Tomicide Solutions August 2006: What To Do With Your Marketing? Push It Or Pull It?

By Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan

Imagine the four phases of a car engine:

1 Sucking in the fuel

2 Squeezing the fuel

3 Blasting the compressed fuel

4 Blowing out the burnt fuel

Interestingly, the human engine (the human body) also operates on the Suck -> Squeeze -> Blast -> Blow sequence. And even more interestingly, business development operates the same way.

1 Pulling prospects to you - Lead generation

2 Converting them into clients - Lead conversion

3 Doing kick-arse projects - Value delivery

4 Disengaging after successful completion - Staying in touch

So, some activities are "pull" (pulling in prospects) activities and some are "push" activities (lead conversion).

And even within lead generation there are both "push" and "pull" activities. So, in this article we'll discuss some push and pull type lead generation activities, their pros and cons, and how you can use them to your greatest advantage. And since you're also supposed to track your result from each initiative, I'll include some indicators that are worth tracking for each lead generation tactic.

Before You Even Start...

...put the pencil to the paper and establish some basic numbers. These numbers give you a base line of what you have to achieve to break even on your marketing and after what numbers you can say you're making a profit.

Remember Napoleon's words concerning the enemy's resources, "My calculations are based on more exact data, upon mathematical inferences. In the last resort, no one has more than he can have."

And it's only fair to say that Napoleon was world-class in his profession, so maybe we all have something to learn from him.

So, these indicators are...

You can come up with more individual indicators, but that will also kill teamwork. And one more thing. These quantitative indicators are merely the effects of some of the following qualitative indicators: Enthusiasm, energy, excitement, passion, ambition, drive, being turned on, etc.

You have to create an environment of fun and discipline in which people are inspired to do their best and beyond without being cajoled and threatened, as it is so common in most organisations. Get rid of individual rewards and individual punishments. The team is like the immune system in the body. If it is strong it can take care of invaders, like low performers who have no intention to improve. The problem is not that someone is a low performer. The problem is that some people don't want to improve. And that's when the strong teams eliminate low performers just as the strong immune system eliminates intruding viruses.

So, let's start with what's called...

Push Marketing

In this form of marketing you basically inflict yourself and your message upon your target market. They didn't ask for what they receive, so often they can perceive this approach as junk, spam written pain in the arse and general irritation. This is the hunter's approach. Load up your gun and start chasing your victims. When you think you're within range, then you shoot. Sometimes you hit, but usually you miss. You have to fire an awful lot of shots to take home something that's enough to feed you and your family until the next hunt.

Also, push marketing is pretty self-centred. "Look at our cute secretary!", "Admire our new office building!" and "Bow your head at our president's Harvard MBA!"

Direct Mail

Letters - I still believe this is the most effective way of reaching top decision makers in the B2B world. A plain white hand-addressed envelope with a real stamp and personal return address on it. This kind of letter screams that this is a personal letter and it goes through the decision maker without the gatekeeper's fiddling with it. It's important that your letter gets opened by the decision-maker not by the gate-keeper.

Why?

Decision-makers are inspired to acquire new value to advance their companies' situation. In contrast, gatekeepers are "in business" for preserving the budget and the status quo, thus their own jobs. In a way, when you walk into CEOs offices, you can sense this mantra: "Value Acquisition Starts Here!" But what is the gatekeeper's mantra? Roughly this: "Conformity we worship, status quo we uphold."

That's the different between the mindset of an business person and an employee. CEOs know that if they don't perform, the board of directors will kick them out of their offices straight into one of the more pestilential pits of hell. In contrast, gatekeepers know that if the shit hits the fan for the company, they jump ship and move into the nearest competitor.

Postcards - This can be tricky. With letters gatekeepers don't know what's inside. With postcards it's as obvious as a ham sandwich. And this is where good writing comes to your rescue. If it's a blunt promotional piece, then the gatekeeper may chuck out your masterpiece. But if it's written in such a way that it makes the gatekeeper think to herself, "I'm not really sure about this baby. I'd better let the boss see read it and decide."

Printed Newsletter - Printed newsletters are usually subscribed to, so they are expected. You can even indicate on the outside packaging that "By subscription only". This will show the gatekeeper that this specific item has been requested by her boss, and she'd better not interfere with it.

Mini Package - In a way this is a direct mail package, but instead of putting your letter into a plain garden variety envelope, you put it into a jiffy bag (padded envelope), so your package has a third dimension. And this third dimension that raises curiosity. I wish I could send only this third dimension without the first two and save 2/3 of the postage. But watch out. One day I'll get smart enough and suss it out how to do it.

letter Sequence - This is also called drip mailing. You're "dripping" bits and bobs of valuable information on your prospects, so they can gradually sell themselves on you based on the value they receive from your stuff.

Tracking Direct Mail Results

  1. Number of pieces sent
  2. Number of returned pieces
  3. Number of responses
  4. Cost of mailing (including copywriter's fees and everything, but all itemised)

Telephone Calls

Cold Calling - I listed it here but I would never engage in it, and I would never recommend it. It's really the bottom of the bottom, and B2B buyers, even the ones that use cold calling in their own marketing arsenals, hate it beyond description. The only situation I can imagine is when you call someone and announce that you have a free report on a topic that is relevant to the person you've called, and ask whether or not the person wants to receive a copy. The key is that you're NOT asking for the order.

Staying In Touch - The telephone can be pretty useful for staying in touch. There is one snag though. You can only stay in touch with buyers with whom you have a running relationship, so your calls don't get screened out by gatekeepers. You want to have a kind of relationship with the buyer that the gatekeeper knows she'd better put your call through or else. Some gatekeepers love playing games that they decide what's important to their bosses. But as we've seen it above, gatekeepers are not there to acquire value. They are there to protect the boss from the outside world and sustain the status quo.

Checking Database - Every now and then your database need cleansing, and you can use the phone to check some vital data.

Initial Qualification - When you promote an expensive programme for C level executives, and offer a free trial to taste it, you want to make sure that your information package and further follow-up work don't get wasted on curious suspects, but you communicate only with real C level executives. The phone helps you to validate the prospect's real position and intention.

Tracking Telephone Results

  1. Number of call placed
  2. Number of returned pieces
  3. Number of responses
  4. Cost of mailing (including copywriter's fees and everything, but all itemised)

Since many of you may be doing some cold calling, here are some cold call tracking indicators as well.

Cold Calling Indicators

  1. Total number of calls
  2. Lost in voice mail labyrinth
  3. Number of incorrect record
  4. Number of busy signals
  5. Number of "Don't call again" requests
  6. Gatekeeper handles the call
  7. Being relegated to someone else
  8. Number of voice mail messages left
  9. No answer
  10. Offer declined
  11. Out of office
  12. Send information
  13. Number of voice mail but no message left
  14. Number of high probability sales

Emails

Individual Email - This is the greatest way of opening the doors of communication. You select your target companies, do some research on them and start contacting the top dogs one by one. You can write up a general letter and weave in some company-specific (their company) solutions. This can be perceived of pretty high perceived value.

Group Email - Here you're communicating with a small group. But... in my experience the best small group communication is communicating with your own list. People who are not on your list yet should be communicated with individually.

E-Zine Distribution - This is another type of group communication with a group of people who've agreed to receive stuff from you. According to research (I think Wellesley Group or the Gartner Group, but I'm not sure) people read up to 16 permission-based communication pieces every day. So, if you're within this magic circle of 16, there is higher chance that your stuff is read.

Tracking Email initiatives

  1. Number of emails sent
  2. Number of successful emails sent
  3. Number of hard bounce-backs (permanently unavailable)
  4. Number of soft bouce-backs (temporarily unavailable)
  5. Missing in action - Lost in spam filters, etc.
  6. Number of open emails
  7. Number of clickthroughs
  8. Number of Most Wanted Actions taken
  9. Number of new relationships started

Networking and Referrals

Begging for Referrals - Many experts teach that you have to regularly reiterate to your current and past clients that you need more business and you need referrals from them. The hidden message is that these people are just too cheap to sustain their own marketing programmes, and they either get referrals or go bankrupt. In my experience the right clients give you referrals anyway and the rest will never do regardless of how hard you're begging.

Networking Functions - They should be pre-planned. You should have a great answer to the "What do you do?" question. Then when you strike up a conversation, then you can offer an article that is helpful for your conversation partner. Then your conversation partners can decide whether or not to avail themselves of your materials.

Building Alliances - This is in most cases trying to hang on to the coat tails of established businesses. I get email almost every week from - mainly high-tech - companies that want me to partner with them, which essentially means working for free for some future funny money. Basically they all have some amazing technology, and are expecting me to go door to door and peddle their stuff. Every time I've asked, "Why don't you sell if yourself?", the answer has been the same, "I'm a professional not a salesman."

In a way they remind me of a farmer...

The aspiring farmer goes to the farm shop and asks the shopkeeper: "Hey I want to joint venture with you on a lucrative opportunity. I'm a farmer. If you provide me with free equipment, seeds, fertiliser and everything I need for farming, and then put in the work to harvest my crops, I'll pay you a 20% commission on what I make on the harvest. Believe me, this is a great opportunity."

Then the shopkeeper asks the farmer: "Have you ever done any farming?"

"No" - The "farmer" says, but I know how to do it, and this will be a great opportunity for you to make a pile of money.

Then the shopkeeper says: "So, you expect me to invest my own money, assets and hard work, take 100% of the risk on a venture that is most likely to fail simply because you've never done it before? And in return for my 100% risk and investment today, I get 20% of the reward some day in the future? Is this what you mean?"

"Well, yes!" - says the farmer. "If you are as good as you say you are, you would have the courage to take a risk on me." - Says the "farmer".

"Well, if you are as good as you say you are, you'd have the courage to take a risk on yourself." - says the shopkeeper.

Interestingly many business owners want to create performance incentives for their contractors and consultants, while they try to reduce their "own skin" in the deal. Also, interestingly, they keep paying themselves pretty lucratively for their own low or no performance. However, when business owners are unwilling to invest in their own businesses, it shows they have no confidence in what they're selling> But then how can they expect anyone else to have that confidence in that business and merchandise. I would never buy anything from salespeople who are on straight commission. To me it means that the company doesn't have the guts to stand behind the merchandise, and expects the salespeople to take full responsibility for selling substandard merchandise.

Form alliances with companies that are willing to share both the risk and the rewards. And make sure all participants have a skin in the deal. And of course stipulate that you have the right to personally inspect the books at any time. After all, by having a skin in the deal, you're a business partner, which is also known as a director. If your partner balks at this suggestion, then you'd better run and tell them to shove their deals right up their arses.

Pull Marketing

This is drastically different from push marketing. This is a kind of fishing approach. You create a kick-arse bait, throw it out to your target market and wait. The smart fisherman baits and waits. He knows that using the right bait, the right fish will bite. All he has to do is to make the fire, grease the frying pan and select the best wine for the fish.

In contrast to push marketing, pull marketing is client centred. "We have valuable information for this niche market. Come and take it!"

Pull marketing tactics are...

Public Relations

This is a great and free opportunity. But, again, it's amazing how people thing. I've recently talked to a guy who spends $7,400 a month on Yellow Pages advertising. The results are dismal, but the silly boy has bought into this "take our name out" bullshit, and he's spending all of his money on Yellow Pages. by the way, his Yellow Pages ad is a "me too" type imitation of an ad. it nicely blends into the other 20 on that page.

I told him that for $99 a month he could have journalists and reporters come to him for articles and interview. He said this kind of service should be free, and that he would never pay for such a media scam.

So, you may ask how he sells his services. Good question. He has hired a call centre in somewhere in Pakistan, and they are cold call harassing anyone who walks, flies or crawls. No one can escape.

News Releases - There lots of newsworthy events in every business. Even better. Every month you can create a tip sheet on your topic. Write a tip sheet with ten tips. Send off four in your press release, and indicate that the other six are available on your website. And editors come to your site and might like the quality of information.

Speaking Engagements - I think speaking should be in every businessperson's repertoire. No you don't have to be a great speaker. People like and are attracted to what comes sincerely from the heart. If you're authentic on stage, while also learning some great speaking skills, you can initiate lots of great business. Prepare a Speaking Kit and then start contacting associations and companies.

In your speaking kit you'll have a cover letter, your bio, some articles, including your CIA (Core Issue Article), case studies. Create this kit in a professional yet easy-to-modify format, for instance loose sheets in a folder.

This is why loose sheets. If you have one 30-page brochure, buyers pick up the brochure, and in two seconds decide whether to leaf through it or chuck it away. If you have 30 individual sheets, each sheet gets two seconds, and some of them get read.

Publishing Articles - Parallel with speaking, writing should be a never-ending process. This includes both off- and online writing. But in my experience off-lie writing carries more credibility.

Announcing Research Materials - This can be huge to your credibility with your target market. You offer them something that would take them a long time, lots of money and diversion from their core competence. Companies value this kind of information very highly.

Tracking Public Relations

  1. Number of editors and speaker organisers contacted
  2. Responses
  3. Bookings and confirmed articles
  4. Future follow-ups

Trade Shows

I recommend trade shows as a visitor but not as an exhibitor. Why? Top decision makers don't really go to trade shows, only powerless mid managers and the peddler force of companies.

Internet

The web reminds me of a smartarse comment I heard a few years ago at an Internet seminar. Many people track and measure their sites' success using the number of hits. So, one of the guys at the seminar said HIT stands for How Idiots Track.

Website - I truly believe that the website should be every business' marketing hub. There can be many spokes, several rims and tyres you change according to your fancy and the season, but the hub should always be the same. The reason for that is that the web can be highly automated, so the right prospects can help themselves to the kind of information they need. Nothing offers this level of automation.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) - This is an interesting area. Your site can have high search engine page rank, yet, could be short of the kind of visitors who are qualified to buy your stuff.

Pay Per Click (PPC) -

Blogging - Here the key is consistency. You regularly post short but valuable messages on your blog. It's the same as what anglers do when they "feed the location." At specific location they regularly throw food into the water for the fish to feast. But they don't use hooks here. It's not about catching the fish, just feeding the fish. This is just to feed the fish to establish a new habit, so the fish keep coming back for more. if your blog is full of good stuff, people put it into their blog readers and keep an eye on your entries.

Podcasting - The same as blogging but in voice format.

Online articles, white papers, "How to" guides, newsletter archive - These are some other ways of establishing your credibility. People can read this stuff at their own leisure.

Case Studies - They are useful because your prospects can learn more about how you work and what they can expect from working with you.

Tracking Web Activities

  1. Using your web host's tracking system
  2. Using www.feedburner.com to track blogs and podcasts

Advertising

Advertising is a great lead generation tool if done correctly. By correctly I mean that you use direct response ads not institutional, image advertising.

It's worth recounting the story of Max Hart (of Hart, Schaffner, & Marx) and his advertising manager, the late George L. Dyer. They were arguing about the validity of the long copy in advertising. To clinch the argument, Mr. Dyer said, "I'll bet you $10 I can write a newspaper page of solid type and you'll read every word of it." Mr. Hart scoffed at the idea, "I don't have to write a line of it to prove my point," Mr. Dyer responded. "I'll only tell you the headline. That would be... 'This page is all about Max Hart!'"

If your ad is about the kind of people you want to attract, then you attract them. It's like fishing. If I want to catch a shark, I'll put a hunk of meat on the hook. If I want to catch a carp, I'll use a piece of baked potato. And here is the good news. No shark will come to the potato and no carp will come to the hunk of meat. So when businesses complain that their clients pay late, don't pay, always complain, well, it means they baited their "hooks" for complainers.

As Jim Rohn says, "Cheaters cheat, liars lie and complainers complain." And there is not a sausage we can do about it. Marcus Buckingham puts it this way in his book, First Break All the Rules, "People don't change that much. Don't waste time trying to put in what's left out. Try to draw out what's left in. That's hard enough." Or as an ex-farmer I would say, "Don't appoint a fox to guard your hen house because you'll never eat a good omelette again."

Or further bragging with my amazing knowledge of animals, Don't appoint a goat to guard your cabbage patch because you'll never eat good home-made sauerkraut again.

And if you've never eaten an omelette with lots of garlic and lots of sauerkraut, then you don't know what you're missing, and you may go to your grave without enjoying one of the greatest things life has to offer.

Here is a short section from Claude Hopkins' legendary masterpiece, Scientific Advertising, one of the gold standards of marketing and advertising. Read and re-read it carefully...

"Remember the people you address are selfish, as we all are. They care nothing about your interests or your profit. They seek service for themselves. Ignoring this fact is a common mistake and a costly mistake in advertising. Ads say in effect, "Buy my brand. Give me the trade you give to others. Let me have the money."
That is not a popular appeal.
The best ads ask no one to buy. That is useless. Often they do not quote a price. They do not say that dealers handle the product.
The ads are based entirely on service. They offer wanted information. They site advantages to users."

If you understand and follow this basic fact, which most of your competitors don't, then you can beat your competitors like a double bottomed drum.

The good news it that most ads are image ads created by advertising agencies most of whom wholeheartedly abhor direct response (DM) advertising. Why? Because (DM) is results accountable and most agency staff are more willing to commit mass suicide than being accountable for their work. They actually tell you that you never know how effective or ineffective your ad is.

Call me an anal-retentive engineer, but I prefer to know how my investment is performing. Would you open a bank account that doesn't allow you to track your debits, credits and balance? That's retarded.

What's the difference?

Image advertising

Rintin Eaglebottom, Chartered Accountant

Tax returns - investments - business plans

Great service, competitive prices, 28 years experience

For a free quote, call: 123-456-7890

This is a typical image ad: "Look at me and admire my skills." And the ad agencies argue that if the ad is exposed many times to the market, people get "brand awareness" and the advertiser company gains "mind share". And it's a waste of money. Thus the majority uses it. Earl Nightingale once said, "The majority is always wrong." Advertising is the same. The majority is doing the wrong - traditional - things.

Here is a good description of image marketing in action.

Fred is looking for a wife. So he flies to the city where exceptionally beautiful women live. He turns up in front of the local hairdresser shop, shuts his eyes, drops his trousers, flashes his naughty bits (his logo per se), pulls up his trousers, goes away and flies back home. And he repeats his "bit dangling" act of logo exposure as often as he can afford it, hoping that one day one woman will pay attention to his act.

Direct response advertising

Attention One-Legged Baby Boomer Midgets: Are You Suffering From Lower Back Pain?

Free video reveals 10 exercises you can do right now to reduce your lower back pain.

Order your free copy from www.lowerbackpain.com

Here you have a specific headline, with a sort of bait. It defines exactly who you expect to respond to your ad. And it defines a specific problem of this target market. You must remind people of their problems before you give them solutions.

Newspaper, Magazines, Yellow Pages - Make sure your ad is a direct response ad and not image ad.

Television, Radio - I don't really have experience in this area, so I'd better not comment on them.

Tracking Advertising

  1. Cost of running the ad
  2. Number of responses
  3. Cost per response
  4. Lifetime value of client

Summary

After touching on topics like fishing and lovemaking, let's summarise our discussion.

Now you may ask what you need for marketing then? Push or pull? It's the same as asking which of your eyes you need more. Well, both. At least that's my personal preference.

In the 1981 I had minor eye-surgery, and my eye was patched up for a few days. Well, my vision went apeshit for a while. So, believe me it's great to have both eyes. And if you ask the evil leader of the Cyclopes, Polyphemus, son of Poseidon and a nymph, how he felt after Odysseus and his men gouged his one eye out, he will tell you that having one eye is a pretty crappy situation, but having none is even worse than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. I guess the aftermath of the poke is worse than the poke itself. But I'm just guessing here.

When you're cycling one foot is pushing the pedal but the other one is pulling. This is how you create the maximum torque and make the best progress. But what's important is that the process either starts with the pull cycle, and gradually brings in some push, or starts with a short push and switches to a longish pull cycle before mixing in some push again. It's like fishing. You have to feel when to reel in the fish and when let the fish run out with a a few dozens of meters of line.

Or putting it more vividly, when you're making love, you'd better know how long to stay north before heading south.

For instance, I can contact decision makers through direct mail (push) and then invite them to my website where they can self-serve the kind and amount of information they need (pull). I took the initial push step and the next step is up to them. I make valuable pieces available for them and they take what they want. And when they're are ready to move to the next step of buying information products or services, they can do so at their own pace without being pestered by commission-hungry peddlers.

I've also written a short blog entry on Marketing Sherpa's B2B lead generation survey.


Attribution: "This article was written by Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan who helps privately held information technology companies to develop high leverage client acquisition systems and business development teams in order to sell their products and services to premium clients at premium fees and prices. Visit Tom's website at http://www.varjan.com.