Step 5: Measure, Measure, Measure!
Once you have the performance data from your lead-generation campaign, you need to consistently measure your results to find out how well the tactic worked for you, and how well your marketing message and other components worked in bringing in leads. It’s important to remember that measurement requires a great deal of setup, and you must do this setup before you execute the campaign.
I will talk about how to test and measure each tactic in the chapters on individual tactics. For now, here is a quick example: Say you are doing an e-mail campaign, and you want to know which of two CTAs works better for you. You should create two e-mail creatives with two different offers: one that offers a coupon for $10 off, and another that offers your product at a 25% discount. You should then set up two different landing pages, one for each e-mail. The landing page that receives the larger response from its e-mail will tell you which CTA works better.
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The seven most successful lead-generation tactics are search engine marketing, social media advertising, display advertising, e-mail marketing, cold calling, direct mail, and trade shows.
You should test as many of these tactics as your company can use. If possible, use all seven. If not, use a healthy mix of whatever tactics will work and are cost-effective for your company.
In using any lead-generation tactic, tactical strategy involves five steps: (1) determining and planning your approach, (2) researching your target audience, (3) building your assets, (4) executing a test campaign, and (5) measurement.
In step 1, you determine and plan your approach for using a lead-generation tactic. In planning your approach, you must answer three questions: (1) Who is your target customer? (2) What are your goals for using this tactic? (3) How will you measure your success in using this tactic?
In step 2, you research your target customers to find out about their wants and needs.
In step 3, you build your creative assets. You must perform a series of tasks in order to build each asset you will use.
In step 4, you execute a test campaign. Before unleashing the full campaign, test your assets to see how well customers respond to them and what types of customers respond best to each asset.
In step 5, you measure the results of your lead-generation efforts to find out how well the target customers responded to your assets, your product, and your offer. To measure your success, you should set up specific testing tools prior to sending out your creative assets or making contact with target customers.