Meet the Broker: Karen Goldfarb

Today we meet Karen Goldfarb, vice president of sales at Interactive Marketing Solutions Inc. She’s a pioneer in the new list world of Internet-sourced data and media.

E-mail lists, Web site co-registration for lead generation, search engine marketing and search engine optimization are — in her opinion — a new frontier for broker careers. Internet media is also a significant source for new postal files.

“It’s like the postal list business was in 1980s, with lots of opportunities before the list universe started shrinking,” says Goldfarb. “I could say it’s the same as brokering postal lists, except that everything is online and everyone is 20 years younger than me.”

Goldfarb worked for years with postal lists targeting consumer electronics, catalogs and magazine offers, before her career path veered online. Nowadays she no longer does much conventional postal list brokerage work.

“I don’t know how (postal) list brokers are surviving dealing everyday with net names and shrinking universes. I thank God everyday that I’m in the Internet business now,” she says.

She started out as a broker in 1984 working with postal lists at Advanced Management Systems, before moving on to American List Counsel Inc. and MKTG Services. She worked for a sweepstakes company where she headed an in-house list department. For a time she had her own business, Telemarketing Lead Corp., which generated prospecting lists for clients.

More recently she spent six years with the Internet marketing firm Traffix Inc., before she joined Interactive Marketing Solutions in June. Along the way, she moved back and forth between New Jersey and California a few times.

Today, she helps clients obtain names from list owners sourcing data from Web site registrations, online banner advertising responses and online search data. In addition to brokering online media purchases, she also represents clients looking for deals on keywords and Web landing pages to gather list data directly from consumers.

Goldfarb provides brokerage services for banks and financial services companies offering credit cards and debt consolidation products, as well as insurance companies and telemarketing agencies.

When she’s not working or traveling, Goldfarb enjoys entertaining friends at dinner parties and quiet time alone reading. Otherwise she doesn’t like sitting still. “I kickbox three times a week. I’ve been doing it for the last four years,” she says.

How much list segmentation is done with Internet sourced data, compared to postal lists?

Only a limited amount of list segmentation is being done with Internet sourced data. However, search engine data can be selected on the basis of keyword inquiries, Goldfarb says.

Selections that are available for consumer e-mail lists are hardly used because there is no financial incentive to reduce the volume of direct e-mail.

Web site co-registration data typically can be segmented by age, gender, geography and sometimes interests, she adds.

How do research resources for Internet-sourced data and media compare to what exists for postal lists?

Internet media brokers have few resources besides their own independent research. There are no directories online or offline available for brokers in this emerging market that are comparable to what exists for postal lists, according to Goldfarb.

Brokers should register at Web sites to see how registration data is being used to send out offers, get on the phone, search Google and attend industry conferences to establish relationships with list owners using Internet media, she recommends.

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