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Jul

2

Autos Sales Are Down, Online Spending Is Up

Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO
Filed Under Autos, Lead Generation, Lead Marketplace | Leave a Comment 

Money is quickly shifting from offline to online, where metrics and measurement provide solid ROI. A clear opportunity exists for dealers to aggressively embrace this switch and expand online advertising to reach the 80% of consumers who use the Internet during the car-buying process. By doing so, they can gain access to those online auto consumers actively engaged in the buying and researching process.

Lead generation, one of the most effective online advertising methods for dealers, will take a greater share of that increased online spend. Unfortunately, large challenges exist in the lead generation process today. Pricing is static and does not respond to changing market conditions; quality is not communicated effectively, delivered consistently, or reflected in price paid for leads. Unlike solutions provided in the CPC market by Google, lead generation lacks controls over volume, price, quality, and ROI. This lack of ability to segment negatively impacts the budget size dealers are willing to commit to lead generation.

For most dealers, a majority of leads are either purchased through lead providers or generated internally—both of which provide limited controls. Internal lead generation requires a significant investment in the right talent and infrastructure, and companies often find it difficult to optimize advertising spend to acquire the right quality, volume, price, and ROI.

Purchasing leads through lead providers results in an often difficult challenge to achieve desired ROI, and frequently leads to swapping providers in search of that ever-elusive “profitable cost-per-sale.” Lead providers have limited incentive to improve quality and, as such, quality is not communicated effectively, delivered consistently, or reflected in price paid for leads. Stated simply, controls over volume, price, and quality are absent.

Reply.com’s lead marketplace represents the latest evolution in online marketing. It promises to challenge the reigning cost-per-click (CPC) performance model wth a cost-per-lead (CPL) system that is targeted, efficient, and more manageable for many types of businesses. Reply! believes it is time to Go Beyond The Click™ and move toward efficient CPL methods.

By using a lead exchange, dealers can have control over multiple sources of targeted consumer leads, purchase only the leads they want with easy-to-use filters, purchase the right quality, and set the price they will pay per lead.

The automotive industry is in a tough place right now, and traditional methods of selling automobiles and closing deals aren’t working. Now, more than ever, dealers have the opportunity to look to the Internet—and lead generation in particular—to provide them with fast, precise, and cost-effective methods of reaching their customers.

Jul

1

GM, Ford, Toyota Sales Down - Lead Gen UP?

Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO
Filed Under Auto Loans, Autos, special finance | Leave a Comment 

According to an article in the USA Today, GM, Ford, and Toyota auto sales are all down for June.  In fact, GM dropped 18.2% and Toyota fell 21.4% in June.  Ford reported steep drops in June sales of pickups and SUVs, with a 41% decline in the F-Series and a 52% drop in Explorer SUV.

While this decrease in auto sales is difficult for the entire Auto sales value chain, it should bode well for lead generation.  As an industry, when compared to the spend in traditional media, car dealers spend small amounts of money in online advertising.  With this contraction of consumer spending, dealers are being forced to measure the performance of their ad spends and cut out inefficiency.  As we all know, it is difficult to measure the performance of classified advertising, billboards, and TV and radio ads.

As money shifts from offline to online, Reply! believes that lead generation will take a greater share of that increased spend.  The Reply! lead exchange allows for highly-efficient buying and selling of new car and special finance leads. Now is the time for car dealers and OEMs to move aggressively online,  embrace lead generation, and truly measure the effectiveness of their ad spends.

Jun

30

Reply.com Launches Auto Loans in its New Lead Exchange

Posted by Reply! Public Relations
Filed Under Auto Loans, Lead Generation, Lead Marketplace, Press Releases, Reply! News, special finance | Leave a Comment 

Reply! Rolls Out New Auto Loan Vertical and Creates Immediate Liquidity

San Ramon, CA - June 30, 2008 – Reply!, Inc. (www.reply.com), the most liquid online lead exchange, today announced the official launch of its new auto loan category as part of its lead marketplace. Reply.com makes the process of buying and selling leads as easy as purchasing clicks from Google. It has established a true alternative to Google’s pay-per-click advertising, and offers businesses the ability to easily Go Beyond The Click™.

Auto loan is the first fully developed category on Reply.com’s recently launched lead exchange. It leverages Reply!’s own lead generation capabilities, as well as its existing network of lead partners, to bring immediate liquidity to the auto loan, online cost-per-lead (CPL) market and deliver more access and availability for consumers that are having difficulty obtaining financing in a challenging market.

As part of the launch, Reply.com is announcing a strategic partnership with Detroit Trading Company (DTC) that brings together two robust auto loan networks and creates the largest and most efficient repository of auto loan leads in the industry. The combined networks will bring about maximum liquidity and will more efficiently facilitate the sale and purchase of quality leads at prices determined by the market.

“We are thrilled to be rolling out a new lead category only a couple of months after our launch. We bring maximum liquidity to every category that we enter by employing our own state-of-the-art lead generation solutions, and through partnerships with other marketplaces. Together, we dramatically expand the reach of the Reply! marketplace and immediately tap into the broadest set of buyers and sellers. We are delighted that Detroit Trading Company (www.detroittrading.com), the largest lead exchange for auto finance, is involved. Now, dealers and enterprise buyers, as well as lead sellers, can profit from a highly-efficient market for auto loan leads,” said Payam Zamani, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Reply! Inc. “By combining our two networks, we increase the opportunities for sellers to transact unsold leads and provide lead buyers unmatched control, choice, and ROI.”

Detroit Trading Company operates the world’s largest automotive lead exchange (Detroit Trading Exchange), with more than 350,000 automotive leads being traded on the Exchange each month. The Exchange, with over 300 automotive lead buyers and sellers, is the only marketplace where prices, quality, and relationships are all transparent. It is the most efficient market for wholesale lead buyers and sellers. “Our partnership with Reply.com will not only allow us to expand conversion, coverage, and pricing opportunities for sellers, but will also enable buyers to efficiently satisfy their demand for quality leads at market prices,” said Pete Bonner, Senior Vice President of the Detroit Trading Company. “Reply!’s deep expertise and dealer networks in the auto industry, combined with our existing broad reach, greatly enhances the monetization opportunity that DTX represents to automotive lead sellers.”

About Reply.com Inc.

Reply.com is the world’s most liquid online lead marketplace, offering the highest level of control. Reply! believes it is time that businesses Go Beyond The Click™ and only pay for measurable results. It offers a marketplace that makes the process of buying and selling leads as easy as getting clicks from Google. Unlocking the potential of performance-based marketing and allowing everyone to profitably acquire prospects has always been the promise of online marketing, and Reply! is making that promise a reality for advertisers worldwide. The privately-held company was founded in 2001, and is based in San Ramon, California. For more information about Reply!, please visit www.reply.com or blog.reply.com.

Jun

23

Billions Rapidly Shifting from Offline to Online

Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO
Filed Under Online Marketing, Research | 1 Comment 

Two articles were published today that highlighted the fact that media dollars are accelerating their movement from offline to online.

The first article, published by dmw Media, states, “‘This year could wind up as the worst on record for the newspaper advertising industry, which is dealing with long-term industry changes as well as the weakened economy and housing market,’ The New York Times reported on Monday. After an 8% decline in advertising revenue last year, newspapers are seeing an additional 12% drop so far this year, and financial reports issued by some recently would suggest a 14-15% decline in May.”The article goes on to say that “the advent of online advertising and classifieds is the key factor in the industry’s decline.”

The second article states that the top 100 advertisers shifted $1 billion to the web last year, at the expense of newspapers and television advertising. The key point to take away from this is “big marketers, facing a weakening economy and pressure to control costs, clamped down on spending… Put another way, these top-tier marketers increased measured Internet spending by $1 billion; slashed newspaper spending by $674 million; and cut TV budgets by $406 million.”The opportunity for the growth of Lead Generation is massive.

 As lead generation becomes efficient, dollars will shift from CPC and classified advertising to cost-per-lead acquisition. The online advertising market is expected to continue its market share gains at the expense of traditional media—the U.S. online advertising market is forecast to grow to $62.4 billion by 2012 (22.6% CAGR). Classified or Local search, print Yellow Pages, and Internet Yellow Pages are estimated to grow from $33.3 billion in 2007 to $41.4 billion globally in 2012 (4.5% CAGR).1 As Lead Generation continues to evolve, there will be a fundamental resurgence and revival of the lead business as dealers tap into the vast benefits of the marketplace model to get the value, quality, and control they deserve and expect.

1 Market estimates and forecasts from IAB/PwC, Jupiter Research, eMarketer, and Kelsey.

Jun

18

Car Makers Increase Online Spending

Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO
Filed Under Autos, Lead Generation, Research | Leave a Comment 

Some interesting data was just released by eMarketer showing that the Auto Industry is slowly beginning to move online. It breaks down some interesting data that shows car makers’ media spending fell by 12.1% between ‘05 and ‘07, from $10.7 billion to $9.4 billion. Newspapers had the biggest decline—falling a whopping 52.6% in that period—but Internet spending increased 119% to $610 million.

If you stop and reflect on how little money GM, Ford, and Toyota are spending online today, it is staggering. eMarketer is forecasting that, by 2012, their online spending will skyrocket to over $5.6 billion.

Part of the acceleration toward performance-based media is measurable ROI. Research from Capgemini shows that 80% of consumers use the Internet during the car-buying process. As money shifts from offline to online, Reply! believes that lead generation businesses will begin to take a greater share of that increase.

Jun

17

Third-Party Lead Quality

Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO
Filed Under Interesting Companies, Lead Quality | Leave a Comment 

I recently came across LeadIDentity’s press release and found it interesting. They are launching a third-party lead identification service that is trying to promote self-governance in lead generation. Companies that participate have the ability to obtain and verify an unique identifier associated with the company that generated the original lead. This unique identifier, or LeadID, is assigned before the consumer or business enters and submits the lead form, and will be associated with the lead throughout its life, providing a layer of authenticity to the lead. As many of us know, leads may be bought and sold multiple times. With the lead gen industry now providing controls to buyers of leads, the focus will shift from quantity to quality.

Reply! has chosen to deal with quality differently. We communicate quality across multiple verticals, based on a ranking of 1 to 5 stars. The star rating reflects the likelihood of converting a particular seller’s leads into a purchase. We consider a number of factors in generating the star rating, including validation rate of the lead source, quality of the data provided by the seller, and feedback from the buyers of the leads.

Buyers now have the ability to cut out specific types of leads (like a consumer who wants a $100k home in a zip code that requires $350k). Ultimately, the system is built to allow lead buyers to focus on leads that work for their business and cut out leads that do not. As a result, lead buying within the marketplace will become highly effective and driven by the actual return on investment.

Jun

13

1Q08 Online Advertising Grows 23.9%

Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO
Filed Under Research | 1 Comment 

According to an IDC release, total online ad revenue in the U.S. reached 7.1 billion for 1Q08, up 23.9% compared to $5.7 billion in 1Q07. More importantly, while the threat of a recession will decrease ad spending across all media by as much as 7% in 2008, online advertising will continue to grow at a rate between 15% and 20% each quarter. In fact, IDC projects that U.S. Internet ad spending will double over the next five years.

This is great news for lead generation and performance-based marketing. We believe the current economic crisis will force companies to find more efficient channels for their marketing dollars, and this will help shift offline dollars toward the Internet at a faster pace.

To help businesses move dollars into online lead generation, Reply! launched a marketplace that facilitates the buying and selling of leads. The marketplace is similar to Google’s AdWords or RightMedia, but it transacts leads, not clicks. We understand that clicks don’t walk into a store or call on the phone. We believe it is time to Go Beyond the Click™ and move away from CPM and CPC marketing, toward efficient CPL (Cost-Per-Lead) methods.

Jun

12

Yahoo’s Search Agreement with Google

Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO
Filed Under Search | Leave a Comment 

Yahoo just announced a non-exclusive search agreement with Google. There wasn’t a timeline specified in the release. Both sides have tested search integration, so rollout may happen very quickly. This has the potential to cause significant disruptions across SEM campaigns (paid search), but does not appear to touch SEO (free listings). I wonder if Yahoo will continue the funky policy of “paid inclusion”—ya know, paid ads in the SEO area.

It appears that, with Jeff Weiner’s departure, they will start outsourcing paid search to Google and connect their two IM products together. Yahoo is left with algorithmic search, the portal, banners, and mail. Who knows how this implementation of meta-search (blending paid advertising) will pan out for lead generators? This is something we all need to keep a close eye on.

According to the release: “Under the terms of the agreement, Yahoo! will select the search term queries for which—and the pages on which—Yahoo! may offer Google paid search results. Yahoo! will define its users’ experience and will determine the number and placement of the results provided by Google and the mix of paid results provided by Panama, Google or other providers. The agreement applies to paid search and content match and does not apply to algorithmic search. The agreement also applies to current partners in Yahoo’s publisher network.”

Jun

12

Automotive Lead Gen & Social Media

Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO
Filed Under Autos, Lead Generation, Social Media | 1 Comment 

For those in automotive lead generation, leveraging social media to identify enthusiast groups and reach new consumers is a strategic imperative. I just came across this article, “Ongoing List of Social Media Examples in the Auto and Car Industry,” posted by Jeremiah Owyang, Sr. Analyst at Forrester Research. The article is full of interesting social media examples from the Auto Industry. Here are excepts from Jeremiah’s post that I found to be the most interesting examples of community:

  • GM launches a Community program - 2008 From Neville and Shel of the For Immediate Release program (podcast): “GMnext is more or less a year-long online initiative around the 100th anniversary of the company.” GM continues to push the envelope and has created a ‘social media newsroom.‘
  • This Chrysler blog is rich with media, and appears to be frequently updated. Of course many of you know the GM Fast Lane blog, which has been around since 2005, authored by employees such as Bob Lutz, and the GMNext blogs.
  • Ford’s Social Media Press Release - I’ve never really understood the value of the social media press release, as I’d rather see corporations/employees joining the conversation because the level of trust will be higher. In any case, Ford has developed a social media press release for its cars. The layout and visualization of the cars looks fantastic.
  • Saturn gets Community - 2008 I’ve always been impressed with the friendly Saturn brand. From user group sponsorships to the no-pressure selling, they offer more of an easy-going lifestyle brand. Now, their online community reflects their ethos, with groups, member profiles, and other social networking features.
  • From the Comments · Ford Autoshows site harnesses the enthusiasm for upcoming concept and production automobiles. Original video and photo content is syndicated to YouTube and Flickr to expand the community around the site.

Other Interesting GM Sites

Other Enthusiast Sites

Jun

12

Lead Gen Mixer Tonight - Thursday, June 12th San Francisco

Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO
Filed Under Tradeshows | Leave a Comment 

Don’t forget, tonight it the lead gen mixer in downtown San Francisco:

  • Two hours of fun, food, and drinks

  • Thursday, June 12, 6-8pm

  • Thirsty Bear, San Francisco CA - 661 Howard St, San Francisco, CA 94105

According to the organizer (Jay), more than 100 people have RSVP’d. If you are in the area, this is a great chance to meet colleagues in lead generation and online customer acquisition space. If you haven’t RSVP’d, it’s not too late and it is only $16. http://www.eventbrite.com/event/118935740

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