Despite all the crap that has happened, we still find ourselves able to not only defend but believe in the value proposition that is the performance marketing space. And, it’s quite a laundry list of crap. In some respects, performance marketers have managed to pretty much destroy anything good that has come their way. We have alienated many major traffic sources, especially Google. We’ve managed to stoke the ire of Attorney Generals, the FTC, the BBB, all the way up to the credit card processors themselves. We tend to overkill almost any segment we touch, pushing as hard as we can until eventually it either breaks or we give up on it. And, we have a lengthy and ongoing track record of pretty much lying to consumers. Yes, if we look at it from that perspective, we suck and deserve all of the negative things said about the industry. On the flip side, though, we are pioneers, risk takers, marketing wizards, masters of our destiny, the envy of those in the rat race, and if not anything else, a group of innovators. What we really are, though, is human. The do what it takes to survive, attack an opportunity hard with reckless abandon, even if it becomes a tragedy of the commons is not something unique to performance marketers. We just elicit those outcomes quicker than in other industries, but they are the same outcomes that we see with the environment and the financial system.
In upcoming pieces, we will talk about replacements for some of the lost continuity business, some of which will fall on the shoulders of the lead generation industry. Already, judging by the ads on Facebook, the lead generation space has started to receive some significant attention from those who in the past looked elsewhere for monetization. As has been a central theme, the difference between lead generation and other forms of customer acquisition are extreme, most notably because the latter involves a billing mechanism and the former simply data. With a billing mechanism in place, there is in many respects a better chance at monetizing the user. After obtaining that piece, you no longer need their involvement. If anything, you need them to become not involved so that the charges will continue to go through. That exact opposite is the case with lead generation offers. Getting a user to complete a form is just the beginning, at least for the end advertiser. For most verticals, they must then follow-up with the lead and convert it to a sale. The difference between someone interested, mildly interested, and not interested is huge. It’s equally important to realize that there will be two parties on each lead, the person selling and the person being dialed. Success in lead generation means a lot of things, but it absolutely doesn’t happen by passing off data.
Some companies will crash and burn in their lead generation marketing efforts. Others will manage to keep getting greater allocations and continue to enjoy the benefits of these offers. Who falls in which group depends on which can follow the below guidelines. And, they are equally applicable to the continuity space as they are to lead generation. They came out of a recent conversation with a savvy investor who has thus far shied away from many companies in our space.
Do Users Know?
Not to answer a question with a question, but what do users think they are getting? Do you think an ad that reads "Obama Wants You to Get a Degree" and takes users to a landing page that discusses how he set aside money for education will convert well for the end school? No. Users who complete that form do so under the impression that they might miss out on some pool of money that makes it cheaper if not free to go back to school. There’s an auto insurance ad running that does something similar, enticing users by saying they can get auto insurance for $13 per month. Through a series of hops, that message is lost by the time a user gets to the landing page, but the user won’t forget when talking to someone. In other words, the bait and switch of free iPod marketing is a recipe for disaster and will not work for the long-term. You can get away in the short term sending crap traffic, but the tides are against you if you want to keep that money coming in.
Do Advertisers Know?
As important as it is for an aware user, the advertiser too must know. What would an advertiser think if they saw your ad? Would they approve? What about the landing page? We operate in a world of gray where sometimes the advertisers might reject or find offensive something that actually works very well. They don’t always know what works best, but if they would find shocking how others promoted their service, that does not bode well for long-term success. Given that the world is not perfect and far from ideal, you still want to try and get close to the idea which would mean if an advertiser saw how you promoted their service, they wouldn’t mind. We can’t always expect them to love it, but they shouldn’t do worse than cringe.
Good? Just Good Enough? Or, Just Below Good Enough?
Even the most gray of marketers tends to have a gut feel of their efforts. The distinction between white hat and black hat marketers is more often the level of concern, not the level of awareness. Good and bad marketers know when they’ve done something bad. One side simply holds themselves accountable. Instead of calling it white hat or black hat marketing, another way to view the scenario is to grade one’s efforts. Are you doing good work? Are you doing just good enough work? Just good enough work won’t win you any awards, but it doesn’t yield a net negative. Good work might be that campaign with high margins where just good enough is break even to making some money. The temptation, though, is to engage in just below good enough work and try to convince yourself you’re doing just enough to be good. But, a losing campaign is a losing campaign. If we want to make sure our marketing efforts won’t get shut down, we need to stay at or above good enough.
Compliance on the checklist above might not make you the most money out of the gate, but it will make you money when others get shut down.
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