Whenever I start talking about marketing, it becomes clear that most people equate marketing with advertising--attracting strangers. Marketing seems to have become synonymous with the influx of new, never-before-known-about leads who are ready to buy. And, to be clear, that is one part of marketing. But it's only one part. And, it's the most expensive part.
It costs up to 10x more to attract a lead than it does to close that lead, depending on your ad strategy and sales cycle. Getting someone to just click a link in Google Pay Per Click advertising can be $20, $30, or even north of $50 depending on how competitive your search terms are. And that's just a click. Now you need to get some portion of those to convert, which is often less than 5%. That makes even the most conservative estimates at $400 per lead. That's a lot.
But once the lead is yours, it's yours. IF you have a database, that is.
This is what many people fail to understand: the real value of your database. Your database could be the most valuable asset that your company possesses. It could have the greatest propensity to yield the sales you need to hit your goals for 2011. It could totally change your business, and it's sitting right in front of you.
If you think you need to get more leads to increase your sales, you might be heading down the more difficult (and expensive) road.
