Do Business Well

You can also use the Internet and commercial online services to launch your BBS. For example, you can put the connection software for your BBS on a Web site. If someone is interested in joining the BBS, they download the software from your site and install it on their computer. This saves you the trouble and cost of mailing a disk to new subscribers.

In general, the proactive approach is the best way to get a BBS started. If you want people to connect electronically to your company, go to their home or office and set up the system on their computer. You need to be proactive because many people do not have the motivation or the inclination to install new capabilities on their computer. But once the software is set up, they will use the BBS to communicate with your company. So get out there and be proactive.

The Ongoing Process

Following the successful launch of your program, keep it exciting and vibrant by constantly changing the content, and look for new _opportunities. Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing is an ongoing interactive process. Continue Reading »

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Because it’s so easy to capture, store, process, and redistribute digital information, it is becoming almost impossible to police trademarkand copyright infractions on the Internet. Consider for example, the problem of the Digital Fan.

The digital fan: Let’s say you own a major rollerblade hockey team, the Hanover Hippos. Your team has won the world championships three times in a row, and made you millions of dollars selling merchandise and information about the Hippos. You’ve created your official Hippo Home Page, and receive more than a million hits a week. But something is amiss. Many of your fans are starting to set up their own online fan clubs. They’re plastering the Hippo logo all over their pages and posting statistics and player profiles downloaded from your site. As well, fans of your archrivals, the Neustadt Nimrods, have set up anti-Hippo sites filled with lewd images which they have made by digitally altering your logo. Continue Reading »

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Your digital marketing program is like the Saturn V rocket which launched Neil Armstrong and his crew to the moon. The tremendous power needed to launch the rocket consumed most of its fuel in the first few minutes. But once the spacecraft was on its way, only minor adjustments were needed. So it is with your digital marketing program. It’s like a rocket — it has three distinct stages and needs you to send it skyward with a blast. The stages are:

• the Launch;
• the Ongoing Process; and
• the Expansion of your Program.

Let’s take a look at each of these stages.

The Launch

When you’re ready for liftoff, you can generate initial awareness of your promotion using both digital and mass-media marketing tools. The appropriate mix of these tools depends on the technical capabilities of your audience and the type of promotion you’re launching. Continue Reading »

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Data security and encryption: Data security is one of the central issues of digital marketing. Because the Internet is a public highway, the information which travels through it can be picked up and read by anyone who has the knowledge and capability to do so. If security measures have not been taken to scramble the data, or code it, the information is totally unsecured. In many cases, people don’t care about data security. When you send an e-mail message to a friend, you usually don’t care if someone intercepts it. It’s no different than someone at the post office opening up your letter, or someone listening to your conversation on a cellular telephone scanner. You take that risk. But when you want to send a confidential e-mail to someone in your company, or give someone your credit card number on the Internet, it’s a different matter. You want to send a secret message which only the recipient can unravel and read. That’s where data encryption comes in. Continue Reading »

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The development of a secure and verifiable form of electronic money will be the catalyst for an explosion in the field of digital marketing. Also known as cybercash or digital cash, e-money will become the standard currency of the digital age. You’ll be able to load e-money onto smart cards using readers attached to your telephone, or download it from your bank account to your hard drive. You’ll use it to buy products and services online, and transfer it to your friends and relatives. You’ll also carry around a digital purse with electronic money in it, and use it like you use cash today.

Daunting hurdles must be overcome before digital money becomes a reality, and many questions remain unanswered. Should electronic money be based on existing national currencies, or should a new international electronic currency be created? Continue Reading »

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Interactive Digital Television (iDTV) looks similar to PC-based Internet but is delivered through a television set and can be operated using a remote control. From a standing start in 1999, market penetration by 2002 is currently around 40 per cent of UK households and is projected to rise to 95 per cent by 2010, according to a Netpoll survey. Leading providers include Sky Digital, ON Digital, Telewest and NTL. One of the key drivers for this surprisingly rapid growth has been the provision of free set-top boxes by these platform providers. Services currently provided include home shopping, email, video, banking and travel. Forrester Research (2001) predicts that more people will access the Internet through a television than through a PC by the end of 2004.

Advertising through this mechanism can be interactive, as viewers can respond immediately to request further information or to sign up for a promotion. Digital television has helped increase Continue Reading »

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