ONLINE-ADS>> Advertising on local city services

Kenneth C. Jenks (mindseye_at_tale.com)
Fri, 14 Mar 1997 21:23:40 -0600

• Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
• Archive Home Page
• Search
• Next message: Kevin Leathers: "ONLINE-ADS>> Contest?"
• Previous message: Kenbond4_at_aol.com: "RE: ONLINE-ADS>> Need your help!"
• Next in thread: wayne browning: "Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Advertising on local city services"

>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.

There are a few national and international services that allow you to target
your ads at a particular geographic area. Some of these use ISP look-up
techniques to guess where the user is coming from. Others (like ours) use
customer profiles. These have some obvious (and non-obvious) limitations,
but some big benefits, too.

>1. Does the local web/online model seem to be a viable one for commerce?

Not so far. The cost of a "local" Web site is about the same as the cost of
a national/international site, and the customer base typically isn't large
enough to support "local" commerce, except in the most heavily "Webbified"
areas like Southern California.

>3. Does the potential for local promotional tie-ins (such as on-site remote
>chats, live events for users, contests that drive store traffic, etc.) make
>local services potentially more effective for most advertisers?

For some advertisers, yes, but even in the DFW area, there probably aren't
enough local customers to make for effective local Web advertising except
for big-ticket items.

>5. Has anyone heard of any media planning models that look at buying local
>services along the lines of a television network/spot buy? In other words
>using large megasites for the "national" campaign and then filling in with
>local services in those markets where additional weight is required?

When a product has a local angle (like a car dealership), yes. For example,
the auto manufacturer usually runs national campaigns for branding, while
the local dealers try to get you to come into their dealerships.

On the Web, "local" could mean "same town" or "same zip code/area code" or
even "same country."

-- Ken Jenks, Editor-in-chief, Mind's Eye Fiction
http://tale.com/ -- The First Web Publisher
MindsEye_at_tale.com

• Archive Home Page
• Search
• Next message: Kevin Leathers: "ONLINE-ADS>> Contest?"
• Previous message: Kenbond4_at_aol.com: "RE: ONLINE-ADS>> Need your help!"
• Next in thread: wayne browning: "Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Advertising on local city services"

With an archive of more than 14,000 postings, since 1996 the Online Advertising Discussion List has been the Internet's leading forum focused on professional discussion of online advertising and online media buying and selling strategies, results, studies, tools, and media coverage. If you wish to join the discussion list, please use this link to sign up on the home page of the Online Advertising Discussion List.