Tough economic times and slashed budgets have accelerated advertisers' interest in accountability. And online lead generation has been accountability's poster child. So as with so many technology-driven ad applications, advertisers have rushed into lead gen, often getting disappointing returns -- just like early days of banners, email and search. When we discuss a CPL campaign with a potential advertiser, we set up a dialogue to help determine whether that advertiser should be doing lead gen at all -- and if so, which potential customers they should be targeting. Here are some of the questions advertisers should ask themselves and their …

There's no question that the explosion of new media has disrupted media buying and left many consumer brand marketers scratching their heads as to how to best reach consumers. Many articles and white papers have been written, with many more to come, about the increasing complexity of the marketing mix brand managers must navigate in order to execute successful campaigns.

We all know that mobile advertising is the current buzz topic around the water cooler, but what is it really -- and how can it improve lead generation efforts? These are the questions I would be asking if I were an advertiser. How can I widen the pool of quality leads for my products and services? How can I get beyond the traditional co-registration networks? I've heard it time and time again; advertisers want quality versus quantity. If that is really the driving need, then advertisers should look no further than mobile advertising.

This time last year, Performance Insider had just launched to thunderous applause and I had the honor of writing the second ever column. The topic was my predictions for the lead generation industry in 2007. I'd like to take a quick step back now to review how I did and then lay out a few wagers for 2008.