NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Online media kits
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Online media kits
Cliff Kurtzman (cliff_at_tenagra.com)
Sat, 2 Aug 1997 01:37:05 -0600
Kevin Leathers <Kevin.Leathers_at_obgyn.net> wrote:
>I don't want to piss off the boss, but these are my comments:
The boss was trying to get people a bit riled up.
This list has seemed sleepy lately...
>
>I'm sitting hear with my jaw wide open. I mean WIDE OPEN :( ) You mean I
>have spent all my time targeting accounts, cold calling, mailing, trade
>shows and travelling halfway around the world and there is an easier way.
>
>Don't hold off any longer, tell us. What is the secret to getting business
>with out having to work for it. Is there an easier way?
Unfortunately, I never said I knew how to get business without having to
work for it. On the contrary, I work 12 hours a day during the week, and
just a bit less on the weekends. What I did say was that, at least for my
business and some of my web sites, there seem to be less expensive ways to
market them besides going out and trying to direct sell to people that have
not expressed an interest. I know that this certainly does not hold true
for everyone, but it does hold true for many businesses.
I also didn't mean to imply that it never makes sense to put your rate sheet
on the web. We put the rate sheet for sponsoring this list up on the
o-a.com site, and it seems to be a good idea. But on other sites it seems
to be inappropriate, tacky, of just unproductive. I think it is something
you have to look at based on the particulars of each web site and its
audience.
>will you give me a job?
I've just filled two openings and have no more at present, but we do expect
substantial growth in the future...
<snip>
> I have dealt with a number
>of sites in the last two weeks that rely on e-mail reply and had 3 big ones
>that either did not reply or were too late. Examples: IBM Worldwide network
>(I need service while in Denmark next week); NO reply, Cooper tires (need to
>know if they have replacement tires for my Jeep); NO reply, AVIS (needed
>rates for a car in Boston last week) LATE.
Agreed. If you are going to advertise that information is available by
e-mail, then you had better be responsive. We advise clients to respond to
an e-mailed business inquiry within no more than 48 hours, even if the
answer is only "we've received your inquiry and are working on it and
expect to have an answer for you in ..."
I've been trying to get advertising/sponsorship rates for two months now
for an e-mail newsletter put out by CMP. They've got a great rate sheet on
their site for banner ads, but nothing about their newsletters. After a
couple of e-mails and over a month of waiting, someone finally wrote me
back and told me to e-mail someone else, which I did. Its now about two
months elapsed time and still no answer. Very frustrating to say the
least, not to mention that the moment has passed...
>
>Basically, these companies could have helped me out much easier if they had
>adequate information on their sites (I know we are not talking about ad
>rates here, but the same rules apply). Instead they still have to pay a
>person to do the job of phone person to answer their e-mail, and frankly
>it's not working. If I really wanted the extra bother, I would go about it
>the old fashion way and wait until I get a chance to make phone calls.
In some cases the costs of anticipating and answering an essentially
limitless number of questions in advance can be far greater than the costs
of responding only to questions that are submitted. But if you are going
to offer e-mail as a means of communicating, you do have to be responsive,
or it is going to do you more harm than good.
>Quite a challenge for all of us trying to get free advertising. If you have
>any pointers, hopefully we can pick back up on that subject.
Actually the folks at ClickZ have asked me to write a column on this, which
I will hopefully have a chance to do within the next few weeks.
<snip>
>>Like Glenn Fleishman recently wrote about Amazon.com, our emphasis
>>is first on suppo <snip>
>
>Not a good example. Amazon is making money now because they are getting
>people to advertise for them for free (actually should shake the hand of
>their marketing person for coming up with their plan).
Well, Amazon did get a 1996 Tenagra Award for Internet Marketing Excellence
for it, so consider their hand shook.
(I should add that the Tenagra Awards, which are coordinated by our agency,
are awarded by a diverse panel of Internet marketing pundits, most of whom
are not part of our organization. In this particular case, because Tenagra
has participated in Amazon's associates program, all Tenagra personnel on
the awards committee abstained from the voting.)
>But is anyone making
>money? And will they keep giving away the free links (if a competitor has a
>better offer).
Amazon.com IS a good example, me thinks. Could you imagine what would
happen to them if they had to cold sell their product to each and every
book buyer? If they had to make an unsolicited phone call to sell each
book -- "Hello, Dr. Kurtzman, we noticed you run an Internet agency and
just got a book in we think you would like." -- then their costs would go
through the roof. Instead, Amazon has found a wide variety of ways to get
me to take the initiative to make a purchase, including registering my
preferences at their site so they can automatically send me a solicited
e-mail each time a book comes in that meets my preferences.
As to the assertion that Amazon is making money getting people to give them
free links, I just don't think that is the case at all. Last quarter, our
commissions from Amazon for the "free links" totalled about $720. Not a
fortune to be sure, but not quite petty cash either. It is a lot more than
we would have made on the pages selling ad banners, and about enough to be
considered fair compensation for our costs of maintaining the pages with
the links.
And while you've gotten me on the subject of Amazon... Glenn and others
have implied that one reason to go with Amazon is that their strong online
brand name will make it more likely that people will buy books from your
site. Frankly, this was not a terribly strong consideration with us. I
feel that on our web sites, our brand and credibility are far more
important. I think that our endorsement of a bookseller to do the
fulfillment is probably good enough for most of our readers to be
comfortable in buying a book (if anything is going to make them comfortable
ordering online). Rather, we went with Amazon because from what we knew
about them, we trusted them to have the technical capability and honesty to
give us an accurate accounting of commissions, and to pay those commissions
when due. The fact that Glenn was associated with the organization played
no small role in our having that opinion.
But like others on this list, I've been disappointed that they have so far
failed to change their policy about giving credit for all books purchased
in a session that clicks-through from our sites. Amazon has only increased
the irritation caused by this policy by now putting a list of the most
popular similar books directly on their pages for many of the books we
list, making it far easier to click on the book from the Amazon page than
go back and click the link from our site.
When we have the time and inclination, we'll probably switch to another
book vendor that has a policy that we see as being fairer.
--Cliff
Clifford R. Kurtzman, Ph.D.
President and CEO
The Tenagra Corporation
http://www.tenagra.com/
281/480-6300
Internet marketing, public relations, consulting and web design
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