

Cold calling versus Google Adwords - sparknlaunch12
http://blog.asmartbear.com/cold-calling.html

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rwmj
Some advice (I used to work on large £100,000/month AdWords campaigns):

* Start small, just like the author did. Try to spend as little as possible, either the 1p/click minimum or target the bottom of the page (position 9.9 so you're just "above the fold"). Cap your spend.

* Measure, measure, measure. It's not even worth starting a campaign unless your whole site is being measured in every way possible. Personally I'd recommend tailing the Apache logfiles in real time to start with, rather than relying on an analytics package. You can move to analytics later once you've got the deep understanding from the logfiles. Also, save those logfiles forever.

* Don't rely on Google's tools for choosing keywords etc. They seem designed to waste your money (no surprise there!). Instead, look at the natural and paid search terms people actually use -- by following those logfiles -- and generate your keywords and your _negative_ keywords from there. Be careful with broad-match keywords. We tended to use exact match only.

* Don't use consultants, positioning tools etc. At least, not to start with. They're all expensive and won't be as good as doing it yourself. When you've got the deep understanding, then you can go with 3rd parties if you choose.

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oman121
What metrics are you looking for in the Apache logs?

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praptak
It is better not to pre-focus on concrete metrics too early. Better have the
mindset of a scientist trying to figure out an unknown phenomenon. Observe,
look for patterns, ask the what-if questions, form hypotheses, try to verify
them, etc. Not my direct experience, I just once helped a guy who started with
this approach and needed some better scripts to gather and analyze more data.
This is fun stuff, everybody should try it.

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rmATinnovafy
I've been doing marketing for a while. Mostly for my own businesses. After
some painful trial and error I found out that direct marketing is usually the
more effective choice for a lot of businesses (including startups).

Adwords might seem direct, but its not. It is marketing at large, and depends
heavily on things that are out of our control. Software like ad-blocker makes
things worse.

Yet, the do work as a combination with direct marketing. Approach them as you
would a radio ad on a small station.

Now, cold calling. There is nothing like selling over the phone. It just
works, and repeatedly. I will always try to work into any campaign some kind
of calling program. It allows you to break the ice. People do respond well to
it and response ussually raises significantly.

Problem with cold calling and phone marketing is that people approach it
wrong. They let the prospect take control of the conversation. They call with
just some script and maybe behind a computer.

I don't. I prepare as if going to battle. Everything I might need is close and
ready. Pen, notepad, calculator, specs sheet, the actual product, at least 2
scripts, the computer connected to the net with DDG ready to go, etc.

I take command of the call and just set out to conquer. Now, I hardly ever
sell a product on the phone anymore, but I sell the appointment which will
ussually lead to the sale.

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PaulHoule
I might be crazy, but I like doing cold calls -- and I'm a "technical" guy.

In my case I believe strongly in what I'm selling and I know there are gaps
between the stuff I work on and people's ability to use it -- so I know (i)
I've got to understand what those gaps are, (ii) it will take calendar time to
make sales.

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Estragon
Are you selling Ontology 2 (<http://ontology2.com/o/>)? It looks really
interesting. Who are you trying to sell it to?

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tomblomfield
Great article - I really like the point about scaling;

>> At this point in my company it was far more valuable to land a dozen
orders, learn a ton about what my customers really think, how they speak about
their own problems and my product, and therefore figure out exactly how to
thrill them and sell them. This part doesn’t need to “scale,” it just need to
happen. The only way for it to happen is to talk to a lot of people.

Verify that there is a business to scale first. Scaling is one of those good
problems to have. It’s also a very different problem than you have at the
beginning.

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sparknlaunch12
_"Verify that there is a business to scale first. Scaling is one of those good
problems to have. It’s also a very different problem than you have at the
beginning."_

I think that your final line sums up the approach nicely. Speaking to your
customers will tell you more about their needs and likely help you build a
better Adword campaign.

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pbhjpbhj
Getting an appointment with _everyone_ you cold-call sounds like you're simply
delaying the subject from turning you down. Surely not all of these converted?

Are you creating too wide of a funnel and causing a problem further down the
line in lost time pitching to those who you wouldn't let turn you down on the
phone?

TL;DR did you over-optimize your cold-call?

