Generating new sales leads using unsolicited email marketing?

[user10]

Hi,
I have to generate new sales leads for the first time and am wondering if it is ok to send unsolicited email messages to businesses using email addresses found on their web site or in online directories? The email will include an opt-out/unsubscribe option. If it isn't ok to send unsolicited email, does anyone have any suggestions on how I might go about generating new sales leads?
Thanks.

[Dave A]

I ... am wondering if it is ok to send unsolicited email messages to businesses using email addresses found on their web site or in online directories?

Some people's definition of spam is far more aggressive than others.

What I will say is in such a campaign you probably have no more than a second or two to make sure the client recognises you're offering something he/she's looking for right now. If you really think about all the elements that have to fall into place to make a hit and overcome the "I've been spammed" factor... You'll have to be really, really good.

does anyone have any suggestions on how I might go about generating new sales leads?

Have a look at Marketing Motor.

[AndyD]

Some people's definition of spam is far more aggressive than others.

Generating sales leads by unsolicited email messages will be a thankless and unproductive approach. Assuming you get through the ISP spam filter and their email client spam filter, the average business owner is a black-belt at deleting messages of this nature unread. The one guy in several hundred that actually unsuspectingly opens one of your mails will hate you with a passion several seconds later.

[Jill]

I suggest a phone call first - if you have a website you have a telephone number. Get the name and ask if you may send them info. Works for me and you have made personal contact which is important. You will get a lot of NO's but eventually you get the yes. Thats sales. Good luck

[Mark Atkinson]

Have a look at Marketing Motor.

Have you used Marketing Motor before, Dave?

I skimmed through their site and it seems to promise everything that every other internet marketing "guru" might promise. Sounds suspect to me.

Perhaps you've had personal experiences with them that may convince me otherwise?

[user10]

Thanks all for your advice.

[Neville Bailey]

Have you used Marketing Motor before, Dave?

I skimmed through their site and it seems to promise everything that every other internet marketing "guru" might promise. Sounds suspect to me.

Perhaps you've had personal experiences with them that may convince me otherwise?

I am using Marketing Motor and I can most certainly vouch for its effectiveness!

Go to Google and type a search word/phrase about Pastel support / help / consulting. etc and you will see my website listed near the top!

[Mark Atkinson]

That's all very well, BUT would it work for something like a web/graphic design business.

I see the sites that you get are extremely simple text-based sites with lots of keyword "optimisation". This includes having lots of links which all point to the same page but are different target keywords.

The web design market is EXTREMELY saturated and I'm quite sure that a site like that can't aid a design business all that much. I'm guessing it's more for niche targeting. If building a site like that and relying on keyword optimization is the bulk of their service, then I'm not sure how well it can work in a saturated market.

I will look into it though. I'd be interested to see how they can devise an Adwords campaign for a web design business that's cost effective.

[IanF]

I am using Marketing Motor and I can most certainly vouch for its effectiveness!

Go to Google and type a search word/phrase about Pastel support / help / consulting. etc and you will see my website listed near the top!

Neville
I searched for pastel support and doubleentry.co.za was on the top of the second page. Is this the website that you are talking about?

[Dave A]

Mark, Marketing Motor is the new evolution of the two Pete's Global Warriors product discussed here. It really is very slick now; easy to use and highly effective.

But as you say you're in a very competitive niche. It might well bring down your cost-per-click due to a better quality score and improved niche targeting, but I suspect your CPC will still be quite high even then. The other question would be conversion rates... What people will be landing on are pretty "unslick" pages. They offer exactly what the searcher would be looking for, but I wouldn't exactly describe them as the crafted shop front window of a web design service. More like a warehouse store... without the paint.

In the grand scheme of things it wouldn't cost you much to test it, and for your first campaign they offer personal support. You'll have two of the best internet marketing minds on the planet helping you. But there are no guarantees.

To some extent that's the point. Nothing is guaranteed but this makes it dead easy to test the waters. Time wise you invest an hour or so in setup effort and see if a particular idea is worth pursuing further after collecting a week's data. If you set a spend limit of R100 per day on Adwords, your R&D is a whopping R700.00 at worst.

[Neville Bailey]

===== QUOTE Neville Bailey ====

I am using Marketing Motor and I can most certainly vouch for its effectiveness!

Go to Google and type a search word/phrase about Pastel support / help / consulting. etc and you will see my website listed near the top!

===== /QUOTE ====


Neville
I searched for pastel support and doubleentry.co.za was on the top of the second page. Is this the website that you are talking about?

Yes, that's one of my sites. The other one is www.accountingsoftwaresupport.co.za.

Posted from my BlackBerry using BerryBlab

[IanF]

Yes, that's one of my sites. The other one is www.accountingsoftwaresupport.co.za.

Posted from my BlackBerry using BerryBlab

That came up with adwords did come up 3rd which was also last. The site looks very clean the question is it a success? To me that is more important than SEO and other fancy features.

[Neville Bailey]

Yes, it has proved to be a success for me, no doubt about it.

The important thing is that the site is merely a lead generating site, not a site to demonstrate your skills as a graphic artist!

Even the form is minimalistic, to prevent "transactional friction".

I blew the mind of a prospect (now a paying client) when I called him seconds after he submitted the form - I was driving at the time and his details popped onto my BlackBerry, allowing me to click on his phone number!

Posted from my BlackBerry using BerryBlab

[Mark Atkinson]

Mark, Marketing Motor is the new evolution of the two Pete's Global Warriors product discussed here. It really is very slick now; easy to use and highly effective.

But as you say you're in a very competitive niche. It might well bring down your cost-per-click due to a better quality score and improved niche targeting, but I suspect your CPC will still be quite high even then. The other question would be conversion rates... What people will be landing on are pretty "unslick" pages. They offer exactly what the searcher would be looking for, but I wouldn't exactly describe them as the crafted shop front window of a web design service. More like a warehouse store... without the paint.

In the grand scheme of things it wouldn't cost you much to test it, and for your first campaign they offer personal support. You'll have two of the best internet marketing minds on the planet helping you. But there are no guarantees.

To some extent that's the point. Nothing is guaranteed but this makes it dead easy to test the waters. Time wise you invest an hour or so in setup effort and see if a particular idea is worth pursuing further after collecting a week's data. If you set a spend limit of R100 per day on Adwords, your R&D is a whopping R700.00 at worst.

Thanks for the extremely useful reply, Dave!

If you can recommend them so confidently, I think we can definitely look into it. I was just worried that they were just another internet marketing fad.

It might be worth my while just to consult with them and hear their ideas on it all.

Perhaps the fact that we are going a whole new route with our business, targeting just the entrepreneurial and small business niche, will help to make the program (particularly the Adwords) more effective.

Once our new website is up I will definitely look at giving them a shot.

[OnlineMarketing]

Have you used Marketing Motor before, Dave?

I skimmed through their site and it seems to promise everything that every other internet marketing "guru" might promise. Sounds suspect to me.

Perhaps you've had personal experiences with them that may convince me otherwise?

Mark,
I sense an air of skepticism about Online Marketing, for which i don't blame you as it is just like any other industry in that it has
it's share of mediocre service providers and ripp off merchants, i've gone through my share of lawyers and accountants to know
there is no service/industry/profession that is immune to this. What i will say is, done well it is actually the golden challice that
can create lead generation and sales on a fairly automated basis. That doesn't mean your input is reduced in closing the sale but
if you had 10 extra enquiries a month from people looking for a new website in Durban what would that be worth to you? Imagine
the hours you would save on cold calling,sweating over offline media advertising, prospecting......... as well as the expense involved
in these activities. Time is the most precious resource in Business, high impact SEO allows high impact lead generation but it isn't
an overnight story and it needs consistancy and perseverence. The other side of the coin is it will have a positive impact for far longer
than it took to have an impact. Neville has had a positive experience with this Marketing Motor, Dave reccommends it, it sounds an
interesting idea as far as PPC goes and may well produce quicker results than SEO but on average Adwords advertisers are only getting
a combined minority of the clicks on any Search results page so this will always be the poorer cousin of SEO. Bottom Line is you really
should be doing one or the other, i had a quick look at your backlinks and the anchor texts you have used will never get good rankings
for the phrases you want apart from that it is a nice site with plenty of indexed pages, a decent foundation to move forward.