Internet service provider ASIS alleged that Epic was responsible for thousands of unsolicited, misleading e-mails sent to consumers, but the judge in the case – U.S. Magistrate Joseph Spero – found that the company (formerly known as AzoogleAds) did not knowingly send the e-mails. The missives were sent through an affiliate, Seamless Media, which had allegedly obtained the addresses through a third party, which had received them from a spammer.

ASIS plans to appeal the decision.

Epic says they’re happy with Spero’s ruling.

“The best safety is really to have the appropriate internal compliance measures buttoned up, which we began in 2005 and have been improving ever since,” Don Mathis, president of Epic Advertising, told ADOTAS. “Our opinion on this ruling is that compliance and ethical operating practices count. If we didn’t focus as much time, effort and money on our integrity assurance processes as we do, I am not sure the decision would have been so favorable for us.”

Mathis added that Epic currently spends about 5% of its revenue on compliance, and plans to continue to do so.

“The decision doesn’t change our practices, since we believe we set a standard for internal compliance already. I think the message here is, if you do this business the right way, with a demonstrable commitment to ethical business practices, you won’t be held accountable to an unreasonable standard in the case of affiliate activities. But you had better be able to show that you do, in fact, take all of the commercially reasonable steps to manage your compliance processes. We spend about 5% of revenues on compliance, and I can’t imagine doing it well at any less cost than that. We’re talking a real outlay of millions of dollars a year.”

Last year, then-Azoogle settled with the Florida Attorney General for $1 million over online lead-generation practices.

You absolutely can effectively target using the Internet, and it’s more important than ever. Cost-effective qualified lead generation is an inviolable objective of marketing. This does not change just because you are working with new media options, larger potential audiences and more data to process. Indeed, the ease of reaching vast audiences with countless online media alternatives is a reason why targeting is more important than ever. You have to minimize the possibility of being inundated with junk leads that can hamstring your system for lead follow-up.

Or worse, alienate your sales people because they’re tired of calling on college kids who downloaded information on your products for a term paper. Success hinges on using today’s sophisticated Web analytics tools in combination with a deliberate strategy to reach the target market and buyer with linking, e-mail and search strategies and, very importantly, making sure your communications are crafted for your target buyer.

The double-edged-sword of search engines

Thousands of articles on search engine optimization (SEO) have been written to help companies increase their search engine rankings. What these articles don’t tell you is that some of the things you may do to increase your search engine rankings can negatively affect your efforts at targeting, such as, the drives to increase links and paid search click throughs.

The drive to have more and more inbound links to increase search engine rankings is probably the single greatest source of unqualified visitors. Links from Web sites that are offering products and services that do not attract a common target buyer are a prime source of junk visits. Programs that focus on links, such as link exchanges, paper or logo partnerships, and unmanaged affiliate free-for-alls may increase your search engine rankings but like any haphazard campaign, will generate tons of junk leads.

A well-conceived linking strategy, on the other hand, will improve search engine rankings and drive qualified visitors to your site. Take public relations activities, such as press releases and articles that contain that all important inbound link. You need these vehicles to consistently reach and speak to the visitors you really want. If a PR activity is geared toward multiple-audiences, you’ll need to develop multiple constituency communications – but make sure you never forget to focus on the target buyer.

Another source of wayward visitors comes from partnerships where the first objective (and often the last) is to exchange logos with embedded links. When the principle objective of a partnership is lead generation, focus on partners with a common target buyer.

To successfully target buyers through search, paid or organic, you have to know how your target buyer thinks about the products you are promoting. I once sat in a room full of employees and asked them to identify the search terms that we needed to incorporate into our paid and organic search plans. I then sat down with a group of customers and asked them the same question and then repeated the process with a group of prospects.

There was some overlap, but even more variations. In most companies I have worked with, search terms are determined internally and by looking at what competitors are using: competitors that are probably relying on the instincts of their employees rather than reaching out to the target buyers. If you want search engines to bring target buyers to your site, you need to speak their language.

The true cost of free e-mail blasts

The ability to send targeted e-mail has advanced greatly beyond the days where the only throttle was excluding folks that opted-out. Still because e-mail is viewed as free or nearly so, e-mail campaigns often blast way beyond the borders of the target buyer’s universe. The problem with this is twofold: (1) following up on junk leads is not free; and (2) you may cause qualified buyers for one of your products to opt out of your communications, because you’ve polluted their inbox with information about product they have no interest in. When defining the reach for an e-mail blast you should always select recipients based on the profile of the target buyer. Your database may not contain all of the target buyer characteristics that you would like to select on, but work with what’s available. It will reduce the two problems noted above. Meanwhile, put a plan in place to build out your customer profiles, and reduce those two problems further.

Analyzing if page view and visitor counts are the work of the target buyer

Targeting with new media is similar to targeting with old media, with one gigantic and invaluable difference: you have real and current data to analyze a campaign’s success – which will be intricately tied to the definition of your target buyer and whether you have reached and communicated with the buyer. I have seen many who toil over reams of data analyzing page view, visitor and click-through quantities and trends. This data has some value because it let’s you know that someone has actually viewed your promotions, if only for a split second, but it is nearly as nebulous for understanding the success of your targeting as the old media metrics of readership, audience share or the number of direct mail pieces posted.

Better information is in store if you look at the paths and patterns of visitor behaviors. Try looking at what your Web analytics are telling you about your visitors. What information did they view and very importantly, for how long? How many times did they visit your site and over what time period? Did their views or visits follow an orderly path, perhaps inspired by a cleverly crafted integrated campaign that indicated they were working their way through a normal new customer process: first becoming educated on a product and a brand; then looking for more in-depth information on a solution and competitive offerings, and finally moving into purchase mode.

Even with all of this data, you will still fail to possess the identity and characteristics of your visitors, forcing you to draw inferences on whether you have really reached and communicated with your target buyer. However, if visitors are following a somewhat orderly path, with or without campaign guidance, even if the path takes months to complete, or if they’re returning over and over again and spending time on their visits looking at product-related information, with some confidence you can infer that you are reaching your target buyer.

Visitors completing the forms for a sale, and those creatively encouraged to register on your site can help minimize the need for inferring success in reaching the target buyer, because now you have some information on the identity of the visitor. Depending on the data required to complete the registration or visitor willingness to volunteer information, you may have access to demographics, information on why a product was purchased, and even psychographics, such as buyer interests and preferred activities. This additional data can assist in evaluating: if you have reached your defined target; aid the process of really sharpening your segmentation, communications and promotional mix, and facilitate targeted follow-on sales and marketing outreach.

Communicating with the target buyer

If you are confident that your promotions are reaching the target buyer, but they are abandoning the process too early, you may have defined your target buyer too broadly or even incorrectly or perhaps you are not effectively communicating with the buyer. When crafting communications try following these simple guidelines:

(1) Understand what unmet need(s) target buyers are seeking solutions for from your products, and then communicate how your solution meets the need — in their terms. The writer relying on insulated internal sources to develop copy is doomed.

(2) Determine to what degree the target buyer is interested in production orientation versus marketing orientation: how something is built versus how a product helps them solve problems. Technology companies are often guilty of piling on production-oriented technical jargon that may appeal to an IT professional but means nothing to a non-technical target buyer.

(3) Decide if you need a global or multi-domestic communications strategy. If clients around the world view the benefits of your product similarly, you can use a global strategy – with translations as needed. If not, use a multi-domestic strategy. With technology products I have found the world at large often does not adopt simultaneously. Adoption varies among continents and countries, and so do the problems they are trying to solve at any given time. If your Web site is globally beaming solutions to the most complex problems, you may be building innovation into your brand, yet alienating prospects looking for solutions to modest problems.

(4) Decide to what degree your target buyers need to be educated about the benefits of a category of products (primary demand sell), versus why your product is the best (secondary demand). When companies incorrectly assume that a secondary demand strategy should be followed, target buyers often abandon a Web site scratching their heads and wondering what your product actually does. When companies focus too heavily on primary demand, they can serve as lead generators for their competitors. Have you ever wondered why so many visitors leave your site and next surf to your competitor’s site?

Winning strategy

Visitors can arrive at your site from many sources. Haphazard approaches to linking, e-mail and search can easily result in millions of unqualified visitors. Instead take a deliberate approach. Find out what Web sites your target buyer frequents, what their needs are and how they think about your products. Then target your plans for using links, search engines, direct marketing, advertising and communications to reach this buyer. Use Web analytics to monitor the results and to guide efforts that will further fine-tune your online promotions and presence.

DirectoryM is offering content partners and online advertisers a vehicle with which to engage Spanish and Portuguese speakers, claiming the audience is “vastly underserved.” Citing stats from Hispanic Business, the company says 48% of Hispanic American Internet users prefer Spanish language destinations, providing a unique, untapped opportunity for targeted ads in both the U.S. and Latin American markets.

“We’ve achieved tremendous success in testing our solutions with different languages, priming us for a strong entry and leadership position within the Spanish-speaking market. In some instances, we’ve seen 30% week-over-week growth.” said Hans Orejuela, vice president of content, DirectoryM.

DirectoryM currently reaches visitors at more than 200 regional media sites and garners more than 2 million unique visitors each month. With this expansion, DirectoryM said it can now offer content publishers and advertisers the benefits of wide distribution and a more diverse audience.

“This is an opportune time to pursue the local advertising market in Latin America, starting with Mexico and expanding to Brazil and Argentina,” said William Pasos, VP of expansion, DirectoryM.

The new network will enable marketers to deliver brand advertising in conjunction with entertainment, fashion and music content. So far, the network is comprised of 100 sites that reach 7 million unique visitors and delivers more than 51 million Web impressions.

“Bossip.com is the number one celebrity online property with urban sensibility, and Burst was instrumental in helping us acquire this leadership position,” said Marv Frazier, CEO, Moguldom Media Group and publisher of Bossip.com. “Burst saw our vision back in 2006 and has been a strong ally for us in growing our brand, and supporting us with their top notch publisher services staff. We believe the Burst Trendsetters Network will add premium value to our advertising mix and our relationship with Burst.”

The network offers a host of wonky solutions and tech accoutrements to help the message go viral, including widgets, storytelling modules and mobile display ads. The Burst Trendsetters Network also offers brand advertisers standard IAB creative units, rich media placements and custom sponsorships programs.

Recently, Burst launched the Burst Early Adopters Network, for advertisers who want to reach consumer technology early adopters. This network reaches about 23 million unique monthly views on more than 200 Web sites.

Burst Media was founded in 1995.

Make your message relevant

Technology advanced in relevant delivery gives marketers unprecedented access to niche, highly targeted audiences. In order to tap into consumers’ needs and wants, marketers first need to know where their targeted audience is visiting and how they are interacting with different media content. Online tools collect valuable information about how a consumer interacts within their online environment. This interactive data allows marketers to learn not only who is engaged, but how they’re engaged and use the information gathered to send targeted follow-up messages.

User-created actions over user-generated content

Traditional mass media like TV and newspapers required advertisers to deliver a monologue; but online we have the tools to go a step further and engage consumers in a dialogue with relevant messaging. Forward thinking marketers should be facilitating user-created actions, not just user-generated content. Providing consumer’s with an action (i.e. sending an e-mail or SMS to a friend or adding to a social network), enables personal endorsement that aligns the consumer with the message and organically extends the message’s reach.

Allow your message’s delivery to be chameleon-like

Whose recommendations would you trust more than a friend? Marketers now have the tools that allow communicating messages in your audience’s preferred medium:

-E-mail
-SMS
-Social Networks
-Blogs
-Web sites
-Calendars

The overriding strength in advertising online, is the ability to deliver targeted messages relevant to an individual consumers’ wants and needs. So whether you’re a massive brand or corporation like Nike or McDonald’s or a small independent blog, everyone has the ability to reach a given audience with relevant messaging, in their preferred medium, where they live online.

The mag has partnered with SnapTell, an image recognition-based mobile marketing solutions provider, to create the first interactive advertising magazine in the States. Men’s Health’s July/August issue will feature “live” ads for readers to receive real-time info from advertisers.

Readers can use SnapTell’s Snap.Send.Get mobile marketing technology to take a photo of any ad in the magazine with their phone to send to SnapTell, at which point a promo will instantly bounce back to their phone. Interactive marketers will be able to send brand messages, sales incentives, sweepstakes info and links to Web sites – for free. The technology is compatible with all cell phones and does not require special software.

“The partnership provides a benefit to both consumers and marketers—it’s a unique opportunity for our advertisers to have an immediate, direct conversation with our readers,” said Jack Essig, VP/Publisher of Men’s Health, “and for consumers to realize a more interactive experience with our brand. We want to show agility in the digital space and true accountability for our clients.”

A few key findings:
•    A six in 10 majority (59%) are not comfortable when websites like Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft (MSN) use information about a person’s online activity to tailor advertisements or content based on a person’s hobbies or interests. A quarter (25%) is not at all comfortable and 34% are not very comfortable;
•    The remaining 41% who say that are comfortable with Web sites tailoring content is split between 7% who are very comfortable and 34% who are somewhat comfortable.

“Web sites pursuing customized or behavioral marketing maintain that the benefits to online users that advertising revenues make possible — such as free emails or free searches and potential lessening of irrelevant ads — should persuade most online users that this is a good tradeoff,” said Dr. Alan F. Westin, professor of public law and government emeritus at Columbia University, principal of the Privacy Consulting Group, in a release. “Though our question flagged this position, 59% of current online users clearly do not accept it.”

After four privacy/security policies were introduced, U.S. adults did change their opinions, Harris found:
•    By 55% to 45%, a majority of U.S. adults indicates that they would be more comfortable with companies using information about a person’s online activities to provide customized advertising or content;
•    Interestingly, once the privacy/security policies were presented the percentages of those who are very comfortable increases only very slightly to 9% from 7%. The percentage who are somewhat comfortable given the privacy/security policies increases more significantly to 46% from 34%;
•    Similarly, those who are not at all comfortable decline to 19% from 25%, and those who are not very comfortable decline to 26% from 34%.

“The failure of a larger percentage of respondents to express comfort after four privacy policies were specified may have two bases – concerns that web companies would actually follow voluntary guidelines, even if they espoused them, and the absence of any regulatory or enforcement mechanism in the privacy policy steps outlined in the question,” Westin said.

American Apparel, a vertically integrated manufacturer, distributor and retailer of fashion basics is implementing Lyris’ ListManager – a marketing software program that creates, sends and tracks e-mail marketing campaigns – to execute its worldwide newsletter campaign.

“We’re thrilled that American Apparel has chosen ListManager as its e-mail marketing solution,” Blaine Mathieu, senior vice president of marketing at Lyris, said in a statement. “Being an accomplished digital marketer, American Apparel will make full use of the application’s powerful tool set that includes full database integration, audience segmentation, content personalization, automated bounce handling, open detection and click-through tracking.”

ListManager is now integrated with ClickTracks, the award-winning Web analytics program, to give clients a more comprehensive view of their customers’ behavior, including how subscribers interact on company Web sites. Clients can also create new user segments based on the results of this Web analytics data and automatically populate the segments into ListManager for subsequent e-mail targeting.