• 31% visit a search engine, searching without a specific brand or business in mind
• 30% look up a business in print in the phone book
• 19% use Internet directories
• 11% look at local search sites like Google Maps (driving directions)
• 3% get their information from a newspaper or magazine

Sure the phone book still ranks second among avenues for prospective customers, but taken in total barely one-third actually use print media to find businesses anymore. And you can feel confident that these numbers will continue to decrease. The phone book of the future will be uploaded, not left on your doorstep.

Source: Small Business Trends

Let’s take a step back and think about ordering a pizza with just 1 or 2 or 3 toppings on different sides. Yes, this will appeal to the actual people who are ordering the meal.

But what happens if some friends come over who have not been involved in the ordering of your pizza? What if they just don’t like pepperoni and are allergic to cheese? They don’t get to eat with you. In fact, they may go out and eat elsewhere.

Or what happens if that pepperoni half (or third) falls on the floor? You’ve lost a major portion of your dinner. Either some people are going to go hungry or you’re going to have to spend more money on dinner to feed everyone.

Please, follow the analogy through. The choice of lead generation marketing channels (like pizza toppings) probably has the same affect on your potential customers. Almost everyone will react more favorably to certain advertising media and totally ignore or dislike others for whatever reason(s). Just like some people like onions, peppers, and mushrooms and others hamburger, sausage, and pepperoni.

For example, if you send a solo Direct Mail piece to a household that totally ignores the 4-letter words “junk mail,” you could literally send a $10,000 personal check to them and it will probably get tossed in the trash. However, that same household may think the world of a co-op mailing envelope (think ValPak, etc.) and open it eagerly to see the saving coupons for “product.” Alas, you’re not in there…but your competitor is. Who’ll get the business? Probably not you.

I know of a fairly sizable company in the New York Metro area that relied on Telemarketing for about 20% of it’s business and solo Direct Mail for another 15% of so. After 9/11, even with telephone redundancy, with all the phone lines down, this company couldn’t make calls for over 2 weeks. To compensate, they mailed literally over 100,000 additional Direct Mail pieces out of New Jersey. You’re right – anthrax. This company, while spreading their risk better than many others, lost approximately one-third of their business for several weeks in addition to the cost of the lost mailing. They lost 1/3 of their pizza dinner.

This company, “A,” relies on Telemarketing for 40% of their leads and Event Marketing for 38%. These two lead sources represent 78% of their business! What happens if one or both of those employee intensive channels fail – even temporarily? Their revenue is vastly decreased. They are only using 6 advertising channels total that rapidly decrease to 10% for Internet programs, solo Direct Mail, and the company website for 5% each and Referrals for 2%.

The greater the number of marketing channels or sources, the greater the opportunity you have of reaching the greatest potential audience for your products and services. With more channels, you’re increasing the opportunity for more customers to see your ads and do business with you. Lastly, you’re ensuring your company that if one channel fails to perform up to expectations, your down-side losses are minimized.

On the other hand, company “B” has 9 marketing channels it uses with the greatest percentage being 15% each for Events, Internet and Referrals with 10% each for Magazines, Broadcast Media and Telemarketing and the remaining 3 advertising sources at 5%. They are reaching broader customer awareness and decreasing their risk for any one or several sources under-performing.

I certainly am not advocating that you have to advertise in every media that knocks on your door wanting your business; however, I am counseling you to review what channels you are currently using and the percent of both leads and revenue that come from those channels. Hedge your bet as best as you can. Each of you know what advertising sources are available in your area and with proper tracking and testing (the topics of our next 2 articles), you can possibly use more channels to reach potentially un-tapped customers. Advertising in more sources also helps ensure your business has continued success if some of those sources “fall off the table.”

“Look For Lots Of Ideas. ‘The best way to get a good idea,’ recommends chemist Linus Pauling, ‘is to get lots of ideas.’ The next time you have a problem, don’t stop with the first right answer. Look for other right answers. How do you keep a fish from smelling? Cook it when you catch it. Throw it back. Keep a cat near. Burn incense. Cut its nose off.” – Roger von Oech, Creative Think and author of “A Whack on the Side of the Head” and “A Kick in the Seat of the Pants.

Have a pizza party and order as many ingredients on different slices of your pizza as you can so that everyone you invite over will find a slice they want to eat. And please remember, “Keep Your Attitude Half-Full, not Half-Empty!”

John Clements is a Direct Response / Lead Generation Marketing consultant.
www.ClementsMktgGroup.com