BtoB Lead Generation Using Traditional Media is Dead

The Chief Marketing Officer for a highly targetable vertical BtoB market told me that the traditional method of generating leads using direct mail plus telemarketing and Internet support was dead.

He now uses online marketing without print, outbound telemarketing or direct mail support to qualify prospects and set up appointments.

After one year using this approach, he claims that he achieved his sales objectives and was pleased with the ROI.

He did admit that the cost for using the Internet marketing only approach exceeded the cost of an intensive traditional approach in year one.

The decision to use new media alone was done without the benefit of testing.  

His universe consists of less than 5,000 decision makers in several market segments that exist on rentable mailing lists. These lists represent the actual names, titles, addresses and current phone numbers with a penetration of over 90% of the available target markets. The list accuracy and overall quality is excellent.

I’ m interested to hear your reaction to this story. Have you heard of or tested a similar approach? What were the results?