double POSITIVE Marketing Group, Inc.

Post By
Jodi Swartz

WOW!  What a conference.  What a city.  What an exhilarating (and exhausting!) experience.

As a LeadsCon newbie, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I mean, I’ve been to what feels like one million tradeshows, and managed half as many as a marketing director…so I was curious to find out for myself what all the buzz was about.

As my previous posts indicated, LeadsCon West 2012 was held in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 28 and 29 (with a special buyers only event held on the 27^th).  Vegas is one of the best places to hold tradeshows, so that, by design, is a positive.  The leads ecosystem is forever evolving with new businesses and professionals entering the market all the time, so that’s a positive.  And, since I planned our exhibit (complete with photo booth) and party (with our partner Leads360) I knew those were going to be, if nothing else, fun!  So, positives there, too.

Thus, I came into the show with the following:

• Vegas?  Positive.Evolving industry? Positive.
• Fun booth? Positive.
• Cool parties? Positive.

Seemingly, the basics were covered.  But, what else would make THIS particular LeadsCon stand out?

Well, first, companies in attendance topped 1200 and total attendance topped 2600—a myriad of exhibitors welcomed booth visitors with hospitality and enthusiasm, speakers inspired and challenged audiences, the Mirage excited and delighted (just ask me about my final night’s stay in the penthouse suite),  and the networking was unstoppable.  So unstoppable, in fact, that it stymied my original plan of being a devout LeadsCon student—attending each and every seminar available, soaking up new industry knowledge, every minute completely rapt—graduating with my PhD in “the biz.”  Yeah…not so much.

My team was on FIRE this year!  Booth regulars like Joey Liner, Syed Zaidi, and Brian Ocheltree spent so much time meeting with clients, prospects, and partners that our “while you were out” notebook was nearly full.  At times us DP booth folks were outnumbered by a margin of at least 3:1 by those wanting to chat with us.

DoublePositive/LeadsCon360 party bracelets were so in demand they became near black market items.  And, I was about ready to hang a sandwich board sign on my back that said “To speak with JT Benton, please take a number.”

So, what WAS all the excitement about?  What made this year different?

Well, it started right before the show when we were honored with two LeadsCouncil LEADER™ awards— Best Hot Transfer:Lending and Best Hot Transfer:Technology.

Needless to say, we were thrilled and took that enthusiasm straight to Vegas.

On Monday at 2:30 (the day before the actual show began), the aforementioned Mr. Benton spoke at the first-ever LeadsCon Buyers Summit about performance mobile marketing.  JT, a long standing expert in the field, spoke about why (finally) the time is right for mobile click-to-call, how it impacts marketing and media plans, and strategies for implementing it successfully.  All of this good stuff was promoted well in advance via news releases and blog entries, and a terrific webinar produced by our partners at Ring Revenue.  At the close of the seminar, JT also unveiled DP’s first white paper on the subject.  (SPOILER ALERT: Look out for a webinar in the very near future where you can learn from the master himself and get your own copy of the whitepaper.)

Although I wasn’t able to see it live myself, I would have thought JT was one of the Beatles at the height of their popularity (thus the sandwich board dream).  A big shout out to @LeadsCouncil for their tweet “@DoublePositive JT Benton Doing an amazing job presenting on Mobile Marketing #LeadsCon.”  Thanks guys!

On Tuesday morning, as the team’s official “crazy marketing lady” it was my job to make sure that DoublePositive was ready for the crazy schedules that were ahead of them, that our booth was inviting and fun, and that our head “misfits,” company CEO and EVP, Sean Fenlon and Joey Liner, respectively, were prepped and ready to go for their welcoming address.  Sean and Joey had the priveledge of welcoming the entire conference immediately following the keynote.  The moment was certainly not lost on them as Joey (@joeyliner), so fittingly  tweeted: “This is 1 of those defining moments in life, about to speak to 2500+ in a welcome address for LeadsCon with my partner Sean #DoublePositive.”

Following the welcoming address, it was over to the tradeshow floor where our 10×20 booth was transformed into a comfortable lounge space complete with a photo booth (to capture folks in their tradeshow best)!  We brought our favorite DP website characters with us, we had Viking helmets, sunglasses, and signs promoting Joey for Mayor!

While people shed their inhibitions in the most PG ways possible in photo booth…

…others shed their shoes and kicked up their feet on our couches (including our very own John Nuclo, Stein Kretsinger, and Syed Zaidi—can you feel the love?).

The DoublePositive team was visible on the floor and off Tuesday—most notably with Joey “LeadsCon Mayor” Liner invited to speak during the “Is Lead Gen a Dirty Word?” panel.  He was joined by Jeremy Johnson, Co-Founder and CMO, 2tor, Inc., John Kobs, CEO & Co-Founder, ApartmentList.com, and moderated by Jeff Lawson, CEO & Co-Founder of Twilio. (That’s our guy, second from the left.)

All the while, attendees zoomed from booth to booth making friends and influencing people—and searching for the sacred bracelets for the DoublePositive/LeadsCon360 party later that night at Rhumbar.

So…later that night at Rhumbar…the atmosphere was sumptuous, the drinks were spirited and flowed freely , the staff at the club couldn’t have been more hospitable, the weather was beautiful (albeit a little on the windy side), and everyone relaxed…played some cards,  snapped some shots in the photo booth and all around had a great time.

Thank you to our friends at Leads360 for (once again!) making it a special night, and thank you to Steve Hall for the great photographs (below).

Up early again Wednesday morning…

Day two proved even more exciting as attendees and exhibitors alike knew they had just one final day to meet, greet, and eat.  Our booth was a flurry of folks looking to engage with our team members, learn about our products and services, and snap some shots in our photo booth.

Midway through the afternoon, our very own Rich Dent donned his favorite sombrero and participated in a video interview about the show with VigLink CEO, Oliver Roup.  Go Rich!

After a brief rest and bite to eat, it was off to the LeadsCon VIP after show party at newly opened 1Oak Night Club in the Mirage Hotel and Casino.  Attendees got decked in their show-stopping finest and partied in celebration of another spectacular LeadsCon.  Our team really got into the spirit of the event (thanks again to Steve Hall for the great pic on the left)!

So, let’s review.  Obviously, my expectations were pretty basic and I kept that that way as to not be disappointed:

• Vegas?  Positive.
• Evolving industry? Positive.
• Fun booth? Positive.

What I wasn’t expecting was EVERYTHING ELSE LeadsCon West had to offer.  Although I did not get to attend many seminars (because apparently I was preparing for some kind of cross-country marathon running from one end of the Mirage to the other all day long!) I heard from many teammates, associates, and those through the social networks (just look up #leadscon) how much they learned and enjoyed the material. Personally, I learned a heck of a lot about the industry, how deep my colleagues knowledge is (they fielded questions from every direction!), and how enthusiastic everyone remains about contributing to and shaping the leads ecosystem.    And the networking?  Let’s just say I am happy to have e-copies of all photographs from the booth so I can continue to match names with faces.

Obviously, my expectations were BLOWN AWAY.  We put a lot of work into preparing for LeadsCon, and LeadsCon clearly delivered back so much more.

• Amazing speakers? Positive.
• Super smart people?  Positive.
• Great networking? Positive.

Doing it all again at LeadsCon East? DOUBLE positive.

See y’all in New York City!

Post By
Jodi Swartz

LeadsCon ’12 is just days away!  With more great speakers and topics than we could cover in one – or even two – posts, we welcome you back for Part III of DoublePostive’s “Top Picks.  (If you missed them, check out “Top Picks, Part I” and “Top Picks, Part II”)

As we said previously, speakers and topics make our list solely based on the fact that we are interested in them.  If we left them off, it doesn’t mean they aren’t interesting–just means they are not AS interesting to US.  But as we also said before, feel free to get our attention using the comments below if you think there’s a “don’t miss”session that’s not on our list.

So open your calendar once again, and get ready make note.  Here’s our third and last batch of Top Picks for LeadsCon ‘12, and why we like them:

WEDNESDAY, 9:30-10:00AM
Case Studies Track, “Secrets of Click to Call”

DoublePositive is proud to be partners with Leads360 and RingRevenue.  We’re looking forward to hearing Nick Hedges (President & CEO of Leads360) and Jason Spievak (CEO of RingRevenue) dial up a lot of timely information about mobile advertising.

WEDNESDAY, 11:30AM-12:00PM
Case Studies Track, “Data Driven Lead Purchasing”

Michael Betz, Chief Marketing Officer of Strayer University, is a great client, great thinker and an all-around great guy.  His talk is about taking a multi-dimensional approach to lead buying in the EDU space.  Should be an education!

WEDNESDAY, 2:00PM-2:45PM
Sponsored Workshop, “The Lead Engine in Our Post-PC Future (Presented by: Twilio)”

DoublePositive is a customer and big fan of Jeff Lawson and his company, Twilio.  We’re looking forward to hearing about how new computing interfaces like touch and voice will revolutionize the way the leads industry does business.

WEDNESDAY, 3:00PM-3:45PM
Sponsored Workshop, “Higher Ed Compliance Survey Results: What Are Schools Really Doing? (Presented by: CUnet)”

Presenters Jeff Herz and Steve Smith of CUnet will educate us on how schools are responding to government regulations.  Plus they’ll share emerging best practices, and give tips on how schools can stay ahead of the compliance curve.

So that’s it!  We hope you enjoyed DoublePositive’s Top Picks for LeadsCon ‘12.  We’ll see you in Vegas!

Post By
JT Benton

Hi all – just a quick note before LeadsCon.  If you’re a lead buyer, please come see me at the Buyers Forum on Monday!  I’ll be speaking at 2:30 PM on Mobile Marketing & Lead Gen.

As you know if you’ve been following DoublePositive’s blog, we rolled out our new MobilePositive offering last month.  So far, the results have been very meaningful to our advertisers.  If you missed that post, here are the high notes: our new platform connects Advertisers with Consumers on the mobile web and drives quality, net-new inbound calls on a daily basis.

Very often, folks want to know how this works.  If you’re curious, too, be sure to connect with me in Las Vegas next week.  A very common theme of discussion will be how Cost-per-Call strategies on the mobile web can positively affect media plans and drive high quality, net-new leads.

I am eager to share this with you – and hopeful to meet in person.  Again, if you are a lead buyer, please reach out to register for the Buyers’ Summit.  It is the first event of its kind for folks whose primary business is purchase and closing leads.

Learn more at http://leadscon.com/leadscon-las-vegas-2012/buyers-summit/.

See you in Vegas!

Post By
JT Benton

Hello again! Last week, we rolled out MobilePositive and gave a hint or two at what we’re up to. If you read that first post, you’d know that our new platform connects Advertisers with Consumers on the mobile web in a very meaningful and aligned way–driving heaps of quality inbound calls to our clients, daily. You would also know that I promised a follow up to that post explaining the timing of this rollout.

Thus, the title (or, question) of today’s contribution: Why mobile; why now?

Because it’s time. And, because before now, it wasn’t. Seriously.

If you’ve attended LeadsCon, Ad:Tech, Affiliate Summit or any other performance marketing event in the past four years, you’ve surely heard the hype on mobile. For years now, soapboxes at major industry shows have been occupied by folks signaling the ‘year of mobile.’ They blogged. They tweeted. They spammed us all on LinkedIn. Some of these zealots even went so far as to don QR-coded T-Shirts that were color coordinated to match their converse sneakers. Indeed, active were the hypesters.

And yet, despite all the hoopla, they were wrong. That’s right – flat wrong. At least in the context of the Cost-per-Lead media ecosystem. Mobile has been unworkable and unnecessaryuntil fairly recently. It’s taken Publishers, Advertisers, Networks and Consumers time to find the right way to play. We just weren’t ready, yet. Mostly, this was on the consumers and the publishers. It’s taken adoption rates skyrocketing, Apple’s stock booming, the Android market maturing, bandwidth levels rising and a whole host of other factors to get consumers ready for this at scale. For mobile publishers, the question has never been if – it’s been how and when. As in, ‘how and when can I make as much money selling leads as I do selling impressions and clicks.’ These groups needed to converge and align. It took help, muscle and risk. And, again, time. But now, it’s clear to me that it’s happening: mobile lead generation is alive and growing.

Ok. Before we get too far, I’m coming clean: I get the irony. In writing the above, one could argue that I’m now guilty of the same soapboxing I’ve just poked fun at. The argument is pretty linear, actually: I just said the people who announced the era of mobile lead-gen were wrong. And yet this post’s thesis is that the era of mobile lead-gen is, in fact, now here. Thin ice, right? Totally. Except I’ve got the in-house data to support this, and I see the interest on the advertiser side mounting: we introduce a new major advertiser to the mobile web weekly.

Last month, MobilePositive facilitated over 25,000 inbound phone calls to our early advertiser clients. These were direct, net-new customers, each happily dialing in. And, a considerably high number of them bought the services our clients were selling. These advertisers include leading brands in the Education, Mortgage, Insurance, Home Services and Identity Protection vertical markets. So far, the proof is the campaign performance. We see cost-per-sale figures that consistently perform on target and our budgets are growing. The publishers are happy, too. Both sides (buyers and sellers) see long-standing, steady campaign growth and an exciting new mix of partnerships as a big part of the upside to mobile.

So, why mobile? And, why now? Because – like I said, it’s time.

That’s all for today, gang. Thanks for reading. Next week, we’ll get more tactical with a piece on why publishers should love the pay-per-call format.