Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission released its revised Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. The Guides are more than 80 pages long, so we’re still analyzing the changes. However, there is no question that our extensive advocacy efforts have had an effect on the final iteration of the Guides. The commentary included with the changes explains that advertisements using consumer testimonials should be evaluated by the net impression of the advertisement. A footnote in the revised Guides also suggests that in some cases a disclaimer could be sufficient. A more comprehensive legal document will be circulated shortly, but it is clear from a preliminary review that our efforts have not been made in vain. The 35 advocacy meetings on the Hill, 40 constituent meetings at the Fly-In, the testimony before the Senate, two sets of detailed comments and our suggested language were all helpful in presenting our case to the FTC.
However, the new Guides certainly do present some challenges, both to traditional TV marketers and those in social media. ERA is already planning educational opportunities that will provide suggestions for compliance with these changes. We hope the FTC will seize the opportunity to improve the marketplace by presenting to these changes to ERA members at one of our conferences.
Members who attended the Fly-In, supported the Leadership Reception, participated in the Government Affairs Committee, helped to author and review our comments to the FTC, and of course, testified before the Senate, were all instrumental in mitigating some of the more harmful changes. We thank you.
It has been an exciting week in the world of net neutrality. This week, Julius Genachowski, the Chairman of the FCC, announced the Commission’s intention to enter into a formal rulemaking process to codify the four principles of net neutrality currently in use and to add two more principles. The additional principles include a statement that consumers must be able to access the lawful content of their choice, subject to reasonable network management. Essentially, ISPs cannot block traffic to say, NBC Video, just because they have a partnership with Hulu. However, they still may prioritize all video content over all file sharing in order to manage the use of the network. In addition, networks must be transparent about what they are doing to manage traffic. This would give small business and direct response marketers more information about how consumers are experiencing online offerings like video advertising. Specifically, if you are providing an application for wireless devices or making videos available on sites like YouTube, you will know if some of the network providers are slowing certain services during peak hours. You will then be able to adjust your content delivery accordingly.
In the first half of this year, I talked about retailers revamping their marketing mix in the wake of the 2008 holiday season. Now as we approach another holiday season, online retailers have the benefit of knowing more about how their customers react and respond in tough economic times. Now is the time to harness that awareness and strengthen your bonds with customers. Whether you are a marketer, or business owner who wears the marketer hat, you can introduce some new ways to deepen the customer connection.
Expand beyond the walls of your website: September signals a flurry of activity running the gamut from back-to-school functions to various business networking forums. So take this approach and apply it to the online world. For example, many retailers are developing portable widgets that link to their content and services and finding other “outposts” across the web to place the widgets. In addition, the concept of an app store, such as the Conduit Marketplace, is one venue that allows businesses such as eMusic, Cartoon Doll Emporium and Pretentious Pooch to distribute their content and services beyond the walls of their websites. Customer acquisition and overall satisfaction get a boost with this expanded online presence, as more and more customers laud the efforts of retailers who develop convenient applications to meet their needs.
Make information easy to access: Time and again, one popular method retailers use to try to keep consumers satisfied is discounts. Once you understand your customers’ needs and the factors driving their decisions, you need to alert them to the promotion without spending so much time and money doing so that it drains your coffers. Savvy online shoppers know to search for coupons and promotions on sites such as RetailMeNot and A Thrifty Mom. As a matter of fact, these sites have even created customized applications on which shoppers can receive updates via their browser. These sites go the extra mile to be on the same page as consumers by not only lending a virtual helping hand with coupons and discount codes, but also providing a simple conduit to the information their users covet.
Provide convenient forums for feedback and questions: Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter offer another means to gather feedback and answer questions about your company and products. Don’t be shy about utilizing these avenues, but you must plan to be diligent about updating and responding so that negative comments don’t go unanswered. If you decide to create a business Twitter persona, or already have one, decide whether the primary function will be to serve as help desk or a personality that provides color and commentary within your industry. Then make sure that you have a consistent voice as you disseminate messages and responses. Make sure you aggregate all of your social networking tools on your website and create a conduit to customers with a branded community toolbar. Pretentious Pooch, an upscale pet supply store based in Baltimore, is a great example of a small retailer that has been able to deploy social media, content, and e-commerce in a single location to drive loyalty and sales.
Electronic Retailer’sSeptember ‘09 issue featuring Montel Williams is now available online! For more information about Motel’s upcoming keynote presentation at the ERA D2C Convention on Monday, Sept. 14, click here.
When utilized correctly, YouTube is quite the sales force to be reckoned with. On a recent conference call with ERA’s Internet & Emerging Media Council, certain members discussed how some direct response products have found success simply from videos being uploaded to YouTube.
Creative YouTube videos are a great way to drive incremental sales, if even on accident. If you’re Chris Brown, a singer recently convicted for felony assault against ex-girlfriend Rihanna, how do you get a year-old single onto the top 10 most purchased songs on iTunes? Oh, by being an integral part of a wild fire-spread YouTube video. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably seen this “Forever” wedding video.
While perusing iTunes when this video hit viral fame a few weeks back, I noticed that Chris Brown’s “Forever” was listed in the top 10 purchased singles. A web hit featuring one of his songs couldn’t have come at a better time for this artist whose image is tarnished in the press. I too, drank the Kool-Aid. I watched the video and loved it, logged onto iTunes and purchased.
Consequently, aside from user-generated content, YouTube also plays host to professional content, sometimes to the chagrin of the content creators. Monty Python’s producers found their content all over the web illegally, however they decided to be proactive and take control of their content in these channels, which turned out to be a very good idea. According to a recent release:
The Pythons created a YouTube channel in November 2008 just to stop their content from being released illegally on the Internet. “We felt the time had come to deal with the ‘YouTube problem.’ On the one hand, we were surprised at the number of clips that had been uploaded to YouTube in clear infringement of our copyright, and while we didn’t want to be spoilsports, it was getting pretty much out of control and we could see no real benefit. So I arranged a trip to meet the YouTube guys on the Google campus in San Jose and discovered that they had a program that would enable us to have our own Monty Python channel on YouTube where we could put up clips from the movies and TV shows of far greater quality and order that might also encourage viewers to want to see whole movies or TV episodes via links to Amazon and iTunes and expand our Monty Python fan base,” says Monty Python producer John Goldstone.
When Goldstone launched Monty Python’s Channel on November 14, 2008, he took advantage of YouTube’s click-to-buy program. The Python’s DVDs quickly climbed to No. 2 on Amazon’s Movies & TV bestsellers list and DVD sales increased 23,000 percent. “The click-to-buy ability was exactly what we were looking for to make the link from video to the right Amazon page much more effective than the URL by the side of the video description. We are only now beginning to address premium advertising, which is only possible when you can show the size, composition, and consistency of your viewers,” he says.
I guess the moral of the story would be that while YouTube may be struggling to support itself with a successful advertising platform, it currently sits as a lucrative marketing channel for the opportunistic, inventive marketer.
Before booking your travel to Las Vegas or San Diego, you may first want to get a few tips from “Saturday Night Live” travel expert Judy Grimes.
Did you miss out on the recent networking receptions in NYC and L.A.? Click here to view pictures from various events at Electronic Retailer’s Buzz page!
Microsoft’s new search engine has garnered a lot of media attention as it seeks to directly compete with Google, especially in a time when it seems no one in their right mind seeks to compete with Google.
The giant of the search-engine industry has its fingers in every possible pie, and it’s very rare that it doesn’t come out ahead. So what are Bing’s advantages and disadvantages?
Here’s two ways of gauging its chances of survival:
1. The Product Advantage
Bing is supposed to yield more relevant search results, which may actually sway consumers over to its side. The advantage to advertisers in that relevance is more precise, target marketing, which could change their game plan as well - if, that is, Bing’s searching is in fact superior to Google’s.
The content-driven approach helps sell that relevancy claim, as the system also adds consumer comments and reviews on the search results, e.g. getting customer reviews on a restaurant from services like Yelp.com.
2. The Marketing Advantage
Google has rarely spent money on advertising its own products. Consumers are ready to jump on just about anything that Google puts out, which means that the usual big spenders in a marketing budget are moot - television ads, for example. Microsoft’s Bing may have an advantage here, as the company seems to be willing to pour a near-endless stream of funds into promoting its new product.
It’s not a bad strategy, especially since nothing short of full media saturation is likely to sway loyal Google enthusiasts. Since they have no competition in many of their outlets, it might just give Bing a chance to play with the big boy.
Peter Koeppel is a Wharton MBA and president of Koeppel Direct, a full-service media buying agency based in Dallas.
Late last week Representatives Markey (D-MA) and Eshoo (D-CA) introduced a bill that would keep the Internet open by preventing Internet service providers (ISPs) from imposing “a charge on any Internet content, service, or application provider to enable any lawful Internet content, application, or service to be offered, provided, or used. In other words, they cannot charge you (as a content provider) more than the cost of service for your lawful content and any lawful applications you make available.
The bill also prevents ISPs from providing or selling any content, application, or service provider any offering that prioritizes traffic over that of other such providers. This addresses concerns that ISPs will sell premium access to some companies, which would have the end result of degrading everyone’s content. This is important to any company that is using video online, but is not interested in paying more than they currently do to ensure the quality of the video is not reduced. It’s not easy to be moved by advertising when the video is pixilated or freezes every three seconds.
Similar bills were introduced in the last two Congresses. However, the larger Democratic majority and President Obama’s stated priority of keeping the Internet open may mean there will be some movement on this bill. However, the House will be in a District Work Period (aka recess) until after Labor Day.
In the meantime, you can watch this video.
For more information on ERA’s government affairs efforts, click here.
I just returned from New Zealand—a land known for its geographic isolation—where I met with one of the nation’s premier web development firms. While the work done in New Zealand is on par with the best in the world, the price based upon current currency disparity makes it anywhere from 35- to 40-percent less expensive. Savvy e-marketers should look beyond the proximity of any opportunity when making any cost-benefit decisions. Prior to my voyage I attended the sixth annual E-Commerce Best Practices Conference.
As usual, this year’s program addressed a wide array of current issues facing the e-commerce industry, an industry that has shattered any remaining business barriers caused by geographic isolation. They covered user-generated content, and the monetization of both that and other social media. On the legal front, we learned about the issues surrounding minors’ online activities, e-commerce patents, content aggregation and trespass issues, new threats to cybersecurity, as well as cutting-edge litigation strategies for online businesses. E-commerce companies were advised about affiliate marketing over the Internet, doing business in China. We were educated about best practices for U.S. Internet companies establishing online stores in other jurisdictions.
My general impressions were that the world we are living in is indeed flat. E-tailers are no longer constrained by geographic locations. Rather, a reasoned analysis could open a plethora of money-making opportunities based upon a number of factors.
But for me, perhaps the most exciting part of the conference was the panel titled “Best Practices for Drafting Terms of Use.â€Â Not because I have any particular love of or interest in the finer points of contract law and negotiation (I let our lawyers handle that), but because the law firm tasked with moderating this particular panel, DLA Piper, recently did some work for my company, E-Commerce Island and the related UVI Research & Technology Park (RTPark). It was work which could also directly and significantly benefit profitable electronic retailers, such as those who are providing newsletters, SaaS, online games, ringtones and/or music subscription, digital photo hosting and licensing, online education, ad serving for online marketing, online dating, video streaming, customer support and other online products and services.
DLA attorneys analyzed existing federal tax code for guidance relevant to the types of businesses the RTPark is ideally set up to serve and attract (given one of the largest concentrations of global bandwidth and an historical role as a crossroads of commerce). Several business models with standing income sourcing guidance were found, and they approached the Treasury in May and June of 2006 seeking its affirmation that the RTPark interpretation of federal law was correct. The Treasury responded favorably with temporary regulations in September 2006. Then, in April 2008, the Treasury’s permanent regulations were issued. Because USVI is a territory of the U.S, additional benefits of USVI-based e-commerce efforts include FDIC insurance as well as jurisdiction and IP protection under U.S. federal law.
So what does this mean for electronic retailers offering the above-mentioned kinds of online products? Up to 90-percent federal tax savings for income sourced in the (near-shore) USVI. These impressive benefits are all the more valuable given the administration’s recently toughening stance on off-shore corporate tax savings.
As is often the case, identical companies can significantly increase their value simply by the locations they choose to source portions of their activities from.
Steve Rohrlickis the master marketing agent for ECommerce Island, otherwise known as St. Croix, the largest island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where superior infrastructure and tax benefits under the U.S. flag offer an ideal new home for eCommerce businesses.
Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission released its revised Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. The Guides are more than 80 pages long, so we’re still analyzing the changes. However, there is no question that our extensive advocacy efforts have had an effect on the final iteration of the Guides. The commentary included with the changes explains that advertisements using consumer testimonials should be evaluated by the net impression of the advertisement. A footnote in the revised Guides also suggests that in some cases a disclaimer could be sufficient. A more comprehensive legal document will be circulated shortly, but it is clear from a preliminary review that our efforts have not been made in vain. The 35 advocacy meetings on the Hill, 40 constituent meetings at the Fly-In, the testimony before the Senate, two sets of detailed comments and our suggested language were all helpful in presenting our case to the FTC.
It has been an exciting week in the world of net neutrality. This week, Julius Genachowski, the Chairman of the FCC, announced the Commission’s intention to enter into a formal rulemaking process to 
In the first half of this year, I talked about retailers 
Click here
When utilized correctly, YouTube is quite the sales force to be reckoned with. On a recent conference call with 
In addition to its upcoming 
Microsoft’s new search engine has garnered a lot of media attention as it seeks to directly compete with Google, especially in a time when it seems no one in their right mind seeks to compete with Google.
Late last week Representatives Markey (D-MA) and Eshoo (D-CA) introduced a bill that would keep the Internet open by preventing 
I just returned from New Zealand—a land known for its geographic isolation—where I met with one of the nation’s premier web development firms. While the work done in New Zealand is on par with the best in the world, the price based upon current currency disparity makes it anywhere from 35- to 40-percent less expensive. Savvy e-marketers should look beyond the proximity of any opportunity when making any cost-benefit decisions. Prior to my voyage I attended the sixth annual E-Commerce Best Practices Conference.
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