There’s a lot more to lead generation than just generating leads. From campaign set up to workflow management and KPI analysis, your campaign setup will have a strong bearing on your results. Are your campaigns following today’s lead generation best practices? Listen to this episode of DMS Live to find out!
There’s a lot more to lead generation than just generating leads. From campaign set up to workflow management and KPI analysis, your campaign setup will have a strong bearing on your results. Are your campaigns following today’s lead generation best practices? Listen to this episode of DMS Live to find out!
0:00:07.3 Melissa Ledesma: Hello everyone and welcome. If you are here that means that you are ready to step up your game. Welcome to DMS Live, a webinar series from DMS, which is packed with performance advertising and performance marketing best practices, key insights and tips from our amazing group of industry leaders to help you achieve your long and short-term wins. So DMS Live is presented by members of Digital Media Solutions, we of course are a leading provider of data-driven, technology-enabled advertising solutions, and DMS Live is meant to introduce you to the most innovative ways to connect with and monetize your audiences. So let's get into who our amazing presenters will be today. I am of course, Melissa Ledesma, VP of Communications here at DMS, but more importantly, you will be hearing about Lead Generation Campaign Best Practices from two incredible women in our industry, both of whom I respect and admire very, very much.
0:01:15.7 ML: So let's kick it off with Deanna Milkie. Deanna is the Director of Strategic Partnerships here at DMS, and she has nearly a decade of experience, but more importantly than her experience, she has an incredible passion and track record of success for business development. Deanna has a keen understanding of what it takes to identify and establish best practices within strategic relationships, and how to take that and leverage it into profitable growth for our clients here at DMS. Deanna, in her role as the Director of Strategic Partnerships, plays a pivotal role in growing and strengthening the DMS client roster of top tier advertisers and brands while continuously identifying areas for integration throughout the suite of DMS solutions. So, Deanna, welcome.
0:02:03.2 ML: And of course, we have here, Courtney Walsh, our Client Success Director. I have to tell you folks, you cannot think of the word success or client experience without thinking about Courtney. To me, Courtney represents everything that is emblematic of the American Express/ Starbucks level client experience, with a background in B2B business development and tech, and also an incredible knowledge of digital performance marketing, if you want wins, you want Courtney on your side. And both of these ladies are members of Women of Martech, which is the trade association dedicated to promoting and amplifying the recognition of women in the marketing technology and Martech industry. So now that you know who our fantastic speakers are for today, let's dive right in to what our conversation will be for the rest of our session. Lead Generation Campaign Best Practices. So we are going to assume that everyone that is joining us today is already doing something with lead gen within their marketing strategies. And according to recent studies, more than 50% of marketers say that they allocate more than half of their marketing budgets to lead generation.
0:03:25.1 ML: And I really can't blame them for doing so because with a proper lead generation strategy, you can drive quality leads to your businesses and boost conversion rates, but it's all about having a proper strategy because lead gen campaigns can be incredibly beneficial for brands who are looking to boost their customer acquisition and engagement, but before you can get to those wins, you have to know that you've done everything to set up a successful lead gen campaign, and there are a few factors that need to come into play in order to get that done prior to your campaign launch. So today we're gonna be touching on everything from campaign set up and workflow management to KPI analysis, and really review all the things that need to happen in order to set up and position your lead gen campaigns to be successful. And figure out how you are gonna take yourself and your lead gen strategy to the next level as you capitalize on the final wins that you will get in 2022. So with that, I think it's time that we dive right into our interview questions so I can get Courtney and Deanna in the hot seat to share their expertise with you. Hello, ladies, welcome to DMS Live. Thank you for joining me.
0:04:42.3 Deanna Milkie: Hi Melissa.
0:04:43.4 Courtney Walsh: Hi.
0:04:44.2 DM: Thank you for that wonderful intro.
0:04:46.8 ML: Of course, listen, it's easy to talk about two experts when I know that you guys are truly, truly amazing at what you do and you've helped so many clients to experience wins. So let's get started here. Even though we're assuming that everyone who's joining us today is already doing something in lead gen, I think we can all agree that lead gen is not one-size-fits-all. And there's really not one right way, but there are certain things that you really need to have in order to run a lead gen campaign properly. So Courtney, I'm gonna kick this over to you first. What are some of the must-haves that you would tell any client that they need to have set up in order to position themselves to have a successful lead gen campaign?
0:05:29.2 CW: Yeah. Thank you, Melissa. I think what we have seen the most success for our clients in the past is just understanding what the infrastructure is they have already in place to support their new lead gen campaign, what does that look like from a system standpoint. And so typically we wanna understand if there's a customer relationship management software in place for them to handle those lead gens moment to moment, as soon as they are reaching their teams, is there some sort of reporting system that they can also generate reports back to us on the performance of those leads? And then also understand what they're looking to get out of the campaign, objectives, and as you mentioned KPIs, which are key performance indicators that will give us an idea on what's working and how to increase that, what isn't working and how we can optimize that. So those are some of the best practices, starting fresh out of the gate, make sure that you have the right infrastructure systems and customer relationship management software in place.
0:06:34.5 ML: So, Courtney, what I'm hearing is that it's a combination of things. It's having the right tools, it's being prepared to offer transparency and to provide the reporting on actually how these leads are performing, knowing what you actually want to achieve before you get started and having a clear understanding of what are the actions that we are putting all of these investments towards, right? But I've heard you talk before about part of the infrastructure also including how you intend to work the leads and a plan for that. So I come from a mortgage and real estate background, and in that industry, you're constantly hearing about speed to lead, speed to lead. So is speed to lead as important in this market as I've heard it to be, and what are some of the recommendations for that infrastructure of working the leads as part of getting yourself set up?
0:07:31.8 CW: Absolutely, more than ever, Melissa, is speed to lead. There are many clients that have a very robust system to, whether it's a call center that is outbound dialing the leads or it is a team of people that will dial on their behalf, it's critical to reach those consumers that have opted in as quickly as possible, because the intent is there, and we know that it continues to drop as soon as that lead has been delivered. So having the right infrastructure and talking that through with your lead gen partners to understand how quickly you can receive the leads, if they're aged or real-time you're gonna handle those differently, right? You're not gonna have... Maybe you'll have your fronters dial out on some of the aged leads, but maybe you're gonna have your sales team receive your real-time leads because those are gonna be the most critical and also gonna be more premium and price point too. So those are just additional best practices for speed lead.
0:08:31.6 ML: I love that. Immediately, as you're talking, it makes me think about being in a kitchen preparing to cook an awesome meal because you can have the best ingredients in the whole wide world, but if you don't have any materials to cook it in, if you don't have your pots and your pans, and you don't have your utensils and your knives, you won't be able to prepare these ingredients properly and you won't be able to serve the meal. So I really love that it is about a combination of tools, transparency, knowing what you want and being able to really evaluate what systems do you have in place to make this all work? Let's get into our next question here, so what I love about this presentation today is that we got so much feedback really early on that we were able to build this entire interview based on the hot questions that we got from attendees and registrants.
0:09:18.5 ML: So this is one of those questions, you're already committed to, I want lead gen to be a part of my strategy. Okay, great, but now you're trying to determine what lead provider you're gonna be working with. So when you're getting ready to identify a lead provider, what are some of the important things that you need to be considering? Courtney, let's get back to you on this, 'cause I know you've had a lot of these conversations, getting ready to find the right lead provider, how do you get started?
0:09:49.2 CW: Well, you can see I'm wearing a lot of logos today, so I am a little bit slated in my opinion, but I think when you're considering lead gen partners, you really want to consider what their share is in the marketplace in terms of scope and scale, and so inside of the four walls of that business, they can describe to you an idea or an estimated volume that they can provide, but oftentimes, once you get live, you may actually experience less volume and it's not what they originally discussed with you. So, those are some red flags to look for. What volume potentials are they stating to you and are they asking you some of the critical questions, like geos, states, some of the things that you're looking to target for those ideal consumers that you wanna interact with.
0:10:43.6 CW: And I think having that in place is really critical and understanding, are you going to be able to reach the max amount of consumers that you want with this campaign, and it's kind of the fish analogy, if you will, so a lead gen that has the max amount of consumers inside their four walls when it comes to a data standpoint traffic, you can hit so many more consumers within that campaign and omnichannel-wise as well with that brand rather than having multiple smaller campaigns in many, many region partners. So those are some of the best practices I would suggest then looking with a lining of a lead provider.
0:11:28.2 ML: Courtney, I love that you said scope and scale, that immediately, immediately resonated with me. I would even add to that, scope, scale and a commitment. And quite frankly, an expertise in operationalized compliance, and that makes me think of, you know, what... I've heard all of you talk about so often, is brands almost coming into a lead gen conversation with a little bit of trepidation and a little bit of concern of, "Well, am I going to be able to be in control?" And one of those areas of sensitivity is audience targeting. So Deanna, I'm gonna get over to you now and talking about identifying the right lead provider, I feel like the very next question is, How do I know that you are going to be targeting my audience properly, how do I know that you understand them enough to do this? So what would your recommendations be there?
0:12:20.7 DM: Yeah, absolutely Melissa. And I know we like analogies here, so anytime I am talking to a potential new client, I always tell them that finding a good lead generation partner is a lot like dating. It is a big red flag if you are speaking with a partner who wants to market your campaign or your offer, and they're not asking you any questions about your product or your company before sealing the deal. So for me, what I would recommend to anyone on the call, when you're looking for a lead generation partner [is] be extremely aware of the type of questions they're asking, what type of questions is this potential lead generation partner trying to find... Asking to find out the ins and outs of your company. When developing a lead generation campaign, we want to know the ins and outs of your product, the consumer experience from the moment they see an ad to the moment they close on a sale or become a subscriber. It's really important to understand that as well as the target audience because without understanding the target demographics that have had success in the past, then we would essentially... Your lead gen partner would essentially be starting from scratch, so tuning into your past successes, understanding your KPIs and then adding that incremental volume reaching a wider audience while still focusing on what's worked for you in the past.
0:13:54.5 DM: Now, does your potential lead gen partner have an understanding of the vertical you're in? It's also really important to understand if they've had experience within your space, are you a Medicare provider, are you providing a home service product? Asking your lead gen partner what successes they've had in the past within this vertical is absolutely key. Again, you don't want them to be testing and re-inventing the wheel with you, and it's really easy, this day and age, to find partners that have had successes within a similar vertical. And then cross-selling across different demographics based on what you think would be a good match for that product. And therefore, how does... What are the capabilities your lead generation partner has to target those consumers that are gonna be a good fit for you? Going back to what Courtney said about aggregating data, what type of data is being accessed, how is it being aggregated, and then who... What are those consumers that you're reaching out to?
0:14:58.3 ML: And Deanna, one of the things that definitely stood out as you're giving this overview is that lead providers are not one-size-fits-all, so there are definitely some really essential nuances between them, whether it's vertical-specific expertise or just going back to what Courtney was describing, scale and scope of what you can provide, really understanding where they're great and what they can offer, and if they're not coming in and asking you these questions to understand your customer journey, your customer experience, to understand how you intend to work the campaigns, to understand, as you were just describing, what worked really well. The other thing that I've heard you talk about in the past is also knowing, what are the non-negotiables?
0:15:43.6 ML: What is the no-go zone, What do you not want? What does a client who will not work for your business look like, so we know what to avoid. And you kinda need to know, just like you said, in dating, you need to know what you want and what attracts them, but you also need to know what you don't want, because that's how divorce happens, [laughter] but that's what we want to avoid. I think that's really... I think that's really, really helpful. So that leads us right into our next question. And not being one-size-fits-all as lead providers, leads themselves are not one-size-fits-all. There are certainly different types. So Courtney, when you start to have the conversation of different types of leads that are available for purchase, what do you typically describe?
0:16:29.1 CW: Yeah, so I think it just... It's really good to have a conversation about where the leads are being generated as of right now, and what we're seeing in the marketplace, we all know that there are some tried and true efforts that have been around for ages, and now in the digital marketing space, it's kind of opened up and changed quite a bit too. So you have data leads that you are typically seeing interact on full forms, so those are gonna be more your higher intent leads and the consumer is taken through a number of questions, and typically those are a higher price point as well, you can interact with a consumer in a pathway type flow where there's multiple sites and they can opt into a question and say, "Yes, I'm interested in regards to that product or that brand." And then there's also aged leads as well, where a consumer initiated intent in a product or in a brand some time ago that you could also reach out to or re-engage with. And then there's options inside of the call space, right?
0:17:35.0 CW: So those are consumers that are... You're actually speaking to on the phone, they're interested in speaking to a particular brand or company about a vertical that they need support in, whether that be disability or really all of the verticals that are out there. So it depends on what the product is and what the consumer is looking for, and some of these channels marry that together, and so I think when you're looking at all of the options in terms of whether it's a warm transfer, an inbound, consumer initiated, social click to call type of option. Diversification is key, it's very wise, especially in the ever-changing market that we're in, we keep seeing things are evolving where maybe it was something social and it worked really well previously, and then you have to pivot and try something else. It's great to diversify your marketing by buy so that you have the option and if something isn't working and you're optimizing that, you could test something new.
0:18:38.0 ML: Courtney, I'm so happy that you got into why it's important to test different types because I think it's kind of easy to get into a lull. And you have a certain strategy in place for a certain amount of time, and you kinda go into auto-pilot. Look, it's very easy to get into that auto-pilot zone where you're just doing the same things you've always done, but there are so much optionality out there even with your lead gen buying strategy. And where you can invest your dollars in court. I love that you touched on that. It's important to focus on that diversification as part of navigating this ever-changing highly competitive market, 'cause I think we're all experiencing that. You know, the pandemic was one thing, but post-pandemic life has already exhibited a number of unique challenges of just across the board in a number of different verticals. We also... Yahoo's update makes significant changes on the email front. I think we all remember the day that we were convinced that we broke the internet when Instagram and Facebook went down and stayed down for hours.
0:19:48.3 ML: There are these moments where the channels that we rely on, they can change at any minute, and then of course, then you're talking about just socio-economic factors with what's happening right now with the great resignation and inflation and changes in our economy. All of this ends up playing into how brands and advertisers are going to sustain and connect with their target audiences and different types of lead gen can empower you to do things in new ways. I love that, and I think it also really speaks to why lead gen is so powerful at the bottom of the funnel, where you're already investing from an organic standpoint, whether it's your public relations or your content marketing or your social...
0:20:31.2 ML: You're already doing a lot to establish brand awareness right and to really develop your brand footprint and persona, but at the end of the day, to really, really touch on like that, those consideration moments, those decision moments when you're getting to the bottom of the funnel, that's where lead gen can really accelerate all of your efforts. And that's really exciting. So talking about profitability, driving revenue, Deanna, I know that this is an area where you are an absolute expert, so tell me, how can we make sure that lead gen campaigns are truly set up for profitability?
0:21:09.7 DM: Yeah, this is my favorite question that you're gonna ask me, because this absolutely, when working with a new partner and setting up a newbie [lead] generation campaign, this truly is the lion's share of the time that we're going to put in before launching the campaign. The campaign set up is so important. Making sure we're crossing our T's and dotting our I's in every aspect of a campaign before rushing to go live, to make sure that everything is in its place.
0:21:41.4 DM: Not only do we want the complete understanding of the clients, back-end key performance indicators and the process for each consumer within the journey, but a lead generation partner wants to understand the client's past successes, maybe some of their past failures, understanding what channels have historically worked for them, where they're looking to grow, so we can focus in on those past successes and build upon those, while obviously offering additional avenues for lead generation that would fit within that mold. Providing clear copy guidelines and restrictions for your lead generation partner is of utmost importance. Messaging is key, intense goes hand-in-hand with the type of messaging that you're providing to your consumer that's going to compel them to submit their lead for more information while making sure that only qualified consumers are submitting that information on the front end.
0:22:40.0 DM: So by the time you're reaching out to them, you know that that consumer is not only interested in your product, but going to be a qualified consumer for your product. Sharing any factors that may affect contact rates or close rates, like call center hours, for example, make sure you're sharing that with your partner. A lot of most reputable lead generation partners are going to be able to day part, meaning changing pricing based on your call center hours, if there's a chat like coming through during off hours that could be adjusted or ensuring that traffic is only flowing through Monday through Fridays or whatever, what have you. So that's also super important.
0:23:21.5 DM: Going back to the qualified consumer, it's very common for a lead gen partner to be able to place filters on what you would consider a qualified consumer so that you are not paying for leads that you're not going to be able to monetize on the back end, so being extremely clear about the filters that you want in place for those leads. So if you are looking for a specific cycle for a specific geo, if you cannot monetize leads within a specific state age range, those are all things that we can suppress pixel fires for consumers that are not going to be workable.
0:24:00.9 DM: And Courtney also talked about diversification a lot. The division of DMS, I work within the performance ad network, we have a multitude of channels that we can also diversify within. Whether it's email, Instagram, TikTok, display, push notifications, banner ads, and diversifying there within the testing period is also vital, so you can find out what's gonna resonate. And making sure you're setting up a campaign for success, you are also wanting to identify a cost per lead that makes sense based on your historical lead to conversion rate, and your company's target cost per sale. So backing that into a lead cost, that's not only gonna benefit you with your back-end ROI, but also ensuring that it's competitive within the space or that you can capture that traffic competitively. And then most importantly for me, as I'm managing lead general campaigns, and I think this is extremely important to relate to your partners, is how many leads do you need to see to get a clear and adequate picture of a quality from any given source?
0:25:12.2 DM: I see a lot of partners come through and ask for 15 or 20 leads per source to test, well in reality, how many leads do you need to see in order to get that clear picture of contact and close, right? So we wanna know that and we also wanna how quickly you're able to determine that quality. What are your initial key performance indicators versus the long-tail close rate, so that we can keep a pulse on the quality as we go through those testing phases. And then lastly, what I mentioned is making sure that the messaging is compelling, of course, but it's also clear and educational to the consumer, so that when they submit their lead, they know what they're submitting their lead for, so finding a lead gen partner that is of course interested in not high conversion rate and getting all those leads in while maintaining that clear message so that the consumer isn't surprised when they are contacted by your company for a product that they maybe weren't super educated or aware about...
0:26:11.5 ML: Deanna, that's a really good point because I think that that plays into aspects of the consumer experience as well, and what those positive moments and positive touch points can be really early on. I also love that you really highlighted that it's important to understand the typical maturation rate from, like lead to final sale or lead to the final desired action. And from what you're describing, this is really more of a partnership, and it's not so much a set it and forget it type of strategy, but there's a lot of subjectivity that needs to constantly be evaluated to make sure that you position yourself for success, but making sure that you're still doing all of the things that lean in to contributing towards for that success.
0:27:01.1 ML: And I love that you touched on the importance of really having an overview of the copy and the graphics and just effective messaging, so that that's staying really consistent. And I think that brands appreciate that as well, because that's another area that will help them to feel comfortable and confident that their brand is being handled properly and that they know where it is. I love also that you highlighted that you work with the DMS performance ad market, also brings you in front of publishers, and I feel like so many publishers are starting to talk more and more about an interest in better understanding lead gen, and they're typically talking from a content side, and you can see that even publishers in this market are really embracing the benefits of having a better understanding of the best practices of a lead gen so, thank you so much for that.
0:27:49.0 ML: We do have another question here, for everyone who's on the webinar today, if you have questions that have not been answered yet, there is the GoTo Webinar tool and you can submit a question directly through the GoTo Webinar module, and then I will be able to see the question, if we do not have time to cover it, we can certainly follow up with you directly or cover it in some of our future content. So, here is our last question for today. How does lead generation play a role throughout the customer journey? Courtney, I'm gonna start with you.
0:28:25.6 CW: Yeah, I think when you're trying to understand how it's going to impact your customer, you really wanna consider the relevance and the messaging that you wanna utilize. Make sure that it's the right message for your brand, right place and right time is a great place to start, and understanding what your outcome that you're looking for within the lead gen space. We do see that it's impactful throughout the funnel across multiple industries, vertical agnostic, whether it's e-commerce, insurance, education, non-profit, totally action-driven. We can also do that branded and unbranded. You can have an ad that can be targeted specifically with your branding logo and language that's necessary, or you can be more open-ended and unbranded. So it depends on what the advertiser is looking for, but these are just some of the things you wanna keep in mind to keep that customer journey going with the clients that you're looking for, and taking all of that into consideration.
0:29:30.3 CW: You can also do a re-engagement, which is taking your existing client base and re-engaging them through a marketing channel, whether that's email or different types of traffic opportunities, there's a lot of different things that you can do, warm transfer calls or outbounds to get them back in discussion with you and your brand. So it works in all channels, and it's not one-size-fits-all, but if it's everywhere, really just depends on your objectives, budget and goals.
0:30:03.2 ML: Thank you, Courtney. So Deanna, over to you. How does lead gen play a role throughout the customer journey?
0:30:10.0 DM: Yeah, I think I like this question because the customer journey, a lot of lead aggregators, their main concern is getting you a submitted lead and then they feel like they're done with their job, but truthfully, it extremely important what the customer journey is beyond that lead submission. So you want to share with your lead generation partner the full story, once that leader submitted, how is the consumer going to be contacted? How quickly are they going to be contacted? Is it email, phone? If a consumer is being contacted by phone, then maybe it's really going to be beneficial to indicate to that consumer once their phone number is submitted in that lead generation form that they could expect a call from an agent within X amount of seconds or minutes. So that is the customer journey, the consumer joining is really important there for you to share with your legion partner, and then how long does it usually take from initial contact to close on a partner. Some of our lead generation partners, as soon as they get a consumer on the phone, they can expect to have a close or a sale within a day or two, but some other verticals such as home mortgages might be a much longer process, the contracting phase might be longer. So taking a look at that and having a solid understanding of the lead to close rate and that time that it takes.
0:31:38.0 DM: And then finally, what are the costs to the consumer? What... does the consumer's household income play a part? Does their FICO score play a part? This is all going to help us optimize the audience to which we're targeting, because you may get a lead, a consumer submitting their lead that really, really wants to subscribe to your product or make a purchase or unroll in whatever service that you're providing, but if they are not going to have the ability to close on that based on varying factors, then that's gonna really affect your cost per sale on the back end. So that's an important part of the consumer journey that we really wanna be aware of as well.
0:32:17.9 ML: Deanna, that's a great point. I love that you really focused on the importance of intent and cost to customers. I think that that is absolutely key. Courtney, I love that you highlighted some of the different verticals, and particularly the power of going branded or unbranded, one of my favorite DMS key studies actually was focusing on the EDU market, right higher education, and it was the power of unbranded for EDU. And I think that, you know, a lot of advertisers would typically assume that leading with their brand is the best way to go, but there's a lot more optionality out there. So we are nearing the end of our time today. So I do wanna thank Deanna and Courtney for joining me. Now, you know DMS can help you with your customer acquisition, whether it's through lead generation or through many, many more of the various solutions where we are experts. DMS is a leading provider of data-driven technology-enabled digital performance advertising solutions, and that is really powered by our toolset or what's the DMS toolset?
0:33:31.7 ML: It's our first party data asset, it's our proprietary technology and our expensive digital media reach. These are the foundations of how we connect advertisers and consumers. So we did not get a chance to touch on your questions today, we will be following up with you directly, so you will have an opportunity to chat with our speakers, but as we close up this session of DMS Live, I want to invite you to join us the next time around. So our next DMS Live session is coming up Wednesday, July 20th, where we will be talking about how publishers can scale monetization efforts using push marketing, and that session will feature Amber Paul, DMS SVP of Distribution and Jody McGarvey, DMS Senior Director of Messaging. I hope that you all got a few great tidbits and insights from our experts today, and I hope that you will all join us next time on DMS Live. See you later.