NONE: Short VS Long Term
Short VS Long Term
Leo Sheiner (leo_at_netcomuk.co.uk)
Thu, 5 Sep 1996 09:48:57 +0100 (BST)
>From: Bruce Milligan <bruce_at_boone.net> wrote:
>
>....<snip>
>Instead, at Camp Internet I focused my energies on investigating
>strategic themes for long-term success -- like integrating product
>messages into editorial and entertainment programming (a la the
>"subliminal" (sic) discussion of late on this board). And, better
>yet, how we "program the SHOPPING OPPORTUNITY", so that consumers can
>transact at their point of decision, rather than having to go to a
>store a day or more after they've made their decision to buy while
>surfing online. And, as Tony says, using the emerging technologies
>such as CGI and Perl scripts, as well as Java and Microsoft's
>ActiveX, for maximum benefit in targeting and building a relationship
>with customers and prospects online. (FYI: this medium is NOT a
>place for the technophobic, nor will it be for several years to come,
>if ever...)
>
>So, to summarize, I believe the "how to" discussions on this list
>about buying and designing banners, rotating ads, and =
>measuring/analyzing click-through rates are important for those of us
>who need to succeed in the prevalent programs of TODAY. But we will
>quickly grow through this "phase" of online marketing/advertising.
>And if we don't start discussing how to succeed at what's coming
>next, then those other guys who ARE having these conversations (yes,
>they do exist) will eat our lunch.
>
>Ted Leonsis, now president of AOL, taught me: "Make dust or eat
>dust." A word to the wise is sufficient...
>
>For what it's worth... Comments? Thanks for your time and
>consideration.
>.......<snip>
OK, my thoughts have also been that the discussions on click through and
rotating banners are a bit sterile. I concur that we have a new technology
here which makes it possible to track and analyse prospect/client behaviour
as never before and consequently can facilitate computer mediated
relationship building (although nothing will ever completely replace the
human touch).
I have a new product/service for business on the Web which I hope will see
the light of day sometime this month. (isn't it wonderful how these things
always slip). I have been giving some thought as to how I will promote this
product. I am considering what I believe is a new model for the Internet (or
at least new in some regards). I do not know whether most/many sites or
Ezines/discussion groups that take advertising will accept it and therefore
whether it will work. I will certainly be interested to hear the views of
this list.
Although I cannot reveal the nature of the product at the moment, I can tell
you that it is primarily targetted at business. An average sale should be
around $45. Repeat sales over a period are fairly likely in many cases.
Ordering and payment for it is secure and on-line, fulfillment is automatic
and virtually immediate. To be honest, I have no certainty at this stage how
well the product will be received (although if I did not believe in it, I
would not be investing a lot of hard cash in it).
I would like the promotion for this product to be in the form of copy which
is entirely under the control of the promoting site/ezine/list although we
would certainly suggest some copy which they can modify to their hearts
content. The message would generally be of the form this is a new and
interesting product which does .... take a look and see it at: .... I
believe text copy can sell better than any banner, although a small
clickable graphic in addition is also fine.
Each promoter will have a unique gateway/welcome page which links to our
main site. The function of the welcome page is simply to log the event by
date, promoter and Email address of the client. Each occurence is
automatically Emailed to the promoter (optionally) so the promoter can know
exactly how many referrals have occurred (as well as the id).
Our order process will look up this dbms to see if a referrer exists and if
so it logs the value against the referrer and sends a copy of the
transaction to him (optionally).
By virtue of the transparency of this whole process a promoter can always
check whether he is being properly informed since we will pay an agreed
commission on all sales that occur up to 1 year from the original referral date.
This model makes the revenue results-oriented and therefore increases the
risk of the promoter, it also however substantially increases the potential
reward. The promoter therefore has to consider: will this product sell to
people who come to my site, what proportion of users will go for it, how
likely are they to repeat buy? If he thinks that looks good he then also has
to consider what the most effective message is likely to be and where to
place this message. He becomes a partner in the venture rather than a
passive player.
>From my point of view I am happy to pay a higher price for referrals that
actively engages the interest of the promoter and reduce my risk of paying
for referrals that do nothing (for whatever reason). Part of the problem of
advertising on the Web at the moment is that is very difficult to quantify
the value of any promotion. It is alright for the AT&Ts and Netscapes of
this world, it really doesn't matter too much if they spend a few hundred
thousand dollars and then cannot accurately quantify the benefit. This model
makes the benefit/reward one to one.
Has anyone tried anything like this?
Do you think it could work?
any suggested improvements on this model?
Would you accept it (subject to consideration of the product)?
Thanks.
Leo
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