• A new definition of place
• delivering traffic to the site
• the new Domain names

the strategy of holding certain names
• Canadian Internet Registration Authority

• Domain Name" legal issues
• Domain Name Registration Scheme - or Scam
• Domain Name disputes

• Mass Selling
• Advertising [paid promotional activities]
• Publicity [non-paid promotional activities]
• Personal Selling
• Sales account executives selling products/services to business
• Sales Promotion
• brand managers working with retailers to merchandise the product
• contests, coupons, reward programs

• Informing 
• Persuading 
• Reminding 

To be successful in attracting traffic, using a good domain name and brand building, you need to be more effective at hearing what the customer wants.

WTGR

fundamentals
of marketing
in the
context of
E-commerce

and,,

Marketing
your web
site itself

 - the different terms explained  promotion, selling, advertising, publicity, sales promotion 
  from MRK Chpt 14
The purpose of reviewing some of these points is to facilitate discussions on the fundamentals of e-commerce promotion

- discuss on-line article by Jared Spool about good points and bad points of trying to create an emotional bond with customers by using pictures of people using their products. This article was suggested by Phil Nicholls.

Super
Bowl
Sunday
2000

It is interesting to note the increasing number of traditional companies using Super Bowl ads to profile the internet side of their business, as well as the new dot.com companies. Some of the dot.com companies are investing big money on a gamble to get recognition, others are using their ad to feature a new service, and others are using it to reinforce existing awareness to keep competitors at bay.

In fact, the whole arena of Super Bowl ads has taken on a hype of its own now and is sometimes referred to as the "Oscars" for marketing campaigns.
http://promotions.yahoo.com/promotions/superspots/
Yahoo has listed all the spots on one of their pages and you can go here to view RealPlayer / or Windows Media Player segments of the ads.

Story filed Monday, Jan 31, 2000 in the Yahoo Tech Headlines section
"Can You Remember Those Super Bowl Dotcom Ads?"
formerly at  yahoo.com/h/nm/20000131/wr/media_superbowlads_1.html
Some 17 ``dot-coms'' advertised on the game this year (Jan 2000), up from three last year ... spending up to $3 million each on those 30-second Super Bowl ads?

Michael Cooney wrote in BusinessLife.com, and article titled "How to blow $73,000 a second"

Michael Cooney explains "The "dot-com" Superbowl ads cost $2.2 Million for each 30 second spot. Most of these "dot-com" companies were near-unknowns. How would you have spent the $2.2 Million? For your first contact, is it better to talk to 60 million of the general population (half of whom were running to the kitchen for more chips and dip) one time for 30 seconds, or address 1,000,000 of your hottest, most likely prospects, for  10 minutes? I’ll pick the latter any time.

 For $2.2 Million, each company could have hired a direct response expert to create a direct mail package, hired a top list company to produce a finely-tuned, customized  list of 1,000,000 of your best, most-likely-to-buy prospects, and mailed to them your most irresistible, compelling case for doing business with you. That would win hands down over the Superbowl ad approach, I guarantee you. One of those Superbowl ads actually ended with the statement: "...did we just waste $2 Million?" Here’s your  answer, guys: YES!"
 

"Last year (Jan 2000) in Atlanta, Georgia, two dozen dot com companies mortgaged their futures for a one-shot chance at establishing brand recognition among 130 million football viewers. Many of the adverts were arty, incomprehensible and panned by critics and consumers alike for failing to make it clear what the companies did. 

This year [Jan 2001] only 10% of the 30-second spots during the three-hour sports extravaganza have been bought by internet firms, a third of last year's figure"

"The big buyers for this Super Bowl (2001) are financial services firms, especially brokers and investment bankers, who are locked in an escalating battle for retail and online customers. 
Lauren Chambliss
 

Judith Schoolmam writing in Daily News online

Schoolman writes that "At $2.5 million for a 30-second spot, this year's Super Bowl ads are
 going to look a little like the stock market — old economy companies are hot, dot-coms are not....While TV coverage of the game the last two years were laced with  ads from Internet companies, the Nasdaq' 39% plunge in 2000 took  the steam out of many dot-coms — or worse.As a result, this year  just three major dot-coms are set thus far to advertise."
 

In Hanson's book "Internet Marketing" we talked about Chpt 5 in the section on Web Business models but it is worth re-visiting that chapter for the intro section that also discusses Online Brand Building (p. 127)

• Brand Recognition
• Brand Preference
• Brand Loyalty
• Brand Insistence

• The Key Elements of Branding
• differentiation
• relevance - the degree to which the product can be seen by the customer as having usefulness
• perceived value
• Emotional Branding vs. Rational Branding
• Other Web Branding Strategies

Siegel cautions that in the "customer-led future, company brands will weaken significantly because companies will be pulled apart by their customer divisions, they should plan on restructuring and promoting product or even division brands"

well, in several cases, this is indeed already true among several consumer product companies. Toyota promotes the Lexus brand as a distinct luxury brand to disassociate itself from the mass market low price appeal of the average Toyota line-up
WTGR

the authors discuss

• a brief introduction to the concept of brand building
• the value of a strong brand to the producer
• the value of a strong brand to the consumer
• brands and trustworthiness
• brand equity
• global brands
• the benefits of two-way branding
• the increase in the interest in the individualism of communication (which could also fit in the CRM - Customer Relationship Management section of IEC)

Feb
6th
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Feb
6th

the authors discuss web segmentation

 

.

why segment? because most people believe that when they put text and images up on their web site, they are therefore communicating with everybody in the globe - this is not true. There should be a specific effort to target the material to a demographic which best fits your "perfect customer profile". You should do "target market segmentation" online just as you would do it offline in a traditional marketing situation. WTGR

• Lindstrom and Andersen say (page 138) that 
"If a precise target group can be defined, it is likely that a personal dialogue with the users can be achived. This corresponds to a traditional dialogue where the fewer participants, the better the interaction and identification"
• segementation of the users on the Internet
• Lindstrom and Andersen say (page 139) that one of the overlooked potentials is the ability to invite viewers to a site to browse through, after selecting a route based on age and gender - this simple segementation can make a big difference for companies in the areas of some products such as clothing and entertainment - yet few sites do this.
• strategic considerations regarding brand attitude
• development of the brand platform
• the four key brand elements
• role
• what is the purpose
• how can it help consumers
• what role will the brand have in the consumer's life
• personality
• what is the look and feel of the brand
• what personality would the brand have if you described it as a real-life friend
• achievement
• how is the brand differentiating from competitors
• what unique benefits does the brand offer consumers, compared to the competition
• brand backup
• what background, history or inventors prove the brand is clearly is trustworthy
• web brand building
• measurement of the communication value of the web site
• Lindstrom and Andersen say (page 172) that 

"to date, the most frequently used quantitative measurement of a website's success has been the number of hits... these figures tell us nothing about the actual quality of the website. At a pinch they tell us something about how good the company has been at creating traffic... the quantitative goals should be based on a number of measurable parameters which can describe the quality of the communication on the website  ... goals should be set for
• the number of repeat visits
• the number of minutes the visitor spends per page
• the number of minutes the visitor spends on the website's main activities
• the user's behaviour at the website
• which links/images are clicked on in what order
• does this match what the layout intended
• the number of emails received
• the website's turnover and income

Internet Ad Types What types of Internet ads are there and which kinds work best? by Bruce Morris

Morris describes the different types of online advertising - of which online ads are just one component
The article "different types of ads" can be found at
 www.webdevelopersjournal.com/columns/types_of_ads.html
this article is one of several in a series.
The 5 part series by Morris is titled

• Personalisation
• Are banner ads going the way of buggy whips?
• What are the problems for going forward?
• What types of ads are there and which kinds work best? (the one we are referring to here)
• How do I get some of this for my site? 

• "Regular Old" Banner Ads
• Rich Media Banner Ads
• Mailing Lists & Newsletters
• Sponsorships
• Interstials
• Keyword Advertising
• Coupon Deals
• Pay Per Click or Pay Per Sale
• Remainder Programs & Ad Auctions

Susan Stellin writing in the New York Times as carried in the Toronto Star 26Dec2000 "Like it or not, Web ads gain currency"

This article, which was carried in The Star Dec 26th, 2000, discussed interstitial ads.
interstitial is a term used in medicine to describe something between the cells, or between the layers. In online advertising, this term interstitial ads has been coined to describe those ads that pop up in your browser window as you proceed to see a new page - the ad stays there blocking the other material until you close it which is annoying - but effective since you have to notice or you can't see the other material.

Susan Stellin writes that even of we don't like this, companies will still do it because it seems to be effective. Stellin quotes a number of people in the article that talk about there various experients running interstitial ads and the main point seems to be that you have to focus these on a particular segement and the content within the interstitial ads has to be pretty kewl otherwise people just find it annoying.

By Kevin Featherly, Newsbytes,  14 Dec 2000, "Web Ads To Make Content Sites Profitable By 2005 - Forrester"  www.newsbytes.com/news/00/159427.html

Featherly notes that "... Dot-com news, music and entertainments sites have been laying people...a new report by market analysis firm Forrester Research predicts that if such companies can hang on for just two more years, profitability will arrive. And the oldest media revenue source - advertising - once again will step in as the savior."

Feathjerly quotes Forrester media analyst Eric Scheirer
"it's very difficult for sites that are advertising-based to be profitable today. But that's changing, and very rapidly"

"Says Scheirer, as advertisers continue flocking to the Web to get the word out about their products, they will be forced to compete for many of the same "super-target" online content pages - search-query returns on Yahoo and the shopping-bot results on the MySimon.com site are two examples. But not all advertisers will be able to schedule ad appearances on those pages, nor will they wish to pay the high price those ad slots will fetch, according to the Forrester report.  Instead, the study says, the trickling will begin. Just below the "super-target" site grade  lies what Scheirer labels "premium" site pages, well-contextualized pages of content designed to work with targeted ads"

"There is no doubt, the analyst says, that the current picture is bleak, and that many online publishers could be convinced to throw in the towel now....But patience will bear fruit, the analyst insists."

Banner Advertising Statistics  "Measuring the Effectiveness of Online Campaigns" by Charlie Morris

This article is in five parts: 
 www.webdevelopersjournal.com/articles/banner_ads/banner_advertising_statistics.html
                       1.Introduction 
                       2.Comparing Clickthrough Ratios 
                       3.Comparing Costs 
                       4.Comparing Conversion Rates 
                       5.Comparing Your Stats to the Averages 

 

.

Often what happens when people try a new technology or process is that they adopt it and hope it will be successful - without having any certain way to verify whether the particular innovation actually adds to the effectiveness of what they are trying to do. In considering new forms of advertising online - it is important to deal with the issue of measuring the effectiveness of the various new methods to be able to clearly verify what works and what doesn't - and, this verification should be done soon in the campaign so you don't waste millions of dollars on something that doesn't work..

Morris says "Online advertising is in fact an easy thing to measure and quantify. The Internet can provide a level of detail that no other medium can ever hope to. The online advertising business is a more mature one than many people realize, and the tools to measure the effectiveness of banner ad campaigns are there for those who know how to use them."

"Banner ads, as far as we're concerned, are sold by the page impression - each time a user views one Web page is counted as one impression. Prices are quoted in "CPM", a holdover from print ad days which means "cost per thousand". For example, if the CPM for a particular campaign is $20, then it would cost $2,000 for 100,000 impressions."

Morris explains "Banner ads yield two benefits. 

First, they may entice users to click on the banner and go to the advertiser's site. Each time this happens is called a "clickthrough", and the number of clickthroughs divided by the number of impressions is called the "clickthrough ratio" or "click rate". This is easy to measure, and provides a direct measurement of a banner's effectiveness.

The second benefit of ad banners is building brand recognition. Despite ad agency claims to the contrary, this is almost impossible to measure."

examples
 
 

Brand 
Building

examples

Feb
14th
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Feb
14th

• concentration of customers "It is extremely useful to own these communities as by their very presence the members provide a mass of relevant information which makes targeted marketing possible"
• "members' profiles tell a lot about their interests and needs - which is information companies can utilize in their communication and product development"

• Interest - there must be content which attracts participants and usually you plan your content based on the fact that this information cannot be obtained any other place
• Information - there must be volume of information indexed and searchable to cover every conceivable requirement so that participants will not be drawn outside the community to other sources
• Interaction - the ability to work interactively with the content helps create a sense of ownership among the participants. Ideally you want them to be contributors to the building of the community, not just people reading information posted on the pages.
• Communication - there must be structure to the pages on the site which allow for message to be left and answered and there must be clearly marked contact information for the hosts so participants can be in contact with the site builders. If the community involved testimonials about experiences with a product or service the people providing the testimonials should not be selected unless they agree to provide real emial addresses, and further agree to answer emails from the community
• Transactions - many communities are based on customers of a product who are very enthusiastic owners. These people are not content to own the product but they also want everybody else to know they own it - which is evidenced by the rise in North America and Europe of product brands in clothing eg. Ford trucks T-shirts, Nike wrist watches, Online communities are a great source for affiliated products and services in addition to the core product.

Eg. you wouldn't sell a Harley Davidson motorcycle on the Harley site, but you do have a selection of clothing and relatively inexpensive accessory items which you can buy.
 http://roadstore.harley-davidson.com

Snapple can also use the online site to gather specific name and address information of loyal customers which they will use in "direct mail" campaigns in ensure

At the I AM website,
 http://www.iam.ca/touts/iam.ghtml
people can get an email address such as joe@iam.ca or joe@onlycanadian.com or joe@canadianrocks.com 

The questionnaire which you fill out to get the free email includes the statement
"we are always trying to learn more about you and your interests in order to provide the best and relevant community for Canadian beer drinkers..."

Such customer profiling techniques were done by the American cigarette companies in the 1980's in order to develop long-term brand insistence - however it was expensive to do that then due to the amount of free merchandize you had to give away - "kewl" web sites allow this customer profiling to be less costly and you can create communities of customers that in turn create a dynamic that can be very exciting

The National Post picked up on this story of Molson and their I AM CANADIAN ad and accompanying web site and ran a story by Jonathon Gatehouse on the patriotic fervor created
 http://www.nationalpost.com/home.asp?f=000414/259024
 

incidentally, did you know beer.com was done by