B2B Lead Gen Advertisers Finally Have Their Own Network
Madison Logic offers a solution for B2B lead gen advertisers.
Why, after all these years, does our industry still ignore one of the most important and largest segments: the B2B (define) advertiser? Most B2B advertisers don’t directly transact commerce online; their entire online marketing objective revolves around generating sales inquiries.
While large, the B2B segment is also very fragmented, which to date has made it difficult to generate the kind of critical mass needed for the ordinary lead gen provider. This in turn has deterred most providers from entering the space…but not Madison Logic.
At its core, Madison Logic presents a lead gen ad-serving and management solution for publishers. In the past, publishers selling and managing the lead gen process have been at best unwieldy, and at worst completely impractical.
Buys would need to be singularly negotiated advertiser by advertiser, ad placements and deliveries weren’t standardized, attempts to fulfill lead quantity obligations often led publishers to overdeliver ad messages pushing down their effective CPM (define), lead qualification had to take place at the publisher level, and many unqualified leads went unmonetized. The platform developed by Madison Logic, LeadFocus, now addresses these issues, relieving the publisher of lead gen hassles and opening up the door for new advertising revenue opportunity.
Unique Opportunity for B2B
While the LeadFocus platform can present all kinds of lead offers, it’s ideally suited for B2B, and with good reason. Its founder, Erik Matlick, also founded, grew, and sold Industry Brains, a first-of-its-kind B2B contextual ad network.
Matlick recognized that advertisers, although paying by the click, were evaluating their campaigns by the lead. So he began thinking about a more direct route to B2B lead generation.
Effective B2B lead gen centers on white papers and similar offers (Webinars, research, demos and free trials, etc). B2B advertisers seeking to generate leads typically went direct to niche publishers that had terrific assets (content, traffic) but faced lead gen execution and fulfillment challenges. Madison Logic created a simplified automated solution that marries these two parts.
How It Works
Participating publishers like PC Magazine, SecurityFocus, DM News, and even ClickZ dedicate module space on their sites, often denoted as “Free White papers,” to LeadFocus-served “ads.” These ads are really text links. Though these modules have limited links, there is also a “View All” link to an expanded library of white papers on the publisher’s site that can also house free white papers:
When users click on a link, they’re taken to a Madison Logic-hosted abstract (sales copy) and registration form. The form contains all the fields required by the advertiser to qualify the lead.
Data captured from the form is collected and prequalified by Madison Logic. Madison Logic then matches qualified leads to advertisers, selling only one lead to one advertiser. This means less waste and higher eCPMs for publishers and exclusive leads for advertisers.
Similar to Google AdWords, LeadFocus serves advertiser offers based on projected yields. Top-performing ads — judged based on a combination of CPL (define) value, CTRs (define), and completed leads — get top billing and more frequent visibility in the publisher’s designated lead gen section.
Advertisers negotiate CPLs based primarily on the number of prequalification filters they require. Depending on the advertiser’s category, the typical B2B CPL ranges from $15 to $30 or more, and the minimum buy-in runs between 100 leads and 200 leads.
For the B2B Advertiser
Publishers using the LeadFocus ad platform sell their own lead gen inventory, but Madison Logic can backfill for publishers as well as sell advertisers direct through its network (though advertisers can only do a network buy; they can’t buy site specific). B2B advertisers, including IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Verisign, have already seen success with the Madison Logic offering.
In early June, Madison Logic will launch a self-serve platform for authorized advertisers to set up and manage their own campaigns. The platform will allow advertisers to test and optimize their campaigns by tweaking their headlines (text link), abstracts and offers, CPL bids, and data filters. They will also be able to download their lead data directly from the system, as opposed to waiting for the publisher to provide it.
Matlick sees this self-serve solution as the equalizer for any size B2B advertiser. Even with small budgets, a smaller advertiser can get visibility and generate whatever quantity of leads its budget allows.
I think many B2B agencies and their advertisers, me included, will soon be grateful for Matlick’s vision and solution.
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