Are you ever watching your favorite television show and some sort of advertisement comes on that really you have no interest in? I know I know a lot of us don’t really care for advertisements at all, but what if the ads that are on your t.v. are things you are potentially interested in? How about if you’re watching a show like Home Shopping Network, and you can then use your remote control, push a few buttons, and charge a purchase from your television? How about voting for your favorite reality show contestant without using your phone?
All these are things that our televisions are going to be soon allowing us to do in addition to relevant commercials. NPRNews points out, “Consumer advocates worry about marketers compromising our privacy by rummaging through our viewing habits and getting us to trade personal information for coupons.” Potentially these marketing companies will know everything you have purchased, however they will not know detail information such as your name. Is this sort of thing crossing the line on your personal t.v time? This sort of thing is already happening with the internet (behavioral targeting) and websites you are visiting (cookies), so why not with your television too? Leadpile Lead Exchange does not use cookies with our lead generation, however many affiliate marketing networks do.

Has your cell phone or your landline rang many times in recent months, with you only to answer and there is a computerized extended car warranty recording?  I know I experienced this call many times to the point of annoyance.  Well, it appears that there are many other people, 4,000+ complaints to be exact according to DMNews, and now it seems the FTC (Fair Trade Commission) is involved.
There are potentially a lot of issues here with what this company is doing. First, there is the violation of the Do Not Call List and also potentially offering a phony product. The FTC is actively working on stopping this illegal marketing while the court case proceeds.
Working with all sorts of marketing methods, Leadpile Lead Exchange is very much concerned about who it works with and what those partners are doing to generate leads. We would certainly never condone this sort of illegal method of generating traffic/leads. With all these new technological ways to do marketing, the FTC is probably going to have it’s hands full in the years to come. Use the phone as a potential source of generating business, HOWEVER do it the legal way!

Google dominates the search world, however others still want to play in the game.  Yahoo seems to have proven that by rolling out the upgraded version of their web analytics tool.  DMNews points out that Google may dominate the “game”, however Yahoo gets the “most improved” award.

Being successful with your online marketing campaigns you must be able to understand details such as demographics of your visitors. If you are reviewing a report and not fully understanding what you are reading, then that reporting lost it’s purpose. Yahoo seemed to understand that and now has updated their web analytics so it is not only good at providing a lot of data, but good at clearly analyzing that data so the average person can understand it. For instance, a successful lead generation campaign with one of Leadpile’s publishers will not work if they don’t understand what they are reading in the reporting. However, if they do understand what they are reading, that PPC campaign will be that much more successful for ALL parties involved. Great job Yahoo!

Over the counter drug companies (OTC) are big at advertising on television during our favorite shows. OTC drugs are medicines such as the allergy, cold/flu and headache medicines we purchase from our local grocery stores. However, advertising budgets are getting smaller, and companies are looking at using these advertising dollars in a more viable sort of way— online.  According to DMNEWS, advertisers are looking at using more online advertising because it is a way to measure their ROI (return on investment) much easier.  Online marketing allows companies to grow a database and track their data. “I think that the trend towards online marketing is continuing because it’s easier to target a specific market for a product,” says Larry Mickelberg, EVP of strategy and new busi­ness at Digitas Health.”

Companies can use the information from the consumers, that are opting in for information, for future offers that allows them to monetize the data again.  These OTC companies are only looking to do opt in advertising online, because not being able to use the consumers data AGAIN does reduce the company’s ROI.  Online lead generation seems to be the way to go with a lot of these companies that have not necessarily looked at it as a viable option.  Leadpile Lead Exchange understands that companies that are not necessarily doing online lead generation, might want to take a look at it.  It is a great way to increase your ROI.

According to emarketer.com, 2009 is going to be the year of spending advertising dollars on online video.

US marketers responded on how they plan to spend their 2009 online marketing budgets.

Of the people surveyed, here is who plans on spending their budgets on what:

1.  Online video  (66.8%)

2.  Social media   (41.6%)

3.  Search    (34.1%)

4.  Podcasts/webcasts (32%)

5.  Rich media  (30.5%)

6.  Banner ads   (22.8%)

7.  Mobile  (17.4%)

8.  Other   (6.8%)

This shows that more than two-thirds of respondents said they would focus their budgets on online video in 2009. According to the article, “eMarketer estimates that spending on online video advertising will grow to $4.6 billion in 2013, representing a more than sevenfold increase from the $587 million spent on the format in 2008.”  Therefore, if you are not planning on doing any online video with your marketing campaigns, you might want to at least entertain the idea.  Leadpile Lead exchange is utilizing online video to educate the public on Leadpile. Take a look in YouTube and see for yourself. How will you try and utilize online video to help promote your company?  Time to start thinking about that.

                  AND                    

It’s that time again….. Leadpile Lead Exchange will be attending and exhibiting at the Affiliate Summit Vegas (January 11-13th). We are looking forward to seeing some new faces and catching up with some old friends. We will be exhibiting at the Affiliate Summit Meet Market on the 11th. Please feel free to stop by and say hi!  We are looking for new partnerships with publishers and advertisers with the 37 or so lead types we are currently working with.  

Everyone is still scrambling to get their shopping done, and Black Friday/Cyber Monday is officially over. These days, more and more people are looking to shop online to find the best deals, save time and energy.  To help with this cause, I researched some top retail websites listed by Hitwise.  This information is based on total internet usage through the end of last month. Maybe these are where the deals are at and we should ALL take a look.

1.  www.amazon.com

2.  www.walmart.com

3.  www.target.com

4.  www.bestbuy.com

5.  www.circuitcity.com

6.  www.jcpenny.com

7.  www.toysrus.com

8.  www.kmart.com

9.  www.khols.com

10. www.overstock.com

According to Hitwise, there is a lot of traffic being driven to these popular retail sites through email marketing.  Searching for the best deals is becoming a lot more convenient for customers because you don’t have to go physically store to store buying each store’s best deals.  While looking at these various sites myself, I will say that it looks like all of them have major deals going on and FREE shipping. My prediction is Cyber Monday is going to eventually become more and more popular than Black Friday.
I am sure companies that also work with Leadpile Lead Exchange, are currently working with online retailers to capitalize on this demand for increased traffic. This is a perfect example of how beneficial affiliate marketing can be to online companies!

In recent news Amazon.com rolled out that they will be using customer feedback to help market products on their website.  According to DMNews, “The company announced this week it has formed a “Holiday Customer Review Team,” comprised of six of its top customer reviewers.” These reviewers are going to provide helpful tools to fellow Amazon.com customers. This is something that caught my eye because you don’t normally see companies utilizing the very same people that are also customers. Customers listen to other customers, so this could be a good thing for Amazon.
Today will officially start the Cyber Monday, which refers to the Monday immediately following Black Friday, the kick-off of the holiday online shopping season in the United States between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hopefully, with the kickoff of the shopping season, we will see more customer feedback being used to help guide customers on shopping “smarter”.
Besides shopping websites, sites such as Leadpile Lead Exchange use things such as testimonials to help provide feedback. Testimonials, customer feedback and other forms of “product review” are great ways for companies to know what’s working and what’s not working in their company. Nobody knows a company better than the people actually using it!

According to DMNews, Yahoo was rated the preferred search engine for US Hispanics in October 2008.
Knowing this popularity, Yahoo has launched Yahoo Publicidad. This is Yahoo’s answer to reaching the large Hispanic population.  Yahoo’s Hispanic America Marketing director says, “Yahoo is the only marketing platform to integrate display, performance or search and mobile advertising.”  This site is a marketing platform for advertisers to reach US Hispanics, Latin American and South American consumers.  Many lead generation companies are fucusing on the Hispanic market.  This might be a good indication that companies like Leadpile Lead Exchange should focus more on this market.  

Yahoo has an eye wide open for targeting the hispanic population, maybe we should also take note too!

With tough times even in the internet business world, businesses must find effective ways to generate new business. Companies need to see results from their money spent on advertising, so many choose to invest in lead generation.
Businesses could spend an infinite amount of money on PPC and not know what the result could be. Businesses could spend undefined amounts of money on hiring someone to do SEO.
Businesses could purchase “lists” and cross your fingers there will be a response rate that is acceptable.
OR
Businesses can look at lead generation (CPL), where each lead you purchase is a defined person who is interested in their product. There are various ways lead generation companies are generating leads. For example, leads can be generated from things such as surveys or incentives. However, these are not always going to be as targeted of leads, because consumers could be looking at it like what is in it for them? Unlike some other lead generation companies, Leadpile Lead Exchange is working with ONLY consumers who are opting in for a particular product of service. This end result means a lot more targeted consumer,  and a much bigger chance the lead will convert to an actual sale.  What should businesses choose?
Marketing dollars are down, so this requires a strict focus on making the most out of what you spend on marketing. Businesses can’t afford to pay for random non targeted ads, unopened e-mails or wasted clicks. CPL pricing models allow businesses to get returns on every advertising dollar they spend.  Tough times are not just affecting consumers, it is affecting businesses all over the world.  Businesses are fighting over every last potential sale because they are becoming far and few between!

In past years, the internet did not play a big part in a company’s product sales.  Today, this is certainly not the case. The internet is a major player in generating revenue for all industries. Specifically, financial related websites are very popular for consumers to find out information and also purchase items. Leadpile Lead Exchange is no different. The highest demanded leads in our marketplace are financial related lead types. These are companies wanting to provide financial services to consumers looking for assistance.
The auto industry is also no different than our marketplace, and other companies generating business online. According to DMNews, internet generated car sales will rise from 5.1 millions in 2007 to 7.7 million in 2012. This means that auto makers, no matter what their future status is, need to be visible on the internet in order to generate car sales. This would mean that with the tight economy and not as many people out shopping for a car, auto makers must utilize search engines and SEO efforts to get the much needed attention of consumers. DMNews also stated that Nissan North America, Chrysler and GM have done the best with utilizing search marketing.
So does this also mean that those auto lead exchanges that are not focusing on any other lead type are suffering right now? My guess would be yes. Leadpile Lead Exchange is also feeling the effects of less consumers online looking for a new car, however that is why diversifying the lead types we generate is so very important. People are in dire need of other financial services besides just getting a new car, and we want to be able to help with that.

   Well it is that time again, Ad-tech New York is happening in a little over a week, and it will be represented by all the top advertisers in the country. This conference has been around for more than 10 years bringing together media, marketing and technical professions. According to ad-tech.com, “As the digitization of media continually redefines the business of marketing, it is ad:tech’s mission to provide brand advertisers, agencies, portals, online publishers and technology providers an unparalleled forum – one that supports the exchange of ideas, experiences, new practices, emerging models and expert opinion.”

Leadpile Lead Exchange will be attending the conference. This conference allows businesses to meet current partners and also look at setting up new partnerships. We look forward to seeing old faces and new faces. If you are planning on being there, we would love to see you! Let us know!
Leadpile would also like to say thanks to all the affiliates we are currently working with, and those that come on board with this Brilliant Lead Exchange!