NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Advertising on local city services
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Advertising on local city services
Cathy DuPre (cathy_at_infoscavenger.com)
Fri, 14 Mar 1997 08:17:12 +0700
On March 13, Larry Matthews <LawMatt_at_aol.com> wrote:
>I have been reading this letter for the last few months and have seen no real
>discussion of the local/;regional services that are springing up such as
>Yahoo, CityView, Sidewalk and Digital City.
>
. . .provide a way for businesses to drive customers to their websites
>and to their stores. It also provides users with something that is regional
>in flavor and, if done well, provides changing daily content to constantly
>encourage usage.
>
>1. Does the local web/online model seem to be a viable one for commerce?
>2. What are the perceived advantages/disadvantages?
..snip..
Larry,
Regarding your questions about Digital City for Dallas and elsewhere:
It appears that ever-changing local news, local events (cultural events,
concerts, art shows, etc), etc would be necessary for these local and
regional sites to pull in visitors.
For many areas, local newspapers have Web sites which are hard to beat
for news and local events. Specifically, you probably know that many
papers have their full "weekend guide" online. Many of them have more
info on the Web than they have room for in the print edition. And, of
course, they're showing local and national news which often changes
hourly.
Add that to the local TV stations with constant news and weather
updates on the Web. Some stations here in the Denver area have
live weather cams all around--Denver, Boulder, heading up the
mountains outside of Denver, and even one at the Continental Divide
(Loveland Pass). These are live on their Web sites--hard to beat for an
area very focused on outdoor activities.
Folks don't go to sites for the ads--they go for the information that's
there. Coming up with something that's not already being done, in many
cases extremely well, by entities well known (brand) such as local
newspapers and TV stations, is a challenge for local Web models.
And, the TV stations in Denver show their URLs very frequently--hard
to compete with that type of campaign for pulling in visitors.
Another issue is convenience shopping, which is one of the major
reasons shoppers choose particular stores. In the larger cities,
this becomes a major concern for anyone advertising on a medium
that's a shotgun approach to the whole city.
Retail stores in malls or stores with unique product offerings can
pull people across a city the size of Dallas with an ad about a
special promotion. It's less likely that a promotion for a
neighborhood restaurant will pull in people from outside the
neighborhood. That's why newspapers in larger cities including
Dallas have special sections inserted in specific parts of the
city on certain days. The neighborhood stores and services place
their ads there.
Best,
Cathy
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Cathy DuPre | cathy_at_infoscavenger.com | Evergreen, CO USA
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