MOCA Vamps Vortex For Iforce Partners

MOCA, which created the Vortex tool in 1999 to help solution providers track leads generated by different marketing campaigns, teamed up with marketing firm Harte-Hanks to develop version 3.0, MOCA executives said.

The latest iteration allows customers to reuse leads that had been purchased for previous marketing programs going back to 2001. Until now, customers paid a fee each time they accessed end-user information, regardless of whether a lead was new or old, because MOCA pays $2 to $3 per lead to keep it licensed and refreshed every quarter. Now solution providers pay only once to purchase new end-user data.

"In this marketplace, it's critically important to have accurate, appropriate means to identify and target midmarket customers," said Hank Johnson, vice president of the Infrastructure Solutions Group at Stonebridge Technologies, a solution provider in Dallas. "That's what Vortex does. What MOCA is doing is consistent with what we're doing: servicing existing clients but working hard to generate new demand."

With Vortex 3.0, iForce partners that purchase Sun products from MOCA can better determine which prospects from previous campaigns might be appropriate for new marketing programs, said Rich Severa, president of El Segundo, Calif.-based MOCA.

"When you buy lead lists, you're really renting the list, and every time you do a marketing program, you have to [buy a list] again," Severa said. "This is an attempt to do three things: add legs to previous marketing campaigns targeted at similar end users, get much deeper information in our Vortex tool and get more bang for the buck with your marketing dollar."

More than 50 MOCA solution providers already use Vortex, which houses 30,000 end-user profiles and contacts, Severa said.

"Not every campaign targets 30,000 customers, but we can do quite extensive data mining," he said. "We've gotten a lot of experience in market intelligence. Harte-Hanks is a leader in that segment."

Vortex does more than help with marketing campaigns, Severa said. "It also has other features. We use it for database management or to [pinpoint] upgrade opportunities," he said. "We can determine who's a logical target for an upgrade."

Vortex searches its database for geographic presence or vertical-market expertise on behalf of solution providers.

"We're trying to [help] partners build their brand, their value add, and get more bang for the dollars they're investing," Severa said. "[Vortex lets them] take financial benefits and increase their success rate."

The cost of obtaining leads can account for 20 percent of a total marketing campaign, Severa said.

"The issue is not making incremental investments, but making investments that make a difference in market share or revenue," he said. "We've invested more than $600,000 in the tool. When you tally up what we're investing in,the development of marketing capabilities to endow partners with,this is one of our big bets."