JOHN SUMSER,
S P O N S O R S Find out more
Hall Of Fame8 Corners of ECommerceTypes
of Links
Red Herring
The advertising industry is on the verge of being shattered into a thousand fragments due to the knowledge explosion and the proliferation of new technologies. There are no more grand theories that hold sway over the entire industry. Michael Strangelove
Advertising is
Reality
The System
It's better to
All material on this
|
... |
Click OK to receive our occasional Newsletter
AIIM (Adaptive Integrated Internet Marketing) is a workshop series developed by John Audette, founder and president of Multimedia Marketing Group. MMG is the oldest internet-exclusive promotions and public relations services company on the entire planet.
AIIM98 is a "one-day, hands-on, information-packed workshop where you will learn what works and what doesn't work for Internet marketing."
The series of seminars, focusing on how to adapt and integrate your sales and marketing efforts to the Internet, is being presented in six countries - the US, the United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand and Ireland.
We were both intrigued and curious as to how we could access this veritable goldmine of tips and tricks of the trade. We thought we could incorporate a seminar with a planned trip to the UK this year.
Unfortunately, dates and locations for the UK were "to be announced"...
OK - how about the cost? Clicking on the "Register Online!" button, and taking at face value the imprecation
we found ourselves...referred to an 800 number.
Now, we have no wish to cavil at Mr Audette's content, or to cast aspersions on his undoubted ability in the area of Internet marketing.
But it's a bit, well, amateurish to launch a site which is incomplete and lacking in essential content, don't you think?
According to a recent, breathless headline from CNET's news.com:
Apparently, this was the startling revelation that "hundreds of Web developers came away with after User Interface Engineering analyst Jared [where did all these "Jared"s come from?] Spool presented findings on a Web design and information retrieval study at CNET's Web Builder conference in San Francisco."
We find ourselves in partial agreement. After all, we know plenty of people who've paid a Mercedes price for a Chevy, but very few for whom the opposite applies...
The unsurprising conclusions of this (doubtless very expensive) survey of "more than 50 users" were:
The only result we found mildly surprising was the one which appeared to indicate that lots of "white space" disoriented users, whilst "busy" pages were perceived as authoritative.
It is made clear in the article that the research subjects were all experienced Web users. Our take is that 50 is hardly a representative sample. And our observation is that, each time Web usage doubles, average competence is halved...
The results tend to confirm the design principles to which we attempt to adhere, and, as such, are worth reading and heeding.
DT>April 22, 1998
Using newsgroups to promote your site is fraught with danger, but can be exceedingly effective.
Being "flamed" is a constant possibility, but it can be minimized by approaching the medium in the [politically] correct manner.
The key is "added-value".
Which essentially means that your posts to your newsgroup(s) of choice should add something to the discussion thread.
Just as with eMail, there are certain conventions to be observed. Call it "netiquette" (dreadful word) if you wish.
Think about your "sig file". It should be no more than 4-6 lines. (We were roundly castigated for appending our common or garden eMail sig file to posts to a particularly fastidious group...) It's probably worth creating a special one just for newsgroup postings.
You need to share information. Advertizing in newsgroup communities (unless you're paying the community owner for the privilege, and the advertisements are clearly marked as such), is strictly infra dig, and will doubtless result in your need for multiple fire extinguishers.
Lurk before you leap. Subscribe to mailing lists for several days before joining the discussion. Look for opportunities in other people's questions where you can give a helpful answer instead of just making a plug for your site.
This type of online promotion is time extraordinarily time-consuming. But you needn't do it all yourself...
Several businesses such as USWeb Audience Development Group, Word of Net, WebPromote and others, specialize in such tactics on behalf of their clients.
The marketing benefits available in some of the better forums are not only in terms of exposure but also the opportunity to learn from peers.
Check out potential newsgroups via dejanews.
But hey! Be careful out there...
DT>April 21, 1998
Regular readers of this column will be aware that we are no great fans of frames. True, this distaste is largely based upon their lack of aesthetic value (for the most part), and the feeling we get that, in many cases, they are used "because they can be".
We recently had the opportunity to watch a relatively sophisticated user navigate her way around Dallas.com, a "Boulevards" website, a similar idea to the "Sidewalk" series..
It's important to note that our unwitting subject was using Navigator 3.0 for Mac on a 14" monitor with 640 x 480 resolution. We suspect that this type of configuration is relatively common, so our subject's experience may be regarded as not untypical.
The major problem with the site appeared the large graphic in the bottom horizontal frame. It took up a lot of screen real estate, and served no function which could not have been better accomplished by a recurring graphical sidebar...
Content at the site was excellent. However, clicking on links which lead to further framed sites introduced a level of navigational complexity our subject found aggravating and ultimately frustrating, to the extent that she gave up in disgust.
The lesson here is that frames need to be used judiciously, and only when the demands of your content really demand them. It also helps to check your efforts in a variety of browsers and platforms, so that you see what at least a good proportion of your audience is likely to...
George Lois was one of the seminal figures of modern advertising. Most Americans over the age of (say) 40 will remember with affection his series of Volkswagen ads for Bill Bernbach ("Lemon").
They may also recall his Esquire covers from the 1960s and early '70s, most notably
a grinning Lieutenant Calley surrounded by Asian children.
George Lois stated
that a good [magazine] cover "should provoke, challenge, interest, entice, snare,
grab, arouse, titillate, excite, shock, infuriate, seduce, motivate."
He was - obviously - talking about the medium of print. But we suspect his admonition would be equally applicable to the New Medium...
Indeed, in terms of Web design, we could not be in more agreement.
With the caveat, of course, that the imagery employed in any commercial communicative endeavor exists only to support the written word.
At the end of the day, your audience will look for the comforting solidity of well-crafted prose for the essence of your message. The essence of all good design - and particularly Web design - is the creative, well-judged marriage of word and image. And this was something George Lois appreciated nonpareil.
Of course, we can't all exhibit the creative genius of George Lois. But to aspire to less is to undervalue our constituency.
Take a look at the Archives. We've indexed all the past issues with topic pointers.
All material on this site is © 1995, 1996 by IBN (The Internet Business Network), Mill Valley, CA 94941 |