What can an ad network do to make itself stand out in a sea of undifferentiated companies? Underscore Marketing's president has some ideas.
Almost every time I have gathered together with my buy-side industry buddies in the past few years, I've heard the same complaint. There are new ad networks launching seemingly every day, but none of them seems like its own animal. Many of them have "proprietary" targeting, ad management, rich media and reporting technologies that everybody else seems to possess, too. Their names are even beginning to run together.
Lack of differentiation among networks is a common gripe. It's so common that I've been hearing reps from networks acknowledge openly in meetings that they need to position themselves differently with respect to their competitors, and they wonder aloud how they might do it.
some suggestions.
•Guarantee placement:
Running an advertiser out of network or in places the advertiser's brand specifically forbids is a common (and underhanded) tactic. Even if your network never does this, plenty of other networks do. They get caught often. The result is usually a blacklisting. Over the years, so many war stories have been traded back and forth about nightmarish placements that almost every network has been tarred with the same brush in this regard. So why not guarantee placement? If an advertiser runs outside a pre-approved list of sites or placements, they get the month's flight free.
•Show what a media buyer can't get when he leaves your network off a buy:
Highlighting inventory or unique reach that's accessible only through a buy with your network makes sense. If you have exclusive relationships with sites, buyers need to know that. If you have unique reach against a specific demographic, interest or behavior that media buyers are trying to target, they need to know that. It counts for a lot when buyers are sitting in front of their comScore interface trying to find ways to extend unique reach. I haven't seen too many networks successfully advertise this, although ValueClick recently demonstrated its unique reach versus other networks in an article and the details managed to lodge themselves in my brain.
•Show off your optimization chops:
Countless networks claim to be experts at optimization, or to have proprietary auto-optimization black boxes. Well, show me -- don't tell me! Pick a metric, then run some control impressions that are representative of the buy sans optimization. Then do your stuff and show me the difference between what I get when you optimize buys versus what I might get if I let the buy run without optimizing.
•Lift the curtain on behavioral targeting:
Simply saying you're able to target by behavior isn't enough. Buyers are smart enough to know that the more data you have and the more data points you're able to take into consideration, the better targeted the ads are going to be. Give me a one-sheeter that shows me all of the data points and variables I can use to target ads. Not only will it show how you compare to other networks, but it might give me an idea for a campaign.
I see a lot of presentations and sit in on a lot of meetings with ad networks. By and large, they seem to be telling me things as opposed to showing them to me. I think that if networks put their money where their mouths are, they would be able to get a lot more traction behind the notion of separating themselves from their competitors.
Article by : Tom Hespos is the president of Underscore Marketing
Monday, September 22, 2008
Ad networks: moving beyond reach and targeting
Real Girls Media's business development director reports on the latest ways interactive media executives are taking advantage of ad network benefits.As the long tail gets longer and online behavior becomes more complex, media buyers are relying more heavily on ad networks to provide reach and optimization.
"Online networks allow you to scoop up thousands of pennies out there, like assembling your consumer. They have already assembled the inefficiency into efficiency," said Sean X Cummings, Ask.com's director of marketing.
But few executives fully understand the opportunities ad networks provide beyond simply aggregating the inventory of small publishers. Earlier this month at an event produced by San Francisco's Bay Area Interactive Group, 250 interactive media executives gathered to learn new ways to better leverage ad networks.
Pam Horan, president of the Online Publishers Association, moderated a panel that aimed to uncover various ways marketers are taking advantage of networks.
First up for discussion was the underlying purpose of ad networks, which have long been viewed by the buying community as pure direct response vehicles.
"In the past, we used them mainly for high volume, but now we're starting to use them for branding purposes. This requires experimentation to find success," said Scott Symonds, executive media director at AKQA.
Some of the networks have been trying to re-position themselves as having a strong offering for brand advertisers, but there isn't much proof of their effectiveness -- not yet at least.
"Is a network's transparency important to you?" asked Horan.
Panelists agreed that run-of-network transparency isn't a huge concern, and Cummings explained why the networks aren't voluntarily offering it: "A lot of networks are hesitant to divulge the list of their sites because they only have a few with recognizable names. I believe the sites with small reach are at an advantage because they are less content rich and therefore the user's eyes gravitate to the advertising. Or at least we hope they do."
As for optimization, Symonds said, "qualitatively driven campaigns take a longer time to build. Learning how to optimize is difficult. What's important is developing a custom universe of well performing sites."
"My biggest challenge with networks is pacing against our budget. They often over-deliver too early for fear that we won't roll over our budget," said Cummings.
Ad networks that don't place their client's needs first are certain to fail.
Differentiation is a must
With new and flexible systems like Adify, it seems every large media company these days is starting an ad network. So how can ad networks truly be differentiated?
hi5 Networks' Brett Finkelstein believes they can position themselves according to function and value: "We segment networks into four types of focus: media, widget, specialties (like geography) and premium -- for example, Hispanics are a really important target for us. And as a publisher, hi5 is getting a premium for non-user-generated content inventory at a 25 to 50 percent higher rate."
Vertical networks are seen as a great solution for clients because they aggregate special demographic or interest groups but most often can provide a narrow reach. Active Athlete Network, for example, allows brands to access athletes and sports enthusiasts, and Federated Media services bloggers. As another example, ad networks like Real Girls Media's allows marketers to reach a vertical within a vertical; advertisers targeting women can choose from nine different lifestyle channels that identify interest groups on DivineCaroline.com as well as on partner publisher sites.
"Exclusivity is another differentiator," added Cummings, "because non-exclusive relationships with publishers put a network at a disadvantage." But these days publishers are reluctant to sign exclusive contracts because they want flexibility to shop for the highest ad rates and try out various partner networks.
Networks offering behavioral targeting -- which operates under the assumption that which web pages users click on and where they go from those pages indicate at least a presumptive interest in buying products related to those topics -- are providing advertisers with higher value from lesser targeted inventory. For instance, brands with longer consideration products, like cars, tend to benefit from behavioral targeting. However, there is still much to be learned about its impact and potential: "I think we need to learn what strategic usage there is for a behavioral targeting campaign and to experiment more with it," said Symonds.
Many advertisers are finding that a combination of behavioral, contextual and demographic targeting can offer the best insights about their target audience. In addition, social networks are also working hard to support innovative concepts for advertisers. For example, AKQA developed a dorm room-related campaign for Target on Facebook, and ConAgra Foods approved an integrated campaign with cooking tips, a celebrity chef endorsement and a sweepstakes -- for its Pam cooking spray on DivineCaroline.
But not all brands should be eager to participate. One of the challenges social networks face is integrating into their communities all the types of brands that want exposure.
"The brands on hi5 must seem fun because by nature our platform is fun and entertaining for users," Finkelstein said.
Be informed before selecting an ad network
What are the key criteria to help buyers determine which ad networks to use?
"Two things: sales support and technology. The sales team must represent their publishers well and provide service that maximizes a client's impact," said Symonds. "They should act like a partner publisher and give general stewardship of the campaign."
This type of high quality service comes as a result of a team's understanding of a client's needs and business model, which can often be discovered through an initial proposal.
Cummings doesn't think technology is robust enough to make a difference when selecting an ad network. "I think the best networks will be those that obtain exclusive contracts with content providers. Not many networks have a lock on the content."
What is the next generation of ad networks?
Two new possibilities related to user re-targeting are sequential and 'avoidal targeting.'
"Sequential often takes too much work, but is worth it. You never really know whether the consumer consumed, but you have to do it quickly. Ads served days apart will never register. In fact, ads served mere hours apart is about the most distance you can afford for "Burma Shave" style messaging," said Cummings. "Avoidal targeting uses cookies to identify those consumers who actually will never be your customers so that you can stop serving them wasted advertising. Pass backs have always been promised, but the reality is that they have never happened."
Social networks may be primed to offer another promising strategy: calculating influence. Finkelstein added, "Purchase intent is being wrapped into influencers with viral impact. We want to know a user's connections and interactions because the level of their activity is a good predictor of how influential they are on community opinion."
Beyond these strategies, I personally suggest you consider ad networks that can offer integrated campaigns, customization and scale, new formats beyond the banner (sponsorships, contests, etc.), roadblocking, consultative selling and enhanced creative testing
Article by : Rebecca Weeks is director of business development at Real Girls Media
"Online networks allow you to scoop up thousands of pennies out there, like assembling your consumer. They have already assembled the inefficiency into efficiency," said Sean X Cummings, Ask.com's director of marketing.
But few executives fully understand the opportunities ad networks provide beyond simply aggregating the inventory of small publishers. Earlier this month at an event produced by San Francisco's Bay Area Interactive Group, 250 interactive media executives gathered to learn new ways to better leverage ad networks.
Pam Horan, president of the Online Publishers Association, moderated a panel that aimed to uncover various ways marketers are taking advantage of networks.
First up for discussion was the underlying purpose of ad networks, which have long been viewed by the buying community as pure direct response vehicles.
"In the past, we used them mainly for high volume, but now we're starting to use them for branding purposes. This requires experimentation to find success," said Scott Symonds, executive media director at AKQA.
Some of the networks have been trying to re-position themselves as having a strong offering for brand advertisers, but there isn't much proof of their effectiveness -- not yet at least.
"Is a network's transparency important to you?" asked Horan.
Panelists agreed that run-of-network transparency isn't a huge concern, and Cummings explained why the networks aren't voluntarily offering it: "A lot of networks are hesitant to divulge the list of their sites because they only have a few with recognizable names. I believe the sites with small reach are at an advantage because they are less content rich and therefore the user's eyes gravitate to the advertising. Or at least we hope they do."
As for optimization, Symonds said, "qualitatively driven campaigns take a longer time to build. Learning how to optimize is difficult. What's important is developing a custom universe of well performing sites."
"My biggest challenge with networks is pacing against our budget. They often over-deliver too early for fear that we won't roll over our budget," said Cummings.
Ad networks that don't place their client's needs first are certain to fail.
Differentiation is a must
With new and flexible systems like Adify, it seems every large media company these days is starting an ad network. So how can ad networks truly be differentiated?
hi5 Networks' Brett Finkelstein believes they can position themselves according to function and value: "We segment networks into four types of focus: media, widget, specialties (like geography) and premium -- for example, Hispanics are a really important target for us. And as a publisher, hi5 is getting a premium for non-user-generated content inventory at a 25 to 50 percent higher rate."
Vertical networks are seen as a great solution for clients because they aggregate special demographic or interest groups but most often can provide a narrow reach. Active Athlete Network, for example, allows brands to access athletes and sports enthusiasts, and Federated Media services bloggers. As another example, ad networks like Real Girls Media's allows marketers to reach a vertical within a vertical; advertisers targeting women can choose from nine different lifestyle channels that identify interest groups on DivineCaroline.com as well as on partner publisher sites.
"Exclusivity is another differentiator," added Cummings, "because non-exclusive relationships with publishers put a network at a disadvantage." But these days publishers are reluctant to sign exclusive contracts because they want flexibility to shop for the highest ad rates and try out various partner networks.
Networks offering behavioral targeting -- which operates under the assumption that which web pages users click on and where they go from those pages indicate at least a presumptive interest in buying products related to those topics -- are providing advertisers with higher value from lesser targeted inventory. For instance, brands with longer consideration products, like cars, tend to benefit from behavioral targeting. However, there is still much to be learned about its impact and potential: "I think we need to learn what strategic usage there is for a behavioral targeting campaign and to experiment more with it," said Symonds.
Many advertisers are finding that a combination of behavioral, contextual and demographic targeting can offer the best insights about their target audience. In addition, social networks are also working hard to support innovative concepts for advertisers. For example, AKQA developed a dorm room-related campaign for Target on Facebook, and ConAgra Foods approved an integrated campaign with cooking tips, a celebrity chef endorsement and a sweepstakes -- for its Pam cooking spray on DivineCaroline.
But not all brands should be eager to participate. One of the challenges social networks face is integrating into their communities all the types of brands that want exposure.
"The brands on hi5 must seem fun because by nature our platform is fun and entertaining for users," Finkelstein said.
Be informed before selecting an ad network
What are the key criteria to help buyers determine which ad networks to use?
"Two things: sales support and technology. The sales team must represent their publishers well and provide service that maximizes a client's impact," said Symonds. "They should act like a partner publisher and give general stewardship of the campaign."
This type of high quality service comes as a result of a team's understanding of a client's needs and business model, which can often be discovered through an initial proposal.
Cummings doesn't think technology is robust enough to make a difference when selecting an ad network. "I think the best networks will be those that obtain exclusive contracts with content providers. Not many networks have a lock on the content."
What is the next generation of ad networks?
Two new possibilities related to user re-targeting are sequential and 'avoidal targeting.'
"Sequential often takes too much work, but is worth it. You never really know whether the consumer consumed, but you have to do it quickly. Ads served days apart will never register. In fact, ads served mere hours apart is about the most distance you can afford for "Burma Shave" style messaging," said Cummings. "Avoidal targeting uses cookies to identify those consumers who actually will never be your customers so that you can stop serving them wasted advertising. Pass backs have always been promised, but the reality is that they have never happened."
Social networks may be primed to offer another promising strategy: calculating influence. Finkelstein added, "Purchase intent is being wrapped into influencers with viral impact. We want to know a user's connections and interactions because the level of their activity is a good predictor of how influential they are on community opinion."
Beyond these strategies, I personally suggest you consider ad networks that can offer integrated campaigns, customization and scale, new formats beyond the banner (sponsorships, contests, etc.), roadblocking, consultative selling and enhanced creative testing
Article by : Rebecca Weeks is director of business development at Real Girls Media
A few thoughts on Publisher ad networks
In early fall of 2007, much of iMedia’s commentary on the ad network space focused on the battle between ValueClick and Advertising.com and whether or not folks should use more than one ad network. The consensus from across the industry was a resounding yes, which is a good segue into a new trend that seems to be emerging — the launch of the publisher ad network.
So while everyone outside of Advertising.com agrees that you need to use more than one ad network, I think some publishers have taken that sentiment a little too far. In the past few weeks, Martha Stewart Omnimedia announced that it is launching an ad network to complement its vertical inventory; additionally, a newspaper consortium of Cox, Tribune, Gannett and others has all but announced it is launching a newspaper ad network to compete with the Yahoo group formed late last year. (For some perspective on this announcement, check out a 1998 BusinessWeek article on the New Century Network, formed by newspapers nearly 12 years ago. If you haven’t heard of this group, it’s no surprise: the operation had already disbanded by the time the article appeared.)
Lastly a rumor is floating around that Fox Interactive Media (FIM) is planning to launch an ad network. FIM certainly brings tremendous scale to the table with all its properties, but I do not think media buyers are going to be too enthusiastic about running ads across a network consisting of MySpace and Fox News inventory.
Networks today are driving about 15 percent (rough estimate) of the display marketplace. Publishers are trying to figure out how they can capture some of these dollars, which is understandable. However, at the end of the day, these organizations are so much better at focusing on their strength of owned and operated sites than trying to partner with lots of third-party content providers.
When I worked at About.com in the late 1990s, one of the ideas that emerged was the Luna Network. The goal was to bring additional reach to About’s specific guidesites, like Pregnancy, Italian Cooking and Computer Networking. By having more inventory, the sales team could garner more budget from advertisers. While this idea looks great on paper, it actually achieved limited success because the About.com inventory is so much more valuable than the inventory from these second- and third-tier sites. How do you price these other sites, manage the inventory and give the advertiser the results they need while managing your publishers? The network business is frankly more complicated and involves more moving pieces than I think many outsiders realize, especially publishers.
One of the reasons networks are so effective is because they employ a more innovative, hands-on approach to campaign set up, management and optimization. Clients also expect more from a network than a publisher, such as various levels of targeting that go beyond what many publishers can currently offer.
The network consolidation we have been seeing in the marketplace continues to be a good development. Long term, the industry cannot support hundreds of players with such similar offerings. Having new networks launch is not a step forward in the goal of making the network landscape more effective for advertisers. I watch with interest to see who will emerge next and how these publisher networks will take shape, although I remain skeptical on what, if any, success they will achieve.
Article by : Michael Cassidy
So while everyone outside of Advertising.com agrees that you need to use more than one ad network, I think some publishers have taken that sentiment a little too far. In the past few weeks, Martha Stewart Omnimedia announced that it is launching an ad network to complement its vertical inventory; additionally, a newspaper consortium of Cox, Tribune, Gannett and others has all but announced it is launching a newspaper ad network to compete with the Yahoo group formed late last year. (For some perspective on this announcement, check out a 1998 BusinessWeek article on the New Century Network, formed by newspapers nearly 12 years ago. If you haven’t heard of this group, it’s no surprise: the operation had already disbanded by the time the article appeared.)
Lastly a rumor is floating around that Fox Interactive Media (FIM) is planning to launch an ad network. FIM certainly brings tremendous scale to the table with all its properties, but I do not think media buyers are going to be too enthusiastic about running ads across a network consisting of MySpace and Fox News inventory.
Networks today are driving about 15 percent (rough estimate) of the display marketplace. Publishers are trying to figure out how they can capture some of these dollars, which is understandable. However, at the end of the day, these organizations are so much better at focusing on their strength of owned and operated sites than trying to partner with lots of third-party content providers.
When I worked at About.com in the late 1990s, one of the ideas that emerged was the Luna Network. The goal was to bring additional reach to About’s specific guidesites, like Pregnancy, Italian Cooking and Computer Networking. By having more inventory, the sales team could garner more budget from advertisers. While this idea looks great on paper, it actually achieved limited success because the About.com inventory is so much more valuable than the inventory from these second- and third-tier sites. How do you price these other sites, manage the inventory and give the advertiser the results they need while managing your publishers? The network business is frankly more complicated and involves more moving pieces than I think many outsiders realize, especially publishers.
One of the reasons networks are so effective is because they employ a more innovative, hands-on approach to campaign set up, management and optimization. Clients also expect more from a network than a publisher, such as various levels of targeting that go beyond what many publishers can currently offer.
The network consolidation we have been seeing in the marketplace continues to be a good development. Long term, the industry cannot support hundreds of players with such similar offerings. Having new networks launch is not a step forward in the goal of making the network landscape more effective for advertisers. I watch with interest to see who will emerge next and how these publisher networks will take shape, although I remain skeptical on what, if any, success they will achieve.
Article by : Michael Cassidy
The Key to Better Online Leads: Quality
Prospectiv's president and CEO offers tips to deliver a high volume of quality leads without hurting your brand.
In online lead generation, most of us are familiar with the age-old battle between quality and volume. Most marketers will tell you they want quality leads first, specifically quality leads that convert into buyers. However, once they find leads that work, their appetite for these leads increases. Many times it's tempting then to start pushing for volume over quality. But how much quality are you willing to sacrifice to drive volume? And how do you achieve volume without sacrificing quality?
Whether judged by return on investment, customer engagement or sales effectiveness, sacrificing lead quality for volume is usually a poor investment for marketers, and ultimately a bad practice for online lead generation companies. What all marketers know instinctively -- that one good lead is worth a handful of mediocre leads -- has been confirmed by recent industry analyst reports and news stories that suggest focusing on lead volume generally does not result in lead quality. In many cases, this approach can lead to an erosion of online lead generation best practices and a corresponding erosion in consumer trust that can ultimately hurt not only your conversion numbers, but also harm your brand equity and image.
Maintaining a constant focus on lead generation best practices promotes high-quality leads without sacrificing volume, ensures campaign success and discourages abuses of consumer privacy. There are a number of important steps marketers can take to make sure that their online lead generation efforts are effective at delivering a high volume of quality leads, promoting and preserving the brand, and encouraging consumer interaction.
The quality lead
What constitutes a high-quality online lead? It's important to define quality up front, before launching an online lead generation campaign. Traditional lead generation and online lead generation differ significantly in one key aspect: the marketer's ability to measure quality at several points in the process before converting a lead into a sale.
A good lead can be judged by evaluating several criteria: Where was the lead generated? Targeting the right audience, always a challenge, is made somewhat easier on the internet as consumers increasingly turn online to research before making a purchase decision. Search engines, microsites populated with relevant information, targeted opt-in email lists, and online communities that align with your category and brand can ensure marketers choose the right sources for their lead-generation efforts. We recommend testing different lead sources to identify the most effective and efficient resource.
Many times lead quality can be determined by tracking:
• Response rates on emails or calls
• Conversion rates
• Lifetime value of the leads by source
• Consumer complaint rates
Maintaining volume and quality
What is motivating the customer to provide their contact information to the marketer?
Here, relevance is key to achieving the volume and quality of leads you want. Make sure your offers are relevant to the consumer's need, your category and your brand. Remember:
•Personalized, relevant offers are compelling offers.
•Busy consumers want to receive valuable information that reflects their interests and needs.
•Offers containing relevant information, samples and coupons not only increase the chance that consumers will respond to your offer, but these are also vital for building a long-term relationship with the consumer. This approach can also build volume without sacrificing quality.
Are you generating leads for a specific brand or category, or are your goals more general?
Offers that are targeted to an exclusive brand will attract consumers who are interested in your specific good or service. The marketer must be willing to pay a premium for this lead, but it will be worth it on the back end. If you can't narrow down your objectives to a specific brand, you may generate more leads… but expect quality to suffer a bit
Are you following up on your leads quickly, and do you have a targeted strategy in place?
The timing and content of your initial follow-up to your new leads is critical in online lead generation. The longer it takes to push the lead through your systems, the greater the odds that the conversion will be poor. We advise marketers to scale their campaign processes to make sure every lead can be followed up immediately and to make these immediate follow-up campaigns targeted so that consumers are receiving what is best suited for them.
Can you verify that the consumer self-profile information is genuine?
Jane Doe or Bob Smith may be some of your most frequent respondents, and conversion will no doubt suffer if you don't put systems in place from the start to pre-screen leads to verify the accuracy of consumer-supplied contact information.
Tempting as it may be, avoid building volume while sacrificing quality. Volume with quality is attainable. Make your quality metrics are established from the beginning and follow these proven best practices: testing lead sources and offers, measuring results frequently, tailoring your acquisition campaign to the consumer's interest, making sure there is quick and targeted follow-up, and verifying the quality of leads during follow-up will help you trump quantity with quality for the best outcome.
In online lead generation, most of us are familiar with the age-old battle between quality and volume. Most marketers will tell you they want quality leads first, specifically quality leads that convert into buyers. However, once they find leads that work, their appetite for these leads increases. Many times it's tempting then to start pushing for volume over quality. But how much quality are you willing to sacrifice to drive volume? And how do you achieve volume without sacrificing quality?
Whether judged by return on investment, customer engagement or sales effectiveness, sacrificing lead quality for volume is usually a poor investment for marketers, and ultimately a bad practice for online lead generation companies. What all marketers know instinctively -- that one good lead is worth a handful of mediocre leads -- has been confirmed by recent industry analyst reports and news stories that suggest focusing on lead volume generally does not result in lead quality. In many cases, this approach can lead to an erosion of online lead generation best practices and a corresponding erosion in consumer trust that can ultimately hurt not only your conversion numbers, but also harm your brand equity and image.
Maintaining a constant focus on lead generation best practices promotes high-quality leads without sacrificing volume, ensures campaign success and discourages abuses of consumer privacy. There are a number of important steps marketers can take to make sure that their online lead generation efforts are effective at delivering a high volume of quality leads, promoting and preserving the brand, and encouraging consumer interaction.
The quality lead
What constitutes a high-quality online lead? It's important to define quality up front, before launching an online lead generation campaign. Traditional lead generation and online lead generation differ significantly in one key aspect: the marketer's ability to measure quality at several points in the process before converting a lead into a sale.
A good lead can be judged by evaluating several criteria: Where was the lead generated? Targeting the right audience, always a challenge, is made somewhat easier on the internet as consumers increasingly turn online to research before making a purchase decision. Search engines, microsites populated with relevant information, targeted opt-in email lists, and online communities that align with your category and brand can ensure marketers choose the right sources for their lead-generation efforts. We recommend testing different lead sources to identify the most effective and efficient resource.
Many times lead quality can be determined by tracking:
• Response rates on emails or calls
• Conversion rates
• Lifetime value of the leads by source
• Consumer complaint rates
Maintaining volume and quality
What is motivating the customer to provide their contact information to the marketer?
Here, relevance is key to achieving the volume and quality of leads you want. Make sure your offers are relevant to the consumer's need, your category and your brand. Remember:
•Personalized, relevant offers are compelling offers.
•Busy consumers want to receive valuable information that reflects their interests and needs.
•Offers containing relevant information, samples and coupons not only increase the chance that consumers will respond to your offer, but these are also vital for building a long-term relationship with the consumer. This approach can also build volume without sacrificing quality.
Are you generating leads for a specific brand or category, or are your goals more general?
Offers that are targeted to an exclusive brand will attract consumers who are interested in your specific good or service. The marketer must be willing to pay a premium for this lead, but it will be worth it on the back end. If you can't narrow down your objectives to a specific brand, you may generate more leads… but expect quality to suffer a bit
Are you following up on your leads quickly, and do you have a targeted strategy in place?
The timing and content of your initial follow-up to your new leads is critical in online lead generation. The longer it takes to push the lead through your systems, the greater the odds that the conversion will be poor. We advise marketers to scale their campaign processes to make sure every lead can be followed up immediately and to make these immediate follow-up campaigns targeted so that consumers are receiving what is best suited for them.
Can you verify that the consumer self-profile information is genuine?
Jane Doe or Bob Smith may be some of your most frequent respondents, and conversion will no doubt suffer if you don't put systems in place from the start to pre-screen leads to verify the accuracy of consumer-supplied contact information.
Tempting as it may be, avoid building volume while sacrificing quality. Volume with quality is attainable. Make your quality metrics are established from the beginning and follow these proven best practices: testing lead sources and offers, measuring results frequently, tailoring your acquisition campaign to the consumer's interest, making sure there is quick and targeted follow-up, and verifying the quality of leads during follow-up will help you trump quantity with quality for the best outcome.
How to get the best leads at the right price?
Customized predictive models provide a process that evaluates each new, incoming lead, and then automates important marketing decisions.
For many of today's direct marketing professionals, cost-per-lead (CPL) online advertising has evolved to a point at which it now serves as the focal point of integrated campaigns because of the abundance of low-cost, high-volume consumer leads it delivers. As a result of this evolution, online lead generation is currently the fastest growing segment of online advertising expenditures, increasing 74 percent in 2006 to $1.3 billion, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Furthermore, industry experts forecast that this spending will approach $2 billion in 2007.
However, the outsourcing of lead generation campaigns to third-party agencies, while a seemingly convenient and cost-effective move on the surface, comes with several inherent risks that direct marketers should keep in mind. The most pressing areas of concern for CPL advertisers today involves unevenness in the quality and consistency of the online leads they are receiving from multiple sources, and their inability to understand the value of these leads prior to purchase or during follow-up.
While the process between buyers and sellers of online leads is gradually becoming more transparent, the fact remains that many companies lack visibility into the sources and quality of the leads they are purchasing.
Simply stated, this is the double-edged sword of online lead generation. While large volumes of leads can be generated in a short period of time, the quality of those leads often remains, largely, a mystery until after they hit the call center or mail fulfillment house.
As a result, many direct marketers are complaining about unpredictable conversion rates that, in turn, have triggered a shift among advertisers toward a greater focus on the quality, rather than quantity, of purchased online leads. Thus, in today's online lead generation environment, how does one properly balance these two considerations?
In the end, the costs and risks associated with CPL advertising strategies must be closely weighed against their expected returns. When negotiating with outside agencies that specialize in the generation of sizeable quantities of low-cost leads, marketers must be more intelligent and pragmatic than ever to efficiently manage the costs in the lead-to-conversion process.
For example, using call center agents to pursue poor quality or invalid leads to inevitable dead ends will result in high costs that negatively impact marketing return on investment. To address this dilemma, the marketer must find a practical solution to properly evaluate the reliability of acquired leads, and then specifically determine which resources will be allocated to each lead.
There are definitive lead evaluation tools now available for guiding the decisions of online lead buyers along these lines. For years now, predictive scoring has been used by traditional direct marketers to intelligently segment customer prospects and house file lists prior to launching direct mail campaigns. This approach resulted in better-targeted lists, increased response rates and excellent marketing ROI. Now, in the real-time, online realm, a company can apply the same techniques to "score" online leads using predictive statistical models that accurately measure the probability of actual sales conversion. This approach gives advertisers tremendous power and flexibility to objectively assess the quality of an online lead right up front.
How is this done? First, customized predictive models are developed that utilize past campaign results appended with identity, demographic and behavioral data. Once created, these models provide simple, three-digit scores that can be used to evaluate each new, incoming lead, and then automate important marketing decisions. By scoring every lead received from its source in real-time, marketers obtain insight into and control of their online lead management activities.
The real-time scoring of online leads carries three important implications for direct marketers who rely heavily on CPL advertising:
•This tool gives them a concrete basis for rejecting low-scoring leads altogether. Additionally, many CPL agreements come with scrub rate provisions, so predictive scoring can be used to identify which leads should be kicked back to the provider.
•Scoring allows for better allocation of contact center resources by prioritizing leads with the highest likelihood of conversion. At the same time, this approach enables marketers to avoid the unnecessary follow-up phone and mailing costs on very low-scoring leads that have a near-zero chance of ever converting into a paying customer.
•Predictive scoring can facilitate a rational, tiered pricing structure for online leads, and enable buyers to negotiate and pay varying rates for different quality levels of leads.
Just as banks use credit scores to make instant decisions regarding consumer loan qualifications at different interest rates, predictive scoring can also help direct marketers effectively assess and monitor the consistency, quality and value of their online lead purchases. More importantly, this easy-to-use approach maximizes conversion rates, as well as the total ROI associated with today's CPL online advertising campaigns.
Source: Article by jeff Liebl is vice president of marketing and business development at eBureau.
For many of today's direct marketing professionals, cost-per-lead (CPL) online advertising has evolved to a point at which it now serves as the focal point of integrated campaigns because of the abundance of low-cost, high-volume consumer leads it delivers. As a result of this evolution, online lead generation is currently the fastest growing segment of online advertising expenditures, increasing 74 percent in 2006 to $1.3 billion, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). Furthermore, industry experts forecast that this spending will approach $2 billion in 2007.
However, the outsourcing of lead generation campaigns to third-party agencies, while a seemingly convenient and cost-effective move on the surface, comes with several inherent risks that direct marketers should keep in mind. The most pressing areas of concern for CPL advertisers today involves unevenness in the quality and consistency of the online leads they are receiving from multiple sources, and their inability to understand the value of these leads prior to purchase or during follow-up.
While the process between buyers and sellers of online leads is gradually becoming more transparent, the fact remains that many companies lack visibility into the sources and quality of the leads they are purchasing.
Simply stated, this is the double-edged sword of online lead generation. While large volumes of leads can be generated in a short period of time, the quality of those leads often remains, largely, a mystery until after they hit the call center or mail fulfillment house.
As a result, many direct marketers are complaining about unpredictable conversion rates that, in turn, have triggered a shift among advertisers toward a greater focus on the quality, rather than quantity, of purchased online leads. Thus, in today's online lead generation environment, how does one properly balance these two considerations?
In the end, the costs and risks associated with CPL advertising strategies must be closely weighed against their expected returns. When negotiating with outside agencies that specialize in the generation of sizeable quantities of low-cost leads, marketers must be more intelligent and pragmatic than ever to efficiently manage the costs in the lead-to-conversion process.
For example, using call center agents to pursue poor quality or invalid leads to inevitable dead ends will result in high costs that negatively impact marketing return on investment. To address this dilemma, the marketer must find a practical solution to properly evaluate the reliability of acquired leads, and then specifically determine which resources will be allocated to each lead.
There are definitive lead evaluation tools now available for guiding the decisions of online lead buyers along these lines. For years now, predictive scoring has been used by traditional direct marketers to intelligently segment customer prospects and house file lists prior to launching direct mail campaigns. This approach resulted in better-targeted lists, increased response rates and excellent marketing ROI. Now, in the real-time, online realm, a company can apply the same techniques to "score" online leads using predictive statistical models that accurately measure the probability of actual sales conversion. This approach gives advertisers tremendous power and flexibility to objectively assess the quality of an online lead right up front.
How is this done? First, customized predictive models are developed that utilize past campaign results appended with identity, demographic and behavioral data. Once created, these models provide simple, three-digit scores that can be used to evaluate each new, incoming lead, and then automate important marketing decisions. By scoring every lead received from its source in real-time, marketers obtain insight into and control of their online lead management activities.
The real-time scoring of online leads carries three important implications for direct marketers who rely heavily on CPL advertising:
•This tool gives them a concrete basis for rejecting low-scoring leads altogether. Additionally, many CPL agreements come with scrub rate provisions, so predictive scoring can be used to identify which leads should be kicked back to the provider.
•Scoring allows for better allocation of contact center resources by prioritizing leads with the highest likelihood of conversion. At the same time, this approach enables marketers to avoid the unnecessary follow-up phone and mailing costs on very low-scoring leads that have a near-zero chance of ever converting into a paying customer.
•Predictive scoring can facilitate a rational, tiered pricing structure for online leads, and enable buyers to negotiate and pay varying rates for different quality levels of leads.
Just as banks use credit scores to make instant decisions regarding consumer loan qualifications at different interest rates, predictive scoring can also help direct marketers effectively assess and monitor the consistency, quality and value of their online lead purchases. More importantly, this easy-to-use approach maximizes conversion rates, as well as the total ROI associated with today's CPL online advertising campaigns.
Source: Article by jeff Liebl is vice president of marketing and business development at eBureau.
Adnetwork: Competitor's Model
Komli :
You are not aware of the exact CPC becoz they will combine CPC ads with CPL & CPM. So, there can be huge deviations in earnings from day to day.
Tyroo:
They can be treated as no2 in terms of CPC. But, the clicks will be less as there will be less number of advertisers per category.
OzoneMedia :
They can be treated as no2 even no1 in terms of CPC. But, they work with limited number of advertisers at a given point of time)
CPX Interactive:
They have the least CPC to offer. But, guarantees 100% inventory fill.
TribalFusion:
It offers only CPM deals. So, the best if you are a site like news site will lot of traffic and lot of page views per visitor.
4 other affiliate networks deserve a mention here:
DGM-India:
They are really doing quite well and creating a lot of traction among the advertisers.
Axill:
They have some interesting non-Indian offers and CPM deals. Competitor to DGM.
Luckypacific:
Pretty good network. Its not limited to India but for the whole Asia-Pacific region.
You are not aware of the exact CPC becoz they will combine CPC ads with CPL & CPM. So, there can be huge deviations in earnings from day to day.
Tyroo:
They can be treated as no2 in terms of CPC. But, the clicks will be less as there will be less number of advertisers per category.
OzoneMedia :
They can be treated as no2 even no1 in terms of CPC. But, they work with limited number of advertisers at a given point of time)
CPX Interactive:
They have the least CPC to offer. But, guarantees 100% inventory fill.
TribalFusion:
It offers only CPM deals. So, the best if you are a site like news site will lot of traffic and lot of page views per visitor.
4 other affiliate networks deserve a mention here:
DGM-India:
They are really doing quite well and creating a lot of traction among the advertisers.
Axill:
They have some interesting non-Indian offers and CPM deals. Competitor to DGM.
Luckypacific:
Pretty good network. Its not limited to India but for the whole Asia-Pacific region.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Vertical Ad networks – Why are they needed in India ?
Over the last few months some vertical ad networks have been the talk of the industry press and in conferences. Some have even started doing the sales rounds to Media planners and advertisers. Some are in embryonic stages and planning to launch.
The one trend which is healthy for the Ad networks category is the onset of vertical ad networks in India. Vertical ad networks have been around Internationally for 2-3 years now ( when the Horizontals were arriving in India).
Overview :
The only thing “really new” about Vertical Networks is the attention they are starting to get in India.
Vertical ad networks are online advertising networks that have a particular content focus. They aggregate a collection of sites together that have an affinity with one another. This provides advertisers meaningful reach in Long tail and Middle tail publishers - without the uncertainty of a vast collection of unknown and dissimilar sites ( as in the case of Horizontals). They also give the advertiser the comfort of context as well as target. In some cases even 100% site transparency.
The horizontals can argue they can deliver the same with their “Channels” but it’s never the same for the advertiser.
The appeal of a vertical ad network is first and foremost its focus. If I'm a Laptop brand advertiser, regardless of whether I know exactly which site my ads are running on, I can reach my audience if I buy on a Technology Vertical Ad network.
A vertical network will go deep into a certain domain. For eg Technology network will have special focus on Linux , Enterprise Security websites , Networking , BPO , Digital marketing and so on .
Agreed the current audience volume will be low in India for such channels . But at the same time this Network will still have more audiences then an independent Linux only publisher or Linux blog.
So for IBM or Sun Microsystems looking to promote infront of the Linux community in India - it makes sense. International advertisers would be able to target Indian CTOs , CIOs and System Administrators through such a network as well.
Indian Ad network scenario :
Over the last two years , Horizontal ad networks have worked hard in setting up the scene for the ad network marketplace in India. Currently ad networks get about 5-6% of online ad spends in India ( around Rs 30 crores) , whereas the average in US and UK markets varies between 11%- 15% of the total online ad spends( this doesn’t include Google).
In the UK ad networks get 25% of the total online display advertising pie. UK has 28 reputable ad networks and many smaller ones and growing. US has more than 50 reputable top league networks and 200+ others and growing.
Clearly there is some catching up to do for Ad networks ( both Horizontals and Verticals) in India , to get closer to the global ad spend %ages.
The bet verticals are making in their business plans is that they work in growing the ad network marketplace and ad networks would reach closer to these %ages ( 11-15%) in the next 2-3 years in India and Verticals will play a big role in closing this gap from the current 5-6%. ( Keep in mind the industy should be closer to Rs 1500 crores by then. Making the ad network genre alone worth around Rs 150-200 crores – which is 1/3rd the size of the current 08-09 industry !!! ).
It’s a similar bet the horizontals made 2 years back – when in an indirect way their competition was publishers in the Media plan.
Still this potential market size is nothing compared to the ad networks market size in today’s US and UK. We still have only one credible Ad serving company based locally in India for the indian market. Rest want to come and set local shops , but are waiting for the market to grow( But that’s another story).
International Vertical Network trends :
Verticals ad networks and their prominence is growing worldwide with companies powering such networks like Adify being acquired for $300 million by Cox. DoubleClick is set to launch a similar vertical ad network product by end of 2008 along with their eagerly awaited Ad exchange.
Glam.com , Jumpstart , Travel Ad network and many more are other successful examples. All the blog networks are based on the vertical ad network model in a way.
Each vertical network has had its own path to success.
Some Vertical networks in US have actually grown by growing the publisher community itself. It’s a painful job , but they did it.
They have taken the route of establishing close working relationships with Publishers , Agencies and Advertisers.
Some Verticals networks even do ad sales ( including email marketing , offline events sponsorships , mobile marketing) , Ad Network sales , business consulting and even Online marketing for their publishers. This has meant strategic alignment of their business models as well , but they understood that they need to serve a community to reap the “ benefits from the domino effect” . They need to create an ecosystem.
This is surely needed in India if we ever want to grow the publisher base.
How many Horizontals Ad networks have such time and resources for their publishers is anybody’s guess. It’s not their fault. It just doesn’t fit in their business model.
Challenges in the Horizontal Ad network World :
Currently worldwide and in India, there seems to be an ongoing concern related to Horizontal Ad networks : Primarily their lack of transparency, lack of control over the reach and the quality of placements.
One key difference between the new breed of vertical ad networks ( internationally) and the "mass reach" Horizontal networks is that many of the new vertical ad networks do provide 100% transparency and do allow the buyers to choose the sites they want.
The counter argument here could be this is almost like a media buy , but its not. Since its not a placement buy and the network is committing to monetize the publisher’s inventory.
Conclusion : What value do Vertical networks bring ?
From an advertiser perspective – Option to go deeper into finding their target “and” niche audiences.
From a publisher perspective -( especially long and middle tail ) these verticals Networks also make sense , because they have an option to get a good price for their inventories and not go by the Google only defined “ price” of inventory currently in the marketplace – which is their only option in many cases.
From a Horizontal network perspective – The verticals are actually their allies. Not only Verticals are helping in growing the ad network market and publisher base, but there have been tie ups in USA where Horizontal and vertical ad networks have actually partnered together for inventory sales of the vertical inventory on horizontal networks !!
Ad networks and Ad sales houses have established an industry body in UK called the IASH. We will need a similar body in India and work together to grow the market.
After all the vertical networks are not chasing the same coin – “Right” fully earned by Horizontals.
The one trend which is healthy for the Ad networks category is the onset of vertical ad networks in India. Vertical ad networks have been around Internationally for 2-3 years now ( when the Horizontals were arriving in India).
Overview :
The only thing “really new” about Vertical Networks is the attention they are starting to get in India.
Vertical ad networks are online advertising networks that have a particular content focus. They aggregate a collection of sites together that have an affinity with one another. This provides advertisers meaningful reach in Long tail and Middle tail publishers - without the uncertainty of a vast collection of unknown and dissimilar sites ( as in the case of Horizontals). They also give the advertiser the comfort of context as well as target. In some cases even 100% site transparency.
The horizontals can argue they can deliver the same with their “Channels” but it’s never the same for the advertiser.
The appeal of a vertical ad network is first and foremost its focus. If I'm a Laptop brand advertiser, regardless of whether I know exactly which site my ads are running on, I can reach my audience if I buy on a Technology Vertical Ad network.
A vertical network will go deep into a certain domain. For eg Technology network will have special focus on Linux , Enterprise Security websites , Networking , BPO , Digital marketing and so on .
Agreed the current audience volume will be low in India for such channels . But at the same time this Network will still have more audiences then an independent Linux only publisher or Linux blog.
So for IBM or Sun Microsystems looking to promote infront of the Linux community in India - it makes sense. International advertisers would be able to target Indian CTOs , CIOs and System Administrators through such a network as well.
Indian Ad network scenario :
Over the last two years , Horizontal ad networks have worked hard in setting up the scene for the ad network marketplace in India. Currently ad networks get about 5-6% of online ad spends in India ( around Rs 30 crores) , whereas the average in US and UK markets varies between 11%- 15% of the total online ad spends( this doesn’t include Google).
In the UK ad networks get 25% of the total online display advertising pie. UK has 28 reputable ad networks and many smaller ones and growing. US has more than 50 reputable top league networks and 200+ others and growing.
Clearly there is some catching up to do for Ad networks ( both Horizontals and Verticals) in India , to get closer to the global ad spend %ages.
The bet verticals are making in their business plans is that they work in growing the ad network marketplace and ad networks would reach closer to these %ages ( 11-15%) in the next 2-3 years in India and Verticals will play a big role in closing this gap from the current 5-6%. ( Keep in mind the industy should be closer to Rs 1500 crores by then. Making the ad network genre alone worth around Rs 150-200 crores – which is 1/3rd the size of the current 08-09 industry !!! ).
It’s a similar bet the horizontals made 2 years back – when in an indirect way their competition was publishers in the Media plan.
Still this potential market size is nothing compared to the ad networks market size in today’s US and UK. We still have only one credible Ad serving company based locally in India for the indian market. Rest want to come and set local shops , but are waiting for the market to grow( But that’s another story).
International Vertical Network trends :
Verticals ad networks and their prominence is growing worldwide with companies powering such networks like Adify being acquired for $300 million by Cox. DoubleClick is set to launch a similar vertical ad network product by end of 2008 along with their eagerly awaited Ad exchange.
Glam.com , Jumpstart , Travel Ad network and many more are other successful examples. All the blog networks are based on the vertical ad network model in a way.
Each vertical network has had its own path to success.
Some Vertical networks in US have actually grown by growing the publisher community itself. It’s a painful job , but they did it.
They have taken the route of establishing close working relationships with Publishers , Agencies and Advertisers.
Some Verticals networks even do ad sales ( including email marketing , offline events sponsorships , mobile marketing) , Ad Network sales , business consulting and even Online marketing for their publishers. This has meant strategic alignment of their business models as well , but they understood that they need to serve a community to reap the “ benefits from the domino effect” . They need to create an ecosystem.
This is surely needed in India if we ever want to grow the publisher base.
How many Horizontals Ad networks have such time and resources for their publishers is anybody’s guess. It’s not their fault. It just doesn’t fit in their business model.
Challenges in the Horizontal Ad network World :
Currently worldwide and in India, there seems to be an ongoing concern related to Horizontal Ad networks : Primarily their lack of transparency, lack of control over the reach and the quality of placements.
One key difference between the new breed of vertical ad networks ( internationally) and the "mass reach" Horizontal networks is that many of the new vertical ad networks do provide 100% transparency and do allow the buyers to choose the sites they want.
The counter argument here could be this is almost like a media buy , but its not. Since its not a placement buy and the network is committing to monetize the publisher’s inventory.
Conclusion : What value do Vertical networks bring ?
From an advertiser perspective – Option to go deeper into finding their target “and” niche audiences.
From a publisher perspective -( especially long and middle tail ) these verticals Networks also make sense , because they have an option to get a good price for their inventories and not go by the Google only defined “ price” of inventory currently in the marketplace – which is their only option in many cases.
From a Horizontal network perspective – The verticals are actually their allies. Not only Verticals are helping in growing the ad network market and publisher base, but there have been tie ups in USA where Horizontal and vertical ad networks have actually partnered together for inventory sales of the vertical inventory on horizontal networks !!
Ad networks and Ad sales houses have established an industry body in UK called the IASH. We will need a similar body in India and work together to grow the market.
After all the vertical networks are not chasing the same coin – “Right” fully earned by Horizontals.
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