Re: Ok- new discussion...

From: Janet Attard <attard_at_businessknowhow.com>
Date: Fri 08 Feb 2002 21:39:18 -0500

Alex Tillman <alex_at_webtillman.com> wrote:

> 1) Has anyone successfully used forum posting as a way
> to generate business?

SOHO businesses (mom and pop shops) do that a lot. It does
translate to sales - if done carefully, and where the
contributor is known or featured as an expert on a site.
(What does not work, is posting glowing testimonials
for one's own product whenever anyone asks about it, or
having shills go in and do the dirty work. )

Postings to boards or mailing lists can backfire though,
if customers of a product or service (or disgruntled
employees) start complaining about it, or other readers
disagree with the comments and start an attack on the
person posting. The busier site or list is, and the
more visible its location, the more likely that is to
happen.

> 2) Does anyone offer more general "sponsorship"
> opportunities? I am thinking of the model PBS uses,
> where sponsors get sandwich mentions at the beginning
> and end of a show (slightly different than the
> traditional ad format, since the announcers mention
> the product sponsors- which has a subtle effect of
> linking it closer to editorial), signage at events and
> mentions in print pieces. One of the benefits of this
> approach is that as a sponsor, I don't face as much
> clutter as a traditional advertiser, and can integrate
> my spot more into the program.

We do that at Business Know-How. A very good example
(although it wasn't exactly the same type of relationship
you were talking about) is that when we were an AOL
partner, we referred people to AOL as well as our web
site in just about everything we did. AOL even wound up
on the covers of my two books. It got mentioned every
time I did radio interviews, when I spoke at meetings or
conferences, at trade shows, etc.

We do that with one of our long-time advertisers, too,
on an informal basis. In this case, besides them being
a long time supporter of our site, I happen to like
their products, so I mention them offline as well as
online when it's appropriate, and on a number of
occasions have gotten their name promoted at events
I'm participating in by making arrangements to have the
event producers give away their products as a door prize.


> From an online point of view, if I can get something
> besides a banner ad (which I think net users are
> becoming much more conditioned to ignore) and I am the
> only one on the page, I would be much more interested
> in paying for it(and paying a higher price).

Business Know-How is ALWAYS interested in doing more
than banner ads with sponsors that fit our market and
who can benefit from reaching our small business market,
and who are willing to/able to invest both the money and
time to make it work. By time, I mean both staff time (a
little) and length of time - repetition of the ad and
name over a period of months, since many people only
visit any one web site only once or twice a month - using
them somewhat like they'd use a business magazine (for our
type of site, at least). The other reason time is
important, is because any offline or peripheral promotions
take time to develop and make happen.

> artwork would take longer to work it in (maybe a logo
> and a tagline blended into a border surrounding a
> forum window with a "click here" button to provide
> clickthrough).

I think something like that would need to be done with
wording such as "click here to visit our sponsor" Or
"Sponsored by....click here to see how Sponsor boosts
productivity 50%."

> Curious to know if anyone has tried either of these
> approaches and if so, what results did they get?

The "results" are harder to determine - for some of the
reasons I've mentioned in the past. (This applies to my
audience, at any rate). People research online, but may
or may not buy online. They often want to see the quality
of something, try it (computers, or furniture), skim it
(books), etc. So after seeing things online they are
just as likely to go buy them in a retail store as they
are to purchase online. Or to make a purchase from a
different web site in the future.

The exception is things that one can only purchase online,
or that are more convenient to purchase online. Similarly,
when people hear/see things promoted offline, it can be
days or weeks before they actually do anything about what
they've seen or heard. And in either case, you also have
no idea who they've passed the word along to..... (the
only thing "new" about viral marketing was the name)

The online portion of results are somewhat measurable (but
only to the point the purchase is made on the publisher's
own site), but for anything that's sold both online in
many places and offline, the clicks and purchases from
one specific site is only one piece of a complex puzzle.

--Janet Attard (attard_at_businessknowhow.com)
Author, The Home Office and Small Business Answer Book
Content development, web development, surveys, online
directories
More than 13 years experience building online content
and community sites
http://www.businessknowhow.com and
http://www.careerknowhow.com





Received on Fri Feb 08 2002 - 20:39:18 CST