February 18, 2014

Crowdsourcing For Marketers – 101

Crowdsourcing is a fancy way of saying outsourcing – but with a twist. While outsourcing usually refers to hiring contractors or an agency to perform a service or handle a project, crowdsourcing refers to the practice of allowing a large group of people (the crowd) to effectively complete the same job more efficiently. This is a relatively new approach to getting a job done, and is being employed by firms which specialize in everything from blogging to marketing. Here are some examples of ways marketing companies have used crowdsourcing to fulfill their needs:

One of the original applications of crowdsourcing on the internet was when companies began to pay independent webmasters a commission every time the webmaster’s site generated a visitor to the paying company’s site (a click). There have been much iterations on this idea, including pay per sale, and pay per email submit. But the idea is really the same.

A major debt relief company has affiliates which market its services, which they then pay by the sale or lead. They have even set up many ways for customers to contact the company, including through the marketer’s website, email, and a special phone number assigned to the marketer.

A lead generation company outsources its cold calling to individuals, who work from home while connected to the company’s lead generation platform.

There are literally hundreds of ways to crowd source. In fact, so many marketing firms are using this way to generate prospect and sales, that it has quickly become a mainstay in a majority of internet marketing campaigns.
To read more from the Huffington Post, click here.