Online Inbound Lead Collection and Promotion Tracking

By Wendy Flanagan (VP Account Services)
Blairstown, NJ

Companies invest a small fortune in trade shows, ads, direct mail campaigns, incentives and promotions. It has been my experience that the positive response and excitement from the sales team is considered ample justification for expense. But are inbound leads being tracked to corresponding media allocation? Or are they being merged with the costs of that campaign overall? Here are some questions you should ask yourself about your marketing campaigns:

* Are the costs per lead being linked to the specific promotion or incentive in real time? Collecting and distributing leads is a multi-channel effort. What tool sets are being used online to track the ROI of individual promotions?

* How long does it take to get a corresponding Web URL and promo code from IT? How much does it cost each time you create an online form (Web landing page) for  your campaign? How many times a year do you create a response form for inbound leads?

* Can you review and compare collected lead statistics by region, promotion, offer, or season in a dashboard? Can you review that data against sales activities or closed proposals? Can you ensure that the appropriate legal is associated with the right promotion? How many ‘unplanned’ promotions are not getting tracked?

I understand that these are fairly sensitive topics, but it makes sense that marketers and product managers might be interested in an easy way to manage their online promotions. With the enterprise-wide initiatives that IT is facing, it makes sense to put the creation of online response landing pages in the hands of the people who need them.

Sales drive every company. Marketing supports sales. Companies are successful if they continue to increase revenue. As a sales or marketing professional, can you tell which promotion resonates with your audience in real time?

* Editor's Note: For more on real time CRM and data collection read Getting Real About Real Time on ManageSmarter.com.

Click here to see your post up on the S&MM SoundOff!