Silent Runner Inc., a manufacturer of computer security equipment, spent $38,000 to get 875 hot leads from advertisements in online newsletters.
That was half the cost of a disappointing direct mail drop last year, said marketing manager Patrice Bourgeois.
Since mid-January, the Linthicum, MD-based company generated the leads through advertisements placed at the top of “The Inside Threat” and “Risk Assessment,” two security-related online publications put out by TechTarget, Needham, MA.
The ads had links to the firm’s Web site (www.silentrunner.com).
Visitors were asked for their name and address and other pertinent details. This information was placed in Silent Runner’s database for later follow-up, Bourgeois said.
The newsletters reached 370,000 people, including vice presidents, security executives and other decision-makers. The targeted firms included banks, Fortune 2000 companies and high-tech outfits.
Silent Runner, formerly part of Raytheon, tried direct mail last year, sending to names it rented from CIO and Fortune magazines and to compiled lists segmented by Standard Industrial Classification codes.
The response rate — less than 1% — hardly justified the $74 cost per lead, Bourgeois said.
In contrast, the online leads cost roughly $43 apiece.
Another reason the firm now favors e-mail over direct mail is that campaigns can be planned and executed within a week. “By the time you select the lists and do the creative for direct mail, it could take eight weeks,” she said.
Silent Runner markets a variety of hardware and software used for computer network security by large companies and government agencies. Its products are priced at $100,000 and above.
Since last summer, the firm has also been drawing about 50 leads a month from space ads in magazines like SC Security, Network Computing, Network World, Windows for Financial Services and Signal.
The firm’s space ads have both its Web address and an 800-number response mechanism.
From its efforts so far, Silent Runner has been able to amass a house database of 6,500 executives and security professionals. It expects to narrow that number down to 4,000 after it further qualifies the names.
Once it captures and qualifies them, Silent Runner turns these leads over to its 120 salespeople, who work with value-added computer resellers to customize systems for individual companies.
The selling cycle takes about 120 days, said Bourgeois.
The $30-million-a-year firm hopes to grow by at least 60% and have nearly 8,500 highly qualified leads on its database by year’s end.
Silent Runner plans more such electronic lead-generation campaigns for later in the year. It will also run its first Webinar in April using newly installed technical equipment.
More DR space ads are also on the table. But Bourgeois said she’s going to lay off e-mail marketing efforts until the third quarter because Silent Runner has a full plate with the leads it already has.
Network
