a thousand cuts :: Adam Cohen's blog - Latest Comments in The Marketing Hot Seat: Aaron Strout

Re: The Marketing Hot Seat: Aaron Strout

Mike Langford — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 18:01:07 -0000

One thing I think worth adding is, as a SaaS solution, the lifetime value of the customer should be used in calculating the ROI. Most of these new customers will continue their monthly subscription for years to come.

Re: The Marketing Hot Seat: Aaron Strout

aaronwstrout — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:05:03 -0000

Tyson - thanks for taking the time to ask some really good, substantive questions. Normally, I wouldn't be as inclined to spend such a large % of my budget on "cold" or "direct" type marketing. The problem in this case is that the "company" is essentially starting from scratch and with an expected ROI within a year, I chose the tactics that are the most scalable and proven over time. To that end, I'd be likely to dial down search and e-mail to closer to 40-50% in year two and lower still in year three.

As for response rates, you are correct. Listening, PR and events/sponsorships would definitely be less scalable and bring about less predictable response rates but the expectation is that they would have a higher rate of return.

Of course I am still a HUGE believer in the power of social media but I like to gradually add it in over time vs. being completely reliant on it out of the gate. And as I said in my closing sentence, the first thing I would do in year two is to add a branded community which to your point, would definitely help with the advocacy part.

-Adam, maybe we could bring together some subset of this group for a virtual roundtable or webcast after the series is complete and let smarties like Tyson beat on us and/or beat on each other for 45 minutes.

Re: The Marketing Hot Seat: Aaron Strout

Tyson Goodridge — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:59:15 -0000

Wow- nice post Aaron, and REALLY intriguing numbers. You're right. I was surprised.

Looks like you want to spend about 70% of your budget on essentially "cold" customers with paid search and renting email lists. Nothing wrong with that, I like the use of your "traditional" marketing background (gleaned from Fidelity not too long ago, right?)

I'm wondering about the ROI and use of email lists- and actually quite curious about the state of email lists today anyway. Do they still work? I would guess a response rate of .05 to 1%- meaning that rate of search/pr/events has gotta be a bit higher to bring up the average, right?

I'm wondering if I would put less effort in email lists and more effort into, say "local advocacy"? Engage with 20 local product champions who spread the word about your company. These could be bloggers, satisfied customers, you name it... And yes, you pay them...That's a whole other topic to talk about, but hey, that's why there is a marketing hot seat, right?

Great question Adam, nice response Aaron. keep em coming.

Tyson
@goodridge

But here's a question

Re: The Marketing Hot Seat: Aaron Strout

aaronwstrout — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:44:05 -0000

Duane - believe it or not, I'm a huge fan of direct mail (and did several large DM campaigns at Fidelity Investments). With a relatively small budget and a need for immediate ROI, I opted to go the e-mail route as my DM proxy. Especially since this is B2C vs. B2B where a successful DM could have been accomplished for reasonable money.

Either way, I appreciate your kind words. Made my day!

Best,
Aaron

Re: The Marketing Hot Seat: Aaron Strout

Silentbutsmart — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:40:06 -0000

Adam,

Wow! If I was the CEO of a company with that kind of budget I would hire Aaron myself!

The only thing I am uneasy on - he completely ignored a proven marketing tool and that is the direct mail campaign.

I would at least put some of the money aside for that. I still believe direct mail is still a crucial player in any type of products/service launch.

Otherwise, I feel Aaron hit it on the nail! And I can see why he is a CMO!!!

Cheers,
Duane

Re: The Marketing Hot Seat: Aaron Strout

aaronwstrout — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:49:15 -0000

Adam,

Thanks again for having me. This was a fun and thought-provoking exercise. Regarding my "unexpected" approach, that was my goal. What some people don't know about me is that prior to being a "social marketing" guy, I spent 11 years working in the world of online marketing / advertising. So while I am a HUGE fan of social media and online community, that doesn't eliminate the need for some traditional marketing.

To that end, we still do a lot of basic blocking and tackling on the marketing front at Powered including enewsletters, SEO, webinars, event sponsorships, etc. I've found that these activities combined with blogging, podcasting and participating in social networks like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are the real killer combo.

With that as a backdrop, I look forward to the feedback!

Best,
Aaron | @aaronstrout