martin gover dot com

Discussion continued from Part One

A way to look at possible futures for the Internet is to look at how a Frank Kern/John Reese/Eban Pagan etc etc – the ‘internet self-titles-gurus” would approach the problem.

And the problem to restate is – how to take advantage of the vast, almost infinite traffic that wanders free;y across the internet. A vast traffic of consumers that never lay a hand on their wallets and for the most part can slide by any form of advertising without a blink.

Radio, T.V. and Print are Advertising driven. You get content as long as you will watch the ad, or read the ad (prominent RH Page – news and articles LH page ). Radio and TV – no choice given Ad then content – Ad then content.

But to the fury (probably) of the marketplace – so far the internet has become all contenet – no ads, no fees, no way to herd the consumer through the maze of brands and product displays.

The thing is it cant stay free forever – this is a marketplace democracy – if money is not made…well its unthinkable the consequences…

So what to do?

What to do?

What strategy do the ‘gurus’ use to market products.

Targeted email lists that are given large ‘bribes’ – that is genuine value offers to register for upcoming product launches. And in the pre- launch the most valuable part of the product that is about to be sold is usually given away free as a teaser to keep interest high. Stacking the cool as Frank Kern says. Offer value upon value upon value till the end user is frothing at the mouth, unable to believe what they are about to pay for – because if this is free – how great is the paid product going to be.

So how would this be applied?

Google ads of course are targeted ads – and scary – look at the ads that appear beside you Gmail account when you open an email – uncanny technology

But P&G , Nike and Sony et al. are not about to use Google ads – they want presence. And large spaces of the internet dedicated to their images. Which of course is old think – billboard think – TV minutes think.

The internet is ADD on steroids – there is no place to ‘plunk’ down ads . They ‘ The Brands” will have to learn to target their potential buyers and then go where those buyers go (on the internet) and use the media that those buyers use.

Look at how the ‘gurus’ have switched from squeeze pages, to audio to very quickly video, and then all combinations thereof.

What the brands have to think – is viral. Thats what made Frank Kern all his money, the first time, a viral selling program. A program or device that can be duplicated with almost no effort and transmitted to the next person. And it must have VALUE for that person, and all of the others down the line.

Youtube is Viral, a static webpage is not viral.

Twitter is Viral, a coupon you download is not viral.

Now ‘the gurus” take digital products of course – high profit, low cost.And their marketing is ‘direct’- not slow Brand building. But sales is sales.

Lets look at a basic consumer product lie – toothpaste. How would ‘they’ promote and sell toothpaste.

Well one idea would be to create a quirky video that people would watch a pass on – a video say that shows all the uses of toothpaste – fake cream to fake out your friends on dessert, , something oozing from your ear – wild shoe polish – ridiculous things, (that wouldn’t kill a person if they tried it at home) but a video that people would pass around. And if you linked to it, or embedded it on your website, or twittered or emailed etc – you could download a coupon that gave you 15% off that brands products at a store near you.

Perhaps give the basic tools to create your own video using the brand as a prop. All videos that were public presentable would get -3 months supply of toothpaste – a place of honor on the brands website etc.

A campaign that is announced forewarned, big fake build up to – THE NEW TOOTHPASTE, and all the videos and tools to make videos and promo coupons and first 100 get a free premium product from the brand etc.

Think fun, think anticipation. Think Participation. THINK VIRAL. (ref Dove campaign - T-Mobile)

A high ticket item like a car would be easier - see previous post

Advertisers – think fun, think partcipation. THINK VIRAL. THINK VIRAL CAMPAIGN.

Then stop. Pause. Then a new product new campaign. New video or whatever that is viral.

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