Consumers and businesses are tightening their belts and their budgets, but brand marketers need to look at today's recession economy as an opportunity. Now is the ideal time to ramp up your marketing efforts and build stronger relationships with your customers.

Over the last several years we have witnessed a very interesting evolution in the online lead generation space. Internally, we insisted that all of the incentive-based paths, the pre-checked boxes (also called opt-outs, regardless of what the lead-gen provider wants to call them) and other "non-user friendly" methods of generating leads couldn't last. I will be the first to admit, it had/has lasted a lot longer than I expected, albeit not as widespread as it was.

Selecting the right advertising agency can be a daunting task, and finding an advertising agency that has expertise in direct marketing across online and offline channels can be even harder. With today's media options, it is no longer as simple as choosing an agency that handles traditional media such as television, print or radio. With the birth of online advertising, the process of choosing an advertising agency has become more and more complicated. Some advertisers have an agency for search, one for display, one for television, one for creative, and so on and so on. It can be a management …

Americans are in the midst of a slow-motion economic panic as banks, insurance companies and jobs disappear before our eyes. The numbers show how consumer spending continues to decline as confidence wanes. And marketing budgets are being slashed. What works in this ugly climate?

If you have ever used a search engine in your life, you probably have some sense of knowledge that search engine optimization is now the state of the market when it comes to customer acquisition and online audience development. I've heard that old school lead generation was derived from affiliate networking marketing inventory and revenue sharing models. These days many marketers are seeking additional inventory alternatives to broaden their potential audience.