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In tough economic times, marketers are under increased pressure to generate increased returns on online marketing. Cost-per-lead (CPL) lead-generation advertising allows online marketers to pay only for leads—not for clicks and impressions that might never convert.

It's no surprise, then, that online lead generation is the fastest-growing segment in online advertising.

Until 2007, the online lead-generation market was focused on marketers' search for sales leads—generic leads generated on the basis of demographic criteria and resold to multiple advertisers.

But what of brand marketers who need unique marketing leads for their newsletter lists, community sites, loyalty programs, and member-acquisition efforts? They have been hampered by a lack of transparency in online lead generation.

Many third-party brokers and agencies block visibility into campaign placements and deploy advertiser offers in less-than-optimal environments, as a result not only lowering lead quality but also compromising brand integrity.

Starved of options in online lead generation, advertisers relied mostly on banner and search campaigns to generate brand-specific marketing leads.

However, average click-through rates for online banners have fallen from 0.50% to 0.10% in the last three years. Search keywords have become increasingly more expensive—a 2007 DoubleClick Performics Search Trends Report shows that the cost per keyword increased 33% from the prior year and the cost per click rose by as much as 55%.

But, recently, transparency has become a reality in the online lead-generation market, offering advertisers a new and real alternative.

Online marketers can deploy effective CPL campaigns by following these four steps:

1. Insist on transparency in the planning process

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zephrin Lasker is the CEO and cofounder of Pontiflex (www.pontiflex.com) the industry's first open and transparent cost-per-lead (CPL) market.