What is Marketing People Network?
Marketing People Network provides a fully managed B2B cold-email outreach service for small and micro businesses.
We help businesses find suitable prospects, verify their contact details, create email campaigns and manage the outreach on their behalf.
You tell us who you want to reach, what you sell and what makes your business different. We take care of the prospecting and email outreach.
Who is the service designed for?
Our service is designed primarily for small and micro businesses that want to find new customers but do not have a dedicated marketing team.
It can be particularly useful for owner-managed businesses, consultants, professional service companies and other organisations that want to generate new business without employing additional marketing staff or learning complicated email software.
What is managed cold email?
Managed cold email means that the prospecting and email outreach are handled for you rather than you having to operate the software and campaigns yourself.
We can help identify suitable prospects, verify business email addresses, prepare the email sequence, configure the outreach and manage the campaign.
When an interested prospect responds, you can take over the conversation and decide whether there is an opportunity to work together.
How does Marketing People Network work?
The process is straightforward.
First, you tell us about your ideal customers, your products or services and the reasons customers choose your business.
We then identify suitable prospects and verify their business contact information.
Next, we create a multi-stage email campaign based on your proposition.
We manage the outreach and follow-up emails, while you concentrate on responding to interested prospects and running your business.
Do you find the prospects for me?
Yes.
Prospect identification is one of the main parts of the service.
We search for businesses and decision-makers that match the criteria you provide, such as industry, job title, company size or location.
The aim is to make the outreach as relevant as possible rather than simply sending large numbers of emails to unrelated businesses.
Do you verify email addresses?
Yes.
Email verification is used before outreach wherever possible to reduce the number of emails sent to invalid or undeliverable addresses.
Verification also helps protect the reputation of the sending mailboxes and domains used for campaigns.
Do I need to buy any software?
No.
The purpose of the managed service is to remove the need for you to learn or operate specialist cold-email software yourself.
We manage the technology required to run the campaign.
Do I need a marketing team?
No.
The service is specifically intended to help smaller businesses that may not have an internal marketing department.
You provide the knowledge about your business and your ideal customers. We provide the prospecting and outreach infrastructure.
Who writes the emails?
We work with you to understand your offer, target customers and key points of difference.
We then create a campaign designed around that information.
You can review the messaging so that it accurately represents your business before the campaign begins.
How many emails does each prospect receive?
We normally use a short multi-stage sequence rather than relying on a single email.
A typical campaign may contain up to four emails, with each message approaching the proposition from a slightly different angle.
For example, the first email may introduce the offer, the second may reinforce the value, the third may present the proposition differently and the final email may close the conversation politely.
Why send more than one email?
One email can easily be missed or forgotten.
A short follow-up sequence gives a prospect several opportunities to notice and respond to the message without creating an unnecessarily long campaign.
The intention is not to repeat the same sales message several times. Each email should add a slightly different reason for the recipient to consider responding.
Do you use my normal business email address?
We generally recommend separating cold-email outreach from a company’s main day-to-day business email.
Separate sending domains and mailboxes can help protect the reputation of the organisation’s primary email domain while allowing campaign activity to be managed independently.
The appropriate setup will depend on the campaign and the needs of the business.
What happens when someone replies?
If a prospect expresses interest, the conversation can be passed to you.
You then decide how you want to continue the discussion, whether that is by email, telephone call, online meeting or another sales process.
Our role is to help create those initial conversations.
What happens if someone asks not to receive further emails?
Opt-out requests should be respected.
Campaigns are managed so that recipients who request no further contact can be removed from future outreach.
Is cold email legal in the UK?
B2B cold email can be lawful in the UK, but businesses need to consider the requirements of UK GDPR, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and other applicable rules.
The circumstances can differ depending on who is being contacted and how their information is being used.
Our campaigns are designed to support responsible B2B outreach, including relevant targeting, business contact information and opt-out handling.
Businesses remain responsible for ensuring that their marketing activity is appropriate for their particular circumstances and should obtain professional legal advice where necessary.
Is this the same as Mailchimp or other email marketing platforms?
No.
Traditional email-marketing platforms are generally designed for communicating with people who have already subscribed to a mailing list or have an existing relationship with the organisation.
Marketing People Network provides a managed B2B prospecting and cold-email outreach service.
Instead of simply providing software, we help identify prospects and manage the outreach process for you.
How is this different from buying an email list?
Simply buying a large list of email addresses does not necessarily mean that those contacts are relevant to your business.
Our approach starts with identifying the type of customer you actually want to reach.
Prospects can then be selected using criteria such as business type, company size, location and decision-maker role.
The objective is targeted outreach rather than sending emails to the largest possible list.
What information do you need from me?
We normally need to understand:
- who your ideal customers are
- what products or services you provide
- the problems you solve
- what makes your business different
- the geographical area you want to target
- the types and sizes of companies you want to reach
- the people or job roles you would normally sell to
The clearer this information is, the more accurately the campaign can be targeted.
How long does it take to start a campaign?
The setup time depends on the campaign.
Before outreach begins, we may need to agree the target market, identify prospects, verify contact information, prepare the email sequence and configure the sending accounts.
We will explain the expected setup process before the campaign starts.
How much does the service cost?
Our managed outreach packages are based on the scale of the campaign.
Current packages and prices are shown on our Pricing page.
If you are unsure which level is appropriate for your business, contact us and we can discuss the number of prospects and emails you are likely to need.
Do you guarantee new customers?
No marketing activity can guarantee that a particular prospect will become a customer.
The purpose of the service is to identify suitable businesses, make relevant introductions and increase the number of opportunities for conversations with potential customers.
Whether a prospect becomes a customer will depend on many factors, including the offer, market, timing, price and sales process.
Can I change my target market or campaign?
Yes.
Campaigns can be reviewed and refined over time.
For example, we may adjust the types of companies being targeted, the decision-makers contacted or the wording of the emails based on what we learn from the campaign.
Can you help a very small business?
Yes.
The service has been designed with smaller businesses in mind.
You do not need a dedicated marketing department, specialist email-marketing knowledge or additional staff to operate the campaign.
What is the main benefit of using Marketing People Network?
The main benefit is that you do not have to build and operate a cold-email prospecting system yourself.
We help with the prospect research, email verification, campaign creation and outreach management.
That allows you to concentrate on speaking to interested prospects and running your business.
How do I get started?
Contact Marketing People Network and tell us about your business, your ideal customers and what you would like to achieve.
We can then discuss whether managed cold-email outreach is appropriate for your business and what type of campaign would suit you.