The Client:
Boutique Chicago based M&A firm with 3 MDs. Well established in the market, the firm has tested a number of marketing strategies over the years to generate new business.
The Strategy to Beat:
While the firm has flirted with a number of marketing strategies, direct letter solicitations still provided the most ROI to date. Each month, the firm would spend approx $1000 on direct mail and receive 3-4 total leads. Of these leads, approximately 50% were mutual fits. This resulted in a net cost per acquisition opportunity per client of between $500 and $660.
While the strategy worked, the firm had little to no visibility on campaign performance other than the few leads that self identified as having received marketing materials. Additionally the M&A firm was responsible for generating its own marketing lists which required a significant amount of analyst time each month, and become more difficult over time.
New Strategy Proven:
The Merger Labs team was hired to run a side by side comparison of PPC vs. the firms existing direct marketing effort. Budgets were identical and was service period. Within the first 30 days of the client’s PPC campaign launch date the firm had received 12 leads with a similar mutual fit rate of 50%. This resulted in a net cost per acquisition opportunity per client of $166. Furthermore, the client no longer carries the burden of prospecting or more closely managing the marketing effort which allows them to invest highly valuable time to managing clients etc.
Net Result:
- Client can generate nearly 3x the amount of similar quality lead flow for the same $1000 per month total marketing cost
- Scalable process that is fully managed by 3rd party – eliminating the need to prospect etc.
- Client gained the ability to focus on new verticals and geographies without modifying the process, finding a new vendor or sourcing new data
