leads? inquiries?

How much does it cost to get inquiries from Sun buyers, and other IT buyers in the UK?

This article analyses the costs of various promotion methods. If your company is a Sun Reseller in the UK you can use this data as a benchmark for comparing different methods of lead generation. It also links to various sources of further information which you might find useful.

You won't be surprised to see that web advertising is the lowest cost method of branding and lead generation, but you can also see how it compares with the other methods which you'll still need to use as part of your marketing mix.

promotion method

cost per inquiry

assumptions

advertising in printed magazines

£very large

Our experience of talking to hundreds of Sales and Marketing managers in this industry suggest that virtually none of them have had as many as 50 inquiries from a single advert. However, PR in magazines can be quite effective.

The Source lists most of the IT magazines in the UK, with editorial contacts. They also have a service which will electronically distribute your press release for a small fee.

mailshot

£114

0.7% response rate (good industry average)
40p for letter, insert, envelope and stuffing
19p for postage
20p for list rental

• Henry Clifford-Jones - at Bear Park Direct - can give you more information about Sun mailing lists.

• Paul Evans at Harper Evans Data Solutions can give you information about computer mailing lists from a wide variety of sources.

• 7 simple laws of direct marketing - is a simple sanity check to help you get better results.

telesales

£34

5% response rate
£15 /hour (internally resourced)
£35 - £50 /hour (agency)
100 people successfully contacted per day
telephone list purchase £1/contact amortized over 2 campaigns

• Guy Peach - can give you information about the IT5000 database which can be supplied for telesales

faxshot

£6.00

1% response rate (faxshots get higher response than post)
6p for sending 1 page fax
nil cost for using your own fax list

banner advertising on a search-engine

£3.00

1% response rate (that's actually below the average for UK resellers who have run banner advertising on SPARCproductDIRectory.com)
3p (4.5 cents) / impression
you have to have your own web site

• Web marketing resources shortlist - includes marketing data, web promotion companies and links to search-engine lists (free and fee)

classified web advertising

£0.70

based on average response rates UK resellers on the web publication SPARCproductDIRectory.com - your company is featured on our home page for 24 days / year and your logo and shortform profile are seen by tens of thousands of readers. Typically over 1,600 readers will click to find more detailed info about your company, and view your profile/contact page.
£1,150 - for 1 year

• advertising rates - includes prices and options

SPARC(R) is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. SPARC PRODUCT DIRECTORY(SM) is a service mark of SPARC International, Inc used under license by ACSL. Products using the SPARC trademarks are based on an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.