Re: Ad-blocking Software

From: Richard Hoy <richard_at_clickz.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 14:31:14 -0500 (CDT)

MARKUS SCHNEIDER WROTE:
>For sure there is an evolution in internet advertising and
>online branding has moved on. You are right. But there are
>definitely not so many websites out there which you can
>compare to Yahoo!. Sponsoring is a way to block ad-blocking
>software, but is it a branding device for every website
>owner?

I think small businesses with small budgets probably
shouldn't be doing banner advertising. It is definitely the
wrong way to brand.

A big problem that small business will always face with
banner ads is creative costs. There truly is an art to
building and optimizing banner ads that someone without
experience will have difficulty with. In many cases, any
low dollar deal (specially on a site like Yahoo) is leftover
space, not the prime stuff. So good creative execution is
essential if you are going to stand out of the crowd and
maximize your results. And to hire outside talent could
cost you more than the ad space is worth.

Plus, one can argue wither or not banners can brand. But I
think there is little argument of the fact that branding
will not occur in the comparatively minuscule quantities of
impressions that a small business can afford. (Especially on
a site like Yahoo.)

Small sites should be doing PR to gain brand awareness. And
by PR I don't mean sending out press releases everyday. By
PR I mean participating in forums in which your target
audience hangs out. Providing resources and services useful
to your target audience. And getting other players who reach
your audience to endorse/co-market you in some way.

Example: one of the best and simplest promotions I was ever
involved with was for a client in the travel industry. We
cut a deal with a major travel site - they held a contest
and my client gave away the prize. The context was such
that the entrants were qualified. It worked phenomenally
well for generating leads. My client got to keep the
e-mail addresses generated and all he had to give up was a
trip (which he got at cost). The travel site took care of
the rest. Setting up the whole deal cost him far less than
a banner campaign.

If you gotta do advertising, I'm an advocate for direct
opt-in e-mail. Yes, it is more expensive on a CPM basis,
but the creative execution is much easier (just text) and
the response is potentially much higher.

I know you are cringing because I said "it's just text."
There is an art to copy writing, I know. But because it is
opt-in e-mail, the targeting is much more precise than
you'd get with a low cost banner buy. So even mediocre
copy will probably do better than a banner. And my
experience is that conversion is much higher.

In using any of these methods, a major goal for small
businesses should be to get people's e-mail addresses. That
is the piece of information that lets you leverage your
brand awareness. Maybe it costs me initially $10 - $20 per
address, or more, to get them on a list. But I can promote
and sell to them over and over again - actually lowering
my future advertising costs.

richard

richard hoy, director of community development
the clickz network - http://www.clickz.com/
ph:978.749.3737 || fx:978.749.3187 || richard_at_clickz.com
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Received on Tue Aug 10 1999 - 15:15:46 CDT