Recapping Three Recent Trade Shows
By Steve Kilberg
Director of Business Development

I had the chance to attend several trade shows recently (first SES NY and more recently LeadsCon and ad:tech San Francisco) and thought it was very interesting (but not at all surprising) to see some common themes come through at each event.  The most consistent topic at every show was that the Internet industry is continuing to go through dramatic change.  As a matter of fact, the only thing that is constant in this industry is that change is and will continue to be the norm.   Here just a few topics that came through loud and clear at each show:

·         Advertisers want quality over quantity.  Advertisers are becoming more and more focused on getting the appropriate value out of the leads they generate (or pay others to generate for them).  Rather than constantly adjusting their metrics and reducing payouts to compensate for poor lead quality, they are looking to work with companies that can help them generate higher quality (and better converting) leads.  They would much rather pay more for leads that turn into customers than ones that simply take up their time and never convert. 

·         Compliance:  This topic is incredibly important and those who ignore it are going to find out very quickly that market forces are going to push them out.  Basically any company (or individual) involved in running non-compliant ad campaigns will likely find themselves under an investigation by the FTC or a state regulatory agency.  This reality will force some companies out of business and ultimately allow those companies that are doing things the right way to rise to the top.

·         Incentive Marketing:   This is related directly to the previous two topics.  Many advertisers who have found success with incentivized leads in the past are seeing lead quality drop significantly and are dramatically lowering payouts or simply no longer accepting this type of traffic.  This is yet another example of the market finding its level.  As advertisers see a type of traffic or marketing initiative begin to provide a lower ROI, they will either find ways to adjust their metrics accordingly or stop accepting the traffic.

·         Merger, Acquisition, and Investment Capital:  Although M&A activity may slow down in 2008 (as many people predict primarily because of the current US economic downturn) the fact that venture capital money continues to enter the space is a positive sign.  Anytime you have a large influx of investment money coming into an industry it is likely that other money will follow.   Although some of the valuations in previous deals ‘may’ have peaked, the reality is each new deal will be based on its own unique set of circumstances, because there is no single multiple for every transaction.

I would also like to add a special note regarding LeadsCon.  I really want to congratulate Jay Weintraub and his team for putting on such an outstanding inaugural event.  The session topics were extremely interesting and definitely valuable to everyone in the online lead generation business.  I think it is a great addition to the growing list of conferences revolving around online advertising and recommend it highly.