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AM: Ryan Phillips response to Customer Acquisition via the Web
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Folks-
Enclosed is Ryan Phillips response to Bill Robin's original
question about Customer Acquisition via the Web. Ryan is
publisher of the Journal Newspaper chain-
http://www.jrnl.com
Ryan Phillips responds:
> Mitch-
> It is a short answer and I don't think Bill will like the answer.
> If the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, LA Times ,
> Boston Globe, Omaha World Herald Cleveland Plain Dealer,
> Miami Herald, Seattle Times ETC ETC ETC can't make money,
> or more specifically are loosing, combined, tens of millions of
> dollars every year providing online content I can't see any small
> provider making any money.
> It has been my experence that any good service that is on the
> internet is started with the idea that you give it away first and
> then I'll charge for it when it gets popular.
> Then 2 seconds after you start charging some other company
> starts a identical service for free because they are going to get
> popular and then start charging. Look at search engines
> Yahoo was first now there are 50 search engines.
> I suggest you tie the product to something tangable. Either a
> print product or a fax product newsletter etc. People just
> expect information on the internet to be free, and the expect
> to pay for it when its comes in hard copy.
> If you must try an advertising campaign Newspapers are the
> most effective solution on the Planet and are getting
> more effective every day. There are only 3 Daily Newspapers
> in Washington DC area, over 50 RadioStations (ask strangers
> what station they listen to you'll get 50 different answers.then
> ask what the last commercial they heard was, they won't
> remember).
> Television is more fragmented with 100+ cable
> and broadcast options expensive to produce spots also.
> Direct mail is predictable with the average good response
> piece used with a good list pulling in a .005 response.
> If your gonna do it use a mix of Newspaper and Direct mail.
> Broadcast is just to spotty for the small and medium guy.
> Be prepared to spend alot of money and pray you have
> information that people are willing to pay for and no one
> else can give away.
> Ryan
Bill Robins writes:
> AM-
> NetResponse is an internet consulting and development agency. One of
> our clients is in the midst of planning an aggressive customer
> acquisition campaign. The client is a web based publication, which
> recently migrated to a subscription model.
> Thus far, banner ads have not been a cost effective channel. I was
> wondering what experiences, thoughts, or recommendations people had in
> regards to alternative customer acquisition vehicles.
> We are looking at list rental for direct email, text ads on email lists,
> and sponsorships, as well as testing off line advertising mechanisms
> (direct mail, print, and local NPR).
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