Telemarketing. Really?

Did a proposal a few weeks ago for a company looking to break into a new geographic market.  They asked for several ideas, wouldn't state what their budget is but they wanted a full, soup-to-nuts agenda.  So that's what we gave them.  Broke it out in nice digestible chunks, but all of it surrounding a social media core designed to build a community around their specific niche.

Today they let us know they decided to go with a telemarketing campaign only.  No web, no social media, no research, no collateral development.  Not even PR.  Telemarketing for lead generation.

Really?  In the 21st Century their are still companies out there -- companies with maybe 50 potential customers -- that think hiring a third party to do cold calls is still the best way of growing a business.  Boggles the mind.  And they think this is going to get them a 1-2 percent market share of a $6 billion industry in one year.

Every research report for the past 20 years states that basic PR beats the snot out of telemarketing; that trade shows beat the snot out of telemarketing; that online marketing beats the snot out of telemarketing; and that social media marketing beats the snot out of all of them combined.

But I will give them this: telemarketing is damn cheap now.  And you get what you pay for.

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