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These days, you probably can’t make it through the day without one of your sales professionals informing you of the latest client who now wants a cost-per-lead (CPL) campaign. The reality of the CPL business for publishers is that, dollar for dollar, most CPL programs will yield less revenue than a simple fixed-placement campaign would for the same effort and inventory.
With some of your best clients and hottest prospects now demanding CPL, you’ll need to adjust. Here are six steps that can get you started.
1) Determine what you can really offer.
In their most basic form, CPL campaigns come as a request to syndicate a client-provided white paper with a guaranteed number of leads meeting the advertiser’s target demographics. Nearly any publisher can find a way to begin doing this right away using standard inventory and a simple online form.
At the other end of the spectrum, lead-generation services include any of the following: lead scoring based on behavioral and demographic characteristics; lead-nurturing services that attempt to bring leads along the buying cycle through multiple marketing touches; and telephone pre-qualification to determine readiness to buy. All of these will drive up the amount that you can charge per lead, but also require significant investments in people, inventory, time and technology...
