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Effectiveness Of Various Marketing Vehicles
Posted By: heidorn on 10/4/2004 8:24 PM (CST) 250 Points
Does anyone have any statistics on the effectiveness of various marketing vehicles when marketing to senior executives (i.e... online advertising, print advertising, billboards, white papers, brochures, PR, shows, seminars, executive roundtables, webinars, etc...)? I am trying to determine which one of these or combinations are effective in reaching top level executives. Looking for data as some percentage of an executives time or success factor if possible... Does anyone have a source of information?

Posted by: ASVP/ChrisB Accepted Answer
10/4/2004 9:24 PM (CST)
I don't know of any surveys or statistics... And I've just done a deep search on line and come up with nothing of any consequence that answers the question... But this is a very interesting area.

Why not construct a survey to ask a range of senior executives in your target industries or companies what vehicle most prompts them to respond favorably?

I suspect you will find that there are a broad range of vehicles that create a call to action in the target group.

The key to triggering a response is the relevance of the message to each particular executive. A message that resonates with one executive may not strike a chord with any others because they aren't thinking about that particular issue at the time.

If this hypthesis is correct, this means successful approaches to senior executives, initiated by a marketer, whether direct or via a medium or vehicle, are probably largely a matter of luck.

As a marketer, how can you reduce the risk of being unlucky? How can you add a level of skill and ingenuity to outweigh the level of luck?

- By targeting executives with a particular mindset or problem at a particular time, for example, at a conference dealing with the issues to which they may be seeking and you may be offering a solution.

- Or by selectively approaching executives whose businesses you have researched, or whom may have responded to some research that tells you they have an existing (perhaps hidden) need for your product or service.

Hope these ideas help.

ChrisB
 
Posted by: christian* Accepted Answer
10/4/2004 10:02 PM (CST)
You should consider Double Loop Marketing (TM) - here's how it works:

- You target a unique audience (in this case, C-Level Execs at the 500 largest firms in your industry)

- You get their attention using thought leadership- you build a website (sponsored by your company, but NOT on your company's site) on topics that interest them (see, for example, this site I built - www.agilebrain.com)

- You start a customer acquisition campaign to drive your target audience to the thought-leadership site

- Once they register w/ your site, you email them once a month w/ offers from the sponsor (your company) in the right margin of the HTML email to transfer them to your site...

This double loop technique delivers at minimum twice as many leads at 1/2 the cost of traditional online marketing techniques... I've built a successful business on this, and it works!

good luck,
Christian Sarkar
www.christiansarkar.com
 
Posted by: norquest* Accepted Answer
10/7/2004 7:44 AM (CST)
Christian’s given you very valuable input.

He’s said these guys will not still for a straightforward sale.

So, offer what they value.

These are busy folks but they want and value good thinking and mental stimulation and challenges.

Achieve a position of thought leadership in an area they value and you will have their attention.

Don’t blow it by getting too blatant.

Good luck!
 
Posted by: heidorn Author Response
10/7/2004 10:55 AM (CST)
Thanks guys -- I was looking for research and am realizing there is little research out there.

I will continue to search and see if I can find anything - I'll post anything I find.

thanks
 
Posted by: jstiles* Accepted Answer
10/8/2004 11:56 AM (CST)
I seem to recall the Conference Board in New York touching on this subject some time ago. I'll check and report back when I get some time.

Also, have you tried Adweek or Brandweek publications, they may have something on this in their archives.

Best of luck.
 
Posted by: Allan Accepted Answer
10/15/2004 12:23 AM (CST)
There is some published research on the effectiveness of various marketing media/vehicles, although it's not specific to reaching C-level execs.

The Direct Marketing Association published a "Response Rate Survey," which has a summary download available at www.the-dma.org (free registration required). They tabulate effectiveness of various approaches based on 1100+ different campaigns.

We've used this DMA information to compare/contrast with the new variable printing technology used in direct mail, and that article is at www.SalesLeadsExpress.com/VariableArticle.pdf.

The DMA and our article both use industry averages, but these sources may give you some ideas on which "media" approach can work best.

Siebel published a booklet (about 20 pages) in the late 90's that summarized interviews with CEO's -- getting their input on how they like to be "sold." I don't have the booklet any longer (maybe Siebel does??). However I've got a powerpoint that summarizes it. If you'd be interested maybe there's a way I can post it here...

Hope this helps a bit.
 
Posted by: jose04 Accepted Answer
10/18/2004 1:47 PM (CST)
Hello heidorn

The answer lie in what interests, executives in general have. My gut feeling is that they are always concerned about profits, employee motivation issues, target achievements, and other corporate performance issues. THe vehicles you are seeking to test are only vehicles. You should be more concerned with what these communication pieces seek to offer. Only content sells and interests people and certainly it should apply to the CFO's too.

If i could suggest this...start from the scratch and check out / research the core interests of your target group and style your mediums to best reach out to them senior executives.

For example, if your content highlights a conflicting issue affecting CFO's as in http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3870/is_12_18/ai_94270584
your newsletter or realted web source building approach should be a neat way to clarify. Whitepapers, webinars, seminars are supportive to this problem solving approach behind your communication approaches. CFO's and their secretaries would be keen to follow up, on your appeals.

You would also do well to check a related question in khe sometime back..
http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=3235#22490

Hope these thoughts help!!
 
Posted by: Val (Moderator)* Moderator Response
10/20/2004 11:50 PM (CST)
Hello all. I am closing this question, since its more than 10 days old. We do this to make sure members' contributions are rewarded in a timely manner and to improve the visibility of newer questions. Thanks, so much, for participating!

Val (Moderator)
 


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