Lead Generation Vendors - The Leader in Lead Generation - The Future of Lead Generation - Lead Generation Products

The future of lead generation will be about CPL and targeting.

It's no secret that cost-per-click (CPC) advertising (Google, Yahoo!/Overture, and the like) has become incredibly appealing to marketers. You don't pay unless the person clicks. Pay per performance. Pay for results!

Well...not exactly.

CPC isn't truly "results-based." Unless the result you want is a click. No, for you as a B2B marketer, the "result" you want is some specific action that results in a qualified lead: Downloading a white paper or case study, signing up for a webinar, etcetera.

Think of Google and other leading CPC networks as "traffic redirectors." They can get you in front of your audience, and hopefully that traffic will click on your ad and arrive on your website. But what happens when they get there? That's up to you. It's up to you whether the clicks you're paying for are going to have any value.

Here's what this all means. If the goal is to deliver better and better targeted leads at a lower cost per lead (the proverbial "holy grail" of lead generation, right?), then a cost per ACTION approach is necessary. Paying for results, not clicks.

And this is why the use of targeted "contextual networks" will become critical for lead generation.

"Contextual" means your message is getting in front of the exact people you want to reach at the time when they're looking at or in need of the type of information you provide.

The CPC approach does provide contextual targeting. Someone types in a search phrase related to your business, and hopefully your ad will come up in the sponsored results. But with targeted contextual networks, that "context" has wider and deeper reach.

"Networks" refers to pushing your message out over the web to as many places where your very specific audience not only happens to be, but keeps going to. What places might those be? Think vertically-oriented websites and specialty blogs. One, vertical sites attract repeat visitors. Two, vertical sites attract targeted visitors. Like a website or blogs for accountants. Or a site for IT security infrastructure professionals. Or an online service that matches biotech professionals with biotech employers.

So "contextual networks" is simply defined as a collection of vertical sites. It means that you're getting your message out to the right people in the right places, on an ongoing basis.

For example, someone who publishes a site about broadband technology might earn extra money by being a part of a network and so allowing ads to be broadcast on his or her site. Those ads reflect the "context," the keywords on the page, so if there's content on a given page about "Wi-Fi Hotspots" you might see an ad for "Hotspot Billing Software."

Unlike cost-per-click networks, think of contextual networks as the next innovation in online advertising. It's taken farther than CPC, because instead of paying for each click, you're paying for each action. An IT security professional who sees your white paper ad on a site she frequents has to not only click your link, but then fill out your qualification form. So it is well suited to lead generation.

And as those contextual networks grow (with more and more targeted blogs and sites sprouting up), your company message or ad will reach more and targeted people at a lower cost.

NetLine is a new solution now available for b2b marketers. 

Comments

[Matt Blumberg]

John --

We should catch up again soon. Did anything ever come of your conversation with Mike Mayor?

Regards,
Matt

[hisyLiefs]

This is really cool… I like the way you react to my advanced patience I have a joke for you =) Why can't a woman ask her brother for help? Because he can't be a brother and assist her too.