Lead Generation in the UK

Lead Buyers plan for a Merry Christmas

Even though Christmas is still two months away and there are plenty of things to think about from buying presents to finding a good tree, planning your lead buying campaigns now will give you one less thing to think about.

Conventional wisdom dictates that the holiday period will be a quiet one for businesses but this is really just a self fulfilling prophecy. The downturn in business is partly caused by companies closing down for 2 weeks because they are expecting a downturn in business and so the chain of causation works both ways.

If you look at the country as a whole then there will be less people going online looking for mortgages, loans etc. but there will still be thousands of people filling in forms to speak to an adviser. They may not want to talk to somebody during Christmas lunch but after a couple of days of overconsumption, they may need that loan on the 27th or even sooner!

By working with a lead generation company, you don’t have to worry about the fall in online activity because you are buying the results of somebody else’s advertising spend. If you want 20 leads then you will get 20 leads, irrespective of whether there are 20,000 consumers filling in forms or only 10,000.

Despite this, many companies will lower their lead volume requirements over the last couple of weeks of December and this presents a valuable opportunity for many lead buyers. This is the time to increase your volume limits and pick up some leads for a few pounds less. And when the Christmas period ends, you will have an opt-in database of interested consumers waiting for you to start 2009 with a bang!

Justin Rees - justin.rees@leadpoint.com

Measuring Online Marketing

Return on Investment is the universal measurement for digital marketing success and anybody who says any different is being disingenuous. How easy it is to measure different types of digital marketing or how long it takes for the effects of a campaign to materialise are separate issues and are often just used to divert attention away from wasteful marketing spend.

The problem with many marketers is that they are too in love with marketing. Digital marketing – like any marketing – doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It has a purpose and a context and should also have an objective. Any marketer who isn’t prepared to live and die by their performance isn’t worth talking to. Ultimately all marketing has to have a positive impact on a company’s bottom line. Whether increasing revenue by a few percentage points this month or driving up profits in the next quarter, any marketing that has no effect on the financial performance of a company is just an exercise in vanity.

Money spent on digital marketing has an opportunity cost. The same budget can be spent on more “traditional” forms of marketing or other areas of the business. Why spend hundreds of thousands on a viral online video campaign if you can generate a better ROI from hiring more sales people? That is not to say that a viral campaign doesn’t have its merits but if you have a budget to spend on marketing, if you don’t have a metric to measure the results or something to aim at then you are just throwing your money away.

Different forms of marketing will have different impacts on a business and the results of any campaign might filter through in a variety of ways but return on investment should always be the overriding metric. For marketers that want the ultimate form of performance marketing where ROI can be calculated on the back on an envelope then lead generation is the obvious choice.

Justin - justin.rees@leadpoint.com

Vital Advisers Embrace Technology

The following blog post appeared recently on the FT Adviser website. You can click here to read it in the original format.

I remember the first time I came across the world of lead generation. The pitch seemed simple - reach prospective customers, buy the results of somebody else’s marketing spend, speak to prospective customers within moments of them requesting to be contacted, and so on and so forth.

Pretty compelling I thought. Marketing this concept should be fairly straightforward. Surely intermediaries would be queuing up to buy leads?

By and large it has been a good reception, but along the way we have had a few challenges. Sometimes despite our best efforts, it is not always easy to explain lead generation to everybody.

My personal favourite was an intermediary who contacted us after reading an article in the press about the merits of lead generation. He seemed very keen and excited at the prospect of buying leads.

Unfortunately the intermediary concerned had no email address to receive the leads and no computer either.

When trying to explain how online lead generation and owning a computer go together like the British summer and rain, he promptly told us that he didn’t like typing so would not be changing his working practices.

I thought this was an isolated incident but after it seems that this wasn’t a one off. Another intermediary has contacted us in the past who also did not have a computer but didn’t see this as an obstruction to buying internet generated leads.

He came up with a solution himself by suggesting that we should just call him every time he received a lead and read him the lead detail over the phone and he would copy the information down himself.

While these anecdotes are certainly amusing, they do reveal a potentially more worrying trend.

The finance world is increasingly moving online and in the current market it is vital that intermediaries adapt and embrace online technologies to allow them to work more efficiently or risk being left behind.

Lead generation 4 Lead generators

Ad-Tech – a triumph for all involved I’m sure – oh... apart from a certain employee of DMG Media who cc’d all clients instead of bcc’ing. Our stand was bustling from open till close thanks to our impressive business model, advanced technology and extremely friendly, knowledgeable and good looking staff. We did also have the added bonus of our office managers fine home-baked cup cakes that went down an absolute storm. So well received were these that demand can only be compared to that of our latest lead product – Personal Injury leads (contact: ukcorpdev@leadpoint.com).

Post Ad-Tech, the real work begins. Meetings at conferences are fleeting, so it is key to establish a firm path forwards and prioritise these based on likeliness and value. Looking back over endless business cards you may find yourself questioning who any of these people were and if you really were present at the conference. My personal technique is to take their business card and note opportunities, key intel and a short description and/or sketch of said person.

In the fast-paced world of lead generation it is imperative to move quickly when returning to the relative normality of the office. There are, however, some basic rules to abide by in order to progress these possible relationships. One in particular I’d like to focus on today – mass emails.

Mass emails don’t sell a business as interested or keen, a basic template is fine, but this should be customised, at least in part - showing interest in the organisation’s model or referencing points discussed at the conference - at the very least include the persons name. Perhaps discussions have faded from your memory, but the first point can always be applied by utilising a very cunning technique I came up with a little while ago – visit the organisations site and have a read. Would you work with a company who sent this:

“Hello Potential Client,

It was great meeting you/you both/all of you at the recent conference. As I/my colleague stated we are very keen/keen to work with you/your company and really feel that there are/is many opportunities/an opportunity for us to work together.

If you could just send me/us a short/long email explaining what it is exactly that you do and why we should/how we could work together then I will get back to you ASAP/never.

Regards/Best Wishes/Thanks

Employee”

I thought so. Me neither/too

Jon Thomson

Is the internet a safe place to get a Mortgage quote?

A Friday afternoon question for you:

Is the internet a safe place to get a Mortgage quote?

Considering this is a blog about lead generation, you’d expect the answer to be yes.

The reason we only work with FSA authorised broker is that we feel lead generators have a responsibility to their consumers to not only protect their data but also connect them with a broker that can actually help them.

Lead Generation only works if consumers trust lead generation to deliver what they are looking for. I posted the same question on the ASK500 site to see what the response was like:

http://www.ask500people.com/questions/is-the-internet-a-safe-place-to-get-a-mortgage-quote

So far the NO camp has 4 votes with YES yet to register a hit.

We can preech about how safe, real time, internet lead generation is, but unless we weed out rogue affiliates who misuse consumer data, the public will not trust the internet and lead generation will be limited to internet savvy consumers as opposed to the wider population.

I'll report back when we have 500 votes...

Alain - alain.desmier@leadpoint.com

Lead Generation and Advertising Spending in an Economic Downturn

Another excellent post from US lead generation expert blogger Bill Rice. Rather than copy and paste the whole post, you can read his thoughts here.

And if you don't have time to read it in full. the gist of what he was saying can be summed up with the following:

1) Businesses routinely cut marketing and advertising expense in an economic downturn

2) Web advertising is not immune; however, insulated somewhat

3) Internet advertising (especially lead generation) is efficient and measurable

4) Online advertising continues to appreciate a consumer and advertiser behaviour shift from offline media to online media

You snooze you lose!

 I’m sure you will recognise the following scenario:

Company A meets company B. Company A pitches wonderful revolutionary, cutting edge solution to help company B make lots of money. Company B is massively excited by the opportunity presented by company A. Company A and company B agree to work together. Everyone is excited at the prospect but then nothing happens for a few months.

It’s almost as if the longer it takes to do business the bigger the company must be! But this mentality should be consigned to the history books. Perhaps this is even why the economy is in the state it is. Companies are too slow to try new opportunities and too slow to react to market changes. In the current online economy where share prices can lose 20% of their value in a day, you snooze you lose!

For advertisers and publishers, now is the time to embrace lead generation. It has been proven to work but if you wait on the sidelines forever you may just miss the boat. In the current climate, you should spend your marketing budget with providers that can deliver material and measurable return on investment and you should start today!

Lead Generation at a4uexpo

The LeadPoint UK ‘speaking roadshow’ is visiting the a4u expo today, leading a panel discussion about the rapid growth of Lead Generation within Online Advertising.

Following up from our successful ad:tech debut and speaking slot, we’ve brought together the biggest names in the Lead Gen industry. For more information please see the session synopsis and link to the expo below.

Lead Generation: The Fastest Growing Segment in Online Advertising

With Lead Generation now widely accepted as the fastest growing segment in Online Advertising (Source: IDC Research), Lead Generation is no longer shrouded in mystery, at least not for the many affiliates at the a4uexpo who have added this offering to online marketing mix. This session will guide beginners and experts alike through the potential pitfalls of lead generation, it will explain how Affiliates can profit from Lead Generation and importantly define what is and what is not Lead Generation, and why this matters!

Speakers:

Nick Chapman - Managing Director, LeadPoint UK
Guy Morris - Head of Business Development, Media Ingenuity
Thomas Adalbert - Commercial Director, BeatThatQuote.com
Alain Desmier - Head of Business Development, LeadPoint UK
Jon Dixon - Business Development Manager, Leadbay

Conference Schedule : a4uexpo London, 14th - 15th October 2008