July 23, 1996
A great many problems in Internet marketing can be traced directly or indirectly to deficient interrelationships. Though the importance of these interrelationships is almost universally overlooked or underestimated, incremental improvements can often result in a significant boost in corporate profits.
In traditional marketing, it is undeniable that profits are a result not only of quality service and/or products but an ability to persuade effectively; assuming a quality service and/or products, a company's impression on potential and current clients is also established and maintained through:
However, on the Internet, more so than any other medium, these appeals must all be accomplished while dealing with a public which is becoming increasingly inundated with an informational overload. Inured to flashy presentations, many are becoming completely unresponsive to . . . almost everything! And the informational overload has only just begun.
It is no longer adequate to inform these clients (or potential clients) about a product or service. Now, it is also necessary to offer them a valuable experience and even to entertain them.
Why then do so many large corporations continue approaches on the Internet that have already proven ineffective?
Quite simply because they don't understand the importance of being there.
To understand the importance of being there, you must first understand exactly . . .
. . . what is the significance of the Internet anyway?
Not more than twenty years ago, anyone with the least ability to use a computer was often described in the popular press as a "mathematical wizard."
Today, we are witnessing the inexorable advance of knowledge as computer technology shatters the old barriers and (on a daily basis) redefines our assumptions about the world in which we live.
The most important breakthroughs in the human capacity to invent, to conceptualize and to implement new ideas, designs and techniques have always been new tools for thinking and communicating. The ideogram. The alphabet. The Gutenberg printing press. The computer . . .
. . . and, yes, in that ancient time so long ago, in the fall of 1982, when Lotus Development Corporation popularized the use of spreadsheet software by the official announcement of Lotus 1-2-3® at Comdex.
Few realize it today, but that one program was almost single-handedly responsible for the wide-spread acceptance of personal computers into the business community. It gave many business people a first real reason to buy and learn how to use a personal computer.
With the recent advent of Microsoft® Windows®95 and the promises from many vendors of far more amazing things to come, the increasing numbers of us who use personal computers have begun to realize that the transfer of our allegiance from one paradigm to another is more akin to a conversion experience than a conscious evaluation of our available choices. It is--like a conversion experience--something which cannot be forced, something which, one day, with a soft surprise, lands on our shoulder and becomes integrated into our preferred working environment and habits.
The old paradigm is simply abandoned and the new one embraced.
We now find ourselves living within an exclamation point. It is a decade in which the entire structure of human knowledge is trembling before the onslaught of new methods (and new madness). It is not just that we are accumulating more and more "facts." It is not just that knowledge itself is evolving. It is also the ways in which we produce, distribute and implement that knowledge--the symbols we use to communicate it and the methods we use to manipulate it.
Our companies, our economies, and our nations are totally restructuring themselves--and they are, as often as not, doing so without our conscious volition. It is an almost evolutionary process that is inseparably intertwined with the new technologies, techniques, symbols, languages and codes we spring relentlessly upon ourselves on a daily basis.
Old limitations dissolve; new ones form; then those dissolve and new ones form; then those dissolve . . .
New assumptions. New languages. New logic. New context.
We are interrelating data in previously unimagined ways, simultaneously discovering and establishing startling relationships that suddenly give previously unrelated information new contexts. We are constantly creating new knowledge networks, building hierarchies of implication and inference, spawning new hypotheses, new sounds, new music, new images and new virtualities with every passing day.
Hyper-text. Hyper-graphics. Hyper-knowledge. Hyper-reality.
We now find ourselves standing before a vast, evolving, growing, dynamic, trembling structure that is the cathedral of knowledge.
And so what does all this have to do with Web Presence?
More than you may think. All of these changes imply huge changes in the way we perceive the world in which we live and, yes, in how we create it.
The buzz-phrases Internet and World Wide Web have been bandied about now for some time in the press. The promises and the speculation have been, at times, nothing more than hype. There is, however, something remarkable happening. Sometimes it does not seem to be happening near so fast as we'd like (or near so fast as the peddlers of snake-oil would have us believe), and sometimes it all seems to be happening much too fast.
So, beyond the hype, what is this remarkable something? In short, in this decade more than in any previous, we are witnessing the rise of an information-driven and relationship-driven world culture--the hyper-linked, hyper-symbolic society. The bottom line is that, even as we have moved from the dictatorial constraints of the mainframe toward the independent workstation, then toward LANs and WANs and beyond, the age either of the top-down manager or the autonomous worker (depending on whom you ask) is waning. A new age, which will inevitably rest on a vastly interdependent business model, has dawned.
As an Internet merchant, you have already experimented with the possibilities of this emerging frontier. You may have even, at times, become simultaneously enamored with the possibilities and frustrated with the limitations. For you, being there is the next logical step. Being there goes beyond Internet marketing, surfing, linking and information exchange. Being there is being woven into the very fabric of the Web itself.
If you have a scientific bent or background you may be familiar with what scientists sometimes refer to as the Hobbesian choice: the solution that turns into a yet more daunting challenge. For many, the Internet has thus far been an example of the Hobbesian choice, that is, a solution that will let you do absolutely amazing things--but if and only if you first go through the arduous rites of passage.
However, once you understand the importance of being there, you will understand that establishing and maintaining a Web Presence does not have to be this way. There really is a methodology that will let you implement a tremendous Internet marketing strategy without having to have a billion-dollar marketing budget or be a member of MENSA (the high IQ society).
What really makes the sundial tick?
Frankly, there are many companies who simply won't even consider what I'm about to suggest: sharing the wealth. Especially large, established corporations. Why? First, because the people who run these corporations don't realize that technology is on the verge of making this sort of arrangement almost effortless. What couldn't even be realistically considered yesterday, may very well become indispensable to doing business tomorrow. Second, because they are convinced they are not in the business of letting others share the wealth. They believe they are in the business of keeping it out of any potential competitors' hands and hoarding it all to themselves. Their greed is far more likely to eventually deprive them of profits, but they don't know that and don't believe that--yet. By the time some of them figure it out, their best opportunities will be gone. But many just refuse to believe it. After all, some of these corporations have been doing business this way since the dawn of the industrial age. What's really changed?
Everything.
The first reality they are not tuning in to is the fact that the Internet is all about interrelationships. Remember, the Web is . . . a network of interrelationships. Registration with search engines, participation in news groups and all advertising efforts on the Web all unconsciously presuppose that potential customers on the Internet are no different than potential customers in the "real" world. This is a totally invalid assumption. It assumes that the Internet is nothing more than a gargantuan storefront. Unlike the customer who walks into your place of business or calls you on the phone, at least 95% of the time, the average Internet surfer is not looking for a product or service--yours or anyone else's. The average Internet surfer, 95% of the time, is looking for three things--the three E's--Education, Entertainment and/or at least something he or she can rate as an interesting Experience.
And many of the people who run these corporate giants will say:
So? What's so different about that? The same is true of television. Our way of doing business has always worked on TV. It'll work just as well on the Internet. In fact, it'll work even better because . . .
No it won't--it won't work even a fraction as well as it does on TV. Why? Well . . . remember how we began?
New assumptions. New logic. New context.
The differences between television and the Internet, on the surface, are obvious, but what about the deeper implications?
As many already recognize, the Internet is interactive. Internet surfers are autonomous. They don't merely switch channels; they actively surf through vast corridors of information--corridors which are growing more prodigious by the moment. You can advertise all you want across the Web, but, unless the surfer chooses to visit your site, it is highly unlikely you will have the impact you desire. They don't have to wait until your commercial is over to get back to their favorite show either.
But far more important, it is not only the Internet which consists of autonomous nodes, but those who merely connect temporarily to surf the Internet as well. Virtually 100% of these temporary nodes (in most cases, home or office computers) are also potentially artificially intelligent. If most Internet surfers are looking for Education, Entertainment and/or an Experience 95% of the time, how open will they be--most of the time--to advertising on the Web? Do you think they might choose to turn the ads off, if they had that choice? They will.
There are as yet many who don't realize it, but artificial intelligence is getting very, well . . . intelligent. In fact, as the technology continues to evolve, surfers won't even have to be aware of your ads at all! There are already e-mail packages that filter out unsolicited e-mails.1 How long do you think it will be before some browser add-on developer allows your potential customers to filter out your advertisements?1 How long from then before the word gets out? How long from then before large numbers of Internet users implement this new technology? The more pervasive and intrusive advertising on the Net becomes, the more likely it will happen. Personally, I believe it is inevitable. These are not TV sets; they are computers. The possibility is there, and sooner or later someone will find one or more ways to do it.
Now I ask you, if you had the choice, what percentage of the commercials would you eliminate from your television set? It will be the same with the Internet. In fact, if advertising on the Net continues to become more and more intrusive, this may become the best argument against "dumb" terminals. If you had a choice between a "dumb" terminal that victimizes you with all the commercials anyone cares to throw at you or a "smart" computer (for a few bucks more) that allows you to censor whatever and however many commercials you like, which would you choose? Anyone with the money, i.e., potential customers, will choose the latter.
So what are we talking about here? As computers become more and more sophisticated, more and more intelligent--and as technology converges--advertising in the traditional sense may well become almost obsolete. Or, what may be just as likely, this could become a war--not unlike the computer-virus wars--in which those who wish to advertise will be constantly engaged in activities designed to out-smart the filters and vice versa for the plug-in developers.
So you see, it isn't that the game is evolving. It's simply not the same game anymore.
The New Game
What you really must do now is add value. And I am not talking about adding a little value, or some value. This is becoming and will continue to be the new paradigm. I am strongly suggesting you invest about twice as many resources as you can afford in adding value.
Adding Value
Offering the information and suggestions in this article free of charge is one way I add value. If you were ever to become one of my customers, you would discover I have several other strategies for adding value. The days when a quality product or service was enough, if indeed they ever were, are certainly gone with the Web. On the Net, you absolutely have to make it worth the trip for a person to seek out and visit you. The simple strategies? Offer discounts to your Internet customers you don't offer to anyone else. Offer a few products exclusively on the Web. Offer a service or convenience that's not available otherwise. Offer education. Offer entertainment. However you choose to do it, you must provide your potential Internet customers an advantage.
Many have already figured this out, but there is far more to adding value than most realize. It is no longer sufficient to add value for your customers. You must add value for all. Why? Because the Web is . . . just that, a web. Beyond it's mere physical properties, the World Wide Web is, symbolically, a network of interrelationships. You can list your site with the search engines. You can participate in news groups. You can place advertising all over the Net. You can do all these things, and--unless you have an almost unlimited amount of time and an almost unlimited advertising budget--I can almost guarantee you it will not be enough. Why? Because the Internet is enormous. As a medium, it is far more extensive than any other medium ever dreamt of. And it is still in its infancy!
No matter how many ads you place, no matter how many news groups you participate in, no matter how many search engines you register with, you will still be tapping into only a fraction of what's available--and you may be missing out on the greatest opportunity of all. What is this opportunity? As I said previously, it is something that traditional business efforts have shunned since the dawn of the industrial age--but it may very well become an absolute necessity for doing business on the Web--especially for the small-business person. Those who understand it will have all the advantages in this new medium. Those who don't or who take too long to "get it" could be left out in the cold.
Just for a moment, imagine a hypothetical scenario with me for a moment. Imagine, about one year hence, that you have just finished your morning coffee and have logged in to the Net to retrieve your e-mail. Lo and behold, among your other messages, you have over a hundred requests from webmasters all over the world--all of them beseeching you for the opportunity to advertise and even to promote your products or services free of charge on their web sites. And as fantastic as this may sound to some, imagine further that, you had about the same number of similar requests on the day before, and the day before, and . . .
Okay, so do you think having your product or service listed on thousands of other sites--free of charge--would augment your Internet marketing effort? Do you think it would give your company just a bit more Web Presence?
Yes, but it's just an exercise of the imagination, right? No such thing could ever really happen. Don't be so sure. Recently, in preparation for this article, I did a survey of webmasters on the Net. To qualify, everyone surveyed had to own, manage, or supervise the management of at least one site--personal or commercial. Now I don't pretend this was a particularly scientific survey. I'll leave that to others. But this is what I found out:
Over 75% of those who responded to my questions said the purpose of their web site was to, in some manner, augment their income or profitability--at least eventually. As soon as they figured out how to do that. Of the remaining 25%, over 60% said they would be interested in reserving at least a small part of their web site for such a purpose if they could be convinced it was realistically possible and easy to do so--that is, if it did not take too much effort.
So what does this mean? Well, it probably means almost 15% of the respondents were lying. But beyond that, it means the Internet is literally crawling with webmasters who are either actively looking for ways to make their venture out onto the Web profitable--or, if not, are at least willing to seriously consider the profit possibility.
So how would you take advantage of this?
Quite simply, by adding value. But we're no longer talking about adding value for your customers, are we? Not really. We're talking about adding value for myriad others, some of whom may never even consider being your customers.
Just as an example, let's say you develop and sell graphic software. Find the artists (and related sites) on the Web (I am not suggesting spamming; hopefully, as a hypothetical graphic-software developer, many artists already visit your site occasionally) and offer them an opportunity to profit by listing your company, your software and your services on their web sites. Obviously, some will refuse--but, if you have a quality product, many should be instantly open to the proposal.
Or, more than likely, you're in some other line of business. Do you already have happy customers? How many of them have their own web sites? Do you know? Have you ever asked? If and only if they are truly happy customers, offer them an opportunity to profit by talking up your company and your products on their web sites.
How can you do this in a fair and equitable way? Implement a link-identification system for anyone who may list your products or services, hire a CGI programmer and have him or her develop a database engine that uses this identification system to record from whence a customer came. Then offer those who establish links to your products a small percentage of anything anyone orders via those links. That's just one way to do it. There are thousands of other ways of doing it just waiting for someone like you to think them up. Just one example: how about a referral by e-mail discount program?
In fact, I'd appreciate it if you let me know how you implement your strategy. At my discretion, I will include a complimentary link to your site just so my readers can learn from others' efforts. Or I may even be in one of those e-mails you retrieve after your morning coffee asking you to include me in . . .
But wait a minute . . .
There are, of course, a couple of obvious problems.
The first is your reputation. You may not, for example, even want your company to be represented on a site that contains what you deem to be offensive material--like pornography. Eventually, as artificial intelligence becomes more commonplace, even some of this process can be automated. All it takes is for some computer genius who realizes there's a market for a site profiling service, to develop an indexing engine to search a list of sites you specify and spot certain words and phrases you specify. The results will serve to warn you about any sites that may contain unacceptable material.
Meanwhile, you'll have to manually screen potential sites to ensure they meet your criteria, whatever those criteria are. As part of your agreement, you'll have to reserve the right to review the site from time to time as well as the right to revoke the privilege or disable the links at your discretion and without prior notice. You could even offer rewards to those who inform you of sites that no longer meet your standards. Sure, it'll be some trouble--but nothing comes for free.
What about the second problem? Call it red tape, paperwork or just plain bookkeeping. Who needs it? Even with the assistance of a good CGI database and a state-of-the-art accounting system, what a hassle it will be to cut a check for everyone involved! Especially so, since revenue from many participants will be marginal at best. It is hardly worth the effort or expense to cut a thousand checks each month if two-thirds of them range, say, between $0.15 and $2.00, is it? Remember, I said technology is on the verge of making this sort of arrangement almost effortless? Well, when digital cash comes to the fore--which isn't so far away--that problem will all but vanish. At that point, the entire process can be computerized and require only minimum human intervention.
Meanwhile, there are alternatives. Cut the checks quarterly. As part of the agreement, only cut checks once they accumulate beyond a preset amount. Or don't cut checks at all.
Use a point system and barter. Depending on what products and services you offer, you may be able to offer participants discounted or free products. Award each associate points based on the profits their links help generate. When they accumulate enough points, offer them a license to your software for free, or a significant discount on your consulting services. Or a free and valuable gift. If you offer a very specialized product or service, keep in mind that such a gift does not need to be directly related to your product or service. It can be anything that would have wide appeal. Or use any other viable barter arrangement that works. Experiment. If you don't know how to implement the plan, ask. Put a survey form on your site explaining that you are searching for a viable way to share the wealth. Refer them to my article so they'll fully understand the concept. Don't try to hide your own profit motive. Be honest:
I'm trying to make more money and want other webmasters to help me. In return, I want you to get something valuable out of it too.
Ask for other webmasters' suggestions:
How should I do it? What would it take to get you to participate?
So, this is the principle of being there.
It is my firm belief that being there is currently the best long-term Internet marketing strategy in sight--and especially so if you don't have nearly infinite time and a nearly infinite advertising budget--for, as vast as the Internet is today, what looms ahead will make it seem like a dripping faucet in the wake of a tidal wave by comparison. There are many, probably a majority, who will say I've overstated my case throughout this article. And, in 1965, 97% of Americans said man would never land on the moon. Those who implement this strategy now and do it right can potentially gain the advantage of having hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of free links to their products or services in the years to come. But I can almost guarantee you that, at some point, this methodology will begin to lose its impact. So now is your chance. Do it. Be aggressive in enriching others, and you will simultaneously enrich yourself. Do it now.
1In both cases, such software already exists, but far more sophisticated products are just around the corner.
Copyright © 1996-9 by Richard D. Farley. All rights reserved.