Internet Advertising, E-Zines And The Small-Business Entrepreneur - Part 1
I am pretty much of a neophyte to
business, in general, and e-commerce, in
particular. However, there are a some
things I have learned in my brief
existence on the Internet, and there are a
few thoughts that have begun ricocheting
around the caverns of my mind in
conjunction with some of the information
which I have culled while kicking about
the WWW - and, no, this does not refer
to the 'Wide World of Wrestling' ...
although it feels like this at times.
My intention is to share these
observations and reflections with
whomever, if anyone, may find them to
be of value. Most of the material in this
essay or report focuses on various issues
involving, on the one hand, advertising,
and, on the other hand, the efforts of a
small-business entrepreneur trying to
find ways to promote or develop her or
his Web business.
Not everyone may agree with these
thoughts, but as, I believe, P.T. Barnum
once said: "You pays your money, and
you takes your chances." However, since
no money is being extracted, the
prospective reader is not taking much of
a gamble if she or he should decide to
proceed.
Nevertheless, a certain amount of time
and energy is required to read what
follows, so there is, in effect, a cost
factor involved. I am afraid the only
compensation I can offer - slight though
this may be - for any loss of resources
(such as time and energy) which you may
feel has been incurred from having had
the misfortune of engaging this material,
is to extend my sincere condolences.
Having dramatically set the stage, let us
boldly go forth where many have gone
before - at least this may be so in the
early stages of this essay/report/article.
Later on, some issues are introduced that
may have been raised before, but if they
have, I have not encountered them
during my journeys on the Internet
To begin with, as many of you,
undoubtedly know there are, maybe, ten
or eleven basic ways to go about
advertising a Web business.
(1) traditional off-line methods (e.g., print
advertising, business cards, etc.) which
can, or, perhaps, should - if one can
afford it - complement whatever on-line
efforts one may pursue;
(2) banner advertising programs - of
which there are three or four variations
on a basic theme;
(3) search engines and directories;
(4) link exchange arrangements;
(5) free-for-all ads, that generally end up
doing little but cluttering up your e-mail
inbox with transmissions from people
who interpret the ad as an invitation and
a permission - which it is not - to try to
sell you something;
(6) opt-in e-mail (this is not spamming
since people have requested to be
contacted in relation to the sort of
information you wish to send to them;
(7) writing short articles for other
e-zines. This avenue does not involve any
advertising, per se, with respect to one's
goods and services, but it does permit an
individual to work toward establishing
her or his name, e-mail address, and
Web Site in the mind of other Webbytes
for possible future reference and contact;
(8) using various kinds of news-release
services, some of which are free, but
most of which require payment;
(9) paying for advertising space on other
people's Web Site, which tends to vary
proportionately in price in direct relation
to the degree of popularity enjoyed by
the Site is through which one would like
to promote one's Site and
products/services;
(10) taking out classified adds in those
e-zines which accept ads (and many
e-zines do not accept ads), and much
more will be said on this later;
(11) starting your own e-zine through
which, from time to time, and, hopefully,
when done in a discreet way, one will be
able to promote one's products and
services;
If one has a limited budget - and for
many small business enterprises this is a
fundamental fact of life since most of us
do not circulate in the same rarified,
financial atmosphere as do Bill Gates or
the Sultan of Brunei - then, obviously,
finding as many free or inexpensive ways
to promote oneself is the best route to go.
I've done a fair amount of reading in the
various e-zines to which I subscribe, as
well as in different news digests which
are available on-line, and on the basis of
this material, together with a little bit of
reflection on the central issues, I have
come to certain conclusions.
For example, I don't think that search
engines, banner advertising, free-for-all
classifieds, link exchanges, news release
services, or opt-in e-mail give a
reasonable expectation of return on
either the money which is spent and/or
the time which needs to be invested.
What is being said here should not be
interpreted to mean that such modes of
advertising are without merit, or that
they cannot play a constructive role in
one's overall promotional strategy.
Rather, what I am suggesting is that for
any would-be small-business
entrepreneurs for whom resources of
time, money and energy are in very tight
supply - which probably includes most of
us - there may be some avenues of
advertising which might be more worth
our while to pursue than various other
methods of advertising. I could provide
details about why I believe this to be so
with respect to each of the
aforementioned modes of Web Site
promotion which, for me at least, have
limited appeal, but I will restrict myself
to just one set of observations.
Search engines/directories, banner
advertising, free-for-all classifieds, link
exchanges, news release services and
opt-in e-mail are, for the most part, what
might be termed "house games". What I
mean by this is that in these forms of
advertising, the prevailing odds tend to
be stacked against most people who
decide to sit in such a game for one or
more hands.
Even when one brings a certain amount
of promotional and marketing skill to
these games, the outcome tends to
depend more on "lady luck" than on
actual skills. Being in the right place at
the right time to be able to take
advantage of a set of unstable
circumstances which are at risk of falling
apart at any moment, is not something
one can either plan for, or flourish in, on
a consistent basis.
This is true in gambling. It is even more
true, I believe, in the world of business.
Some people do win the lottery, and
these people may go about choosing their
numbers according to some intricate set
of mathematical formulae. Yet, chances
are, when the same method is applied in
the future, the outcome of the drawing is
likely to shine its favor on some other
individual who, presumably, has an
equally sound method for choosing
tickets, numbers or whatever is needed
to be in the running to win the given
lottery.
One can flatter oneself and attempt to
claim that it was one's insight and
perception which led to the selection of
the winning number or hand, but in
house games, although some one
individual may win on any given
occasion, in the long-run, only the house
comes out on top, and, in essence, this
means that sooner or later (and
sometimes both) almost everybody else
has to lose - and lose on a fairly
consistent basis.
Let's try to translate the foregoing into
an advertising context. For example,
consider a case where someone decides
to write a news release.
Since the media are constantly in search
of filler material, human-interest stories,
new business developments, and so on,
one may be fairly certain that someone,
somewhere will be successful in getting
his or her news release published.
Nevertheless, the likelihood of any
particular person getting his or her news
release published is, comparatively
speaking, very small.
This often is the case even if the person
in question is very good at producing
copy. To a great extent, the publication
of a news release may depend less on its
quality than on a complex assortment of
economic, political, world,
organizational, and personal
circumstances, moods, tastes, and
interests which prevail at the time the
news release is received by the one who
makes the decision about whether or not
to go with a particular item and publish it.
This is not to say that a poorly written
news release stands as good a chance of
seeing the light of a publication day as
does a well-written news release. Yet,
even if something is well-written, it
enters largely uncharted waters when it
is sent to different media outlets, and,
consequently, there are many more of
these missives which are lost at sea than
ever find their way to the inviting harbor
lights of a large audience.
Yet, if the element of shifting,
unpredictable circumstances can play
such a large role in something like copy
writing in which the chances of success
can be enhanced considerably by
someone's skills and abilities, then where
does this leave us when we are dealing
with forms of promotion such as
free-for-all advertising, banner
programs, link exchanges and/or opt-in
mail programs which are, I believe, far
less dependent on skill factors than
drafting a news release is, and,
therefore, even more subject to the
swirling, unpredictable movements of
current events, organizational dynamics
and personal tastes than are news
releases?
One, naturally, can try to be ready to
take action when one believes the
requisite forces and conditions are in
alignment and when the signs appear to
be propitious. However, this sounds more
like something that is rooted in astrology
and magic than in any sort of rational
business strategy.
There are those who, probably, would
disagree with the foregoing assessment
of things and who might be able to put
forth convincing cases in the form of,
say, personal testimonials, of why any, or
all, of the previous options are good
avenues of promotion to pursue.
Nonetheless, I believe the success stories
of these individuals constitute exceptions
to a general rule which relegates such
advertising venues to be - at least to my
way of thinking, poor-bets for promoting
one's e-commerce business. In other
words, one should not consider the
success of the few in these kinds of
venture to be a representative sample of
what most people can expect to achieve
with respect to these forms of
e-commerce advertising.
Therefore, one needs to find a game
which can offer one something better
than "house odds". As indicated
previously, I do not believe that, for the
most part, methods of advertising
involving search engines/directories,
banners, free-for-all classifieds, link
exchanges, opt-in mail programs, and/or
news releases can offer such an
opportunity.
Moreover, I think that one should add
traditional forms of paid advertising to
the foregoing list of the business world's
counterpart to 'house games'. Whether
one is dealing with an off-line context or
an on-line situation, traditional forms of
paid advertisement in which a
promotional piece appears within a given
media venue - for instance, with a Web
page, in a magazine, on radio, or through
some other means - do not tend to fare
very well.
Most paid advertising campaigns
(whether off-line or on-line) require a lot
of money, time and repetition in order to
have even a remote chance of being
effective. The whole process of
establishing a brand in the mind of even
a small segment of the public is a very
subtle, tricky and fickle business.
There are a number of factors which
contribute to this unpredictable
dimension of the advertising industry, but
there is one factor that may play a more
central role than any other. This factor
has to do with the way in which most
advertising is not about satisfying need,
but is, instead, about, on the one hand,
creating need and desire for the things
being advertised, and, on the other hand,
reminding people of that need/desire.
Billions of dollars are spent on
advertising, and a very large percentage
of that money is wasted (i.e., it does not
necessarily produce any constructive
results for the amount of money being
invested) because of one simple fact.
Much of advertising is preoccupied with
trying to convince people to buy items
and services which most of us do not
really need, or, perhaps, even want.
This makes the situation artificial, rather
than natural. Generally speaking, one
does not have to spend a lot of money to
persuade people to buy what they need,
because they are going to do this anyway
- although one may, of course, spend a
great many advertising dollars trying to
convince people that your way of
satisfying that need is better than anyone
else can offer. In addition, one also
usually has to spend a lot of money if one
is faced with the challenge of trying to
create an artificial desire or "need" -
and once having established such a
desire, reminding people that they need
to feed& nbsp; it.
This means there often is a built-in
resistance to the acquisition of many
products and services which must be
overcome if a sale is to be made. This is
the problem toward which a lot of
advertising money is directed toward
solving.
If one adds to this the constantly
changing conditions of political,
economic, international, and personal
climates, then traditional modes of
advertising often assume the character of
a "house game" in which although some
advertisers, somewhere, are probably
riding a winning streak (usually for
reasons other than they suppose),
nonetheless, generally speaking, most
advertisers are spending money without
necessarily getting much of a return on
their time, energy or financial investment.
Even in those cases where an advertising
campaign appears to be working, luck or
good fortune - such as happening to be in
the right place at the right time with the
right product/service for the right group
of people - may have more to do with the
success of a lot of paid advertising
campaigns than the "genius" of the
person who, heretofore, had been
stumbling along when, all of a sudden,
things started coming up roses. While the
natural tendency of human beings is to
want to take credit for such inexplicable
events, nonetheless, in our heart of
hearts we often know or sense that, more
often than, perhaps, we care to admit, we
really don't have the foggiest idea why
some campaigns succeed, whereas other
campaigns - using the same methods,
tools, techniques, and financial backing -
fall flat on their face.
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