Thinking Australia’s Internet Management Newsletter takes a look at issues that go beyond the web page.
 
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In this issue:
 
1. Search and Evaluate
   1.1 The dollar value of Search Engines
   1.2 Top searched for keywords
   1.3 Banner Blindness
   1.4 Microsoft and the risks within an unregulated medium
 
2. Audience Management
   2.1 The new world could reposition your brand.
   2.2 Are you part of the consideration set?
   2.3 Position, position, position
   2.4 You evaluate, then you buy
 
3. Offer of the Month
   3.1 Share of Voice Report.
 
 

1 Search and Evaluate 
1.1 The dollar value of search engines.
There is one point that we continually keep repeating: the internet is an evaluative medium. People don’t surf, they go in search of information.
 
According to Jupiter Communications, the three main activities on the internet are email, search engines and researching products. All three are up in the high 80s and 90s in percentage.
 
The importance and value of search engine listings cannot be overemphasised. If so many people are using this route to reach you, then your presence here is a good indication of your reach and share of voice on the internet.
 
It all adds up. Search engines can charge upwards of $50,000 per year for banner ads tied to keywords. If your website can achieve a listing in the top 10 it’s comparable to buying $260,000 worth of advertising per keyword.
 
On the Thinking website is a brief description of the main search engines and how to submit and check for your exposure. click here  
 
Thinking has a Report called a Share of Voice Report that quickly and simply provides a snapshot of your internet stature. For information, contact searchme@thinking.com.au.
 
1.2. Top searched for keywords
“Sex” is no longer the most searched for keyword on the internet. Probably for the first time since aged University professors were masters of the web, “sex” has been overtaken by the keyword “MP3”.
 
The technology that is revolutionising the music industry is also causing a sensation amongst consumers and they are evaluating the technology online.
 
1.3. Banner Blindness
Everyone is talking about and trying to sell you banner ads. Why? When you’re in a seek medium, you rarely stop to view the scenery. Think of the last time you went in search of information online. Did you hang around, happily waiting for every banner to download and circle through its animation? Or were you more interested in getting to the meat?
 
We know that when we took over www.fallscreek.net, due to the size of the top header, many people were actually going off to other pages as soon as the navigation appeared. In most cases they weren’t even waiting for the top header image to download. We had to amend this so it would download faster.
 
Why is it that click-through rates are dropping down to as low as sub 1%? Normally most people have scrolled past the banner before it has even come up.
 
This is banner blindness. Banners exist because they represent an easy, convenient way to match the “interruptive” nature of advertising. However, the medium is different to the TV. (Surprised?)
 
In one you have a captive audience, in the other the audience is active. They are on a mission. In this medium, you can’t think like an advertiser, you have to think like an online consumer.
 
If you’d like to hear more on how they think, email activeuser@thinking.com.au.
 
1.4 Microsoft and the risks within an unregulated medium
In the old days - a couple of years ago - you could control your message. Detractors could be easily quietened by strategically increasing your voice through PR and selected distribution of your message.
 
Getting voice was an expensive exercise.
 
On the internet a little effort can give detractors the reach and voice that could have major image implications for prominent corporations who are usually sought after targets.
 
For example, at Thinking, we’ve received a number of emails about Microsoft. Emails on viruses embedded within Microsoft software files and will destroy your hard disk if the file is opened. Emails about Y2K issues that state Microsoft products are unprepared for the 1/1/2000.
 
They have all been “hoax emails”. However, such rumours can quickly spread and be perceived as fact. Insignificant groups can risk the livelihood of even the most prominent companies.
 
The internet opens new, uncharted waters in regard to issues and risk management. If this is a concern, email risk@thinking.com.au.
 
 
 
2. Audience Management
2.1 The new world could reposition your brand.
What search engines offer consumers is a consideration set that gives them a glimpse of their universe. If you appear here, then you are part of that universe, if not then you may not exist.
 
It’s similar to shopping in a foreign country. New brands can often become new friends if seen often enough and the service is good enough. They can reposition old brands as belonging to a different world or consideration set.
 
Take for example Yellow Pages. In the physical world, we reach for the big yellow book to search for things we need. In the virtual world online, most people go to Yahoo.com. How is your product being positioned online.
 
Many of the cases we’ve seen and evaluated, have shown a distinct difference between the physical world brand and the online brand. Are you being repositioned online?
 
Many of the clients we spoke to didn’t even realise they weren’t making it into their customer’s consideration set.
 
2.2 Are you part of the consideration set?
When searching, people will seek out categories first. For example, I may look for “home loans” before I look for ANZ, “accountant” before CPA and “sex” long before Playboy.
 
The brand is a short cut to making a selection. However, if the recognised and known brand is not there, then the new brand can quickly take its place as long as it fulfils the basic needs. What this does is place many brands at risk of losing their relevance online.
 
Quality has become less and less of a differentiator. As the quality and service of each brand draws closer and closer, one of the most important differentiators will be a constant presence.
 
Simply by being there when a customer searches for a category signifies that you could be a reliable and trusted brand - “You’re there when I need you.” Isn’t that what a brand is about?
 
2.3 Position, position, position.
You can’t beat being in the right place at the right time. Your mother and your school teacher were right when they tried to drum that simple lesson in to you. And it has never been more timely than now.
 
Brands on the internet are not about being, but about having a presence whenever someone thinks about your product. Whenever you read a review of a book, there is Amazon.com.
 
It’s no different from Coke. Next time you feel that tug of thirst from the back of your throat, look around. Chances are that somewhere in the landscape is either a sign, or a shop, or a vending machine that will sell you a cool coke. Imagine if you had to go to the Coke factory every time you wanted to quench your thirst?
 
They are where their customer needs them.
 
We need to use more of this thinking on the internet. You don’t need people coming to your door to get sales. At the moment, we’re talking to a client about starting a retail online business without a website. The idea is to syndicate his content through an affiliate program.
 
Customers don’t have to find his site, his products find them.
 
It’s all there. In this scenario, the retailer finds the customer. It keeps his business flexible and able to move quickly to embrace customer demands and trends.
 
If you want to know more email everywhere@thinking.com.au.
 
2.4 You evaluate, then you buy.
Once upon a time, you could choose a Ford in just about any colour as long as it was black. That was an easy choice. Today, the choices in just about every category, in every part of my life have expanded phenomenally.
 
It’s no longer a choice between a Ford or a Holden, but also a Toyota, Nissin, Daewoo, Hyundai, Mazda, Honda, Seat, Proton, etc, etc. Then there’s the range, then there’s the choices within each model.
 
Is it any wonder evaluation is an important part of any purchase decision. People are looking at ways to empower themselves with the right information. The internet is fast becoming the evaluation medium of choice for a very large audience. In the US figures show that 50% of all new cars purchased were evaluated on the internet. The same is happening in loans: In a recent study, 45% of respondents and 56% of recent home purchasers said the internet was “very useful” for providing information on obtaining a mortgage.
 
What this shows is that the internet is not merely about cash registers. It is not the terminal medium, but one of the important pathways to a sale.
 
 
 
3. Offer of the Month 
3.1 Online Share of Voice Report.
Thinking Internet Management Services can attend to all of the issues covered in this newsletter. One of the first starting points is to discover the amount of voice or presence you have on the internet.
 
Thinking’s Share of Voice Program provides a valuable and quantifiable benchmark of your internet presence. If you’re serious about your internet presence, then you should know where you stand when your customers go looking for you.
 
Time to Implement: 7 working days
 
Deliverable: Written report on your internet stature and recommendations.
 
Special Price: $500 per brand.
 
This offer is only valid until 30 November, 1999. For more information, contact shareofvoice@thinking.com.au.

 
 
THINK MAIL is Thinking Australia’s Internet Management Newsletter. It is compiled and written by Mark Bergin and Joe Di Stefano.
 
For further information contact Thinking Australia.
 
Thinking’s mission is to help our clients establish, develop and maintain successful internet brands. We help them complete the transition from mere internet presence of their brand to the more important phase of internet - brand management which covers the management of their “voice”, “experience” and “audience”.
 
Please send this newsletter to anyone who you believe would receive value from this information.
 
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