I am delighted to announce that Braden Pollock has joined the Epik Board of Directors. Braden’s company, Legal Brand Marketing LLC, is a recognized leader in the field of lead generation markets. In addition to making a financial investment in Epik, Braden and Epik will be advising Epik on how to provide industry-leading solutions for lead generation across 29 legal niches as well as expanding to non-legal sectors. In addition, to his expertise in lead-generation, Braden has developed several other proven alternative domain monetization methods for future application to Epik’s fast-growing network.
Braden is a great addition to the team
The history of Braden and Epik goes back to early 2010. Braden began working with DevRich in early 2010 after DevRich President, Luke Webster, presented at the January 2010 DomainFest Pitchfest. When Epik acquired DevRich in May 2010, a success story with Braden was already under way. One year later, that initial order of 500 sites in January 2010 has exploded into a network of more than 6,000 Lead-Gen sites. Braden’s company, Legal Brand Marketing LLC, is the leading supplier of leads to DUI Attorneys in the USA with an unmatched web presence for DUI-related lead capture.
The DUI Lead Generation business
The end-user price of a qualified DUI lead is typically between $20 and $100. As the price of CPC for DUI-related terms has continued to rise, so too has the value of the captured leads. The DUILawyers.co site below is a good example of what an Epik lead-generation site looks like.
Is Lead Generation the future of Advertising?
The success of lead-generation business models like GroupOn and LivingSocial are worth noting. Lead Generation as an advertising model is a very significant development which frankly even Google is behind on addressing. I believe this was a factor in the attempted acquisition of GroupOn. The movement of advertising dollars to CPA (cost per action) and CPL (cost per lead) makes a great deal of sense. Just as CPM gave way to CPC, I believe we are moving to a model of advertising where CPC is giving way to CPA and CPL. This is precisely where Google is behind — the Google advertising model is almost entirely CPC, meaning they make money on clicks regardless of whether or not the advertiser makes a dime.
Lead Generation is not just about Services
The beauty of the CPL advertising model is that it allows cash-strapped advertisers to invest in advertising with greater confidence. Even if the ad campaign ends up costing them MORE, they at least know what they are getting and can model their business plan accordingly. The CPL and CPA models are by no means limited to service provider categories, it also works for certain types of products. For example, yesterday I met with an advertiser who is interested in promoting a premium direct-to-consumer wine. At $80 a bottle, the winery owner can afford to hand $40 to the CPA advertiser that brings him a new customer that may well be ordering by the case on their second order.
An Exciting Partnership
As this deal came together, it has become increasingly clear that Braden is a world class Internet entrepreneur. Congratulations to Braden and Luke Webster on building a Lead-Generation success story and laying the groundwork for a scalable line of domain-centric business. I could not be more excited about expanding what is working in the DUI vertical to other verticals. To this end, Braden, Luke and I will all be at DomainFest in Santa Monica next week. We look forward to sharing more details about this exciting partnership with anyone interested. In the meantime, to learn more about Lead Generation solutions at Epik, please visit or information page here.
