Sunday, July 20, 2008
8 Ways To Increase Web-Audience Response
It's always a good idea to stick to the basics. When businesses stray too far from the fundamentals, problems arise, but sticking to the basics doesn't mean boring people into a state of unconsciousness. If Web-visitors' eyes glaze-over upon entering your site, you've lost them before you've begun. Web success is based on creative implementation of the basics, and that's where your Web-marketing presentation should begin.
1. Web-Audience Response Demands Communication: The Web has a lot in common with television but there are fundamental differences; it is important for Web-entrepreneurs to understand these differences and similarities, and learn from them.
Television and the Web are both communication environments, but television, like magazines and newspapers, are primarily advertising platforms. Of course there are plenty of websites around that follow the advertising financial model, but for the average business website, depending on third party advertising not only dilutes their marketing message and brand, but it also makes for a confusing and cluttered visual presentation. Just because your website presents information, doesn't mean it's communicating it to your intended audience in any meaningful way. The manner in which you communicate your message is as important as the message itself. The medium is increasingly becoming the message, and even in situations where it isn't, it definitely shapes the message.
2. Web-Audience Response Demands Content: You have repeatedly heard the comment, 'content is king,' but we think, 'communication is king' because without communication your content is meaningless. But here's the dilemma, your information is basically advertising, after all you're in business, and business is about selling something - a product, a service, an idea, or your know-how. So the real underlying purpose of your website is to make that advertising message worth listening to, and to do that, you need to turn it into content. To turn advertising into content you have to accept that sales take time. You have to be patient. You can't hurry a sale, you first have to build confidence; stop rushing the close and start thinking of selling as a courtship. You would never ask someone to get married on a first date, so why would you expect to get an order from a potential Web-client on their first visit.
3. Web-Audience Response Demands Courtship: No one is going to make a substantial financial commitment without reaching some level of comfort with who you are and what you do, and that requires some repeated contact: a courtship, or negotiation if you prefer. Therein lies the similarity and difference between websites and television: the success of a television program is based on habituation. If you get people to tune-in every week on the same night, at the same time to see their favorite program, you will be able to keep delivering your marketing message through the commercials that pay for the content. In the same regard, if you can make your website interesting enough through the compelling presentation of content, you will get visitors to return again and again, each time gaining confidence and respect for what you do and what you sell.
The difference is people accept television commercials as the price they pay for free TV programming, but the same cannot be said for the Web. People want free information on the Web without the irritation and bother of ads; so the challenge for website owners is to turn their marketing message into compelling programming that creates habituation which is just another form of negotiation, or courtship of potential clients.
4. Web-Audience Response Demands Consistency: You hear the word strategy bandied about with little relevance to its precise meaning. In marketing terms, strategy is a big idea, a sustainable concept that you can build a business around. Successful companies rarely change their strategies, a concept that should not be confused with tactics, which are the various methods used to implement strategy in order to secure the ultimate objectives. Business has to be resilient and open-minded enough to adapt to an ever-changing business environment by constantly updating tactics, but strategy needs to be a constant, a touchstone or benchmark for implementing action. Staying on course requires confidence in the strategy with a vigilant eye on the big picture.
Websites that are nothing more than brochures or catalogs of product that anyone can purchase at the local mall or box store is a tactic that delivers little relevance to today's Web-savvy consumer. And the same can be said for the blatantly obvious direct marketÃng sites based on old magazine subscription techniques. The new multimedia communication-based Web requires new presentation tactics in order to successfully implement marketing strategy.
5. Web-Audience Response Demands Expectation: Successful marketing is not just about persuading people that what you have is what they need, it's about creating a series of deliverable expectations. If you expect a product to be easy to use because that's what the marketing communication states, then that product better be easy to use. Effective marketing presentations not only prompt action but just as importantly they create a set of realistic, deliverable expectations. Ask yourself, why do people mistrust politicians, car salesmen, and telemarketers? We all know the answer: many will say, and promise, just about anything to get your vote or order, and the result is a disgruntled, cynical voter or customer. Read my lips, no false expectations!
6. Web-Audience Response Demands TrustL: When customers' expectations are met, you begin to create trust, and trust is one of the hardest things to achieve on a website that lacks any kind of human connection to the audience. I can't tell you how many websites I've visited that make no effort to humanize their presentations, and consequently their businesses. When you go to a contact page and all that's there is a form to fill-in, with no contact name or phone number, it says to people, 'I really can't be bothered talking to you.' Hiding behind email tells people not to trust you, and if they don't trust you, they are not going to do business with you.
Business is about connecting to people, whether they are consumers, purchasing agents, or suppliers. If your website doesn't have some kind of human element like a video Web-host, audio message, or even a contact name and phone number, how can you expect to connect and build confidence, and trust in your intent to satisfy their needs?
7. Web-Audience Response Demands Personality: By building trust with your Web-audience you are also building your brand and defining your corporate personality. Here again we have a bit of a dichotomy since personality is a human-based characteristic, so how then can we create a personality and instill human characteristics into an inanimate entity like a business? Corporate personality does not derive from a logo, packaging, or your website's aesthetic qualities. Corporate personality is the sum total of the collective experiences your audience has with your company. In the brick and mortar world, corporate personality is a result of dealing with people, sales people, receptionists, and telemarketers; in short personality is derived from interaction with real human beings.
Clever, well written website copy can help create personality as long as it is written in a distinctive human voice, but we know that 70% of all website text is never read; people skip to bulleted points and captions. But the same material delivered by a real person either through Web-audio or video, not only delivers the marketing message in the most memorable and compelling fashion, but it also defines the business personality and humanizes the website.
Two caveats: avatars are not people, and unless you can afford to hire the creators of the Simpsons to develop your animation, you best forget it; as well, using yourself or a non-professional as a spokesperson or Web-host is a dangerous practice, and speaks more to ego than it does to effective business development.
8. Web-Audience Response Demands Motivation: Lastly your website must communicate content that excites and motivates people to do business with you. The ability to motivate people isn't about what you're selling; it's about how you present it.
Motivational speakers, whether in the business, entertainment, personal coaching, or sports arenas, all deliver a similar message; but the ones that truly stimulate people to act, are the ones that know how to present their ideas in the most exciting and compelling manner. If you want to motivate your Web-audience to respond, your presentation has to be delivered by a real human being: a professional with charm, charisma, and a distinctive character.
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1. Web-Audience Response Demands Communication: The Web has a lot in common with television but there are fundamental differences; it is important for Web-entrepreneurs to understand these differences and similarities, and learn from them.
Television and the Web are both communication environments, but television, like magazines and newspapers, are primarily advertising platforms. Of course there are plenty of websites around that follow the advertising financial model, but for the average business website, depending on third party advertising not only dilutes their marketing message and brand, but it also makes for a confusing and cluttered visual presentation. Just because your website presents information, doesn't mean it's communicating it to your intended audience in any meaningful way. The manner in which you communicate your message is as important as the message itself. The medium is increasingly becoming the message, and even in situations where it isn't, it definitely shapes the message.
2. Web-Audience Response Demands Content: You have repeatedly heard the comment, 'content is king,' but we think, 'communication is king' because without communication your content is meaningless. But here's the dilemma, your information is basically advertising, after all you're in business, and business is about selling something - a product, a service, an idea, or your know-how. So the real underlying purpose of your website is to make that advertising message worth listening to, and to do that, you need to turn it into content. To turn advertising into content you have to accept that sales take time. You have to be patient. You can't hurry a sale, you first have to build confidence; stop rushing the close and start thinking of selling as a courtship. You would never ask someone to get married on a first date, so why would you expect to get an order from a potential Web-client on their first visit.
3. Web-Audience Response Demands Courtship: No one is going to make a substantial financial commitment without reaching some level of comfort with who you are and what you do, and that requires some repeated contact: a courtship, or negotiation if you prefer. Therein lies the similarity and difference between websites and television: the success of a television program is based on habituation. If you get people to tune-in every week on the same night, at the same time to see their favorite program, you will be able to keep delivering your marketing message through the commercials that pay for the content. In the same regard, if you can make your website interesting enough through the compelling presentation of content, you will get visitors to return again and again, each time gaining confidence and respect for what you do and what you sell.
The difference is people accept television commercials as the price they pay for free TV programming, but the same cannot be said for the Web. People want free information on the Web without the irritation and bother of ads; so the challenge for website owners is to turn their marketing message into compelling programming that creates habituation which is just another form of negotiation, or courtship of potential clients.
4. Web-Audience Response Demands Consistency: You hear the word strategy bandied about with little relevance to its precise meaning. In marketing terms, strategy is a big idea, a sustainable concept that you can build a business around. Successful companies rarely change their strategies, a concept that should not be confused with tactics, which are the various methods used to implement strategy in order to secure the ultimate objectives. Business has to be resilient and open-minded enough to adapt to an ever-changing business environment by constantly updating tactics, but strategy needs to be a constant, a touchstone or benchmark for implementing action. Staying on course requires confidence in the strategy with a vigilant eye on the big picture.
Websites that are nothing more than brochures or catalogs of product that anyone can purchase at the local mall or box store is a tactic that delivers little relevance to today's Web-savvy consumer. And the same can be said for the blatantly obvious direct marketÃng sites based on old magazine subscription techniques. The new multimedia communication-based Web requires new presentation tactics in order to successfully implement marketing strategy.
5. Web-Audience Response Demands Expectation: Successful marketing is not just about persuading people that what you have is what they need, it's about creating a series of deliverable expectations. If you expect a product to be easy to use because that's what the marketing communication states, then that product better be easy to use. Effective marketing presentations not only prompt action but just as importantly they create a set of realistic, deliverable expectations. Ask yourself, why do people mistrust politicians, car salesmen, and telemarketers? We all know the answer: many will say, and promise, just about anything to get your vote or order, and the result is a disgruntled, cynical voter or customer. Read my lips, no false expectations!
6. Web-Audience Response Demands TrustL: When customers' expectations are met, you begin to create trust, and trust is one of the hardest things to achieve on a website that lacks any kind of human connection to the audience. I can't tell you how many websites I've visited that make no effort to humanize their presentations, and consequently their businesses. When you go to a contact page and all that's there is a form to fill-in, with no contact name or phone number, it says to people, 'I really can't be bothered talking to you.' Hiding behind email tells people not to trust you, and if they don't trust you, they are not going to do business with you.
Business is about connecting to people, whether they are consumers, purchasing agents, or suppliers. If your website doesn't have some kind of human element like a video Web-host, audio message, or even a contact name and phone number, how can you expect to connect and build confidence, and trust in your intent to satisfy their needs?
7. Web-Audience Response Demands Personality: By building trust with your Web-audience you are also building your brand and defining your corporate personality. Here again we have a bit of a dichotomy since personality is a human-based characteristic, so how then can we create a personality and instill human characteristics into an inanimate entity like a business? Corporate personality does not derive from a logo, packaging, or your website's aesthetic qualities. Corporate personality is the sum total of the collective experiences your audience has with your company. In the brick and mortar world, corporate personality is a result of dealing with people, sales people, receptionists, and telemarketers; in short personality is derived from interaction with real human beings.
Clever, well written website copy can help create personality as long as it is written in a distinctive human voice, but we know that 70% of all website text is never read; people skip to bulleted points and captions. But the same material delivered by a real person either through Web-audio or video, not only delivers the marketing message in the most memorable and compelling fashion, but it also defines the business personality and humanizes the website.
Two caveats: avatars are not people, and unless you can afford to hire the creators of the Simpsons to develop your animation, you best forget it; as well, using yourself or a non-professional as a spokesperson or Web-host is a dangerous practice, and speaks more to ego than it does to effective business development.
8. Web-Audience Response Demands Motivation: Lastly your website must communicate content that excites and motivates people to do business with you. The ability to motivate people isn't about what you're selling; it's about how you present it.
Motivational speakers, whether in the business, entertainment, personal coaching, or sports arenas, all deliver a similar message; but the ones that truly stimulate people to act, are the ones that know how to present their ideas in the most exciting and compelling manner. If you want to motivate your Web-audience to respond, your presentation has to be delivered by a real human being: a professional with charm, charisma, and a distinctive character.
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Judge: Knockoff-Tracking Not eBay's Job
In the case of Tiffany vs. eBay, a U.S. district judge has presented the e-commerce giant with the best gift it could get in this litigious, digital age: a victory in a four-year-old trademark protection lawsuit. Judge Richard Sullivan of New York found that eBay's process of vetting suspected counterfeit items is sufficient and that Tiffany bears more responsibility for watching over its brand in cyberspace.
The ruling is a rare win for eBay in this rapidly evolving arena, and it could have an impact on its legal challenges overseas. European courts this year have found in favor of LVMH group, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Rolex in trademark lawsuits involving counterfeits against the online auction house.
"The implications are enormous," Benn Konsynski, a professor at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, said. "In an age where we're moving toward social networking and more information brokerage than pure direct commerce, and all the democratization trends, it's critical to know how much responsibility you have for policing content. How far do you have to go to ensure that your content providers are respecting all rights and trademarks?" he added.
In eBay's case, Sullivan ruled the company went far enough in removing suspected counterfeit goods upon receiving complaints from Tiffany. Additionally, Sullivan agreed with eBay that it didn't have to pre-emptively remove the items even if Web site officials had their own doubts about the validity of the products. The ruling means more work and money for retailers like Tiffany, Heather Kliebenstein, an intellectual property attorney for Merchant & Gould in Minneapolis, said.
"E-commerce companies can avoid infringement actions even if the Web site provider has general knowledge of the infringement or counterfeit goods being sold on their Web sites," she said. "Brand owners will need to be able to point out or document specific instances of trademark infringement to succeed in court, based on this precedent. This will increase the burden on brand owners and their in-house counsel."
The same concerns -- spending more time and money -- may still await eBay in Europe. It's unclear whether the New York ruling will have any effect as the company appeals trademark decisions it lost in Germany and France. Nevertheless, eBay still faces an uphill struggle overseas, Anita Ramasastry, law professor and director of the Shidler Center for Law, Commerce + Technology at the University of Washington, said.
"The European courts are going to be looking at the European market and the concept of the European consumer and seller -- even though we think of these as global marketplaces and [e-commerce companies] want to trade with the same rules in place. Trademark infringement is different in Europe regarding presumption and in terms of who has responsibility for not only infringement but contributor infringement," she added.
While it would have cost eBay -- and potentially its customers -- more money to vet goods had it lost the Tiffany case, the company will still have to ensure its global business complies with European courts, Konsynski noted. "eBay will have to adjust its patterns of market practice for the legal environment in different venues. It can do that -- it can adjust -- but the question is what constitutes fairness. ... Is it equal treatment for all parties?" Konsynski questioned.
Indeed, "eBay will have to take a more active role to police its users in Europe." Kliebenstein commented.
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The ruling is a rare win for eBay in this rapidly evolving arena, and it could have an impact on its legal challenges overseas. European courts this year have found in favor of LVMH group, Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Rolex in trademark lawsuits involving counterfeits against the online auction house.
"The implications are enormous," Benn Konsynski, a professor at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, said. "In an age where we're moving toward social networking and more information brokerage than pure direct commerce, and all the democratization trends, it's critical to know how much responsibility you have for policing content. How far do you have to go to ensure that your content providers are respecting all rights and trademarks?" he added.
In eBay's case, Sullivan ruled the company went far enough in removing suspected counterfeit goods upon receiving complaints from Tiffany. Additionally, Sullivan agreed with eBay that it didn't have to pre-emptively remove the items even if Web site officials had their own doubts about the validity of the products. The ruling means more work and money for retailers like Tiffany, Heather Kliebenstein, an intellectual property attorney for Merchant & Gould in Minneapolis, said.
"E-commerce companies can avoid infringement actions even if the Web site provider has general knowledge of the infringement or counterfeit goods being sold on their Web sites," she said. "Brand owners will need to be able to point out or document specific instances of trademark infringement to succeed in court, based on this precedent. This will increase the burden on brand owners and their in-house counsel."
The same concerns -- spending more time and money -- may still await eBay in Europe. It's unclear whether the New York ruling will have any effect as the company appeals trademark decisions it lost in Germany and France. Nevertheless, eBay still faces an uphill struggle overseas, Anita Ramasastry, law professor and director of the Shidler Center for Law, Commerce + Technology at the University of Washington, said.
"The European courts are going to be looking at the European market and the concept of the European consumer and seller -- even though we think of these as global marketplaces and [e-commerce companies] want to trade with the same rules in place. Trademark infringement is different in Europe regarding presumption and in terms of who has responsibility for not only infringement but contributor infringement," she added.
While it would have cost eBay -- and potentially its customers -- more money to vet goods had it lost the Tiffany case, the company will still have to ensure its global business complies with European courts, Konsynski noted. "eBay will have to adjust its patterns of market practice for the legal environment in different venues. It can do that -- it can adjust -- but the question is what constitutes fairness. ... Is it equal treatment for all parties?" Konsynski questioned.
Indeed, "eBay will have to take a more active role to police its users in Europe." Kliebenstein commented.
Guardian eCommerce Privacy Seal Program
The Rise Of Peer-To-Peer Online Lending
Some people are finding it tougher than ever to get a bank loan amid the nation's credit crisis, but many are getting a warmer welcome at the "teller window" on the Web. People are flocking to social network sites such as Prosper.com and Zopa.com, which connect lenders and borrowers at the grassroots level, using an eBay-style auction of loans and interest rates.
Sites and players have multiplied in the nascent industry -- known as peer-to-peer online lending -- which is barely 2 years old. Traffic has increased at a double- or triple-digit pace in the past year, according to Compete, a Boston-based online research firm.
"More people are turning to these alternative loan providers to get their cash as it has become more difficult to get a loan from the established providers," said Mike Perlman, director of Compete's financial services practice.
Jerry R. Brown of St. Cloud, Fla., said he turned to peer-to-peer online lending after conventional banks rejected his bid for a loan to expand his firearms business. He landed a US$10,000 loan at 15.4 percent, which enabled him to establish a holster factory at his business.
"That was significantly better than I could have gotten with a conventional bank," he said. "The whole process has gone without a hitch. I'd do it again in a second."
Brown used the site run by Prosper Marketplace, the San Francisco-based company that dominates the peer-to-peer lending space. He registered on a Prosper.com auction, told his story, described his need and identified his desired loan amount and rate.
Prosper managed his loan "application" and analyzed his personal financial information to develop a credit grade it provides to potential lenders. More than 30 of them responded to Brown's auction, and they became his financiers.
Prosper's loan approvals and dollar values have increased 20 percent to 30 percent during the past year, the company said. Nearly 12,700 borrowers received more than $84 million in financing from July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008.
With small business lending declining -- SBA loans decreased nearly 20 percent last year -- many entrepreneurs are tapping into online social lending, although the loans typically are capped at $25,000, officials said.
Prosper has also seen a big increase in the number of people with good credit who are using the service, spokesperson Tiffany Fox said. About 40 percent of its borrowers have credit scores higher than 720 -- considered prime creditworthiness -- she said. Only 5 percent are now subprime borrowers (people with a sketchy credit record), compared with 25 percent when Prosper was introduced in 2006.
"There's a flight of people in the higher end of the credit spectrum turning to alternatives like Prosper," she said. Prosper's site drew nearly 777,000 unique visitors in June, a 31 percent increase from the same month last year and almost 15 times more traffic than the second-largest player, the British site Zopa.com, according to Compete.
The demand for online social lending has attracted a flurry of new players in the past year or so, including Zopa, Lending Club, Virgin Money USA, GlobeFunder Ventures and On Deck Capital. Each has its own niche: Lending Club takes an approach similar to Prosper; Zopa matches borrowers with a network of credit unions; GlobeFunder appeals largely to high-end customers; Virgin Money (formerly Circle Lending) focuses on family and friend loans; and On Deck focuses on small-business loans.
The growth spurt in online social lending is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, according to a recent report by Celent Communications, a high-tech consulting firm in Boston. Loan volume is projected to reach $1.6 billion this year, a nearly threefold increase from 2007, the firm estimated. It is expected to double in 2009 and reach nearly $6 billion in 2010.
However, despite such growth projections, those using peer-to-peer online lending are still "a very small subset of the overall number of people in the market for loans," Perlman said.
"It hasn't quite become as established and commonplace as eBay, for example, which says that people are much more willing to buy and sell goods online than borrow their money," he said. "We're still very much in the early adopter stage for social online lending."
Guardian eCommerce Privacy Seal Program....
Sites and players have multiplied in the nascent industry -- known as peer-to-peer online lending -- which is barely 2 years old. Traffic has increased at a double- or triple-digit pace in the past year, according to Compete, a Boston-based online research firm.
"More people are turning to these alternative loan providers to get their cash as it has become more difficult to get a loan from the established providers," said Mike Perlman, director of Compete's financial services practice.
Jerry R. Brown of St. Cloud, Fla., said he turned to peer-to-peer online lending after conventional banks rejected his bid for a loan to expand his firearms business. He landed a US$10,000 loan at 15.4 percent, which enabled him to establish a holster factory at his business.
"That was significantly better than I could have gotten with a conventional bank," he said. "The whole process has gone without a hitch. I'd do it again in a second."
Brown used the site run by Prosper Marketplace, the San Francisco-based company that dominates the peer-to-peer lending space. He registered on a Prosper.com auction, told his story, described his need and identified his desired loan amount and rate.
Prosper managed his loan "application" and analyzed his personal financial information to develop a credit grade it provides to potential lenders. More than 30 of them responded to Brown's auction, and they became his financiers.
Prosper's loan approvals and dollar values have increased 20 percent to 30 percent during the past year, the company said. Nearly 12,700 borrowers received more than $84 million in financing from July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008.
With small business lending declining -- SBA loans decreased nearly 20 percent last year -- many entrepreneurs are tapping into online social lending, although the loans typically are capped at $25,000, officials said.
Prosper has also seen a big increase in the number of people with good credit who are using the service, spokesperson Tiffany Fox said. About 40 percent of its borrowers have credit scores higher than 720 -- considered prime creditworthiness -- she said. Only 5 percent are now subprime borrowers (people with a sketchy credit record), compared with 25 percent when Prosper was introduced in 2006.
"There's a flight of people in the higher end of the credit spectrum turning to alternatives like Prosper," she said. Prosper's site drew nearly 777,000 unique visitors in June, a 31 percent increase from the same month last year and almost 15 times more traffic than the second-largest player, the British site Zopa.com, according to Compete.
The demand for online social lending has attracted a flurry of new players in the past year or so, including Zopa, Lending Club, Virgin Money USA, GlobeFunder Ventures and On Deck Capital. Each has its own niche: Lending Club takes an approach similar to Prosper; Zopa matches borrowers with a network of credit unions; GlobeFunder appeals largely to high-end customers; Virgin Money (formerly Circle Lending) focuses on family and friend loans; and On Deck focuses on small-business loans.
The growth spurt in online social lending is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, according to a recent report by Celent Communications, a high-tech consulting firm in Boston. Loan volume is projected to reach $1.6 billion this year, a nearly threefold increase from 2007, the firm estimated. It is expected to double in 2009 and reach nearly $6 billion in 2010.
However, despite such growth projections, those using peer-to-peer online lending are still "a very small subset of the overall number of people in the market for loans," Perlman said.
"It hasn't quite become as established and commonplace as eBay, for example, which says that people are much more willing to buy and sell goods online than borrow their money," he said. "We're still very much in the early adopter stage for social online lending."
Guardian eCommerce Privacy Seal Program....
