Internet Promotional Strategies: The Internet and Interactive Media Radford University

1. Internet Promotional Strategies: The Internet and Interactive Media Radford University Angela D’Auria Stanton, Ph.D.

2. 1. The Law of the Dead End Street Setting up a web site is like building a storefront on a dead-end street. If you want any shoppers, you must give them a reason to come.

3. 2. The Law of Giving and Selling Attract visitors to your site by giving away something free, and then try to sell something additional to those who visit.

4. 3. The Law of Trust Trust is the essential lubricant of Web business; without trust, business grinds to a halt.

5. 4. The Law of Pull and Push Pull people to your site by your attractive content, then push quality information to them regularly via opt-in e-mail.

6. 5. The Law of the Niche Small businesses often succeed by finding niches that are either unfilled or only partially filled, and they fill them with excellence.

7. Search engines E-mail Marketing Linking strategies Viral strategies Public relations Traditional media Networking Weblogs (Blogs) Paid advertising Affiliate Marketing Nine Major Types of Online Promotion

8. 3. Linking Strategies • Join a banner swapping or banner exchange program – Ex. http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/online/banner-advertising/detail.mspx

9. 2. Linking Strategies - continued • Reciprocal Linking • Find complementary sites, link to their site from your site, and then ask them to link to you. • Some sources: • http://www.linkexchanged.com/ • http://www.link-builder.com/ • http://www.express-marketing.com/reciprocal-links-tips.html • http://www.gotop.com/ • http://www.links-creator.com/

11. 3. Viral Strategies • Encourage others to carry your marketing message via e-mail, using their own network of relationships. • www.hotmail.com • Encourage site visitors to recommend your site to their friends • recommend-it.com • The key is to ASK!!!

12. Elements of a Viral Marketing Strategy • Gives away products or services – “free stuff” • Provides for effortless transfer to others • Scales easily from small to very large • Exploits common motivations and behaviors • Utilizes existing communication networks • Takes advantage of others’ resources Source: http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt5/viral-principles-clean.htm

15. 4. Public Relations • There are free PR services and paid resources available • http://www.prweb.com/ • http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com/index.html • http://www.bizwire.com/ • http://www.prnewswire.com/ • http://www.XPressPress.com/ • http://www.online-pr.com/markpr.htm • Develop an online media kit • Begin with the basics (the five W’s) • Who • What • Where • When • Why • Don’t hide • link under a “news” or “what’s new” or “about us” button • Update the information and date it. • Visit RU News

17. 5. Traditional Media • Most people still get the majority of their messages through traditional marketing channels • Put your web site address everywhere and give reasons to visit your web site

19. 7. Networking • Search out bulletin boards, newsgroups, and discussion lists in your industry and take an active part. • http://groups.google.com/ • Be very careful that you DON’T directly advertise in these forums. • Reasons to Network: • Your customers and prospects may see it, and be impressed. • Journalists may see it and contact you for a story. • The search engines rank you or your site higher because you have been mentioned online. • When someone searches for you or your company, all of these comments are pulled up, too. • Use signature files wisely. • Read www.easytraining.com/signature.htm

20. 8. Weblogs - What is a BLOG? • Blogs are alternatively called web logs or weblogs. However, "blog" seems less likely to cause confusion, as "web log" can also mean a server's log files. • It is just a website organized by time. Weblogs make the organization of the time-dimension explicit by providing a calendar through which each entry can be retrieved. • A frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links. • A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people. • People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated published systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com. Thousands of people use services such as Blogger to simplify and accelerate the publishing process. • A frequently updated website of personal ideas, thoughts, musings, news, information, or discussions of what one has eaten for breakfast. • A web log is like a journal you write in at home, except it’s hosted on the Internet, and everyone can read it. Journalists from national publications have blogs at their websites. It gives them the chance to rant and rave, comment, voice their opinions, and write about stuff they can’t publish in their regular publications. Blogs are more casually written than magazines or newspapers.

21. The Blogoshpere • 50 million Americans (30% of all U.S. internet users) visited a blog in the Q1 2005 • Average blog reader viewed 77% more pages than non-blog ysers • Blog readers average 23 hours online per week versus overall average of 13 hours Source: http://www.clickz.com/stats/sectors/demographics/article.php/3526591

22. What is a blog post? • A weblog post has three basic attributes: title, link and description. • Templates make it easy to start a blog site. Editing, posting and generation of the (weblog) website is largely automated. • The simple addition of a calendar (whether text or graphical) joined to the now-familiar hyperlink offers 'more than the sum' of those two simple parts for helping readers orient themselves. • Examples: • http://www.thenewpr.com/wiki/pmwiki.php/Resources/CorporateBlogsList • http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/ • http://www.marketingpower.blogs.com/ • http://www.quintcareers.com/career_blog/ • http://www.scenicnursery.com/ • http://busymom.net/ • http://techlawadvisor.com/ • http://www.microsoft.com/communities/blogs/PortalHome.mspx

23. 5 Ways Blogging Can Help Your Business • Expose a new or little-known product or idea • Improve your search engine rankings • Position yourself as an expert in an industry or field • Influence public opinion • Engage in a forum openly with your customers Source:http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/resources/marketing/online_marketing/5_ways_blogging_can_help_your_business.mspx

24. Sites to Help Set Up Blogs • http://www.blogspot.com • http://www.livejournal.com • http://www.typepad.com/ • http://www.xanga.com • http://blogdrive.com • http://www.greatestjournal.com • http://www.diaryland.com • http://www.ebloggy.com/ • http://www.leiascofield.com/antibloggies/

25. 9. Paid Advertising • Types of Paid Advertising • BannerAds • Paid Listings in Portal Sites • Sponsorships • Pay-per-performance Links

26. 9. Paid Advertising - Banner Ads • Typically 468 x 60 (accounting for about 42% of all ads) and animated, but they come in many standard sizes (IMUs – Interactive Marketing Units) • Sold on a CPM basis • Average Click Through Rate (CTR) is < ½ of a percent • Ways to increase the CTR • Animated ads can increase CTR by 30%. • Make sure ad is under 15k or you may lose up to 40% of viewers that don’t wait for the larger ads to load • Asking a question, for example “What price do you want to pay?” has been shown to increase CTR by up to 20%. • Using the words “Click Here” can increase CTR by up to 15%. • Using the word “FREE” can increase CTR by up to 15%. • Using bright, sharp, contrasting colors can also increase CTR.

27. 9. Paid Advertising - Paid Listings in Portal Sites

28. 9. Paid Advertising - Sponsorships

29. Sponsor content within a site (gatorade) or within an e-mail (AIG Direct).

30. 9. Paid Advertising - Pay-per-click (cost-per click, pay-per-performance) Links

32. http://www.cj.com/ Commission Junction 10. Paid Advertising - Pay-per-sale Advertising (Affiliates Programs or Associates Programs)

33. Affiliate Marketing Resources • http://www.affiliateprimer.com/affiliate-primer-contents.html • http://www.affiliatemanager.net/scc/articles.shtml • http://www.wilsonweb.com/art/ads/affiliate_program4.htm • http://www.clickz.com/experts/media/agency_strat/article.php/3416591