office or call your agency and say, “stop sending me leads.”  I want more.  I deserve more.  And I know I can get more. 

GIVE ME OPPORTUNITIES!

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Written by Joel Goldstein:
Goldstein Group agency president who builds “Measurably Better Marketing” programs that create WOW experiences for clients.