As the VP of Industry Relations, I am constantly looking to learn more about our clients. I recently sat down with Bob Frady, VP of Monetization at Zeeto Media (http://zeetomedia.com), one of our top publishers. Formerly on the email marketing teams of LiveNation and Expedia, Bob brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the Zeeto team. When first approached about working with LiveIntent, Bob was a non-believer. But he agreed to test us and has never looked back. Below we’ve given you a glimpse into the conversation I had with Bob. Aside from being a very funny man, Bob is extremely thoughtful and insightful and has a lot to share.
Ali: Explain what Zeeto does for the average consumer.
Bob: Zeeto’s primary websites – getitfree.us and samples.com – compile fantastic freebies, deals and coupons from around the web and present them in convenient and easy to navigate sites.
As part of our customer onboarding process, users are asked a series of targeted questions that help present them offers they might be interested in, ensuring an outstanding engagement level with our survey path.
Ali: What differentiates Zeeto in the marketplace?
Bob: For consumers, there are a few key differences between Zeeto and other free/sample web sites. Some of them are that we buy our own traffic, our size and audience reach is unparalleled and we’ve got dedicated teams for acquiring the best freebies we can find.
For our business partners, we have highly sophisticated algorithms matching our users to specific offers. We use science and experience to drive the right offers to the right people, resulting in lead quality that is the best in our space.
Ali: What are the biggest challenges your industry is facing right now?
Bob: For consumers, the biggest challenge is making your name known as a trusted source. We work hard every day to make sure that we’re providing consumers with content and offers that are tailored to their needs while maintaining a strong sense of discovery of cool, new offers.
For our business partners, the biggest challenges are lead quality and openness. At Zeeto, we provide high volumes of great quality leads while maintaining an unparalleled level of transparency to our process. We’ve worked diligently to pull lead-generation effort up to become a respected and profitable segment of any consumer marketer’s options.
Ali: What do you see as the biggest trends for your industry right now?
Bob: The biggest trend in our industry right now plays straight into Zeeto’s strength – the quest for quality and transparency. Weaker players who use deception to drive poor quality leads will be swamped by those of us determined to bring professional-level lead generation efforts to the marketplace.
Ali: How has working with LiveIntent addressed some of those challenges?
Bob: LiveIntent has been a fantastic partner for Zeeto by presenting our email subscribers with offers that are tailored to who and where they are. Our goal is to provide interesting, relevant content – LiveIntent’s platform helps us to make that happen.
Ali: How does LiveIntent fit in with the trends you see developing in your industry?
Bob: LiveIntent fits nicely with the industry’s drive to quality. You present quality offers to relevant audiences – making a quality deliverable significantly more attainable.
Ali: What’s in store for Zeeto in 2015?
Bob: In 2014, Zeeto delivered almost 60 million leads and offer redemptions to our client partners. Our goal is to significantly increase both of those numbers in 2015.
We’re also excited to launch some exciting initiatives that will allow our business partners to leverage Zeeto’s proprietary technology for their own customer onboarding processes. More to come on that that one later this year!
Ali: Your offices are in San Diego. What era of San Diego would you want to most live in and why?
Bob: San Diego is such a fantastic city that I could imagine living here in nearly any era, although I favor any era after the introduction of both penicillin and indoor plumbing. If I was forced to name a favorite I would say the mid-80s…mostly so I could buy as much property as possible in what was the formerly downtrodden Gaslamp district and/or the formerly rural North County.