When those of us in the online advertising world think of lead generation, we often think of the volume leaders – mortgage and education. It's hard not to, as they, for the most part, dominate our advertising consciousness, especially with respect to display advertising. There are of course others, including health insurance, life insurance, new car quote, auto insurance, auto financing, and all the little niches that those currently making money do not want the rest to uncover. That said, if you do not see a particular vertical in your inbox, on a registration path, or via display advertising, you might assume it doesn't exist. It isn't until you visit B2B superstar Buyerzone.com or the equally ambitious consumer focused MatchMaven.com. They remind us of the diversity of verticals that exist today.
Some of the more interesting lead generation examples do not yet exist on portal sites. Finding them, often by accident, though, reminds us of the potential, and future of lead generation. They range from the hair restoration doctor that has five offices and a website where patients can request more information; to the local car service where a user can fill out a form for a quote and pickup confirmation. These are but two of many companies that have a proven model but not necessarily reached the point of scaling or are even aware that a whole virtual army exists to help them blow their business out of the water.
We all know that lead generation comes down to matching buyers of leads with sellers, which includes everything from Google to an email marketer. Unlike years past, though, the latter has matured. It is not enough that Internet traffic exists. What really makes the difference is that buyers of leads can turn to a large number of companies for generating leads. These companies will not only generate leads, but they can do so on a cost per lead basis. This might sound elementary to lead generation, but having this in place so fully, frees up those who want to create a new vertical to have to focus on one thing – sales of leads instead of both finding lead buyers and lead sellers.
If it has not already, lead generation will, this year, reach a point from which the traffic component can act as a platform. The business model and lead generators will come together so that those who wish to create the new verticals can see liquidity for the leads quickly. What then, should those looking to create new verticals do, in order to harness the existing traffic that lead generators can move their way? And, equally importantly, what does it take in order for that vertical to become big? To create a successful lead market you should:
Choose an area of genuine interest - pick one that ideally you both care about and have some prior knowledge. By picking a vertical in which you have a vested interested (especially if your business relies on it), that keeps you focused and it aligns your actions. A company like Azoogle can chose to enter just about any vertical because it has the manpower and management to force this focus. Almost everyone else does not have that luxury.
Start with the big buyers – the big buyers might not always pay the most per lead, but what they help with is the all important service rate. You would much rather have a buyer that will pay $20 per lead for any lead you send versus someone paying $50 but takes only 20% of what you generate. The same logic has held true even for MSN. They didn't sell their own paid search ads. They let Yahoo/Overture handle it; once you have an established business and can handle the tail of relationships, then it makes sense to start seeking out a greater number of smaller, higher paying relationships.
Focus - go deep not wide but don't go too narrow; when it comes to a vertical, you want to focus not just on something in which you have an interest. You want to focus on one category, and do it well. LowerMyBills started out in a large number of verticals, but ultimately, they focused on one. Equally important, while they focused on one, they focused on a large one; they didn't focus on just one type of home loan or one state.
Ask anyone that has built out the sales side for leads; it takes a lot of work. The above three guidelines – choose an area of interest, start with the national buyers, and focus on one large topic first – can't guarantee success, but they should help when it comes to creating a vertical that can leverage the every maturing traffic and affiliate markets.
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