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Global Knowledge, a computer training company that once relied only on direct mail to market its courses, pulled in more than 2,435 leads through October with an e-mail newsletter campaign tied to a Webinar.

The cost per lead was 20 cents, compared with 40 cents for leads acquired from direct mailings.

Prior to this fall, Global's sole direct effort for its classroom-based and online training courses was to send out nearly 30 million pieces of mail a year.

But the Cary, NC company felt it needed an extra push now, said e-marketing director Dale Leatherwood.

“There've been a lot of layoffs at companies so you don't know if the mailings even reach the prospects,” he said.

But Leatherwood stressed that Global has no intention of giving up on mail. The firm sends catalogs, brochures and other mail pieces to prospects taken mostly from computer magazines like Network World. Its average response is 1% to 2%.

For this campaign, Global sponsored two online newsletters and a yearlong Webinar developed by TechTarget, Needham, MA. All impart information about the skills and technologies enterprise IT managers and developers need.

TechTarget's e-newsletters were sent to two distinct audiences. One went to 65,000 opt-in recipients who work in networking and systems administration, the other to 95,000 IT people responsible for management and administration of Microsoft Windows and .net systems.

Leatherwood predicted 10% conversion but added that Global probably won't know its final conversion rate until the beginning of this month.

Once Global gets leads from the Webinars and newsletters, the company's roughly three dozen inside telemarketing reps work to convince these prospects to take the company's courses, which run about $1,900 each, said Leatherwood. The names garnered from the electronic campaign will be added to Global's house file, which now has several hundred thousand names.

“But anecdotal information from the inside salespeople indicates there's a good level of interest,” Leatherwood noted.

Another reason Global opted for this method was that in today's economy many firms are somewhat reluctant to spend money on non-core things like computer training.

“With TechTarget, there are about four levels of qualification so we know we're getting serious people,” Leatherwood said.