Funnel Lead Marketing Blog

Online Lead Gen – Promises Promises

2011-02-02T10:15:00.000Z

We've all heard it before, a sales guy promising that HIS leads will work and deliver amazing results. While I don’t doubt that there’s a grain of truth lurking somewhere in this sweeping statement, I know that it is nigh on impossible to derive a significant volume of high performing leads from a single source.

This leads me to ask a very important question; if you do start getting quality leads from one source, how do you know when to stop buying?

There are only so many consumers out there who may be willing to buy your products and if you only push for volume from one supply chain, your performance will undoubtedly suffer.

Instead, work with a few trusted suppliers, adapt your creative and try new angles, incentives and conversion methods to get the required results. Above all, accept there is a finite market for a product/service. If needs be work to identify that market and target them like crazy in the most appropriate way.

Online Lead Gen does promise a lot and it is unfair to expect it to deliver first time every time if you only take a one size fits all approach. Lead Marketing is a measured process that nurtures the leads from inception through to sale.

5 Big OLG Predictions 2011

2011-01-18T16:06:00.004Z

With so many performance benefits offered up by this emerging channel, Online Lead Generation is on most Marketers’ to do list this year. Indeed the latest buzzword for 2011 is ‘performance marketing’, a moniker that fits well with the OLG industry as a whole.

To that end my 5 big OLG predictions for 2011 are:

Low cost lead management software will flood the market – making it easier than ever before to OLG!
Affiliate Marketing and Online Lead Gen come even close together with leading players harnessing synergies and best practices - their combined effort will be greater than the sum of their individual strengths.
Pubtailing – Publishers creating lead gen. revenue streams and retailers upskilling in social and community media and content creation. Ashley Friedlein Article
Less brokers, more agencies, better practitioners.
An increase in acquisitions by companies wanting a fast track to lead gen. success.

Funnel generates it’s millionth lead!

2010-12-20T09:43:00.001Z

Funnel Lead Marketing may only be a year old but we have provided our clients with over a million leads in 2010!

But, don’t be fooled into thinking that we’re piling it high. Each lead is an opted-in consumer by request and they have to pass through our strict validation filters, which includes screening the leads against suppression files and ensuring they adhere to a strict code of industry conduct, before they make their merry way to our advertiser clients.

So what is the secret of our success? In addition to our validation process, it could be that we source media across online, telephone and paper surveys from over 120 publishers. On the other hand, it could be our cost per lead, which delivers sufficient customers at target cost per acquisition.

The fact of the matter is that lead generation can and should provide both volume and measurable quality, but it requires you to pay close attention to every single detail in order to ensure continued success.

Regardless of whether you’re starting out or you’re a seasoned lead gen pro, it’s always worth keeping a close eye on any new and emerging techniques within the field that could help power your lead campaigns to victory.

Don’t start a riot, start a lead gen campaign.

Winter Online Lead Generation - Good or bad?

2010-12-02T15:28:00.000Z

I have not left the house today and I do not intend to do so whilst the UK is covered in the white stuff. Instead, I'm watching my volumes on our lead management platform with bated (visible) breath. Does the bad weather mean I will see an avalanche of leads now? With so many people stuck at home, browsing online, surely some will be in need of some light entertainment. What better way to while away an hour or two is there than responding to offers by email, clicking on lead gen advertising or taking part in online survey competitions?

Perhaps my lead gen volumes will freeze-up. The snow could discourage people doing most of the things they'd normally enjoy, giving people the opportunity to hibernate or simply go native with winter sporting fun.

Either way, the numbers don't lie and I for one will be praying for a snow powered boost to online lead gen volumes this month. Bring it on...

Some leads are more equal than others - Lead Generation NOT List Generation

2010-11-23T10:46:00.001Z

I’ve noticed an emerging trend within online lead generation (OLG) that I feel warrants further discussion and clarification. Some lead gen publishers are using generic registration forms online in conjunction with numerous advertiser logos to encourage consumers to opt in to an unknown offer(s). While the resulting leads are sold in high volumes and at highly competitive rates, they are far to non-specific to convert in their droves to actual customers.

If you’re an advertiser with the right product to sell to consumers this new wave of lead harvesting is not such a bad thing but it would be a mistake to confuse it with online lead generation. In my opinion, it would be more appropriate to call it list generation and treat it accordingly.

I would recommend using list generation if you’re conducting mass market email campaigns with the ability to monetise the data asset after the conversion process had finished (for example selling the prospect file on a CPM basis). However, if you want to generate quality opted in leads that are specific to your requirements and convert to customers in high volume; I’d employ a strong lead marketing strategy.

So, without wanting to sound overly ambiguous (or dare I say it too non-specific), whilst there’s undoubtedly room in the market for this new approach to lead harvesting, it would be better to call a spade a spade and make a clear distinction between list generation and lead generation. After all, Some leads are just more equal than others!

Defining OLG: IAB Online Lead Generation Council Update

2010-11-08T09:33:00.001Z

At last week’s meeting of the Internet Advisory Bureau’s (IAB) OLG Council the big debate was about how some advertisers, media agencies and publishers are misrepresenting OLG.

At its core, OLG is a cost effective advertising channel that provides high quality, high volume leads, engineered to convert into actual sales. While there can be no doubt about the definition I have just etched out in digital stone, the process involved in executing OLG campaigns properly across multiple channels can only be defined by dedicated OLG practitioners (like myself) who are breaking new ground and putting the methodology in place. For example, my particular blend of OLG magic has a strong foundation in traditional full service marketing practice, hence the reason I refer to it as Lead Marketing.

To hit the right note in your OLG campaigns make sure you get the right practitioner to do the job and not a company who can only deliver half of the goods. Here’s a list of who knows what and where to look for it:

Advertisers - With the maze of options available to them, advertisers are largely in the dark about how to design and manage winning multi channel lead generation campaigns.

Media Agencies (particularly the larger ones who should know better) – Often lump OLG in with other areas of marketing like online marketing or generic digital advertising rather than treating it as a separate entity and a channel in it’s own right. In addition, media agencies will measure an OLG campaign according to a fixed KPI (e.g. either CPA or CPL) rather than adopting a more flexible approach to measuring OLG campaigns that takes into account the broad price range of leads and the speed at which the leads are processed.

Publishers – it’s far too easy for new OLG companies to establish themselves and cobble together a decent initial test selection of leads. However, unscrupulous ones bump up their volumes by supplementing their leads with those of other publishers behind your back. This is known in the industry as blind broking.

Behavioural Targeting vs Online Lead Generation: Please behave yourself!

2010-10-21T09:58:00.001+01:00

Whilst I for one welcome the increased targeting techniques being employed by the ad networks to make sure that I see more relevant, me-specific advertising, there is one major flaw in the whole process...they have no way of recording my actual purchases.

After what seems like a lifetime trawling sites such as mydeco.com researching, comparing and examining sofas, I finally hauled my keister down to the Dwell store in Richmond to try some out in the flesh and ended up buying a lovely child friendly corner sofa. However, since making my purchase several I have been bombarded with behavioural advertising, some of which features the actual sofa I purchased and I can’t switch the damned ads off.

This cyber stalking of consumers with advertising that is completely irrelevant once you’ve made a purchase would never happen in online lead generation because it's all about converting leads into actual sales and then moving on to target the next available lead. Put simply, if you approach sales lead generation with a lead marketing head on your shoulders you should be trying and testing leads right through a campaign until the point of conversion but not beyond it.

So stop counting the cookies and focus on generating strong sales leads instead. And most of all, don't try to sell me the same sofa twice!

How to Combat Fraud in Online Lead Generation campaigns

2010-09-29T12:42:00.001+01:00

The existence of fraudulent activity in online lead generation will come as no surprise to those in the affiliate marketing world. Four key ways to keep fraud to an absolute minimum are:

Transparency on your ad placement and publishers
Use lead management technology to detect unusual patterns of lead submissions (i.e. receiving thousands of leads at 2 o'clock in the morning is highly unlikely to be genuine).
Tight commercial paperwork - protect yourself from paying out for invalid leads so there is no incentive for publishers to act in a fraudulent manner
Collect as many contact fields as possible to validate the lead as genuine. This includes full name, PAF address and IP address

Fraudulent online lead generation is an unfortunate part of today's lead marketing landscape and can destroy what would have been a succesful campaign.

So be wise to the issue and take the necessary steps above to keep fraud at bay.

Is CPL advertising the perfect tonic to add to the online (CPM) advertising mix?

2010-09-09T11:31:00.001+01:00

Cost per lead (CPL) marketing is coming of age with an increasingly amount of publishers waking up to the fact that CPL is not a replacement for CPM or is any way a lower class advertising channel. They come from different budgets, do different things and can be placed using different inventory. CPL ads provide a steady stream of leads of people interested in your product/service for future follow-up whereas CPM display is best placed to generate publicity, brand build or acquire customers online in that instant.

Getting the mix right is key for the publisher to maximise monetisation from their media and CPL is certainly more palatable than the 100% publisher risk that pure cost per acquisition (CPA) offers.

I look forward to working with new publishers, some of whom turned their noses up at CPL deals last year, but who now recognise the role of performance advertising in the marketing mix.

Need more quality from Online Lead Gen? Done the Double Opt-in yet?

2010-08-05T15:48:00.000+01:00

In an increasingly crowded lead gen. marketplace it's more difficult than ever to make your advertising stand out in the multi-offer environment.

One emerging technique that seems to capture the zeitgeist is the 'double opt-in' or DOI. Market researchers (often at the cutting edge of online lead gen.) started using the DOI process years ago to build their online panels, now the rest of the market is catching on. With lots of demand from e-tailers and travel companies, the trend will undoubtedly grow as it provides a cast iron guarantee that a consumer has engaged directly and positively with your brand.

However, be careful before you suddenly demand all of your OLG on a DOI. Most quality publishers will not operate on a DOI because it means the publisher has to take on too much risk in terms of email delivery and DOI creative execution. Therefore, arbitrage is the answer (managing the risk from single to double opt-in). You'll also have to negotiate hard with the affiliates to pay on a DOI as they are often suspicious about email deliverability because they feel it’s unfair the payment is decided on your ability to deliver a follow-up email.

So, if you willing to take up the double opt-in challenge it could be the answer you're looking for. The quality of your leads will be guaranteed, but your costs will undoubtedly increase and your volumes will be hard to predict.

New Lead Generation - Cost per lead advertising grows in 2010

2010-07-13T11:57:00.000+01:00

I'm hearing lots of interesting stories about how big brand publishers are now taking cost per lead advertising seriously, at last. The downturn in CPM, flat fee advertising can only hasten the stampede towards performance marketing for both publisher and advertiser.

On the publisher side, CPL advertising is no longer seen as a threat to their bread and butter regular advertising but is a true new revenue stream which can be run alongside and maximise the monetisation of the publishing media assets.

For the advertisers, CPL offers a flexible, controllable, measurable and above all, justifiable way to spend that precious marketing budget in 2010.

Whilst I think it will be another 6-12 months before we see the big publisher brands shouting about their performance marketing offering. Quietly behind the scenes, plans are being made, tests conducted and of course new money being made from lead generation marketing.

I welcome the expansion of the lead generation marketing industry with these new publishers on the block.

IAB Online Lead Generation Buyers Guide is here!

2010-06-22T09:06:00.002+01:00

It's arrived at last. The IAB Lead Generation Council have cracked it and come up with an exciting but simple Buyers Guide to OLG.

The purpose is firstly, to dispel some myths and secondly, to demonstrate the huge potential of this channel when bought in the right way.

Please, everyone join the IAB and get a copy now, whether you're an old hand or new to online lead generation.

Alternatively, come to my seminar on Lead Marketing at the Data Marketing Show on the 29th June at 12.00 and the first 20 people will get a copy.

http://www.datamarketingshow.co.uk/presentationarena.aspx

CPM Display Co-reg Banners have truly arrived

2010-06-14T16:49:00.000+01:00

It was the ubiquitous online display ad campaign by Ultralase that finally made me blog about this phenomena. Whereas before their banner approach was all brand and repeat whilst banking on people responding through another channel. The latest leaderboard incarnation features a standard co-reg style question - Do you want laser eye treatment? Yes/No. Whilst it pretty obvious, this info doesn't get captured, it is used to engage the consumer and tailor the landing page to optimise clicks and sales. I did wonder what happened if you clicked no! Maybe you click through to a sunglasses retailer instead?

Maybe all display advertising will be co-reg style in the future. Let's face it, what could be simpler than asking consumers if they are in the market for your product before you try it to sell to them.

So we'll see less of, inferred 'you are what you click' and more conclusive 'you are what you want'.

I don't want no scrubs

2010-05-05T11:56:00.001+01:00

Yes, scrubbing is one of those horrendous but vital processes of modern day online lead gen. Having said that, advertisers that don’t use lead management systems often question why suppliers don’t take responsibility and stop sending invalid leads in the first place.

However, the reality is that whilst the huge volumes of online gen may be the fatted calf, the sacrificial lamb is often the validity of some of the data generated.

This doesn’t necessarily mean a bad supplier, as they themselves may be victims of rogue affiliates sending questionable traffic. It is much better to employ sensible real-time validation with a manual scrub process to lift even the worst performing suppliers to within an acceptable level of ROI/CPA.

Funnel to take seat on the IAB Lead Generation Council

2010-04-19T16:36:00.000+01:00

Exciting times for online lead gen. as Funnel make their debut at the recently strengthened IAB UK Lead Generation Council next week.

There is so much good stuff happening in the industry but not without significant challenges, it’s sometimes easy to lose sight of how far the industry has come in a short space of time.

Indeed, defining exactly what the lead gen. industry is actually half the problem. Hopefully, some soon to be released, online advertising statistics prepared by the IAB & PwC will help identify a rapidly evolving sector which is bucking many a recessionary trend.

Now is the time to concentrate on talking up the good stuff to drown out any lead gen. boo boys. It’s no co-incidence that people who talk down lead gen. are often those who least understand it and feel they have something to lose from its inexorable rise.