What is a Lead Generation Campaign?

8 Characteristics of a Lead Generation Campaign That Every Professional Service Firm Should Know

I’m one of those fair weather/watch the playoffs baseball fans, but I do appreciate it when my friend and CPA Tom takes me to see our local minor league team – the Rochester Red Wings – who are doing pretty well this year. Sure, it might cost me a huge amount of money to keep him supplied with craft beer and Zwiegle hot dogs at the game in the ways of thanks (I think that’s his strategy BTW), but
 
I appreciate the offer nonetheless. But this week, I just happened to catch the last couple of innings of a Phillies/Cubs game where Cole Hamels pitched a 13 strike no-hitter. Wow. What a thrill to see history made.
 
It got me thinking about how many professional service firms swing, miss and are no hit when they try their hand at lead generation campaigns.
 
That’s probably because most professional service companies don’t think in terms of lead generation campaigns. Often, they do one shot marketing efforts aimed at finding prospects at the bottom of the sales funnel, generally in the form of a letter, email or phone call that asks if the prospect “.... is looking for a new (fill in the blank of what type of professional service firm you are)”.
 
The net effect: few if any new clients and you’ve swung, missed and generally ignored the 99.5% of the target market who are just not ready to buy. Then, when budget time rolls around and there’s no results from this one off campaign, the hue and cry from partners is that “marketing doesn’t work so let’s not put more money into it”.
 
Really? Perhaps the problem is a mixture of impatience and the need to better understand what lead generation and lead generation campaigns are all about.

X Characteristics of a Lead Generation Campaign

Here’s my definition of a lead generation campaign:

A series of timely integrated strategies, tactics and activities designed to increase sales relative to a specific problem, need or issue as identified by a specific target market and a specific persona in that market.
 
OK, I know ... this is a mouthful but unfortunately, it’s gonna be on the final. The final top line that is.
 
So, let me break this definition down into the characteristics of a lead generation campaign:

1. It is built to generate sales – not branding or awareness

2. It is designed by a team of marketers and sales people working together to toward the common objective of sales

3. Its nucleus is a specific pain, issue or need that is keeping the target market and persona up at night ... what a CEO thinks about a problem may be different from how the CFO thinks about that problem.

4. It is not a one shot effort that you abandon after one activity like sending out a direct mail letter ... a campaign is executed in stages related to the prospect’s buying cycle and how they move through the sales funnel.

5. It’s built upon a SMART plan: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timed.

6. It employs a series of marketing channels (online, offline, direct, telemarketing, etc.) to reach the prospect, all leading to a landing page where prospect information is captured and used to trigger the actions that will move the prospect through the buying cycle

7. All of the materials used in the campaign are prepared and ready before the campaign is launched.

8. It is monitored and constantly revised through marketing analytics

Do You Need Marketing Technology and Consultants for Lead Generation Campaigns?

The short answer is: YES.
 
There’s an investment – not a cost – for professional service firms to build, launch and maintain a lead generation capability. Think ROI!
 
From the perspective of technology, and believe me when I tell you that’s there’s no lack of marketing technology available, there’s just too many moving pieces to lead generation campaigns to try to organize and manage on a spreadsheet.
 
From the perspective of consultants, if you’re headed down this trail doesn’t it make sense to get some assistance to at least get started with professional help? For example, we have an onboarding program whose centerpiece is an integrated lead generation campaign designed to show our clients how to build, launch and manage a campaign with a goal of generating leads and sales.
 
With these types of resources, you just might find that the next time you step up to the plate to do lead generation, you won’t be no hit.