Issue 12, April 27, 1996
Welcome to Issue 12 of WEB MARKETING TODAY, sent to 5,978 subscribers.
In This Issue:
- Niche Marketing on the Web
- How Many On-Line Did You Say?
- Web Tales: Part 3 - Content Issues
- E-Mail on the Cited "Web Will Die" Article
Niche Marketing on the Web
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson"Could your business use 40 million new customers?" This was the title of a brochure from some take-their-money-while-they're-blind company trying to sell Web sites to unsuspecting businesspeople. What utter hype! If even a small fraction of 40 million people did visit your Web site, your Internet Service Provider's computer would die of apoplexy (whatever that is!). And 40 million is probably a substantially inflated overestimate of Web surfers anyway.
The truth is that if you're the average business-to-business Web site, you'll probably have more like 200 to 1,000 visitors a week at the beginning. The key is to make sure you get the right kind of visitors, the ones who will purchase your goods or services.
Last week I looked at Price-Costco and Wal-Mart Web sites, which promise to bring discount prices to the Web. PriceOnline has 300 products for sale now, but soon will give you access to 9,000 products. They certainly believe in the economic power of the Web.
But how does the small business person compete with the Wal-Marts of this world. You don't have the capital to use the department-store approach. The key for small businesses is to master the art of niche marketing.
1. Profile Your Customers
First, profile who your customers are likely to be. Take an hour or two with a friend or business associate or spouse and describe in detail the characteristics they are likely to possess.2. Where Do They Congregate?
Next, decide where those kinds of people are likely to congregate on the Internet. If you haven't discovered Internet mailing lists and news groups, there's no time like the present. You'll find many of your customers congregated into neat niches right here.Both mailing lists and news groups are on-line discussion groups. Here's the difference between them:
- Mailing List. The discussion group's comments all land in
your e-mail box either in single messages or, if you're
not a glutton for punishment, in a daily digest form.
Mailing lists tend to involve more serious discussion.
- News Group. This type of discussion group is found residing on your Internet Service Provider's computer (much like AOL and CompuServe forums). You look at the comments others have made and add your own. Caution: a lot of fluff and stupidity here. But who says your potential customers have to be highly intelligent?
3. Communicate Your Message Where They Congregate
Let's say you want to sell Civil War books (or are they "War-between-the-States books" in the South). I'd find a mailing list made up of Civil War reenactors and find some way to participate.You don't come on strong: COME BUY MY BOOKS. You'll be hooted down (flamed) by half the members. You wait for your moment. Your great-great uncle was wounded in the Battle of Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia. When the discussion turns to Sherman's March to the Sea, you tell what you found in Uncle John's old letters you discovered among your grandmother's papers. At the end of your e-mail message, however, you'll include your e-mail "signature" which gives a mini-ad for your business.
------------------------------------------------------------
THE SOUTH-SHALL-RISE-AGAIN ON-LINE CIVIL WAR BOOK NOOK
Specializing in war heroes of the Old South
May special: 10% off all books, free shipping within the USA
Johnny Reb, Proprietor johnny@southshallrise.com
------------- http://www.southshallrise.com ----------------
Netiquette allows for signatures, but is offended by the straightforward give-your-sales-spiel approach. So have a very-carefully-thought-out signature. Maybe you could find a way to add a cutesy Springfield-rifle drawn completely with typewriter symbols, I don't know. (I have seen some credible bicycle pictures in signatures.)
Will your signature on a message produce hits on your Web page. You bet it will! The right kind of hits, too, from people who are highly interested in your topic.
You can target-market with Web ads, too. If you're selling Civil War books, you may not get much bang for your buck by purchasing a banner ad on Yahoo's first page. But if you purchased an ad that would appear every time someone entered the search terms "Civil War" or "Robert E. Lee" you'd be advertising to just the right people.
(Of course you know to use key words very carefully in advertising to the Web search engines so your Web site shows up when someone enters "Stonewall Jackson". That's target marketing, too.)
What about Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart doesn't sell Civil War books (except at Christmas when they go really fast). Neither will Wal-Mart take the time to participate in a Civil War reenactors Internet discussion group, but you will. I doubt that Wal-Mart will list their Civil War section on a Web search engine, either.
Will 40 million people surf to your store? In your dreams! But if 200 to 1,000 targeted people come and you have a quality product to offer at a good price with a convenient purchase and delivery system worked out, you may well be able to carve out a significant business from the Web. I've used the example of retail products for sale, but the strategy works well for services, too.
- Create a profile of your potential customers.
- Find out where they congregate on the Internet
- Get your message out to them in a Net-acceptable manner.
How Many On-Line Did You Say?
[This appeared in the New York Times, April 17, 1996, C1]Estimates of the number of Internet users worldwide go up and down as arguments rage over statistical methods. The latest count from Nielsen Media Research, based on an August 1995 survey, says there are 19.4 million people who have accessed the Internet "in the last three months." Professors Donna Hoffman and Thomas Novak of Vanderbilt University say the correct number is closer to 16.4 million. Mark Resch of Xerox shrugs off the controversy: "Yeah, we're in a hurricane, and they are arguing about whether wind is blowing 150 miles an hour or 120 miles an hour. The argument is intellectually interesting, and it totally misses the point. Activity on our Web site is up 10% a month, steadily."
Web Tales: Part 3 -- Content Issues
[Editor: Our anonymous columnist continues his discussion of difficulties he faced while planning his Web site.]Our greatest struggle in getting our Web site up and running, believe it or not, was with content. We could control distribution of our brochure, but we couldn't control a million pairs of eyes devouring our every word and link, from all over the planet, at all hours of the day and night (or so we envisioned). Should we tell all and educate our worthy competitors, or should we hold back and risk losing some business? What does the "all" encompass? Which services did we want to emphasize? Which should we downplay (or maybe drop entirely)? What should be our unifying theme, our unique value proposition?
These were tough questions. Wilson's "organization chart" models really helped frame and focus our thoughts. They provided the structure through which we could visualize our Web visitors romping around our site. We visited competitive sites -- all mostly formal, "white paper" style. Not a lot of visual style, either. Definitely not our sytle.
We preferred the informality that most of the Web's denizens practiced, and the Internet's origins as a means of sharing information suited us fine. We adapted, modified, hybridized, strategized ... you get the picture ... and were particularly grateful for the guidance and help of our designer, who possesses a rare combination of technical competence, intuitive insight, humor, and business sense.
Next question: how could we encourage our targeted prospects to take the all-important step after they've absorbed the information we've shared (while, hopefully, enjoying themselves in the process): inquiring how we might be the answer to their needs? Part of the solution lay in making it easy to respond: e-mail links on every page, phone/fax/mail details on our welcome page, subtle hints scattered around our site, a "tell us more about yourself" section in our Guestbook.
Layout and design elements formed another part (the fun part) of the solution, which we'll discuss in the next installment.
E-Mail on the "Web Will Die" Article
[Editor: My comments on Mark Stahlman's article "Why the Web Will Die," Information Week, April 8, 1996 p. 100 stirred up several letters excerpted here:]"The idea of the Web becoming obsolete is interesting. ... The major advertisers will get Web fatigue, but the millions of small users will continue to flock to the Web. It's a classic scenario of marketing new ideas and working outside the corporate box. I fear, however, that the large corporations will become hostile toward the Web and try to wrestle it out of the hands of the small businesses...." -- John Reynoso, Peoria, Arizona
"The advertising industry has missed the whole point. Because there is no media to bill it to, Madison Avenue is out in the cold. Meanwhile consumers can go 'direct'. It is PRINT that will die a long, lingering death." -- Charles P. Reuben, Dallas, Texas
"The flaw in [Mark Stahlman's article] happens to be shared by every marketer who sees the Internet as just another 'proprietary' medium. One of the foundations of the Web -- the very simple shift in the power of communications -- is missed by more than a few people. I shake my head when hearing of their latest schemes and attempts to control the communications relationship on behalf of their clients in the same way they have controlled radio, television and print. Media blitzes don't work in Cyber." -Gary N. Bowen, Dallas, Texas
"You said, 'The big companies that are selling only image enhancement will probably become impatient.' I disagree.... Any business that doesn't have a Web presence is going to be at a disadvantage from now on. The Web is the way I research products now, and if a company doesn't make information available via the web, I will probably ignore them." -- Tripp Goldsberry
There's a kind of commeraderie among small business Web marketers out there. I received e-mail from Norma Milne telling me about her successful Catalina Island Web sites.
"Am I happy? You know it. This 62-year-old grandma is up and running and loving it."
Norma, on behalf of Web marketers everywhere: "Go, granny, go!" Web marketers are just beginning to understand the power of the Internet as a great leveler, giving powerful advantage to small business people who are fast on their feet.
Finally, a word for Web marketers who want to make lots of money (others please disregard): "Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth...." (Deuteronomy 8:18) If you have found this issue of WEB MARKETING TODAY to be of value, would you please forward it to a business associate who might also gain from it? Thanks.
