NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> Spring IW Coverage: 2/25/98 - Scott Kurnit is Pissed
ONLINE-ADS>> Spring IW Coverage: 2/25/98 - Scott Kurnit is Pissed
richard_at_tenagra.com
Wed, 25 Mar 1998 13:35:14 -0600 (CST)
Spring IW Coverage
Scott Kurnit is Pissed, report #1
March 25, 1998
This is the first in a series of 10 reports from Richard Hoy, who
covered Spring Internet World in Los Angeles. You will receive these
reports in addition to your normal Online Ads posts/digests.
This coverage is archived at:
http://www.o-a.com/IWspring98/IWspring98-archive.html
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This conference coverage is generously underwritten by:
ValueClick
ValueClick is the banner advertising that allows you to pay only
for RESULTS!
http://www.valueclick.com
The ValueClick network consists of over 6000 quality websites
generating over 40 million impressions per month.
* Pay as little as 20-cents per unique visitor (per click through).
* Quality website network.
* Real time statistics 24/7.
* Targeting available (30-cents per visitor).
* Standard banner size (468x60 gif anim.).
* Mention this ad and get 5% additional click throughs with each
campaign.
* Agencies Welcome
For further info contact Brian at (805) 965-0543 / brian_at_valueclick.com
or visit
http://www.valueclick.com
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Scott Kurnit is Pissed
"The fact is it's a different medium and it's a powerful
medium and it works today, and it really pisses me off that
the advertising community still doesn't get it." said Scott
Kurnit, Chairman and CEO of The Mining Company, in response
to advertisers' complaints that we need more bandwidth for
the Web to take off.
The Internet is a 28.8 medium for the foreseeable future, he
said, whither we like it or not. We can't wait around for
the promise of high speed bandwidth. And moreover, you
don't need a lot of bandwidth to build a trusted brand on
the Internet, you just need people who you can trust to tell
you where the best information is.
That is essentially what Scott's company, The Mining
Company, does. They have human guides that find the best
online resources in 500 different subjects.
Scott said that humans have to be involved because search
tools are too easily fooled. And the much hyped intelligent
agent/push technology isn't there because the technology is
dependant on what you did yesterday, not what you want to do
now or in the future.
Because the Mining Company builds human-assembled niche
directories of the best content on the Net, it is in an
excellent position to help advertisers reaching specific
audiences. Scott points out that with niche sites you don't
need sophisticated profiling software to figure out what a
person visiting such a site is interested in. Ideally, you
would want to know that a person visited a site covering a
specific subject so that when he or she is elsewhere you can
still serve them ads on that subject. But it is not
necessary to achieve online advertising success now.
Buying keywords is on search engines is not buying niches,
he points out. Advertisers need to seek adjacency in the
form of highly targeted ads matched to highly targeted
content to be successful.
Scott shared some the lessons The Mining Company has learned
about building these niche online communities and
advertising on them:
1.) Use different tactics for different topics.
Scott said that it is important to know where the "action"
is for specific topics. The Mining Company's Alcoholism
site, for example, has a lot of activity in its chat rooms,
but very little on its bulletin boards. For other sites, it
is the bulletin boards that have all the activity. For
others it is neither of those places. The point is you need
to know where the activity is in order to effectively place
your ad.
2.) Your audience must trust your content.
Building trust that your information is accurate is of
paramount importance according to Scott. Advertisers need to
be sure they are associating themselves with sites that have
the trust of their audiences.
3.) Don't be afraid to have a point of view
The narrower the niche is in which you are advertising, the
more important it is that you have a point of view. Scott
said that if an advertiser walk into an environment where
everyone has a point of view and the advertiser is being
"middle of the road" in his or her opinion, you'll loose
respect.
4.) Always find ways to have your humanity shine through.
It is always better when your customers are met by a person.
Scott gave the example of how Citibank is working with The
Mining Company to build a system of human guides to the
Citibank Web site. They are finding that it is much more
powerful when customers have someone they can ask questions
of.
5.) You need to be a strong leader.
Anarchy can't reign in an online community if you want it to
be useful and productive. Someone has to set standards and
police the content so irrelevant information doesn't get
through.
6.) Use the technology to talk to your customers.
Scott suggests that advertisers make full use of feedback
forms and online surveys to let people voice their opinions.
You need to be prepared to respond. When you do, be sure to
do so quickly and accurately. When you are sifting through
the feedback, be sure to do so with human eyes. The comments
people make are often quite revealing and you simply cannot
interpret them correctly with software alone.
7.) If you don't have what people want, be sure to send them
to where they can get it.
Scott said that the thought of sending a prospect to a
competitor frightens many companies. But if you are not
helpful when you don't have something someone wants, you
could be perceived as lying. People who are helpful, even if
it means losing a sale to a competitor, do better because
people remember those who are helpful.
8.) The more specific a niche you are targeting, the more
you must be engaged.
It is hard work to be constantly involved, but niche
audiences expect you deliver good information all the time.
9.) Don't do one-to-one marketing, do one-to-one-to-one
marketing
Targeting an individual is good, but targeting a group of
like-minded individuals is much better because the single
individual will turn to the group to find information. If
you are favorably perceived by the group, you benefit from
the "third-party" endorsement.
10.) The "word-of-fingers" in this medium is incredible.
Word gets around on the 'Net because it is so easy to pass
information via email to friends, colleagues and co-workers.
Advertisers need to understand this and take advantage of it
when they can.
11.) If you think the 'Net is just a direct response medium,
you're being tricked.
The 'Net is great for direct response, but it is great for
branding as well. Scott points out that you don't get clicks
from TV, magazines, billboards or the side of a race car,
but the advertising community have been perfectly happy to
buy those vehicles for a very long time. We need to start
thinking of it in broader terms.
This ends the first report of Spring Internet World. Stay tuned for
more reports.
======================================================================
======================================================================
This conference coverage is generously underwritten by:
ValueClick
ValueClick is the banner advertising that allows you to pay only
for RESULTS!
http://www.valueclick.com
The ValueClick network consists of over 6000 quality websites
generating over 40 million impressions per month.
* Pay as little as 20-cents per unique visitor (per click through).
* Quality website network.
* Real time statistics 24/7.
* Targeting available (30-cents per visitor).
* Standard banner size (468x60 gif anim.).
* Mention this ad and get 5% additional click throughs with each
campaign.
* Agencies Welcome
For further info contact Brian at (805) 965-0543 / brian_at_valueclick.com
or visit
http://www.valueclick.com
======================================================================
======================================================================
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