December 2006

Let’s define what I call Anticipation Marketing. It’s essentially the build-up of a product from preannouncement to launch. Let me explain the concept with one of the masters of this method, F/X Networks, specifically with their launch of Dirt starring Courteney Cox.

This show was announced back in April with no date set for release (we now know the show starts in January). After the initial announcement of the show, commercials started running with a lot of frequency but they didn’t really give you an idea about what the show was about. They would just flash up the logo with a coming soon caption. This piqued the curiosity of the viewers. After several weeks of the vague logo commercial, they began to air one with a woman from the neck down carrying a camera. Now we have a little better idea about what the show is about but nothing definitive, but you’re interested. This format carries on throughout the winter with new versions that give us a little more each time. It’s like getting a little chocolate and wanting more.

What this does is keeps the viewers excited and wondering about the show and during the pre-launch stage. If you had seen the full fledged version of the commercial back in April, you might have been unimpressed and decided right then that you weren’t going to watch it. This method keeps your interest throughout until the network can air the show, and you’ll be hooked…assuming that it’s any good.

Taking this online can be difficult and there has not been anyone to do it well. It can be compared to viral marketing, but it isn’t quite the same thing. In most cases of viral marketing, you get the buzz going around a product or service but there isn’t really any buildup or anticipation going on here.

Microsoft made somewhat of an attempt with the launch of their Zune mp3 player, building a vague web site that created some buzz. The final execution was poorly done because nothing ever changed and they didn’t give people any reason to keep checking back, destroying any anticipation that existed.

There are countless “web 2.0” companies out there that have yet to launch their product and are making feeble attempts and building anticipation, but again none of them do it well. Here are some things to make Anticipation Marketing work:

1) Move from the standard one-time success model. The conversion metric for this campaign is return visitors and nothing else. You should be seeing a steady increase in return visits from start to finish.

2) Don’t give away the bank too quickly. If you do there will not be enough anticipation built up and your customers won’t give your product a full examination. This is especially true with new technologies or new ways of doing things. (I think Flock made this mistake)

3) Don’t drag it on forever. There is a point when the anticipation reaches critical mass. Reward the waiting customers then or it will be worse than moving too quickly. People will get frustrated with waiting, abandon you and probably won’t even look at what you’ve got.

4) Be creative. Blog posts that just say you’ve got a ‘cool new widget’ or ‘widget coming soon’ are not going to cut it. You need something attention grabbing that will make people anticipate the release.

5) Don’t be too vague. You can start vague, but make sure you keep giving away some candy or visitors won’t have any reason to return.

Rebecca Lieb at ClickZ says that AdSense is acting like Gator because of AdSense showing up on merchant sites attempting to pull away customers from buying on that particular site. However, the example she gives doesn’t make any sense. While shopping for cordless phone batteries, this was her experience:

The first result I click (a paid search advertiser), had obviously drunk the Google Kool-Aid, given AdSense ads occupied the bulk of his site’s real estate. And what are those ads touting? Why, batteries, of course — the only product this particular merchant sells.

This did occur with the old Gator/Claria, except this was not controlled by the actual merchant. Spyware, toolbars and other sneaky ad platforms being installed caused the Gator ads to display. This is just an example of an idiotic merchant who doesn’t know how to filter ads and who didn’t think too much about why they were putting ads on their site in the first place. Conversion specialists would have a meltdown with this kind of thing. The only thing this type of site is trying to do is sell merchandise. Giving potential customers the option of going elsewhere to look is obviously not the best idea.

Maybe when AdSense starts popping up everywhere from having the Google Toolbar installed, then we can start talking about the Gator/Claria comparison.

Just had this nice letter land in my mailbox…

Dear Music123 Affiliate,

I wanted to inform about what’s been going on here at Music123. If you haven’t caught the news of late, Music123 / Woodwind & Brasswind filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy the end of November and entered into what is called a 363 Sale Process. The 363 Sale process is a well accepted sale process designed to maximize the value of Music123 for the benefit of its customers, employees, creditors and shareholders.

Music123 will be operating in the ordinary course of business during the sale process, and will have the ability to satisfy its post-petition indebtedness. This means we will make payment on any commissions credited to you December 1st forward.

In light of the filing for Chapter 11, the company is prohibited by law from paying debts which arose prior to filing for Chapter 11. Unfortunately this means we will not be able to pay the past commissions due for October and November. The payment of those funds will be handled by the courts.

Two months of PPC down the hole. Sometimes we need to start paying more attention to the financial stability of the companies in our affiliate programs. Hopefully this one will work out in the end.

It appears law enforcement is using YouTube to hunt down criminals now. Via this story a man in Canada stabbed two men in the parking lot after a concert. Law enforcement officials, knowing that a connection existed between young people and YouTube, posted the surveillance video from the venue. 30,000 views later, the guy turns himself in after he sees it. Brought down by YouTube….that will be fun to explain in prison.

Just stumbled onto a new answer service called Jyve. It takes the concept of Yahoo Answers to a new level. Ask a question, and you get an immediate response via IM or a phone call from someone on Skype answering your question. I’m not sure about the level of expertise of the people answering the questions though; it seems a little shifty at the moment. It will be fun to keep an eye on it to see if this type of service can take off. I think it could work if they can up the level of experts, and it’s not just a shot in the dark.