Transcript Surviving the Dotcom Shakeout

Low-Cost, High-Return Marketing
Strategies for Internet Start-ups
Stephan Spencer
President, Internet Concepts
[email protected]
www.netconcepts.com
These Are Interesting Times…
Is this you???
I Hate To Burst Your Bubble,
But…
• Leading analysts predict that market valuations
will not return to previous, unreasonable levels
• Focus must now be on profitability and making
the cash reserves last
• The Solution? Develop e-marketing strategies
that are low-cost and high-return
Online Marketing Strategies That
Won’t Burn Through All Your Cash
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Email marketing
Viral marketing
Link building
Search engine optimization
Pay-for-performance advertising (affiliate programs)
Content distribution
Partnerships
PR
Email Marketing
• No spamming!
• Opt-in, not opt-out (get consumer’s consent!)
– Read Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
• Deliver value
– newsletters, reminders, announcements, greeting
cards, incentives, special offers
• Segment your market
• Test test test!
More Tips on Email
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Publish and abide by a strict privacy policy
Make it short & sweet - use links
Monitor number/variety of contacts
Avoid burnout (frequency expectations)
Provide an easy way to unsubscribe
Avoid use of purchased lists
Be sure reply works
Have it signed by a real person
Viral Marketing
• Word of mouth marketing
• Make it compelling for consumers to refer their friends
– to purchase your products, visit your site, sign up for a free
trial, subscribe to your newsletter, etc.
• Read Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin and The
Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
• Examples: HOTorNOT.com, Quixtar, Paypal, Vindigo
Search Engines
• The search engines periodically explore and
“index” your web site
• You need to let them know your site exists (i.e.
announce it)
• Optimize your site: every page has a “song”
• Create new pages specifically designed for
ranking well (i.e. “doorway pages”)
Search Engines
• Pick the right keywords to target
– Overture will give you relative search popularity
http://inventory.overture.com
– Ex: hair color 16000, hair coloring 4100, colorant 150
• Keywords placed in title tags, hyperlink text,
headline text, and high in the body copy are given
more “weight”
• Title tags are critical
Search Engines
• Meta tags are not a magic bullet
• Frames and dynamic pages (i.e. pages w/ “?” or
“&” in the URL) kill rankings
• Monitor your rankings over time, as they will
change
– WebPosition (www.webposition.com)
• Pay to play: bid on keywords at Overture.com
• Learn more at SearchEngineWatch.com
Directories
• Directories are lists of sites organized by topic,
usually editorially reviewed
• Different from a “Search Engine”
• When submitting your site, include relevant
keywords in your site name & description
• Don’t forget niche sites!
Directories
• Submit your site:
– Yahoo! $299
– LookSmart $0.15/click (partners: Excite, Altavista,
MSN Search)
– Open Directory (www.dmoz.org) free (partners: AOL,
Lycos, Netscape, Hotbot, Altavista, Google)
Link Building
• “Link popularity” affects search engine rankings
• Links from popular sites (like Yahoo!) have more impact
on your rankings
• Check your link popularity at
www.marketleap.com/publinkpop
• Check your “PageRank” with the Google Toolbar
(download it from toolbar.google.com)
• Read Eric Ward’s ClickZ column on Building Links at
www.clickz.com/column/bl.html
Affiliate Programs
• Pay For Performance / Revenue sharing
• Amazon.com blazed the trail with their
“Associates Program”
• Many affiliate programs listed at Refer-it.com
• Read The Complete Insider’s Guide To
Associate & Affiliate Programs
www.linkstosales.com
• LinkShare, BeFree, Commission Junction..
Content Distribution
• Take your best “nuggets” from your site and disseminate
them elsewhere on the Web
• “Microsites”
– Example: www.women.com/beautifulyou/
• Sponsored content
– Business2.0 article
business2.com/content/magazine/marketing/2000/09/29/19075
• Transactive banners
– Example: www.bluestreak.com/gillette.html
Partnerships
• Select partners based on your own business objectives
• Establish quality, not quantity partnerships
• Plan for the long term, but assume the partnership won’t
last, during contract negotiations
• Be flexible, especially with larger partners
• Don’t expect too much (never assume your partner’s
commitment, leave upside in your biz plan)
• Read Co-opetition by Brandenburger et al.
Demonstrate Market Acceptance
• Focus on revenue, not eyeballs or numbers of
partnerships
• Close high visibility accounts, use as references
• Listen to your customers and modify your
offerings
• Prove that you can scale
Create Channels Not
Competitors
• Grow off the table scraps of other companies
(stay below the radar)
• Sometimes it’s worth suborning your brand to
create a great business
• Consider licensing elements of your core
technology to perceived incumbent competitors
• Exclusives are a last resort
Identify & Select Good Partners
Emerging firms
Large portals
Global 2000 firms
Eyeballs
Limited number
High number
Moderate number
Qualified leads
Limited number
Depends on
product
Depends on
product
Revenue
transactions
Doubtful
Probably limited
Depends on
product
Credibility
No
Limited value
High value
References
Limited value
Limited value
High value
Exit strategy
Virtually no
potential
Limited potential
Modest potential
Source: Bennett Hirsch, NowDocs
Public Relations
• Press releases:
– Use a PR specialist (e.g. Eric Ward of URLwire.com)
• Media interviews:
– Short and sweet
– Talk as you would to a neighbor. Think of your grandmother in
Albequerque – why would she care?
– Remember to say your company name throughout
– Avoid “no comment” and don’t be deceitful
– Get media training
In Summary
• Don’t fritter your money away on expensive
portal deals, celebrity web events, launch
parties, etc.
• Drive traffic, and SALES, cost effectively with
email, word of mouth, partnerships, PR, links,
search engines, affiliate programs, and
microsites
Questions?
• Feel free to email me at
[email protected]
• Thank you!