LeadsCon Quick Hits

I just got back from LeadsCon Las Vegas, the conference for online lead generation.  My quick observations from this year’s show:

• Lead gen has arrived. Holy crap, there were around 2000 people at LeadsCon, quite an increase from the “mere” 600 people who showed up back in 2008. There were plenty of VCs and investors hunting for deals, foreign lead gen’ers (I personally met people from Israel, the UK, Australia, and Germany), and people like me a/k/a vendors looking to swoop up a few new deals. The arc of LeadsCon’s growth reminds me of the way Search Engine Strategies (SES) grew. When I first went to SES in 2002, there were maybe 500 people and 90% of the attendees were search nerds. Today, SES has shows around the globe and has tens of thousands of attendees, and has competition from Search Marketing Expo (SMX) and PPC Summit, among others. I could definitely see LeadsCon having 5-6 shows a year around the world – the demand for online lead gen related content is now that strong.
• Great conferences don’t really need content. The sessions I sat in on at LeadsCon were great, don’t get me wrong. But I firmly believe that the true value of LeadsCon is in networking and meeting opportunities. LeadsCon is one of the few conferences out there were you can walk up to random attendee and probably come away with a great business opportunity. The panel I moderated (does affiliate marketing in lead gen make sense?) was great in terms of content, but attendance was so-so. Why? Because we were the last panel of the day – we started at 4:30 and by then most people were drinking beer and doing deals. LeadsCon could end at 3pm every day and the attendees would still get immense value out of the show.
• Quality still matters and lead gen is still metaphorically dead. I said this after LeadsCon 1.0 in 2008 – lead gen is no longer about “leads”, its about “revenue.” “Lead quality” is just a metaphor for “revenue from leads.” In EDU buyers talk about “cost per enrollment” as their primary metric, in consumer finance, its “cost per funded loan”. How is this really any different from paying out based on the actual revenue the buyer ends up receiving?
• The LeadCouncil is a great idea. The concept of having a trade association for online lead gen is way past due. Again, not to toot my own horn, but I’ve written about this numerous times: if online advertisers (and perhaps especially lead generators) don’t find a way to regulate and certify their own industry, other people will. Those “other” people might be Google 0r they might be the FTC, but this a scenario that is worth avoiding at all costs (insofar as it can at this point). Better late than never, so kudos to LeadCouncil for taking this first important step.
• Diversification is vital in lead gen. From my buddy Saar throwing my entire profession under the bus by calling PPC “stale”, to ever-present questions of lead quality from incentivized marketing, or CAN-SPAM and email, its clear that successful lead gen companies cannot be one-trick ponies when it comes to sourcing leads. Those 100,000 leads you get from virtual currency deals can be gone in a moment – you’d better have a good back-up source ready!
• I didn’t deserve to lose the poker tourney. The 2nd annual LeadCritic/Geary/Leads360/Online Lead Generation LinkedIn group poker tourney had 100 attendees, each ponying up around $100 each for the $5K first place prize. Mike Ferree once again did a great job in organizing the tournament, but how can a guy with 6-7 suited call my “all-in” pre-flop with two fives win the hand? Gimme a break!
• Nice guys sometimes finish first. Last but not least, I just want to say how happy I am that LeadsCon founder Jay Weintraub has had such incredible success with LeadsCon. Jay is about the nicest, most humble, personable guy you will meet and you can just see all the attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors rooting for him to succeed. On top of that, he actually delivers great content and a great event, so this is truly a  win-win for all involved!

 

Have One Vendor for PPC and SEO? You’re Getting Ripped Off

There was a time in Internet history when it was possible to be an expert at all things online marketing. That time ended around 1996. Similarly, there was a time when it was possible to be an expert at all things search marketing, a time which ended around 2003. And yet, many normally smart business people still hire the same person/company to manage both PPC and SEO.

Every day I read dozens of articles about PPC and I would say I probably learn something new every day. Whether its a new Google beta, a new bidding technique, or a hidden search engine – there’s always something to discover. On top of that, the world of PPC continues to morph and evolve. There’s PPC on YouTube, via Google Content Network, in display advertising, on Facebook, and even in email marketing.

I’m sure that there at least this much complexity and diversity in the world of SEO, which is why whenever a client asks me to do SEO for them, I tell them “I know enough to be dangerous, but not enough to actually charge you for my knowledge.” And yet, every day, PPC experts sell SEO services and SEO experts sell PPC services.

I can understand why clients wouldn’t see this as a problem – from their perspective, search is search, whether its paid or organic.  But would you go to a general practitioner for open-heart surgery and conclude that “all doctors are doctors” or hire an immigration attorney to handle your patent law? Of course not, because you know better; more specifically, you know that there are experts that handle specific elements of medicine or the law.

I would add that this is not just a problem for clients – if you are a SEO or PPC expert and you try to pass yourself off as an overall ‘search’ expert, your clients (at least your smart ones) will eventually catch on to the fact that you really don’t know what you are doing in 50% of the stuff you are working on. Granted, there’s a sucker born every minute, so you might be able to replace these clients with dumb ones for a time, but professional service businesses are dependent on word-of-mouth, and you can only skate by for so long.

Some day it wouldn’t surprise me to see sub-specialization occur within SEO and PPC. For example, you could have PPC experts who only work with display ads, or Facebook advertising gurus. Right now, I feel confident that you can still be an expert at “all things PPC”, and probably the same for “all things SEO.” But if someone tells you they are an expert at “all things search”, check your pocket for your wallet on the way out the door.

 

Why Marketing Should Rarely Be Held Accountable for Offline Sales

I was thinking about writing a post outlining how National Public Radio (specifically, San Francisco’s KQED) uses the “four basic human emotions” to get listeners to donate to their radio station, but my initial concept has now morphed into a diatribe against bad sales techniques. Bear with me on this one, I’ll explain.

KQED has someone named Cynthia Marcucci who mysteriously only comes on air when it is time to raise money from listeners. For all I know, she may be a full-time NPR fundraiser, a modern-day music man going from town to town and station to station to fleece the listening public out of a few hard-earned dollars. I give her credit, though, she’s really good. In the course of a five minute spiel, she hits on all the human emotions. First and foremost there’s fear and guilt – if you don’t give, we can’t bring you great programs, and then you’ll be left listening to Bon Jovi on a commercial channel. Then there’s greed and exclusivity – we only have a few “speed gifts” left so you’d better call now or you’ll miss out on your subscription to Cooks Illustrated. And finally, vanity – you must be smart because you listen to NPR and by pledging you’ll further solidify your status as one of America’s cultural elites.

KQED has got some other crafty marketing techniques that they also throw into the mix: the “dollar for dollar challenge” which makes you think that your money will be doubled by a sponsor (which I am pretty sure is actually not true); the promise to end the pledge drive early (translation: we get to listen to actual NPR again) if you donate; and the clearly heard phones ringing in the background – to let you know that others are donating – a herd mentality approach.

So with all these various pressures – I succumbed to the pressure today and called in my pledge. Initially, the experience was great – I could actually hear my pledge call ringing in the background on air (for all of you listening to KQED at around 3:56 PM – THAT WAS MY PHONE CALL YOU HEARD!). From that point forward, however, things went downhill fast. First off, I got routed to the “your call is important to us, please hold” system for a few minutes. I had a call at 4pm so I thought about hanging up right there and calling back. Then I got a volunteer on the line and the call went like this:

Volunteer: Thank you for calling KQED, may I take your pledge?

David: Yeah, but can you tell what I get for different pledge amounts.

(Five Second Pause).

Volunteer: OK, let me look it up.

(Thirty Second Pause).

Volunteer: It looks like for $125 you can get some DVDs about San Francisco.

David: What about other donation levels.

Volunteer: OK, let me see if I can find that.

(One Minute Pause)

Volunteer: If you go to our Web site, you can get a list of all the different pledge options.

David: OK, thanks I’ll do that.

Volunteer: Good bye.

I’m not a sales guy, but I count at least three cardinal selling errors that transpired during this call:

1. Don’t keep a potential customer on hold;
2. Don’t speak to a customer unless you are familiar with all the product options. At a minimum, have a cheat sheet available.
3. NEVER, EVER, encourage a customer who you are talking to live to get off the phone and go to your Web site for more information.

It’s likely that I will end up donating via the KQED Web site (though I have to admit, that site isn’t the most user-friendly either). But this whole experience is a good example of why marketing should only be held accountable for part of the conversion funnel. Cynthia Marcucci and the on-air pledge drive leaders broke down my resistance and got me to call in a pledge – the marketing worked. At that point, however, they’ve done everything they can. The rest is up to the sales team, and in this case, the sales team failed miserably.

In virtually every B2B sales process, there are between four and five different points along the path to a successful sale:

1. Lead (e.g. complete a request for a white paper)
2. Opportunity (the lead is qualified as legitimate)
3. Contact (the sales person actually talks to the lead)
4. Proposal (a proposal is submitted)
5. Sale (a contract is signed)

From a marketing perspective, once the lead is declared “qualified” and is an opportunity, there’s nothing more that the marketing team can do – their job is done. That’s not to say that the marketing team shouldn’t be informed about their results of their leads. For example, if there is clear data to indicate that opportunities for specific keywords drive higher-value sales (or tend to convert more frequently) than other leads, then that sort of information needs to be factored into marketing decisions. But my advice is to use this data as supplemental and not actually judge marketing on these metrics, because a good or bad sales team can significantly impact the outcome. Marketing drives people to the front door, sales people have to let them in and sign them up!

 

The 10 People Google Will Meet in Hell

Who hates Google? Well, it turns out, quite a lot of folks. It’s a testament to the incredible power of their brand that Google’s reputation is still so stellar, considering the number of groups that are already pissed off at Google.

Here’s a list of ten companies/organizations/groups (upgraded from my previous list of just eight!)that are now ‘at war’ with Google. Each of these is linked to an article supporting the claim!

1. Apple
2. Microsoft
3. eBay
4. China
5. Newspapers
6. Book Publishers
7. Radio Stations
8. Advertisers
9. Web Publishers
10. The US Government!
11. Bonus! Consumers

That’s a lot of angry people. Of course, there are still billions who love all-things-Google. It will be interesting to see, however, if the collective angst of the above Google foes will eventually find its way into the mainstream.

 

Buh Bye Blogger!

You would think that blogging software owned and operated by Google would be the default standard for the blogging community. You’d be wrong. Simply put, blogger has less features, poorer SEO, and even worse in-sight search than WordPress. It’s shocking but WordPress just blows away blogger.

So with that in mind, welcome to the new Blogation. You’ll quickly see that the in-sight search functionality works, as do the categories, and the overall usability is much better. Oh, and you can type blogation.net or http://www.blogation.net, or even http://www.blogation.net and *all* of them will work!

I’ll be playing with the design over the coming weeks, and I’ve got to figure out the RSS feed migration as well. If you’ve got any ideas or suggestions, let me know!

 

MSN AdCenter – Where Usability Goes to Die

Ugh – you want to know why you are so behind AdWords, team MSN? Let’s start with your absolutely horrid usability. I got an email stating that some keywords and/or ad text was disapproved. I clicked on the message setting in the UI and got this completely useless information (account ID blacked out):

Notice that the message doesn’t tell you which keywords (and/or ad text) was disapproved – you are left to your own devices to hunt through the UI and find the disapprovals. But wait – it gets better – there’ s no report that will show you disapproved data, which means that you have to go through each campaign – one by one – to find the disapprovals. So if you have a couple of hundred campaigns, get ready for a full day of “find the disapproval.”

Rule #1 when it comes to all things paid search: JUST COPY ADWORDS AND YOU WILL BE OK!

Rule #2: Don’t have engineers design your UI.

God help the new MSN/YSM – they need it.

 

This AdSense Ad Proves that Crime Does Pay Pretty Well It Turns Out