Is old marketing dead?

[Nochexman]

Does anyone think old marketing techniques are dead...? Like telemarketing? Email campaigns, yellow pages, flyers even although I am debating if to use that in my own business...

So, what did you decide Ollie? Is old marketing dead or are the old ways still the best?

Would be interested to read your conclusions.

 

[OllieSmith]

I found that old marketing isn't dead, it just depends on what industry you're in. I had some flyers printed a few weeks back and have given them out to people I've met and already have some sales come in from that.
As for telephone marketing... I haven't quite got the confidence in myself to phone random people up and sell.
But overall I think its down to just working out which way works best.

 

[CoolsMediaJohn]

Does anyone think old marketing techniques are dead...? Like telemarketing? Email campaigns, yellow pages, flyers even although I am debating if to use that in my own business...

Email marketing - most definitely not! Having a list of active readers, subscribers, buyers is still one of the best ways to reach people and get your message across in my view.

 

[Court Jester]

on average it takes 120 calls to generate a potential lead.

I don't doubt it, used to do telesales and it was nuts, even with a free product as people are. My job was to sell people to businesses, and spent 2 hours on the phone struggling to book appointments just to explain what the product was, then getting fobbed off or trying to control the call, what a nightmare. Na. telesales just wastes time.

 

[bsummers]

Hi, as a part of a telemarketing company I can say that old marketing isn't dead. Telemarketing is active as opposed to other tactics that are reactive. When you feel that you need to contact customers and prospects fast, then use telemarketing to do that. This way, you find out what you want to find out compared to waiting for people to come to you for the information that you want. It is said that close to 20% of a marketer’s day is spent leaving vm messages. And Telemarketer should take all the chances and start leaving effective voicemail messages that will keep prospects interested. That way, your calls aren’t wasted.

The best telemarketing strategies out there are the simplest ones; those one liner scripts that save the prospects’ time when talking to you; and that single objective every time you call.

 

[telemax]

I think it's all about the fastest route to a conversation with a prospect. For example lets say I was a web designer, I think half a day knocking on doors of local businesses would bring me in a lot more business than spending £300 on Facebook adverts and hoping for the best.

 

[Ashley_Price]

Hey, another side benefit of cold calling about office supplies, is you get to have conversations about holidays in the Black Forest and the Tirol, or cruises in the Caribbean (as happened to me this morning).

 

[Nochexman]

I think it's all about the fastest route to a conversation with a prospect. For example lets say I was a web designer, I think half a day knocking on doors of local businesses would bring me in a lot more business than spending £300 on Facebook adverts and hoping for the best.

Really!? Sounds pretty random either way, but a targeted ad might be more effective than randomly knocking on doors (and you won't get snowed on). Just saying.

 

[Ashley_Price]

but a targeted ad might be more effective than randomly knocking on doors

Providing your potential customer doesn't have ad blocker.

 

[telemax]

Really!? Sounds pretty random either way, but a targeted ad might be more effective than randomly knocking on doors (and you won't get snowed on). Just saying.

I'm not ever going to discount, targeted ads or anything else, but there seem to be an awful lot of people coming on here, complaining they put a few ads on Facebook etc, and somehow been surprised the phone hasn't started ringing off the hook..

Mathematically, me knocking on every local business in my area, gives me a better chance of speaking to as many business owners as possible than any other method.

 

[Court Jester]

Mathematically, me knocking on every local business in my area, gives me a better chance of speaking to as many business owners as possible than any other method.

oh no - not field sales, omg thats worse than telesales.

I see these guys walking down the street with their flashy docu holders/leather cases, going into retail shops and being told to bugger off. The local café gets loads of em trying to flog supplies, and the owner tells em politely to get stuffed.

 

[Nochexman]

Mathematically, me knocking on every local business in my area, gives me a better chance of speaking to as many business owners as possible than any other method.

Can you share those mathematics that say you get a better result one way or another?

 

[telemax]

oh no - not field sales, omg thats worse than telesales.

I see these guys walking down the street with their flashy docu holders/leather cases, going into retail shops and being told to bugger off. The local café gets loads of em trying to flog supplies, and the owner tells em politely to get stuffed.

If I'm lucky I'll have a discussion with the business owner about the future direction of their business. Find out who they are competing with, ideally what they would want from their web presence. Everyone wants to grow their business, find out what their targets are. Perhaps I might end up with a wish list that I can quote on . Sure some people tell you to politely bugger off but it's hardly the end of the world.

There has been a huge backlash towards local business, people are more confident spending money with someone down the road rather than the multitude of online offerings from India/Philipines/Eastern Europe etc.

 

[telemax]

Can you share those mathematics that say you get a better result one way or another?

I'd aim for a couple of quotes for a morning of door knocking, but it all depends on the value of your product or service as to whether it's worthwhile. I find for Web development or IT support the return is excellent. If you are trying to sell something to a business owner on the spot it's pointless, it never works. All I am aiming to do is start a business conversation.

 

[J Arnold]

I've just started with targeted emails, I've sent 80 so far and have had 12 back all interested in my service. That's a good %. In my old job I could send 300 and not get a single response.

All depends what you are offering...

 

[telemax]

I've just started with targeted emails, I've sent 80 so far and have had 12 back all interested in my service. That's a good %. In my old job I could send 300 and not get a single response.

All depends what you are offering...

Yeah I find that email can also work much better in certain European Countries too.

 

[Kasim21]

I heard recently that some customers are becoming more receptive to physical marketing, i.e. leaflets and newsletters. I'm sure this varies by sector (not sure which), but I guess the take home would be not to discount the old school methods completely and use some form of analytics to test their effectiveness.

K.

 

[Matthew Owl]

The real question is...what kind of business do you have? For some branches "classical marketing" is the best way to improve selling. In my opinion the best strategy is to mix old and new ways. Marketing tools do not age! It depends how do you use them.

 

[SimplyMyLove]

Telemarketing is definitely dead, to me. Yellow pages and flyers still work well for local business.

 

[fisicx]

Telemarketing is definitely dead, to me.

Maybe that's because you were using the wrong company to do your telemarketing.

 

[Joe Fos]

When everyone else is not using these methods they become even more valid and worthwhile.

 

[Gustavo Woltmann]

Well old marketing is for sure not dead. All you have to do is that you will use it on the right way.

 

[SimplyMyLove]

Well old marketing is for sure not dead. All you have to do is that you will use it on the right way.

I agree. I believe it much depends on how we use them. Telemarketing doesn't work for me, but it might still work well for the others. As for me, I did purchase my breakdown insurance when I was approached by the sales agents over the phone, but now I have moved most of my shopping online.

 

[Nord20]

Writing as a business owner who is in the unenviable position of having to answer this question for real, without the benefit of being an expert marketeer, I have found this conversation to be both reassuring and desperately depressing.

It is depressing because even you seasoned marketeers can't agree on even the most basic fundamentals of what works and what doesn't, what is worth putting some of your very hard earned cash behind and what is a complete waste of money.

It is uplifting because it makes me realise my guess is as good as yours, so at least I can save some money employing a marketing firm to guess for me.

(sits back having opened the floodgates).

 

[beasty]

 

[mike-brown-vivid]

It's about what's effective in reaching and converting your target audience. I'm a digital marketing professional of some 20 years, but I still encourage clients to matrix test multiple channels, online and offline.

 

[mm88]

Marketing is so constantly evolving and changing - I don't think it's fair to say it's dead. Maybe just a little more advanced than before. Besides I still spend way too much money from giving in to email marketing campaigns so that one is most definitely dead! But all techniques in all industries must evolve, and that's all that has happened in the marketing world.

 

[AllUpHere]

I also like some promotional products for marketing my small business. It works nicely even nowadays. I just create some custom lapel pins with the help of http://www.pinsource.com/ service and give them to my customers. They are very happy with such small freebies, I have to say

Why on earth would customers want your lapel pins? What business are you in?

 

[Benjamin Sherwin]

Word of mouth is still and will always continue to be the most effective form of marketing.

 

[MBPH]

We've tried and tested this with different scripts and methods, on average it takes 120 calls to generate a potential lead. With content marketing, we generate lots of leads. It depends on the sector but as I said, I would not recommend it.

People like you who give awful unfounded advise out should be banned from his site. You are potentially stumping peoples growth by giving out dud advise.

 

[Phil Slorick]

There's no such thing as new marketing or old marketing - only marketing that works and marketing that doesn't, and in that regard the only opinion that matters is that of your customer. Test as much as you can & measure the response. Do more of what works. Stop what doesn't. And by 'what works' I mean whatever is profitable.

 

[pilgrim.marketing]

I'd say that whilst any particular technique might work for you in the short term - the trend is only going one way and that's towards digital and even more specifically towards social.

More and more attention is being paid to social media every day. Saying you've got no audience there is like sitting in your office and saying you've no one to talk to. You can go and get an audience, or you can sit and do nothing.

Yes it's a long game, no you're not going to close a £1m contract from it after two days. But if you're here for the long haul, you need to be considering how it plays into your plan.

It's only getting bigger and if you're not on with it in a 10 years time you might not be anywhere.

 

[telemarketer]

Telemarketing is not dead, I know many companies which are progressing only because of telemarketing. Many companies surviving on telemarketing even.

 

[Nochexman]

...the trend is only going one way and that's towards digital and even more specifically towards social.

Agree with you about a trend, but social media continues to punch significantly below its populist weight in terms of marketing effectiveness.

In ten years time your business might be nowhere not because of social media or the failure to embrace it, but because you didn't understand marketing itself.

Exclusive attention to one strand of marketing is always likely to end in failure and disappointment.

 

[pilgrim.marketing]

Agree with you about a trend, but social media continues to punch significantly below its populist weight in terms of marketing effectiveness.

In ten years time your business might be nowhere not because of social media or the failure to embrace it, but because you didn't understand marketing itself.

Exclusive attention to one strand of marketing is always likely to end in failure and disappointment.

Without wanting to sound like we all just agree with each other, I agree with you! You can't ignore the basics of understanding customers and their needs. You can't just focus on one thing without consideration of others. Though I think you can exclusively give your attention to one strand once you've found one that actually works - spreading yourself too thin might be the perfect way to ensure mediocrity and stagnation.

The point I want to make is that to ignore it today because the short-term ROI isn't there, could be detrimental in years to come and see you playing catch up.

The poor effect of most social media marketing is down to the very thing you mention - a failure to understand marketing itself. Most execution is between ineffective and mediocre (SPOILER ALERT: Don't just post 140 character adverts 20 times a day on Twitter).

The same can be said for why some businesses can't execute cold calls, print ads or networking correctly - dirth of creativity, lack of passion and failure to understand the medium.

I wouldn't discount any medium for any business depending on the results you want. I'd just rather try and get ahead of the curve.

 

[fisicx]

More and more attention is being paid to social media every day.

...in some areas. If you are selling sewerage treatment filters or unblock toilet for a living I doubt social media is ever going to be a useful marketing tool.

And social media usage is changing, mainly because of people using it for marketing. Lots of people are moving onto other platforms because they want to get away from the constant promotions.

If you are a local butcher you can use FB to lett existing customers about weekly deals or whatever. But if you sell cheap socks I doubt anyone is going to share or like your 5 for £2.99 deal.

 

[pilgrim.marketing]

...in some areas. If you are selling sewerage treatment filters or unblock toilet for a living I doubt social media is ever going to be a useful marketing tool.

And social media usage is changing, mainly because of people using it for marketing. Lots of people are moving onto other platforms because they want to get away from the constant promotions.

If you are a local butcher you can use FB to lett existing customers about weekly deals or whatever. But if you sell cheap socks I doubt anyone is going to share or like your 5 for £2.99 deal.

I agree that in that instance you'd have a hard time. But your strategy is wrong from the get go.

On the first point, it's hard to say that any particular demographic isn't using social media now. It was a thing for techies and teenagers ten years ago, but that's not the case today.

Your nan is as likely to use it as your daughter.

The people who buy sewerage treatment filters are on Facebook the same as people with toilets (everyone?). There are some definite trends either way for certain demographics (more women on Pinterest, more teenagers on Snapchat) so you might be best to pick and choose your medium to get the best from your efforts (same as any marketing).

The fundamental flaw in your treatment of social media is the supposition that you need to be talking about offers, deals and sales - who would want to know somebody like that? If you sat down the pub telling your mates about your offers and deals all night they'd soon tell you to drink somewhere else. Sure you have to sell something eventually, but if that's ALL you try and do, forget it - you'd be better off not bothering.

This is exactly why it's not a short term solution. It's a way to reach people, highly targeted to your proposition, at scale. It's up to you how you treat them when you get there.

Execution, not medium is why most people fail at ANY form of marketing - social is no different.

 

[fisicx]

Social media has been around for a long time. Long before it was even a thing. Do you remember newsgroups and chatrooms? They all performed a similar function and worked because they weren't used as a marketing platform. But because online marketing has become such big business it's now in your face everywhere you go. So while I agree with your approach (engage rather than sell) people are swamped. If every business used SM platorms in any guise people would go elsewhere. Facebook has already realised this and now heavily filters the content you see in your feed.

 

[pilgrim.marketing]

I get that completely. I just don't think that's a social media problem as much as it is a marketing problem generally.

We're all bombarded with messages all day long, why would we want another one in any medium? Be that Facebook, TV, Radio, Online or anywhere.

That's why it's a creative industry.

 

[NickGrogan]

the trend is only going one way and that's towards digital and even more specifically towards social.

More and more attention is being paid to social media every day.

It's only getting bigger and if you're not on with it in a 10 years time you might not be anywhere.

People said exactly the same thing about Altavista, Yahoo Directory, DMOZ and the Yellow Pages. Where are they now?

None of the current SM sites will be important in 10 years time.