What do you mean, you AREN'T going to distribute porn? What the heck fun is that? And here I thought of you as some kind of geek college guy, but obviously you are just a poser.
I mean, if money is a problem, it sure seems like porn is the answer. Right? This could bring a whole new meaning to the phrase "They got slashdotted."
Quote: Print, TV, radio, and the web are all different mediums and they all have very different advertising models.
True. Up to a point. However, there is one commonality to all your examples: you can find them for free. There is free print, free TV (okay, lets not get into the cable issue!..), free radio and free web sites. Yes, their models are different, and there is where most people seem to stumble when it comes to Web-based enterprise: there is no/few reliable models, so they freeze like a deer in the headlights. Instead, business people should learn from BOTH the differences and the similarities.
But I wasn't saying that the Web is print, anyway. I was saying that the lessons learned from traditional media (including radio, etc.) are valuable resources for any business person looking to give something away for free -- I used print media as an example simply because it is what I do for a living.
You are so right about local advertisers prefering local papers; however, the same works in reverse, in that a small paper can not easily secure national advertisers because our demographic is so specialized. Both are good examples of problems a Web site can come up against or answer as well.
I apologize if I wasn't clear about my point in the first post. However, as different as the two industries are, it seems (as I have a foot in both coffins, I guess you could say...) that they also have significant issues in common. My arguement is that rather than throwing out the baby with the bath water and starting with an empty tub, look at the resources already at hand. Business tactics are tactics, plain and simple, and have only been modified to fit different industries as needed.
It is also worth pointing out that while click-through counts have gone down over the years, brand recognition has gone up. Another similarity Web sites have with print media is that we sell advertising based on the idea of "getting your businesses name out there." No more, no less.
I'll be sure to check out Nielson's essay. Thanks for the pointer....Pax.....
Well well well, an Ask/. question I can actually help with! (help, of course, being a relative term....)
I work for a "free" newspaper for a good sized city in Florida. "Free" is only applicable to our business in terms of what our consumers think...they can pick up the paper and read it without paying for it, so we offer a service -- providing content for readers to enjoy -- for free. (okay, it could be service or it could be a product...but you get my point)
However, the paper itself is not free. On top of my salary (the most important check cut here, I do believe!), there is the salary of six other employees and the very expensive printing costs. The company itself does over $1 million a year -- not huge, but respectable for a small business. And every penny of our operating budget is paid for by our advertisers.
The lesson here is that advertising CAN support a "free service." I'm not going to blanket this example to cover Web services (there are plenty of horror stories out there), but just because an media is new does not mean it is not effective. What you need is a business loan to start with and a couple of reputable sales people on your staff. Then start talking numbers -- do research into recent studies concerning people's online habits, do marketing samples, do it all.
If this paper had just started printing one day with the hopes that advertisers would see how great we are and then pay us for ad space, it would have folded in a week. A lot of market research went into this, plus a fair number of financial backers. The upshot: the paper is free, and my paycheck clears the bank.
I think many people involved in the Web/Internet industry are too swift in disregarding the business lessons of the past. Stop thinking in terms of "new, unknown, untrusted high-tech commodity" and all the economic mystery that goes with that vision and go back to square one: it's just a service you are providing. Someone has to pay for it. Period. Look around you at any -- ANY -- company in your town providing a free service, and analyze how they do it without folding.
Slashdot Mirror
What do you mean, you AREN'T going to distribute porn? What the heck fun is that? And here I thought of you as some kind of geek college guy, but obviously you are just a poser.
I mean, if money is a problem, it sure seems like porn is the answer. Right? This could bring a whole new meaning to the phrase "They got slashdotted."
Prude.
pfffffftttttttttt
-- KimBoo, being a badddd girl.....
Quote:
Print, TV, radio, and the web are all different mediums and they all have very different advertising models.
True. Up to a point. However, there is one commonality to all your examples: you can find them for free. There is free print, free TV (okay, lets not get into the cable issue!..), free radio and free web sites. Yes, their models are different, and there is where most people seem to stumble when it comes to Web-based enterprise: there is no/few reliable models, so they freeze like a deer in the headlights. Instead, business people should learn from BOTH the differences and the similarities.
But I wasn't saying that the Web is print, anyway. I was saying that the lessons learned from traditional media (including radio, etc.) are valuable resources for any business person looking to give something away for free -- I used print media as an example simply because it is what I do for a living.
You are so right about local advertisers prefering local papers; however, the same works in reverse, in that a small paper can not easily secure national advertisers because our demographic is so specialized. Both are good examples of problems a Web site can come up against or answer as well.
I apologize if I wasn't clear about my point in the first post. However, as different as the two industries are, it seems (as I have a foot in both coffins, I guess you could say...) that they also have significant issues in common. My arguement is that rather than throwing out the baby with the bath water and starting with an empty tub, look at the resources already at hand. Business tactics are tactics, plain and simple, and have only been modified to fit different industries as needed.
It is also worth pointing out that while click-through counts have gone down over the years, brand recognition has gone up. Another similarity Web sites have with print media is that we sell advertising based on the idea of "getting your businesses name out there." No more, no less.
I'll be sure to check out Nielson's essay. Thanks for the pointer....Pax.....
Well well well, an Ask
I work for a "free" newspaper for a good sized city in Florida. "Free" is only applicable to our business in terms of what our consumers think...they can pick up the paper and read it without paying for it, so we offer a service -- providing content for readers to enjoy -- for free. (okay, it could be service or it could be a product...but you get my point)
However, the paper itself is not free. On top of my salary (the most important check cut here, I do believe!), there is the salary of six other employees and the very expensive printing costs. The company itself does over $1 million a year -- not huge, but respectable for a small business. And every penny of our operating budget is paid for by our advertisers.
The lesson here is that advertising CAN support a "free service." I'm not going to blanket this example to cover Web services (there are plenty of horror stories out there), but just because an media is new does not mean it is not effective. What you need is a business loan to start with and a couple of reputable sales people on your staff. Then start talking numbers -- do research into recent studies concerning people's online habits, do marketing samples, do it all.
If this paper had just started printing one day with the hopes that advertisers would see how great we are and then pay us for ad space, it would have folded in a week. A lot of market research went into this, plus a fair number of financial backers. The upshot: the paper is free, and my paycheck clears the bank.
I think many people involved in the Web/Internet industry are too swift in disregarding the business lessons of the past. Stop thinking in terms of "new, unknown, untrusted high-tech commodity" and all the economic mystery that goes with that vision and go back to square one: it's just a service you are providing. Someone has to pay for it. Period. Look around you at any -- ANY -- company in your town providing a free service, and analyze how they do it without folding.
And then go from there! Good luck.....Pax....