In an earlier post, I had spoken of the finance industry and online advertising. I had mentioned how credit card companies, banks etc rely heavily on the online to increase registrations, get new customers, create emailing lists etc.

Another area where Finance companies find online advertising handy is generating leads in a debt management (DM) context.

In countries like the UK and US the personal debt figures are staggering. Let me quote some figures –

• Total UK personal debt at the end of May 2010 stood at £1,460bn. Individuals owe more than what the whole country produces in a year.

• Total US consumer debt stands at nearly $2.5 trillion dollars. That works out to be nearly $ 8,100 in debt for every man, woman and child that lives here in the US.

It’s a no brainer, therefore, as to why debt management companies thrive in these markets. It is quite safe to assume that across the UK/US, there would be a number of families who have fairly substantial sums in outstanding personal debt. For example, the average household debt in the UK is £ 8,716/-.

UK and US are, therefore, very fertile markets for DM companies. The average DM company would be in perpetual quest of good leads. And given the fact that debts are endemic to these markets, DM companies would be looking to target virtually every household with a DM message.

The challenge here is to get a ‘good lead’. A good lead is one that not only has accurate information but represents an individual who needs immediate help and is willing to engage.

DM companies look to target on a regional basis with a ‘I am a local company’ message. Thus you have a campaign run by a prominent UK based DM organization that targets based on postcode.

Lead generation in the DM market can be done in two ways –

• A Company specific lead generation campaign
• A generic lead generation campaign

Let me explain these two models in detail.

Company specific Lead Generation campaign

In this scenario, a DM company contracts directly with a network to generate leads specific to their need. For example, therefore, a DM company might want leads that fulfil the following criteria-

• Debt > £/$ 5,000
• More than 3 unsecured loans
• Disposable income per month £/$ XXXX

In this situation, the DM company provides the creatives to run the campaign and works closely with the network to monitor quantity and quality of leads.

A generic lead generation campaign

The seriousness of the debt problem and the opportunity it represents has spawned a market of ‘Lead Generation companies’ in the UK/US. Such organizations generate leads fulfilling certain generic criteria using a wide variety of methods, online being one of them.

In this situation, the Lead Generation company runs a banner campaign targeting individuals with debt problems. Leads generated from such campaigns are sold to DM companies.

While online advertising has gained firm root in the financial markets, there still is a huge untapped market in areas like Debt Management. The more focused targeting that networks can do the better they’ll be able to monetize these opportunities..