SpeechWorks International Inc. has named Direct Results Group/SourceLink Inc., Boston, to create lead-generation programs on an account valued at $2 million to $3 million.
An estimated six agencies in the Boston area pitched for the account. CPS Direct, Woburn, MA, was the incumbent.
SpeechWorks, a provider of over-the-telephone, automated speech-recognition software, allows consumers to use everyday language to carry out daily business transactions, reducing issues involved with touch-tone menus.
SpeechWorks wants to raise its market profile. It targets large companies that typically have call centers or some form of automated customer interface.
“What they want us to do is a combination of continuing to build their brand but primarily to build their demand by generating leads and to help catalyze or move along the leads they have in the pipeline,” said Phin Gay, principal at DRG/SourceLink.
Tactics in place include direct mail, e-mail, Web seminars, trade shows and print advertising.
SpeechWorks joins a roster of DRG/SourceLink clients such as Forrester Research, Lucent Technologies, Baltimore Technologies and InterWorld. Billings at the 6-year-old shop were $35 million last year.
This new assignment from SpeechWorks comes just as customer relationship management issues are gaining recognition at both online and offline companies.
DRG/SourceLink's task is not just to create marketing for generating leads, but also to help convert them.
“We call that incubation programs to give them pipeline control,” Gay said. “That is absolutely important on marketers' minds these days.”
