There is an awful lot being written about marketing on the Internet. Most
of it is far too incredibly serious. Why, to hear some people tell it, the future of this
life as we know it, not to mention civilization in this hemisphere, are on the brink based
on the kinds of marketing strategies that you apply out there on the Internet. Now this
is an exciting time and it's a time that's fraught with change. That's true. But there are
some other things that are true as well. One of them is that the basics of marketing don't
really change when you apply them to the Internet. Only the medium changes. Another thing
that's true is that you're more likely to understand and remember things that you have a
bit of fun with.
All that is a way of introducing a few marketing principles that I've developed
speaking to groups and writing articles over the last several years. They're good, solid
marketing principles. They work on the Internet and elsewhere. I've tried to give them a
bit of a zing so that you'll remember them too and apply them when you need them.
Let's start with one of the strange names.
Chicken Man Strategy
I think it was in the late 1960's or early 1970's that a DJ in Cleveland, OH named Jim
Runyon created a character called Chicken Man. Chicken Man was a kind of super hero spoof,
but it's the catch phrase from the Chicken Man bits that I'd like you to remember
"He's everywhere! He's everywhere!"
Runyon would do that part in a high falsetto. But the point's a valid one for
marketing. You want people to say to you, "Wow, every time I turn around, I hear
about you."
Actually that's not precisely what you want. What you want is anybody who might be a
client, prospect, or friend to say that to you. You want to reach the people you have a
commercial interest in with your message and with name recognition.
We know that name recognition is primarily a function of the number of times people
hear or see your name. That means you have to be out there a lot. Public relations people
know this and base a lot of their strategies on it. How do you do this on the Internet?
Start by showing up in all the right places. Identify the forums, newsgroups, and mailing
lists that your customers, clients, and prospects are likely to frequent. Then frequent
them as well.
Just being there won't be enough. You'll also have to contribute. Provide helpful
answers and always use a signature file. The signature file is that file at the bottom of
all of your email and other postings that contains a bit about who you are, what you do,
and how to reach you. It's sort of like a letterhead or business card for the Internet.
Show up regularly and be helpful. What else? No much, at least as far as forum and
newsgroup activity is concerned, but consider the other options related to building name
recognition on the Internet.
Consider various ways that you can get the word out. There are services that you can
use on the Internet that will post news releases for you. This is not just electronic news
releases but releases that go to the print media. Make sure you get registered on all the
appropriate search engines. Make sure your Web pages are "search engine
friendly." That means writing the page so that the automatic robot indexers of the
search engines find you and index you correctly.
So what's correctly? Correctly means based on the kinds of words, phrases, and
situations that your prospects, clients, and friends use when they go to look for you.
That may, or may not include your company name.
Step Right Up!
As traveling carnivals and circuses go the way of the Woolly Mastodon, the carnival
barker goes its way as well. You can still see that old carnival barker, though, in old
movies. What was the barker's job?
The barker's job was to draw people into the tent. The barker's job was to get people
interested, show them where the action was.
Now we've already talked a little bit about that with how you set up the search engines
in ways that people find you. But what I'd like you to think about for the barker is that
you really have to take the effort. Make sure that information about your Web site and
email address are on your business cards. Make sure they're on your brochures. Make sure
they're in your print ads and your radio ads and anything else you do that reaches the
public you want to reach.
When the barker wanted to draw you into a particular tent, that barker usually picked
something that grabbed your interest so that you'd be curious and want to do what the
barker wanted you to do. Same stuff goes for making an interesting Web site.
Here's the barker strategy. First, be aggressive about promoting your Web site. Tell
people about it in as many different ways as you can. Make it easy to find.
Next, make it interesting to the people you want to visit. And don't be shy about
promoting the site by telling people why it's interesting and what benefit they'll get.
Finally, be specific in your promotion. Make sure the address is right and that
everybody in your organization knows about your Web site and how to find it.
Say, That's Pretty Good
The concept of giving value doesn't go away just because you're in cyberspace. If you
tool around the Web a bit though you might think it does. Look at all those
"logo-centric" Web pages. Look at all those pages who tell you everything you
don't want to know about a particular organization. Then, follow a value-building strategy
for your own Web site and your own forum and newsgroup postings.
Let's review what value is all about. Value is about giving people more than they
expect that you'll give them. The value strategy on the Internet is to give a lot of it.
That means building into your Web site and building into your posts things that give
people solid information that helps them solve a problem or seize an opportunity. That
means doing things just a bit differently than other businesses with a Web site. It means
being creative but being creative about making sure that what people experience on your
Web site or from your postings are much more than they could expect.
The best way to do that is to give them high-quality samples of your work. If you write
articles that illustrate what you do, make those articles available. If you have a book,
give away the first chapter or two so people can get an idea of what's there.
If you have a software product, consider letting people download a trial version for
free.
This doesn't have to be real fancy. Most likely your business has got two or three
lists of tips and commonly asked questions that your customers and clients find helpful.
Put that stuff on your Web page.
The idea of value is to give people more than they expect. For business Web sites that
doesn't mean necessarily a showier site. It is more likely to mean a more helpful, problem
solving, or opportunity-seizing site.
Created: 1998
Reviewed: 2/15/03
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