Online lead generation is the fastest growing segment in online advertising. Lead generation is growing more than twice as fast as the online advertising market and, at last count, was valued in excess of $1.3 billion per year. This should not be surprising. In a cautious post dot com era, marketers are focused on deploying campaigns that can deliver high return on investment.
However, lead generation marketing hasn’t captured the imagination of marketers as have other response driven channels such as search engine marketing.
The failure to bridge the gap between promise and reality has been driven by a variety of problems such as inefficient campaign set up processes, poor reporting and follow up mechanisms and lack of campaign transparency (the latter has not only advertisers, but also the FTC frowning).
The white paper “4 Ways Lead Generation can be made Simple and Effective Now” offers lead generation marketers practical advice from industry leaders on steps they can take now to address the problems listed above to get the most out of their lead generation marketing.
The most common problems faced by lead generation marketers are
1. Cumbersome campaign setups
2. Disparate lead data formats
3. Inefficient reporting and follow up marketing mechanisms
4. Lack of campaign transparency
Let’s take a brief look at each of these problems that are tackled in greater detail in the white paper.
Cumbersome Campaign set-ups
Ever set up a campaign on Google? Even a person with limited technical abilities (all right, we are talking about me) can do it. It’s not only simple; it’s a pleasure to see how your efforts will deliver tangible return on investment with minimal effort and time.
Now, contrast that with what publishers and advertisers have to go through when they set up lead generation campaigns.
Leads generated on a publisher’s web site have to be transmitted to the advertiser. However, there exist no common standards for transmitting leads data in the marketplace. Some advertisers want leads data delivered by email, others prefer HTTP Post, while still others label FTP as their delivery of choice.
As a result, publishers have to set up each and every lead generation campaign from scratch – a process that can take up to two days. This is not only upsetting for the publisher, but also for the advertiser who is straining at the reins to get to market.
Disparate Lead Data Formats
In the course of a lead generation campaign, a publisher collects user data and sends it to the advertiser. The user typically submits her/his information via a form containing data fields on the publisher’s web site.
Each of the fields on the form is designated by a name (<fname>, <lname>, etc). However, there are no common formats for naming these fields. Inconsistencies in data field naming conventions are a major bottleneck in lead generation campaign management. Trying to match up fname to First_name and zip_code to ZIPCODE for multiple campaigns can be an immensely time consuming and error prone process.
If you see the hairline receding on the foreheads of your technical teams, this could very well be a driving factor. And if you ever did an analysis on how much time these wasted hours cost you, then be warned – it’s your hairline that could be at risk.
Inefficient reporting and follow up marketing mechanisms
Collecting lead data can take so long, that advertisers and agencies often don’t have time to act on it. It is highly recommended that advertiserss follow up on leads within 48 hours through some marketing touchpoint.
However, strapped for resources, many marketers and agencies spend so much time on collecting leads and compiling reports that they don’t get to optimizing campaigns and following up on collected leads in a timely manner.
Real time reporting and leads delivery to your Salesforce account, call center or telemarketing company will help advertisers derive superior campaign ROI.
Lack of campaign transparency
The annoying free iPOD (soon to be iPhone and iPOD Touch) offers exemplify a lot of what is wrong with our industry.
With so much revenue to be made, a large number of less than scrupulous vendors have entered the industry. These vendors often run advertising on sites that, to make a huge understatement, are not entirely in keeping with the brand and campaign objectives of the advertiser.
Advertisers are never sure as to where their advertisements appear. Consumers are inundated with a flood of offers deploying technologies that threatened their privacy. The reputation of the industry has taken such a beating that Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has now stepped in to take a deeper look into the state of the lead generation industry at large.
Lack of campaign transparency hurts the advertisers and the consumers. It also damages the credibility of the publisher (and their acquisition prospects) and the reputation of the industry.
While the problems and solutions are examined in greater detail in the white paper, the underlying theme emphasizes platforms that are open and transparent.
As has been proved in many other industries, open platforms are indeed the foundation on which innovative, flexible and effective building blocks can rise.
Let’s rise together.
Jon Beardsley is Vice President Sales for Pontiflex, the industry’s first open data transfer network that enables all publishers, advertisers and agencies to connect and exchange leads between one another.
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