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A Guide to Lead Generation
PART THREE

A lot of marketing is based on trial and error. While even failed campaigns should contribute towards marketing knowledge, it is a costly way of doing business.

We have pulled together a summary of the pros and cons of the different mainstream media types to help you better target the media that best fits your market, message and budget.

REGIONAL PRESS ADVERTISING

Pros: Cost effective means of targeting a large audience, quick turn around, you can select ad size and format to suit your message
Cons: 90% of all marketing spend in the hearing aid industry is in the press so it can be difficult to achieve stand-out, relatively short shelf life, high level of wastage therefore can be expensive
Sample Costs: ½ page full colour: between £1,500 and £4,500
Other costs to consider:  Design

DIRECT MAIL

Pros:  Message can be highly targeted to audience, communication can be personalised helping to increase positive response, can include a lot of information, suitable for many different types of message and creative.
Cons:  Design and print of suitable communications can result in long lead times, postage alone can be expensive, can be difficult to achieve impact in a crowded market place
Sample Costs: 5,000 records; approximate costs £650
Other costs to consider: Design, print, postage

DOOR DROPS

News Share Pros:  Credibility of being delivered with an established local publication
Solus Pros:  Highest impact and recall rates of all door to door methods
News Share Cons:  A large number of inserts can reduce impact
Solus Cons: Costs tend to be around the cost of news-share distribution
Sample Costs:  65,000 drops: approximately £1,000 for News Share
Other costs to consider: Design and print of inserts

RADIO

Pros: Good for targeting at both local and demographic levels; radio is regarded as a “friend” by listeners and has lowest level of ad avoidance (ie turning over or off when the adverts come on); good for building brand but promotions and competitions also work well on radio; relatively cost effective
Cons:  Limited time to include important information; production quality is very important (ie scripts and voice over) targeting is key to success therefore extensive research (or use of a media buying agency) is necessary.
Sample Costs:  Fifty-two 40 second commercials over 2 weeks duration: approximately £500
Other costs to consider: Script and production, voice over artists.

E-BLASTS
Pros: Cost effective, good at creating awareness and driving traffic to websites, low production costs, highly targeted e-mail data can be purchased, works well in conjunction with an on-line competition, good for building relationships
Cons:  “Unsolicited bulk email” is controversial and can result in your ISP cancelling your account, suitable website necessary to channel responses, lead generation is a two stage process (ie respond to e-blast and then submit details to a website)
Sample Costs: 10,000 email records: approximately £720
Other costs to consider: Html email design

OUTDOOR
Pros:  Good for raising brand and product awareness and ideal for targeting specific localities.
Cons: Less effective for direct response purposes; audience segmentation difficult to achieve and therefore high wastage; production and media costs are high; lead times tend to be long as outdoor spaces book up months in advance.
Sample Costs: 1 x 6-sheet poster location for 2 week duration: approximately £1,300

Don’t forget that most CPD schemes will allocate points for reading relevant journals or white papers. Be sure to include the time you spend reading white papers on your personal CPD log forms.