NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> One to One
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> One to One
Bob Schmidt (schmidt_at_magicnet.net)
Wed, 20 Aug 1997 23:30:09 -0400
Mark J. Welch writes,
>I want targetting
>based on geography and user demographics, and NO ONE can deliver
>that today.)
Well, as Stephen Morpurgo pointed out, as an advertising problem, it's not
a problem -- print can do it already, and so can direct mail. In Barbers on
the Net, an essay on local businesses and the net at
http://provider.com/barbers.htm. I point out that those seeking to sell to
strictly local businesses, and especially those selling a service for which
the customer must be physically present in order to deliver the service (as
would seem to be the case for Mark's estate and trust planning services),
the net still has a way to go. Certainly those whose livelihood depends on
local business would be ill advised to rely soley or even primarily on
online sources of prospects.
But, that's rather obvious, or should be to all here. So we have to ask, is
the purpose of Mark's question to "prove the concept" of online
advertising, or is it to actually solve an advertising problem he is
facing? In other words, if someone came forward with a legitimate claim to
meet his requirements, would he simply raise the ante and come up with
another question that takes net ads to the next level (an extremely useful,
legitimate and intellectually challenging exercise), or would he simply
make hay while the sun shines and get busy advertising his estate services
on the new found ad outlet? <g>
If the goal is to advertise, then clearly there are offline options which
will achieve results regardless of whether online works or not. If the goal
is proof of concept, then one merely has to introduce the concept of waste
to arrive at suitable alternatives (or at least potential alternatives).
First though, let's dispense with the self-imposed budgetary limitation.
When we have an advertiser whose reach exceeds his grasp (who can't
"afford" to spend the necessary amount to achieve the crtical mass required
by a buy) we simply use time and, obviously in effect, ad flighting, as the
swing variable. So, Mark, don't book your ads every month. Book them every
other month or quarterly and save up until you;'ve got a war chest of
$5,000 or $10,000 and then spend that.
Now, on to waste. It is a given that all ad media have an element of waste
(ads you are paying for that reach non-prospects). The net is not an
antidote to this. The idea that it is is simply another incarnation of the
one-to-one pablum spit up by the antispammers and the so-called Internet
marketing experts (a goodly number of whom will be speaking at Adam
Boettinger's conference. It would be nice if Adam's own I-ads list was as
open to commercial ad posts as this list evidently is. Alas, it is not and
it is highly doubtful that Adam's own cheery post would have made to his
own heavily moderated list-- a relative of John Audette's even more heavily
moderated list, I-Sales.)
Once the element of waste is accepted as an invetible characteristic of all
advertising, and with the budgetary problem addressed, a solution to Mark's
online targetting dilemma becomes visible: find the closest possible
alternative and accept a measure of inefficiency in the buy -- the same
solution every media buyer comes up with every day in every medium.
As to the targeting issue itself, with some creative extrapolation, we can
quite possibly arrive at some directions for Mark to head in. One approach
to brainstorming online venues is to first look at the offline venues that
target the same market and then look for online equivalents or close
approximations. For instance, perhaps theater goers are fairly synonymous
with an upper middle class, 50+ demo (and dare we say perhaps also skew
higher towards his desired gay demos).
If so, one has but to look to the theater program in print and then see if
the local ballet and symphony, art museum, gay organizations, etc. have web
sites which accept sponsorships or whose mailing or membership lists can be
obtained. Event sponsorship, especially offline, would also be
particularly effective, as would other forms of public relations. Indeed,
again, online may be irrelevant here and plenty of sponsorship
opportunities may be available offline and be all Mark, and any other local
service business, will need.
However, that said, should such highly targeted online ad venues exist, do
not expect them to come calling on you. They will have to be ferretted out
and the advertiser/media buyer will be left largely to their own devices
in trying to find them.
Bob Schmidt
www.provider.com
Author of The Geek's Guide to Internet Business Success
The Definitive Business Blueprint for Internet Designers, Developers,
Programmers, Marketers and Service Providers
http://www.vnr.com/vnr/geeksguide/
ISBN 0-442-02557-2
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