Lead Generation Insights

 
The first quarter was a mixed bag for the online-only financial news company TheStreet, Inc. The company saw its paid subscriptions increase 13 percent year-over-year, generating revenues of $10.4 million. Despite the gain the company still reported a net loss of $1.7 million, bringing company revenues to $12.6 million.

The subscription gain is attributed to the addition of The Deal, which the company acquired last September, in addition to...more

*Editor's Note: This story originally appears on FOLIO: sister site, EXPOWeb.com.

Exhibition industry growth slowed in the third quarter after posting strong gains in the first half of 2012.

According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) Index, the tradeshow industry grew just 0.9 percent in Q3—down from 3 percent and 1.7 percent in Q1 and Q2, respectively—as the possibility of another economic crisis looms on the...more

Few things have caused more disruption for business marketers and business media than the changing nature of demand generation.

Email, the Internet and social media have enabled drastic new ways to generate demand and engage with customers and prospects. As a result, many of the laws of physics in advertising and marketing—reach and frequency, brand awareness, brand preference and call to action—have been upended and replaced by brand generation to...more

Summer 2011 list pricing, according to list marketing firm Worldata, was flat to down when compared to summer 2010 pricing. Eight categories saw declines, ranging from about 2 percent to 21 percent. However, a five-year look at the data indicates b-to-b and b-to-c email list pricing have been on a sharp drop.

Most categories, which include Attendees/Members, Business Mags/Controlled, Consumer Magazines and Databases/Masterfiles, among others, either rose or...more

“Taking the $10 lead and turning it into the $100 lead.” I wish I could take credit for that phrase. But, I’d have to defer to Jason Ward, Edgell’s director of lead generation, for opening my eyes to the concept. It’s also become the motto that we, as a company, have used for the last year to rework and re-craft Edgell’s lead generation efforts.

How can a publisher make a shift?...more

Like so many other areas of the economy, the bottom dropped out of the lead generation business in 2009. Advertisers, in the face of a down market, were tightening their belts wherever they could and lead generation was an easy target. With so many companies offering the same sort of service, publishers were forced to compete on CPL pricing and some companies were basically giving away contacts for free.

Forward-thinking publishers...more

U.S. Senators John Kerry and John McCain announced the introduction of their bi-partisan legislation Tuesday that, if enacted, would limit the use and retention of personal consumer information for commercial uses.

The bill, entitled the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011, aims to limit collection, use and dissemination of information for behavioral advertising and marketing strategies.

If the bill is adopted, companies will be required to provide "robust and clear...more

B-to-b publishers have long relied on directories (or buyer’s guides, depending on company terminology) to produce revenue and establish themselves as a valuable resource to their readers. Now, b-to-b publishers are finding new ways to add value to their directories, even as print is challenged (and often succeeded) by digital, and Google dominates the search market. 

How Media Companies are Repackaging Directory Offerings

Dave Iannone, president and CEO of Go Forward Media (a...more

Whatever happened to lead gen? The hot ticket for b-to-b publishers to generate new revenue from their very specified audiences has lost some of its luster, thanks to the market being commoditized by companies simply giving away names, as well as publishers not following through on actually driving and nurturing leads down the value chain.

In response, Randolph, New Jersey-based Edgell Communications, a b-to-b publisher serving the IT and seasonal...more

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) released fourth quarter 2010 results of its annual Index report today, and the numbers continue to trend upward. As in the previous quarter, all four metrics of measurement-net square feet, revenue, attendance and exhibiting companies-were up over same period 2009. Overall performance was up 4.1 percent.

In fourth quarter 2010, net square feet increased 5.6 percent over same period 2009. Revenue was 4.2 percent...more

Elsevier Business Intelligence, a biopharmaceutical, medical device and consumer health publishing group within Elsevier, recently began taking a more proactive approach to tracking and analyzing how its customers interact with its online paid content. A new analytics package called Outsell Scout Analytics offered through Outsell Inc. has enabled the group to quickly produce reports that have, within the first few months of use, identified opportunities to add new interface...more

Spending on branded content, or custom publishing, is at its second-highest level ever, at an average of $1.3 million per marketer, and nearly 100 percent over spending levels from 2008, according to a study from the Custom Content Council in conjunction with the newsletter ContentWise.

The study also indicates that many marketers are continuing to shift their money to branded content and at the same time, increase their spending. "This is...more