Leadpile's Blog» Marketing

Marketing Benefits Of H1N1

Erin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:13:40 +0000

Many of you may be thinking that I am crazy saying that there are benefits to the H1N1 virus. Getting the flu may not be fun, but if you are are in the business of household personal care items, you could not be happier. Brands such as Johnson & Johnson have been seeing a large increase in sales on many of their germ killing products. Purell hand sanitizer, Clorox, and cold medicine are just a few of their germ products that people are reaching to. Just looking around the office I can see all three of the above products with people using them constantly. With that being said, it comes to no surprise that in October along with Johnson & Johnson saw at 10.7% sales increase. That was the larger increase among all companies in this market.
People are going to do whatever it takes to not get sick, if that means buying a bottle of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes a week, they are going to do it (at least until the H1N1 virus subsides). If you are a marketing there is no reason why you should not be taking full advantage of this. Especially since we are still in a “recession”, having the biggest sale increase for that market is amazing. For all you green enthusiast who do not want to get sick and do not want to hurt the environment, there is a whole line of environmental friendly disinfectant products. Whatever the case may be, it definitely pays to work with what is out there and target what people are buzzing about.

YouTube Testing Skippable Ads

Mari H. — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:08:51 +0000

In years past YouTube tried to roll out in-stream ads (in 1997), however the acceptance of it did not go to well with viewers. Time has past and there are other sites that have incorporates such ads, so YouTube is now looking at taking another stab at it. It makes sense because YouTube is utilized by so many people in so many ways, that incorporating some sort of ads had to become part the of “YouTube Revolution”. The good thing about what YouTube is doing, is that they are creating these ads that are actually able to be skipped. However, what they are finding is that if you have a short 15 second ad, more people are not “skipping” over the ad. This is great news for the advertiser trying to get their ads played. Maybe the future of high priced Super Bowl ads will continue on from our televisions to our computers?
Leadpile has incorporated YouTube into our marketing efforts to help get our name out there, and we can certainly see a potential with bringing in ads to these videos. YouTube has to learn to make money, so what other options do they have but to look at cashing in on all the eyes they have on their videos? I think it is a good marketing idea…..

Testing in Canada, Ay?

Erin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:38:13 +0000

Canada is no longer an out of the way market that U.S companies do not want to do business with. Many of the hot Canadian companies are all coming together to try to sell themselves. These agencies are going to be traveling around the United States to show marketers that cities like Montreal and Quebec are the ideal new hot spot for market testing. Why is this? According to adage.com, “its language barrier prevents much outside media from seeping in, and vice versa — makes it an ideal place for U.S.-based marketers to experiment with new ideas and approaches before rolling them out to wider audiences.”
Several larger companies such as MasterCard and Mazda are way ahead of the game and have been utilizing Canada as a test market for several years now, both with great success. By testing in a smaller market with a smaller budget, marketers are able to see what works and what does not with out throwing their whole budget out the door. This also allows companies to try a more “out of the box” method.
LeadPile is a head of the game when it comes to working in Canada. Currently we are generating Canadian payday leads in Ontario. We are finding great success generating leads in Ontario and have plans to expand to some of the other Canadian markets.

Got A Little Captains In You?

Erin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:26:33 +0000

It comes to no surprise that economist are saying that spending will be down this year for the holiday season and Halloween is no exception. Consumers are cutting their spending across the board this Halloween. From candy to costumes to decorations, it is predicted that consumers planning to celebrate the holiday this year will be down two percent. Even the pumpkin patches are taking a hit!
What is one market that thrives this holiday? The alcohol business, specifically Captain Morgan rum (number 2 in rum sales). Adults love Halloween just as much as the kids do and Captains realizes that. Their new slogan of, “Calling All Captains” is being pushed through several of the marketing verticals. They have made a huge push this season not only coming out with new television ads, but also three Halloween parties, and a photo content. According to Tom Herbst, Director of Marketing, “We feel like Captain Morgan sort of owns Halloween. No other brand markets as much as we do and sees the return from it…Halloween has always also had an adult component to it and when that adult component reached mainstream, we felt that this was an opportunity to jump on it and bring the unique Captain energy to it.”. This time of year is one of the busiest for the brand. With the captain always being in costume it makes sense that this is his time to shine. I am sure that there will even be many individuals who dress up as him for Halloween. So this Halloween when someone asks what you would like to drink, go for the Captain. Why you say? Because you and the Captain can make it happen.
It is amazing the effects a “captain” can have on a company’s marketing. Leadpile and all other companies I am sure wish we had a catchy mascot like the “captain” to spread our marketing message!

Convenience On A New “2D” Level!

Natasha — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:15:38 +0000

Have you ever received a coupon or incentive via email and then forget about it or lost track of it because you didn’t print it right away? Good news! JCPenny has selected a handful of it’s stores to test mobile coupons.
According to ONLINE MEDIA DAILY, 16 JCPenny locations installed “2D” capable scanners at registers that have the capability to read the barcode off the coupon directly from consumer’s cell phones with email capabilities. Customers can download a free application at cellfire.com/jcpenney or by texting “JCP” to 28888 from their cell phone.
JCpenny will be promoting several different incentives to test this during the holiday season. Pending the results of this trial, JCPenny will possibly expand this feature to additional stores.
“Ten million digital coupons were redeemed in the first six months of 2009, up 25% from a year ago.” For the high percentage of Blackberry and iPhone users that have their phones within reach every moment of the day, this could be potentially a great new thing! The incentive to use the coupon could be much greater given that printing, saving, and finding the coupon could be a thing of the past!

Win Win Situation

Erin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:26:07 +0000

Sitting at my desk I can look around and see a LG phone, Dunkin’s cup, Apple computer, and the list can just go on and on. Whether it’s billboards, magazines, people’s clothing, or on the internet, advertising is literally everywhere. But where hasn’t advertising really tapped into yet? Your cell phone.
Mobile advertising is a market that many companies are trying to get more into. With everyone and their mother having a smart phone, it only makes sense for this to be the next big step in advertising. According to emarketer.com, the projected spend for 2009 in mobile advertising is 416 million, and it will soar up to $1.56 billion by 2013. Currently, the main forms of mobile advertising are through texting and banner ads. The mobile banner ads work in a similar fashion as internet banner ads. With mobile texting advertisers can purchase packages to meet their needs (packages can include a certain number of texts per month along with keywords) and then send them out to all their contacts.
Personally, I think that mobile advertising is great. Just the other week, I received a text for free admission to a concert because I had been at that same venue earlier that week. All I had to do is just show the text at the front door and I was in. No strings attached! Marketing strategies with incentives always seem to work the best. It gets the consumer in the door (for free in this case) and it still brings in revenue with other purchases such as food and beverages. If this isn’t a win win situation, then I do not know what is.

Leadpile Lead Exchange Ranked #3 On Inc. 5000

Mari H. — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:26:22 +0000

Tuesday it was announced that Leadpile was named #3 on Inc. Magazines top 5000 companies amongst other Advertising and Marketing companies with 14 or fewer employees. The other great news is Leadpile was ranked #1 on the West Coast amongst the other Advertising and Marketing companies in total revenue. Leadpile ranks number 2637 overall on Inc. Magazines third annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. Way to go Leadpile!

Twitter Rolling Out Business Tools

Mari H. — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:47:41 +0000

I don’t think there is a day that goes by where something about Twitter is not being talked about. That’s great for them, but what is it really bringing them as far as money in their pockets? It seems they are still working on long term initiatives that would help them make money off it’s popularity. However, for now they are continuing to come up with ideas that will help the current users make money. In the next few days, they will be rolling out the first phase of educational information for businesses on how they can effectively use Twitter to generate revenue for their own company (big and small). Twitter will continue to roll out educational information so they can help their users become more Twitter savvy with Tweeting. They see their site as a great tool for businesses to use to help generate revenue. Does this mean if they are going to help educate businesses on how to make money, then they must have something planned for themselves on how THEY are going to make money? I hope so!
Twitter is looking to be looked at more like a communication network, versus a social network. They have forecasted that they will have revenues of around 4 billion for the 4th quarter, but I am not sure how they will achieve that with the way the site is currently. Maybe they have something “big” up their sleeves????? Leadpile Lead Exchange uses Twitter on a limited basis, however maybe with some new tools available we could look at using it even more! Are other lead generation companies using Twitter to generate leads? I would be curious to see how affiliate marketers and other lead generation companies are utilizing this “communication network” to help their business?

Online Direct Response Marketing To Increase

Mari H. — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:49:33 +0000

The days of newspaper and magazine advertising seems to be becoming more and more extinct as businesses turn to online direct response advertising. Online direct advertising incorporates lead generation, search and online directories into one category and then there is national and local digital media. Businesses seem to be turning more and more to generating clients through search and other more “targeted” media because of the better end result = more business. The costs to print newspapers and magazines has not become as profitable as in previous years because many are not turning to print to get their news, they are turning to a more instant “fix” like the internet. Knowing this, publishers and advertisers are also turning to the internet for customer’s attention. Lead generation companies, like Leadpile, have become more and more in demand as the cost to convert even things such as a television ad to a interested customer rise.
Biz report points out that, “Besides online search, the forecast predicts that online direct response marketing, a new category in 2009, will increase by 2.9%.” Other reports show that by 2014 this sort of advertising is set to increase by 10%. This is great news for lead generation companies and our search engines. However, the picture does not seem as good for national digital media (rich media, online video, email, display and mobile) which is set to decrease by 11%, and local digital media (ie: television, radio and newspapers) to decrease by 5%. The good news is the report also points out that both are set to rebound in future years.
My question is how are other advertising sources, besides online media, going to adapt to increase their revenue? This has to be something that is very challenging for many companies who have built empires by using these non-online media companies (ie- newspapers and magazines). I can’t imagine how people survived in earlier years without the internet, and the capabilities it has to reach so many people in such a little place (computer). This reminds me of growing up and parents stating they did not have televisions or things like calculators in their daily life. I could never understand how they survived, which I know now sounds silly. What will be the next innovative creation that will change our world???????? Who will discover it?

When Is A Good Time To Capture Consumer Info?

Mari H. — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:52:07 +0000

Is there really a good time to capture email addresses and other secure information from consumers that are visiting your website(s)? Bizreport.com thinks there is an optimal time to get the consumer to provide their email addresses, when doing their online shopping (or other online activities). So, when is an ideal time to capture this sort of information from the consumer?? The report says, “At the highest engagement level, and most times this is at the point of purchase or while consumers are beginning to shop your site. .” Why is this? Capturing this sort of information creates more customer loyalty. If you want the customers to come back to your site, or eventually react to future emails you send them, they have to trust you and the site. The report also found that since mobile marketing (SMS marketing)is so popular right now, capturing their email addresses to send them mobile updates is something a lot of consumers are open to.
These sort of rules also apply to other online experiences, such as lead generation. For instance, Leadpile captures email addresses on all it’s leads, however there are some lead types such as payday loan and auto finance where additional secure information is captured. Capturing this information at the right time is certainly key to the trust factor with the consumer submitting online requests for things such as loans.