NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> How to Capture Local Advertising?
ONLINE-ADS>> How to Capture Local Advertising?
Mark J. Welch, Esq. (markwelch_at_ca-probate.com)
Mon, 22 Sep 1997 13:10:04 -0700
In this week's Ad Bytes supplement, our able moderator cited
http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/1997/09/1901-where.html
an article which discussed the issue of "local" advertising,
focusing on the Sidewalk/Digital City model of creating "local"
content sites.
I have a very different view of how "local" advertisers can best
capture the relevant consumers on the web, and this seems
like a good time and place to ask for some feedback regarding
the ideas of:
(A) User Registration via a centralized ad server
(B) Credit card payment for advertising
A. Local Targetting via centralized REGISTRATION
In my opinion, the best way to target consumers on the web
is to hit them where they surf, and currently very few people
surf to "local" content sites. As you'd expect, I surf to many
sites about advertising and legal subjects, and if a local
vendor wants to reach me, she had better hit me where I
am, not where she wishes I were surfing.
In my opinion, this means that the best advertising strategy
is to add GEOGRAPHIC TARGETTING to existing web
advertising vehicles (e.g. banners and site sponsorship).
But we all know (or should know) that "local" geographic
targetting is NOT possible with the data now on hand.
My idea: a centralized ad server (an ad network) which
makes use of REGISTRATION DATA. Individual sites
participating in the ad network would designate some of
the content at their site as being available ONLY to users
who have registered. (This is, of course, the model that
the New York Times uses.) By centralizing the user
registration process, the ad network eliminates the need
for any user to register more than once: one registration
grants access to every site in the network (either via a
cookie or via a user ID or "passcode" -- with the latter
model being a widely-accepted practice in the world of
"adult" web sites).
In my opinion, such a system need not gather a lot of
data, just the "bare minimum" needed to target ads for
most advertisers. The absolute minimum data would
be age, sex, and zip code. Desirable additional fields
of data would be "field of employment," "kids in home,"
and "home ownership."
To be effective, the ad network would need to contain
some sites with compelling content -- content that
users want badly enough to "pay" by registering.
Of course, not every site needs to require user
registration -- yet targetting will work with every
registered user whenever they visit a member
site (even a site that doesn't mandate registration),
since the data is stored and targetting done via
the centralized ad server.
B. Credit Card Payment for Advertising
I also strongly believe that for "local" advertising
to be effective, the transaction costs must be
dropped substantially.
As many members of this list know, I have long
griped about the fact that it is IMPOSSIBLE for me
to target my law office's target market (generally,
persons over age 50 in about 30 zip codes near my
office). When I called the New York Times (which
can deliver this kind of targetting), they advised me
that their minimum internet ad transaction is
$12,500, which is about 10 times the largest
"test buy" I was willing to make. (It's unclear how
many months or years it would take to spend
$12,500 to target NYTimes web users in my
target market, but I suspect it would take many.)
In my opinion, advertisers seeking "local" ad
revenue should look for ways to reduce the
minimum transaction size, which also means
cutting the cost of ad sales. I believe the real
goal MUST be a completely automated advertiser
interface, so that advertisers can upload their
creative [banners], specify their target audience,
view projected traffic estimates, launch and fine-
tune the campaign, and obtain reports, all without
ever talking to any staff person at the selling site
or network. This would require online processing of
payment via credit cards (or digital cash, as that
becomes more accepted). [ think the entire process
would ideally be conducted via secure servers.]
Presumably, an alternative track would be available
for advertisers seeking credit (e.g. larger advertisers
and agencies), and ideally credit approval and tracking
would also be done electronically or with minimal staff
interaction.
Of course, there are some big obstacles to the idea
of a totally-automated advertiser interface. Many of
these advertisers are unsophisticated and would not
be able to design their own creative [banners] nor to
select the best targetting criteria. These could be
referred to ad agencies, or in-house staff could deal
with these advertisers either on a fee basis, or by
denying an "online transaction discount" to these
customers who cannot deal with a totally automated
system (kind of like the fee for seeing a teller or the
discount on your monthly bank charge if you elect an
ATM-only account status).
I would appreciate any feedback on these ideas.
-- Mark J. Welch, Esq. (510) 462-8483 http://www.ca-probate.com/
-- This message is NOT legal advice, and is NOT confidential.
-- Web Site Banner Ads and Web Counters: http://www.markwelch.com/
-- Small Office / Home Office Consumer: http://www.sohoconsumer.com/
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