The Internet:
Trends, Resources, Techniques
Internet and Strategic Comm.
• Promise and Peril of the Internet
• Reminiscent of an old joke among
marketers…
“I am wasting half of my ad
budget, I just don’t know what half.”
Misuses of the Net
• Going heavily on-line in ways that don’t
provide strategic impressions against target
• Not tracking usage patterns of users
• Failing to develop a site that is featured in
large scale advertising and PR efforts
• Not driven to the site - hybrid marketing
• Not renewing content on the site - keep it
fresh for customers and journalists
• Underutilizing the Web as a Media Relations
and Promotions tool
Reasons to Use the Internet
• Four broad domains:
1. Direct customer contact
2. Information acquisition
3. Concept-testing
4. Buzz Marketing
Direct Consumer Contact
• Typically consumer-initiated
– Permits extended brand contact
– Interactive experience
– Use to build database
– Must drive customers to the site with
traditional media strategies and tactics
Information Acquisition
• Backgrounding
– Permits quick information search
– Be skeptical of data quality
– Use respected sources
– Recognize the value of multiple
search engines
Concept Testing
• Virtual Focus Groups
– Create an online panel of randomly
sampled consumers as a touchstone
• Allows for immediate feedback
• Brand appropriate segment
– Can bundle sight and sound in
experiments and surveys
• From convenience of home
Buzz Marketing
• Leading Edge of Campaigns
• Foster interest in a product through
opinion leaders - word of mouth
• More tell, less sell - Good for Gen X and Y
• Brand appropriate segmentation of efforts
– Examples:
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Marketing
Marketing
Marketing
Marketing
of
of
of
of
Lee Jeans
Magnolia
AI
Wilco
Yahoo!
• Stock valuation - $30 Billion
– Worth more than all U.S. Magazines put together
• Mass reach with customized intimacy
– 60% of all net users worldwide
– 70% of employees in Fortune 500
• Instant feedback on every message
– Client knows how many people saw the ad
– Who they are
– How many reacted with a click or purchase
Segmenting the User
• Tracks the visits of over 170 million
users, 55 million of whom have
revealed their identities, addresses,
and preferences
• Slices its audience into narrow
segments, highly targeted groups as
small as 17,000 for study
Tracking and Projecting
• Each month, drill into 16 trillion bytes of
data on the browsing, buying, and social
interests/behaviors of millions of people
• From this, Yahoo can divine from a few
clicks that an anonymous user is a 35 yearold in Germany with a Visa Card in need of
flowers and a card for his wife
– They post a interstitial or banner in response
Premium for Contact
• Costs of ordinary banner ad have
fallen 75% in year to under $5 CPM
• At Yahoo, ads can draw $150 CPM
– Nine times CPM of top sporting events
• Targeted emails tailored to specialty
groups are even pricier - CPM = $300
Ethical Concerns
• Gathering information from consumers using covert
and often intrusive tracking techniques
• TiVo’s disk-based VCR let’s advertisers know which
family members watched what shows
• Magazines give readers scanners for bar codes on
ads, deriving data on who reads what
Combining Elements
• Cross Campaign Creativity
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Teasers to Build Interest
Buzz to Persuade without Mass Media
Advertising to Launch Relationships
Internet as a Return Destination
In Store Contact as Ultimate Goal
• Buddy Lee Campaign
The Street Posters
The Teaser Spots
Curry
Super Greg
Big Roy
The Viral Clips
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Villain Home Pages
Television Spots
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The Destination
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