Creative with Strategy

Creative without strategy is called art. Creative with strategy is called marketing.

With over half a century of direct response experience, I’m frequently amazed by marketers who seem to lack a strategic plan. A good example of this is when direct marketers buy online-generated leads.

These marketers are the first to tell you how lousy the leads are, and that they convert at a very low percentage. Yet when their buying decision is questioned … they answer: “they’re cheap”. They believe this even though they might convert at 5%-10% of a direct mail or print response.

Check further and you’ll find they didn’t include the cost of mailing out 10-20 times as many fulfillment pieces. And they never think about the fact that their telemarketers are wasting 90% of their time with junk leads. This drives up the salary and overhead costs of each lead.

In addition, most telemarketers work on a bonus or commission basis. Making them churn through so many junk leads decreases their ability to earn a decent living.

There is an old expression: “There’s never enough time to do it right ~~ there’s always enough time to do it over”. The same thing applies here. They ignore the fact that they have massive telemarketing turnover. They ignore the costs of hiring and training new employees, and forget how many leads are burned by telemarketers until they get up to speed.

The same principals hold true for all kinds of strategic decisions. Basically, ask yourself: “What’s the plan?”

Direct mail consistently provides great quality leads. Consider all of the factors before you decide which leads are REALLY the cheapest.