2 Can Play Too

As we head toward the next phase of the Internet - the "get-big-or-get-lost" phase -- partnerships and "networks" will be the only way for second-tier players to challenge the increasingly dominant market leaders. We've seen the "gang up to win" principle several times, with banner exchanges, with link exchanges, and with Flycast's recently announced email ad network. In all these cases, small players band together to create a large network.

The best way to make this work for you is to set up a network of referring contacts among allied companies. For example Edmunds.com (Search site for people wanting to purchase a car) might want to tie-into an auto manufacturer like Ford and a Telematic company like ATX Technologies (atxtechnogies.com) or an insurance company like Geico Direct (geico.com). The concept of referring companies is like co-branding. These arrangements take time to establish but are relationships that last for longer periods of time. Designing co-designed landing & exit pages, and co-op marketing strategies is critical.

INTERNET MARKETING EVOLUTION

The net today has over 10 million web sites, 3.5 million are corporate sites and the number is constantly growing. To be effective a company needs to maximize its reach. Search engines are good, and for a short time they were the primary vehicle to reach consumers. Email is the killer marketing app, but needs to be used wisely and as a means to foster relationships, not hard sell. Banner advertising is garnering similar response levels to traditional advertising with nearly the same reach, and it is trackable. The next waves to watch for are sponsorships and lead referrals. Both of these are actively occurring now, but we expect them to increase significantly over the coming months.

About the Author


DBMarkets@aol.com
http://www.msdbm.com