01 September 2010
The art of converting marketing traffic into actual sales, what we call in the lead generation space as lead management, as finally started to hit main stream conversations. Customer Relationship Management platforms have been fooling performance marketers for years now claiming they are the best way to convert sales, when in fact they fall way [...]
Posted in Lead Management, LeadQual, Leads3608 Comments
31 August 2010
We talk about EDU being a counter cyclical vertical whereby when the economy is down and jobs are scarce people look at furthering their education in hopes of a better future. And subsequently lead generation companies follow and capitalizes on peaking vertical. Another vertical, one that I have less experience in, that looks to be [...]
Posted in Google, Lead Generation, Payday Loans2 Comments
29 August 2010
Lead Generation is a big business. Unfortunately, however, the lead generation industry has very low barriers of entry. And with the further development of technologies like ClickPoint ( LeadCritic advertiser) and other companies it has become even easier. A person could begin generating, brokering, or selling leads as quickly as they can find someone to [...]
Posted in Lead Generation, Technology, innovation5 Comments
23 August 2010
A few weeks ago I referenced an analysis put together by InterEd at the end of this post. The link to the presentation is at the end of the post and is worth a second look. It helps argue the fact that the for-profit education industry will play a significant role in educating millions, and [...]
Posted in EDU Leads, Education5 Comments
17 August 2010
I think it is time to start recognizing lead generation companies, individuals, or groups that take initiative to make the industry a better place. It is unfortunate, but the fact is there are companies in every vertical that use unethical tactics to make a quick buck. These companies typically go nameless, because frankly put, they [...]
Posted in Lead Generation, lead quality17 Comments
11 August 2010
Released today was another report revolving around the EDU lead generation space. This report, fortunately, will not send stocks plummeting or law firms scrambling like the GAO report, but instead gives a little insight into the demographics of people filling out lead gen forms. The study, which was released today, was undertaken by EduDirectReponse and [...]
Posted in EDU Leads, Studies, edudirectresponse7 Comments
10 August 2010
There are only a few lead generation conferences, let alone ones that are worth attending. Sure there are a number of conferences that overlap into the lead gen space by focusing on certain eliminates of lead generation, but in reality there are only two specific lead generation conferences: LeadsCon and TARGUSinfo’s Interactive Insights Summit (formally [...]
Posted in Lead Generation, Targus Lead Quality Summit, TargusInfo4 Comments
09 August 2010
Today, QuinStreet announced their fiscal 4th quarter earnings as well as their fiscal year end earnings. The lead generation leader reported a 31% YOY growth in total revenue and a 76% YOY revenue growth in the financial services vertical. QuinStreet CEO attributed much of the growth to the “flight to quality” in the EDU vertical [...]
Posted in QuinStreet5 Comments
09 August 2010
I received a nice little email today reminding me that the LG Technologies VS. Shin, Smith, Diana, LeadPoint and others has not been completely settled. The last update was that Shin switched his plea to guilty and has been ordered to pay back any monies due to LG Technologies. This left the other defendants still [...]
Posted in LG Technologies, Scandal3 Comments
08 August 2010
The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) sent out undercover applicants to 15 different schools across the country. These applicants uncovered numerous deceptive and fraudulent tactics used by the schools they applied with. The statistically irrelevant information sent stocks declining and lawyers spinning. No longer then two days after the document was leaked two separate [...]
Posted in Education, GAO Report7 Comments
05 August 2010
The title was made in jest, because almost 3 years ago I wrote a post with a very similar title. News out of the LeadPoint camp states that Scott Shanker, VP of Strategic Accounts, has chosen to move on. This comes shortly after other changes at the Los Angeles based company were announced. Shanker was [...]
Posted in Lead Generation4 Comments
03 August 2010
Guest post from Alex Baydin. See below for bio If the theme of the 2009 LeadsCon East was “Flight to Quality”, then I would say the theme of the 2010 NYC LeadsCon East was most definitely “Flight to Compliance.” The recent proposed amended regulations to the Higher Education Act of 1965 announced by the Dept [...]
Posted in Lead Verification, LeadsCon1 Comment
01 August 2010
Recently we argued over what a valid lead is and the numerous reasons why a lead could be returned, but based on a conversation that took place with lead generations own Maestro, Sean Fenlon of DoublePositive, I have decided to further define what a lead is. In fact, based on Sean’s opinion we should define [...]
Posted in Lead Generation, Uncategorized12 Comments
29 July 2010
It was mentioned on Domain Name Wire that the website and domain name Insurance.com was picked up by QuinStreet a few days ago. This comes a number of months after their recent acquisition of insure.com for $16m. The price of the insurance.com purchase as yet to be disclosed, but according to Yahoo Finance insurnace.com plans [...]
Posted in QuinStreet5 Comments
28 July 2010
Over the last month there have been a number of changes taking place at LeadPoint. Most notably their recent series F round of funding of $6.5 million. This is the latest in a long list of investments from the VC community, which means with every round the ownership of the private company continues to be [...]
Posted in LeadPoint4 Comments
22 July 2010
A very interesting study was released by Noel-Levitz that shed light on what high school students are looking for when shopping online for a college or university. It is definitely a must EDU marketers to take a look at. One thing to note is that 89% these high school students were looking for information on [...]
Posted in EDU Leads, Lead Generation4 Comments
19 July 2010
A few weeks ago we discussed what I believed to be a valid lead. Take a reread of the rant at the link you just passed by to catch yourself up on the topic. I want to revisit this topic because some lead sellers are taking advantage of very small loophole, the email address. Lets [...]
Posted in EDU Leads, Lead Buying 101, Lead Management, lead quality10 Comments
18 July 2010
I am still alive! I wanted to let you all know that I was blessed to take a little vacation last week, hence not making a single post, which is obviously not typical. I gotta say though it was an excellent break from the norm. I rented an RV from Cruise America (I am sure [...]
Posted in Uncategorized1 Comment
06 July 2010
Former IAB CEO Greg Stuart and Industry Analyst Emily Riley Headline Popular Digital Marketing Event Vienna, VA– July 6, 2010 – Today, TARGUSinfo, the trusted leader in On-Demand Insight® linking billions of consumer and business attributes in real time, announced that Greg Stuart, former CEO, IAB, and Emily Riley, principal analyst and research director, Forrester [...]
Posted in Targus Lead Quality Summit2 Comments
06 July 2010
It has been a busy July! And it is scheduled to continue to be busy throughout this month for LeadCritic. A couple of notable items I need to mention though. LeadsCon is a few weeks away and if you have not signed up yet, you need too. The lead generation community needs to continue to [...]
Posted in LeadsCon0 Comments
Lead Management Hits the Mainstream
Predictability of the Payday Loan Vertical
Quality Leads Through Innovation
Apollo Fires Back at The Naysayers
Lead Generation Award for Excellence
EDU Lead Demographic Study Released
Interactive Insights Summit: Agenda Released
$36.5 Million for Insurance.com; QuinStreet Earnings Update
LG Technologies VS. Shin: Charges Dismissed Against Smith and others
GAO Report Leak Sparks Major Turmoil in .Edu
