Copyrights?  I don’t even think about it.  Consider me a renowned painter universally appreciated for technique and creative vision. Buyers pain themselves to authenticate originals.  Brush strokes and signatures are studied. Paints and canvas is analyzed.  Money flows. Duplicates are nearly worthless in comparison to originals.  In an odd turn, copies help originals sell at higher prices by increasing awareness and widening appeal.  Business is good – or at least it is now that I’m dead.

The value of expressed creativity is seldom so utterly intrinsic.  It gets used up. Wouldn’t it be magnificent if I could write a novel only to watch it unavoidably increase in value each time it was copied, distributed, and read; once universally consumed, my words would reach their appraisal peak.  Realistically however, if everyone read it, there’d be no more buyers; plus, copies would be so ubiquitous they’d be nearly worthless.

Emotionally at least, “Dead Heads” – the fervent fanatics of the band The Grateful Dead – owned the music.  In a pre-digital demonstration of relaxed Copyright restrictions, Dead Heads were allowed (encouraged is more like it) to record the band in concert using portable devices.  Recording “zones” were set up for bootleggers during concerts.  The honor contract: bootleg recordings are for personal use only; don’t even think about making money from them. Profit is the sole dominion of the band.

The result of this grass roots distribution is a wider fan base.  The recordings were second rate so sales of studio recordings increased. Concert attendance was steadily substantial.  Fan loyalty is legendary. It was a shrewd marketing strategy for the pre-digital age, but what about now?

In the digital age, a “copy” no longer means a “copy”.  A digital-to-digital copy is, in fact, a clone.  Prior to digital content, a copy was a lower grade replica of the original.  Listen to a copied music CD or view a copied Digital Photo – for example – and it’s indistinguishable from the original. Analog copies result in quality loss, or if you’re clever, added value.  Either way it was different.

Today, once you express yourself digitally, you are not only producing an original, but the capacity for limitless originals.  The workable definition of being an original has changed.  The ability to clone and distribute content spawned a more lucrative model for piracy: steal, sell or trade clones and get away with it.  Distribution is fast, easy and often under the radar.

As a result, copyright protections swell in consequence on both ends of the scale.  On one balance, there is a hyper necessity to protect intellectual property now that originals are so easily stolen.  It’s as if the door to the vault has been left open or – more accurately – demolished.  Effortless anonymous pillaging is still pillaging.  Damage to legacy business models is massive. Traditionally, easy crimes, that result in big injury, carry stiff penalties.

Among the more draconian copyright legislators, Orin Hatch, while serving on the Senate Judiciary committee, showed his distain for digital piracy by suggesting:

“If we can find some way to do this without destroying their machines, we’d be interested in hearing about that.  [However] If that’s the only way, then I’m all for destroying their machines. If you have a few hundred thousand of those, I think people would realize the seriousness of their actions”

Don’t mess with Orin.  Unfortunately for him, unlicensed software was discovered on his computer days later, but that story is for another article.

On the other balance sits inspiration caused by mass distribution of original creative expression. Creativity begets creativity. One can argue that all creative expression is derivative; it’s just a matter of where the line is drawn.  The new global reach allows a boost up for higher innovation.  Copyright legislation can inhibit distribution when owners disallow digital publication of out of print books, or when powerful interests lock out the use of past creative products that are well beyond commercial viability.  Strictly govern access to past creativity, and valuable derivative works that would potentially benefit our culture are simultaneously limited.

Dissenters eagerly point out that this is neither the first nor last time change will cause businesses to collapse. Railroads ignored progress at their virtual demise, so how far should we carry our remorse for the likes of major music labels? Where there is change there is opportunity.  Eliminate one viable business model and another is born.

The Internet and digitization has increased competition in the business of intellectual property just has it has in other businesses.  Duplication and distribution is no longer a strong value-add for digitized intellectual property such as music, photography, or the written word.

By way of digital copy and distribution, protagonists direct us to new opportunities that deliver increased compensation to those who deserve it most: the creators.  Musicians can produce and distribute their original compositions with nominal investment by embracing digital recording and Internet distribution.  “Dead Head” marketing schemes with a digital spin are sprinkled throughout the Web.  Music piracy drops when artists make song access simple and cheap [see Apple iTunes].  Times are exciting if you’re an artist with more passion than money.

Copyright laws protect the monetary incentive for creative expression, also referred to as intellectual property.  Practically speaking, copyright protection makes it possible to build a profit model based on creative manifestation. Creativity wouldn’t end without protection, but no doubt it would be less profitable to be an artist – if that’s even possible – and society would be less culturally vibrant.

New to the scene: Creative Commons helps balance the copyright scales of public vs. private interests.  I hope CC won’t disapprove of this direct copy from their Web site: “Creative Commons defines the spectrum of possibilities between full copyright — all rights reserved — and the public domain — no rights reserved. Our licenses help you keep your copyright while inviting certain uses of your work — a “some rights reserved” copyright.”

Frequently, there is no avenue for contacting copyright holders regarding permissions.  Life plus 70 years is the current copy protection granted to every intellectual property creator with need to neither register nor be aware of copyright protection.  How do you find owners?  Often, you can’t, effectively removing any legal opportunity for building on the past.  No derivation allowed.  For the property holder, this could mean a loss of beneficial exposure – reference: Grateful Dead.

Creative Commons enables co-creativity: a valuable tool in the digital age.  Wikipedia proves just how valuable co-creation can be:

“Wikipedia is a Web-based, free-content encyclopedia written collaboratively by volunteers and sponsored by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. It has editions in roughly 200 different languages (about 100 of which are active) and contains entries both on traditional encyclopedic topics and on almanac, gazetteer, and current events topics. Its purpose is to create and distribute a free international encyclopedia in as many languages as possible. Wikipedia is one of the most popular reference sites on the internet receiving around 60 million hits per day.”

Likewise, Open source program code is what our Synthesis product, Synapse, is based on: PHP for you code geeks.  To borrow from Wikipedia: Something is open source when it includes everything needed to make improvements to it, and is licensed under terms that allow a person to legally sell it or give it away to others, without any fee or royalty.

From this time is born the “Copyright law of sacrifice”: give and gain; bend, don’t break.  Whatever the name, no longer strategically obvious, and occasionally counter intuitive, granting rights to use digital originals is a new strategic challenge.

Anyone who’s worked at an advertising agency knows that “creatives” and “suits” are customarily confined to separate spaces – often on separate floors. Living dangerously is walking your client through the creative offices unannounced – account people typically avoid it. Suits know that unless their client would eagerly cheer Copywriters or Art Directors to victory in a game of Foosball, it’s safer to arrange the creative tour in advance. This is a clear separation of marketing art and science but it’s not often a controversial one. The – at times – litigious argument occurs between the “show me the money” number crunchers and the “marketing is an art” obfuscators – however – either conflict can probably be portrayed as a left vs. right brain.

Marketing – still an investment in future sales – remains the sum of activities that keeps a company customer focused; nothing new to report. However, internet metrics, ever increasing competition, stockholder butt-kissing CEO’s, and that old John Wanamaker quote about the enigmatic half of advertising that’s a waste of money, have all helped birth the latest boardroom fixation with ROI Marketing or MPM [marketing performance measures].

No business goes through trends quite like the marketing biz, but presenting ROI marketing as something new is like wearing your hottest leisure suite and expecting Baby Boomers to marvel at your fashion forward savoir-faire. Back in the ‘60’s, Bill Bernbach warned us against believing that advertising is a measured science: “Advertising is fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art.” Still, one might argue that the degree to which persuasion is successful can and should be measured.

While advertising is just a portion of a marketing mix, it’s often one of the most expensive and thus receives its due scrutiny. A generation removed from Bill Bernach, ad guru Jack Trout writes: “It’s (ROI Marketing) a no-win deal. Too many variables can kill you, and the competition mucks things up. The only game you should play is return on perception—call that ROP. It’s a real problem to bet your program on those [ROI] numbers.” This may be true, yet, I’m sure Jack would accept that persuasion alters perception, and that brand owners need to measure perception; faith only goes so far.

Obsessive measurement can turn any visionary business leader into a reactionary follower. Consider Albert Einstein’s statement: “Not everything that can be counted counts and not everything that counts can be counted.” Marketing has always been tough to measure; it’s like measuring who won a Presidential debate. Who’d want to bet their careers on getting that right? Yet, in about ½ hour it’s not too tough to gauge the time needed to move Mt. Fuji 10 miles with a fleet of dump trucks, as long as you don’t expect results to be accurate to within a day, a decade, or two, or ten. Do you think Mr. Einstein would support the notion that order of magnitude is what really matters when dealing with large variables? I do.

In a harsh economy, predictable boardroom pressure will demand justification for marketing activities and programs rather than calling to optimize them based on faith in marketing talent. So – we need to measure, but what will improve your marketing, satisfy a bottom line prone upper management, and not send the company into a quagmire of useless eye glazing metrics? Sure – any CEO who questions the importance of marketing should fall on his sword, yet, progress is still vital even if the company’s marketing budget is controlled by a reactive financial chief with no sword in sight.

Marketing performance measures can be helpful when executed well but they are rarely executed well. Retailers are remarkable at optimizing store level marketing by determining why we buy. But then, they know what to measure: customer behavior. If 1000 people pass by that tie rack in men’s fashion without so much as a browse: change it, move it, paint it red.

Don’t over measure; reread Occam’s Razor, keep metrics simple and customer focused, not product focused. Successful measuring and change execution will vary with your company’s profit model, nevertheless, consider tracking these numbers:

* Customer acquisition cost (sales + marketing)
* Lifetime worth of a consumer (revenue)
* Expandability of annual consumption (wallet share)
* Customer churn rate (loyalty)

Perhaps the most important appraisal of marketing achievement – Brand Equity – is also one of the hardest to quantify. To this end, Young and Rubicam established a proprietary brand measurement tool in 1991: The Brand Asset Valuator. BAV is big. Conducted in 40 countries, it covers nearly 20,000 brands and questions 2 million consumers.

BAV successfully divides brand equity into two segments: Brand Strength [differentiation and relevance] and brand stature [esteem and knowledge]. Through these leading and lagging indicators [respectively], marketers and stake holders get a high level view of how their brand is perceived in the market place and, over time, how well their persuasion is affecting brand equity. More than an executive security blanket, the type of information amassed through BAV is essential when distributing millions in marketing dollars. Similar anecdotal and customer survey evidence can help those who have smaller scale budgets and brands not included in BAV.

Consider David Oglvy’s statement from decades ago: “I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.” Decades later we are in the same discussion and the best advice is comparable: use metrics in the hunt for enlighten business decisions but avoid waiting for justification.

Everything can be raised to the “art” level. Artists need a medium, a palate, a canvas – something that offers boundaries; a stage in which to perform or a frame in which to compose. Artists need resistance against which to push. In marketing we push against metrics framed by profit. Unmeasured metrics exist in latent form so there should be no controversy – we all desire the same outcome. Clamor amplifies when we use the wrong measures, forcing marketing artists to push against meaningless resistance. Use marketing ROI responsibly – if you find the need to hold onto something, it’s best to use a lamp post and seek help.

If you’re like me, there are times when you enjoy a greeting as you enter a store. No – not Wal-Mart, that’s too much like the bu-by of airplane egress, I’m talking about an always remember your name type welcoming. Hearing “hey Bruce” when I visit Harry’s Guitar shop makes me a loyal boy; using Web lingo, it’s sticky. After a couple visits, a guitar superstore just feels wrong.

On the other hand, being stalked by a vacuum cleaner salesman, on a day of appliance shopping is beyond creepy. “I know you were at Sears, what’s up with that? Here, let me show you that Electrolux. No? How ‘bout some bags?” We’d all be quick to dial 911.

It’s not peculiar to take in stride a deluge of mailbox catalogs exclusive to credit card use. Buy a sweater at the Gap, use your VISA card, and get 10 sweater catalogs at Christmas. Our purchasing habits have been on sale for decades. Consumers pay for their products with more than money; information is valuable to marketers.

Grocery stores are info-farming experts with their preferred buyer cards. Card carriers are privileged with discounts. When we buy a can of pet food, kitty litter coupons are thrust at us by checkout machines. Ever wonder what they do with all that data collected about what we buy, when, and how much we paid? Information drives strategy decisions.

Most folks free of criminal records don’t avoid stores with surveillance cameras. Why then might we suffer paranoia when recognized upon entering a website? Perhaps it’s the operational transparency or the mystery of on-line information harvesting. We’ve also heard of abuses and don’t want to be fooled. All reasonable if you ask me. There is a benefit-privacy conflict in business [and life] but it just seems more obvious on the web.

Like Oreos, your basic Internet cookie is harmless. Also like a chocolate cream filled wafer, some people like them and some don’t. Similarly, you are free to decide if you want them hanging around. Internet cookies do no more than give you a recognizable face as you enter a Web site. On-line businesses want to say hello and tailor their offerings just like conventional businesses. Without the means to recognize a returning customer, the relationship remains sterile.

If you want to remain anonymous, routinely delete cookies by using your browser tools, but keep in mind, your access to “wish lists” and personal preferences on favorite sites will be deleted too.

Cookies are very small text files dropped in a folder on your computer. An advanced cookie using merchant, like Amazon, may install this much information:

session-id-time 9543457356587242000 amazon.com/
session-id 002-4135465256-7625846 amazon.com/
x-main eKQIfwnxfghsghsghVWAXh@Ih6Uo5H amazon.com/
ubid-main 077-9263437-96356869678786 amazon.com/

A less sophisticated cookie may looks like this:

WEBTRENDS_ID
68.213.146.9-2736511040.29684135::746E8219C9485E9986k6280C8C0BA551D
www.tiftmerritt.com/1536466274944768657564415052833629684134*

As you can see there is no personal information in the cookie. Also, since it’s not a program [executable file], it has no ability to gather any. As they say in the medical profession: it’s benign. However, it’s always a good idea to check a company’s privacy policy to be sure they aren’t planning to sell the information you volunteer.

Your basic cookie is recognized by the originator and no others; Amazon can’t read Eddie Bauer cookies and vice versa. Arriving at the Web site, your ID number is read and your historical information from their database is displayed. Site owners keep what you volunteer along with any action you take on the site; similar to a brick and mortar store. However, once cookies can be shared by groups, things get a little dicey, even sleazy.

Third party cookies like those from DoubleClick feel a little slippery to most people. DoubleClick capitalizes on the idea of a networked cookie database. While still anonymous, DoubleClick’s cookies can be read by all subscribing Web sites. When read, your cookie ID is sent to Double-Click. In turn, they make available all information they have on your behavior (or whomever uses your computer) through other DoubleClick enabled sites. If you buy stuff on-line there is a very good chance you’ll be greeted with banner ads for similar stuff. As you are recognized, DoubleClick (and companies like them) deliver ads that contain messages they hope will interest you; better targeting through technology.

Often referred to as Behavioral Marketing, this is still harmless even though privacy violation is in question. DoubleClick allows you to opt out by going to where they deposit a cookie on your machine that blocks their service. The trick is that most people have no idea this process is taking place – using Web lingo: it’s transparent. Opting out won’t stop ads, but it will stop ads that target your behavior.

Cookies are different from adware and spyware. The latter two are programs [executable files] not simply text. Adware is additional code attached to software that causes banners or pop-ups to display when running the program; adware delivers ads. Shareware (free software available for download) is often financed using adware.

Spyware – on the other hand – collects and distributes information without your knowledge. It also uses your internet connection and other computer resources without your permission. The good news: There are a few good remedies out there. A cocktail of Sypbot and Yahoo makes me feel fairly clean.

Spybot Search and Destroy

Yahoo Toolbar

Probably the best suggestion is to maintain a level head. Our privacy is important but in real life we aren’t free from those stalking vacuum cleaner sales people. I personally don’t mind a DoubleClick style cookie but shutter at the possibility of tracking software counting my keystrokes.

Carry a Branded Department Store bag with you in the mall and everyone knows where you’ve been. Keep it anonymous and I’m fine. Yet, transparency is still an issue. Trust – how much can there be with new technology arriving faster than we can think. Make yourself comfortable, participate at your own speed, and take steps to avoid dialing 911.

In 1966 at 10, my brother got a printing press for Christmas.   No – not a Heidelberg – more like a Hasbro.  Ah yes [whispered while dreamily gazing skyward] to be published, or better yet, owner of a media empire. Tediously committing his prose to rubber type, he published Vol. 1, No. 1.  Monotony assured there wasn’t a No. 2. So what is the allure: smoldering punditry, opinion relief, mainline ego fix, fun, profit, power, influence?  At 10, it was most likely a warm hug from Mom.

It’s plain to most that competition for our attention is epidemic.  Most attempts are practically pathetic.  What once stopped us cold is easier dismissed today; we own new snub skills. Consumers are more attention savvy than ever.  Media speaking, sex is the only sure thing.

As “marketeers” what do we do next?  You won’t catch me agreeing with the “mass marketing is dead” pundits, but I will bandwagon that it’s less effective daily.  Likewise, it’s hard to make a good traditional ad that cuts the clutter while improving brand image, it’s expensive too.

Nothing grabs attention more than a human voice close to the ear.  Most marketing messages shout at us from a distance.  A whisper is often more effective than a shout.  A human voice close to the heart speaks louder no matter how soft the sound.  In a whirlwind of competing voices, we will favor the one most personal, interesting, believable, accountable; the most human.

Businesses benefit from human voice.  Without a human voice, emotional connection to a brand ranges from thorny to expensive.  What made the ’86 Boston Celtics brand so powerful?  They possessed an emotional connection so strong it was hard to think of them as a business.  Since then, the NBA has lost brand equity because they now look too business like; exit human voice, enter unveiled capitalism.

A human voice piercing the wall of rhetoric surrounding Iraq came to us through blogging.  Front line soldiers published their accounts.  In business, distain for Microsoft can be quelled by connecting to dozens of blogs authored by MS employees.  Blogs are personal dialogs published globally for communities with common interests.  Collectively blogs increase the bandwidth and reach of human interaction: mass micro-publishing, millions strong.

Blogs [or “web logs” said fast 20 times] are small websites with a common format.  The participants are either authors (posters) or visitors (commentators).  Authors rant – visitors respond, it’s a simple format.  Imbedded in the blog are links to other blogs made through footnote-like connections, lists of the Author’s favorite bloggers, or a link credited to the responder.  Through these links, dedicated blog-aholics can build a web substantial enough to snag large enterprises.

Bloggers can be vicious in bringing accountability to bear.  The high-end bicycle lock company, Kryptonite, discovered just how vicious when a product defect was amplified as bloggers instructed would-be lock hackers to effortlessly defeat their best product.  What’s more, blogger-sluething crossed media when John Stewart of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show parodied the quick razor sharp examination of the blogosphere.  (Fact Obsessed Bloggers)

Strong relations with important target groups is what Peter Drucker professed by writing: “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”  New communication tools like blogs can transport a strong understanding into the realm of participation.

Innovative companies are compelling web dwellers to participate in product development and promotion.  By facilitating the creative process and offering rewards ranging from monetary to ego stroking, such companies as Lego tap into on-line networks.  In turn, markets become vested in the brands through a process of co-creation.  The upshot is a network of advocates and a strongly targeted product.

Dream of controlling a radio station? Real-time (geek speak for “without delay”) worldwide personal publishing is morphing into personal media channels.  Not an Aliens sequel, Podcasting is hip slang for personal audio commentary or entertainment made readily available through the web and rendered mobile via Apple I-pods or other portable media devices.

Forty years later, hugs from Mom still motivate some but rubber type is history.  Opinionated ego seeking pundits litter the internet providing us with millions of relentlessly updated rants on thousands of topics.  Enthusiastically, I toss my $.02 worth [$.015 wholesale] into the Pacific sized blog pool [DeBoer Blog]. My motivation: money, fame, and influence of course [Mom hugs me just for showing up].   Honestly – I’ll settle for a higher search engine ranking resulting from the additional blog content.

Those search engine thingamabobs seem magical; type in a word or phrase and it finds them in seconds.  Ever “Google” yourself? Witnessing your name show up on the first search page fills you with a peculiar pride, similar to seeing that passionate editorial you wrote for the Op Ed section of the paper.  Then there is the cyber-joy in discovering that your website is first “O” worthy.   The benefits of being at the top of a search list in Google, Ask.com or Yahoo! Search is beyond pride for a company with something to offer.  The majority – over 80% – of all Web traffic starts with a search.  Tap the attention of searchers and you achieve just in time marketing at its highest level.  But first, let’s review.

It’s valuable to understand the difference between directories and search engines – confusing as it is.   The types aren’t always easy to discern; Yahoo! has both a directory and search engine, plus some search engines include directory results in their searches.  Simply – directories are collections of websites appraised and indexed hierarchically by real live humans. The Yahoo! Directory is the mother of all directories, however Looksmart and DMOZ are also noteworthy.   Directories are useful when you have only a vague notion for what you are looking: “I want to know more about computers” for example.

Conversely, search engine databases are mapped by relentless virtual robots [called spiders or crawlers] roaming the internet, mapping the ever expanding vastness of cyberspace.  They successfully map only a portion of the web, so consequently the true value of any search engine is not only their criteria [algorithms] for finding those relevant to your search, but also the quality of their catalog of indexed pages.  Each time you run a search on an engine like Google, Yahoo! Search or Ask.com, you aren’t searching all the web pages that exist – but even at 60 – 70% that’s still 2-3 billion or so pages.

Also in the mix are the search engines that search other search engines and directories: Metasearch engines.  Dog Pile, GO2Net, Vivisimo, Ixquick or MetaCrawler are all examples of these.   A metasearch will give you a variety of results from each engine identified.  They all have advantages and disadvantages but Google seems to be winning the search engine dominance battle – for now at least.

George Boole was a British born mathematician who lived from 1815-1864; useless information unless you’re a Jeopardy geek, right?  Well, yes – but he’s responsible for the method we use to search the internet: Boolean logic.  AND, NOT, OR – are the operators that allow you to refine your search so that the informational Holy Grail you seek isn’t obscured by thousands of irrelevant items. Additionally, quotes around words or phrases limits your search to those words in the order they appear.  If you’re better at math, try a plus sign (+) or a minus sign (–) in place of AND or NOT respectively – no operator is AND by default.

It helps to know how searches work if we want to take advantage of search engine opportunities.  However, the best place to start is to have a website worth finding.  Surprised?  I certainly hope not.  Content is still king – ultimately search engines work their magic to find sites with the richest content relevant to your search, and for the most part, they do a good job.

The content of your website is more important than the color of your home page.  If you have quality content it’s much easier to be found.  It’s even easier if you structure that content to match what the searcher and the search engines look for in that content:  keywords, meta-tags, link popularity, relevant page titles, etc.  Once found, great content justifies book-marking your site for future visits. (hint – don’t bury your valuable content in Flash, search engines can’t read it. Oh!  And don’t be underhanded – stay away from tricks; be authentic)

Everyone knows that Meta tags (keywords listed in the program code) and page titles are where you start.  Uh – well – yes, but not really.   Drag out that Marketing strategy you’ve been writing, you’re not done.  Finding the keywords or search phrases that are relevant to your prospective customers, and to your brand, isn’t an easy task.  They may be counterintuitive and require some creativity.  Your keywords and phrases should be simple but not too simple – obvious but not too obvious – unique but not too unique.  All that and they must support your brand and be supported by your integrated marketing efforts.  Type “on demand business” into the Google web search and see what happens.  Now that is good keyword support of a brand.

Next step – get on the map.  If your site has quality content there is a very good chance the spiders will find you, just like a cheap sci-fi movie.  Being found – in this case – is a good thing so eliminate uncertainty by registering your website with the majors.  [as an aid to you, www.synthesiscreative.com has a “Resources” subsection inside INFORM on its website with links to the engine registration pages.]

In life and keyword selection, trial and error – in due course – leads you to the right choices.  Branding is important in keyword selection but so is the practical, and luckily there is keyword help in the form of website statistic tools like those found with a host like Synthesis.  These tools capture and report the keywords people use to find your site.  While everyone knows the egg came before the chicken [checking your alertness], it’s still hard to know which the egg is: trials or statistical reports. Do both – wiggle just right and you’ll find the ones that work best.

Link popularity also plays a role in search engine results. What’re they?  Link popularity is the number of times your site is connected by links on the www.  It’s not called a web for nothing you know.  Your ranking rises when quality sites link to yours.  If you repair computers and IBM chooses to display your URL on their site, your site will be given more weight by search engines.  If IBM likes you, it’s as though you were elected virtual prom queen (or king) of the web world.  To find your popularity go to www.linkpopularity.com or attend your next high school reunion ands kiss some serious butt.  [hint: link exchange programs are practically worthless – search engines are – as they say – on to that trick.]

Finally I want to offer some caution.  An optimized site never rests.  It takes ceaseless vigilance if you want to appear in the top ten of organic search engine results week after week. Competition for those spots is fierce and often beyond reasonable effort.  Ignore your spot for a week and you may find you slipped to page three.  Hire a company that claims they’ll keep you in the top 10 and you’re probably being taken, however a reputable company can help keep you fine tuned – be skeptical.

As for Web advertising, it has to pinpoint your exact demographic if you want high click through rate (CTR).  Judge that from your own surf habits: how do you respond to ads?  While banner ads usually don’t work outside of weak brand building or being annoying, search engine advertising is highly cost effective.  All search engines offer paid positions on the results pages these days.   In fact, there are entire conferences devoted to search engine strategies so we won’t cover much in a paragraph.  The next Synthesis Newsletter will drill deeper into Search Engine Marketing [SEM]. For now, check out http://www.google.com/ads/index.html – a reasonable starting point.

Just in time marketing means getting in front of your customer at exactly the right time with a solution that precisely meets their needs: Point of Purchase [POP] ads in the real world or Paid Search Positions in the virtual world are both good examples.  A link to your site routinely on the first results page of a consumer search for a product or service that you offer is a chicken from which everyone wants eggs.  Forget the chicken – who cares – take the eggs.

All but universal is the concept of personal space, private space and intimate space.  Violate any one of an individual’s invisible concentric orbits with no invitation, and reactions range from mild discomfort to freak-out.  Do it on a regular basis and you risk jail-time.  Almost certainly then, personal, private and intimate marketing space exists.  Violate them at what cost – a loss of marketing dollars and/or brand equity perhaps?

How many times have you heard that people in the Midwest are friendlier than those inane northeastern city dwellers?  My response: take the sweetest Midwesterner and cram them in a crowded city all day, every day and disrupt their precious lives with panhandlers, traffic jams, crowded elevators that stop on every floor and fill their ears with incessant noise – then see how damn friendly they stay. People are people – you can wear their asses down.  All those interruptions can make us cranky; the constant invasion of our invisible orbits will send us to a home for the chronically overloaded.

Interruption marketing was obviously named for how it competes for our attention – it interrupts.  I say that, at best marketing interrupts our attention, but at worst it violates it.  Interrupt me and you’d better have something worthy of my interest, violate it and you’d best come bearing gifts.  It didn’t used to be this way.  Back in the day, a marketing interruption was either benign or welcome, and often entertaining – like traffic in a small Midwestern town, it was easy to tolerate.  Now the bar is higher since competition for our attention is often beyond reason and marketers seem to insist on deeper penetration of our personal orbits.

Why will we tolerate TV commercials during our favorite program but scream angrily at ads prior to theater movies?  Why is e-mail spam so intrusive when junk mail brought by the postman only a nuisance?  Why – it’s a trade-off between personal gain and how deeply marketers penetrate our personal orbits.  For example: I don’t want to pay the high price for TV programming without commercials so I’m tolerant.  However, I expect the price of theater admission to insulate me from ads so any interruptions infuriate.  Similarly, roadside billboards barely touch my personal marketing space while e-mail spam enters my private zone often enough to enrage Monty Python.  There needs to be an equitable trade: gain my attention and give me something.

This marketing trade-off notion – along with respecting personal orbits – is at the core of internet customer relationship strategy as we aim to straddle that wafer-thin line separating brand expansion and erosion: tolerance and irritation – miss the target and you risk squandering brand equity.  Erosion begins as soon as the customer experience is undesirable or over promised or both.   Avoid irritating your target with balanced relevant trades at every point of contact; trade customer consideration for relevant information, attention for rewards, or time for entertainment, and ultimately – do I have to say it – cash for high perceived value.

Visualize earning $.25 for every spam e-mail; we’d probably do everything possible to attract more spam.  Spam is reviled because there is nothing in it for the spamee.  Consumers are selfish; there needs to be something in it for them, and it needs to be obvious and authentic.  As marketers – one way or another – we pay to communicate with our targets.   Interrupt with no relevant content and you pay through brand erosion.  How we pay is key to our success, central in gaining permission and basic to maintaining a profitable relationship with consumers.

Seth Godin, the father of the permission marketing concept explains: “You have to turn attention into permission, permission into learning, and learning into trust …. You tell consumers a little something about your company and its products, they tell you a little something about themselves, you tell them a little more, they tell you a little more – and over time, you create a mutually beneficial learning relationship. Permission marketing is marketing without interruptions.”  The internet is the perfect space for this info-swap.

If you’re a regular customer at Amazon.com you have swap experience.  I’m into blues music so I’ve purchased several blues CD’s on Amazon.  Once logged in I see, “Hello Mr. Bruce DeBoer”.  On the home page I can access a personal wish list or “Bruce’s Store” or “Bruce’s Gold Box”, and all are personalized based on my buying history or search activity.  If desired, I can ask to receive e-mail updates on new releases – and so it goes. Occasionally this seems intrusive; however, if the personal attention is removed my experience with Amazon deteriorates.  I like being recognized when I walk into a store [most of the time].  If ignored by the clerk I can get testy.

The latest technologies for the Web make one-on-one marketing feasible by allowing marketers to track individual behavior.  Through permission e-mail, search engine results or clicks on banner ads, marketers can learn what a prospective customer is seeking.  Run a search for “Polka Bands” and you get more than organic results, you get paid results from Polkamart or banner ads relevant to your search.  It’s the ultimate Internet point of sale advertising; it’s unobtrusive and frequently useful because it’s highly relevant.  Please note that I’m not talking about those obnoxious irrelevant blinking banners exclaiming you’re customer 10,000 and you just won a new laptop – or some other over-promised extraneous BS.

Turn one-on-one marketing relationships into CRM.  CRM is another one of those insufferable acronyms that industries throw at outsiders to establish superiority.  It stands for customer relationship management which is short for “whatever it takes to get and stay close to your customer.”  Internet software tools – like those Synthesis programs into the Synapse platform modules – can make it easier for internet marketers to communicate and target prospects one on one.  Tools that send and track e-mail responses, track surfing behavior, collect data, collate behavioral statistics or generate polls and questionnaires, make it possible to micro-target individuals or groups with relevant offers or incentives.

Sure – Interrupt to gain attention but make a fair trade with your viewer; if you penetrate personal orbits compensate accordingly. Continue to build relationships by asking permission to make fair trades; the ultimate trade is selling your high value product or service.  The business environment has changed but marketing theory, profit models and good business strategy hasn’t.  The customer relationship remains vital to your brand – build it with good experiences across all contact points.

The internet is an extraordinary tool for customer relations. Ideally, a website is merely the public facing portion of your internet marketing engine.  The engine is your customer relational data base with tools for communicating to prospects in an entertaining and relevant fashion.

Tap me on the shoulder with nothing to say and I’ll ignore you. Make me a relevant offer and I’ll pay attention.  Waste my time and I’ll dissent.  Gain my trust and I’ll communicate my needs.  I’m not loyal so stay vigilant.  Make me laugh and I’ll invite my friends.  Treat me right and I’ll come back for more.  Mess up and I’ll move on.

Proposition: We have steadily integrated the Internet into our lives better than most businesses are integrating the web into overall strategy. The Internet is a channel that profoundly accelerated information and widened its access. The result is that the Internet is a great equalizer for businesses; fringe players can compete with the big boys. In turn, this underscores the importance of strategic positioning for both web based and more traditional businesses.

After years of insisting “I don’t want no damn Internet in my house”, even the most stubborn are now surfing. The Internet is where we start our search. The cell phone is rapidly morphing into a valuable Internet connection. I’m sure the speed with which early adopters can type messages on a phone key pad would amaze many. Passing notes under the desk in class is way too low tech these days. Many of us remember being forbidden to use our calculators in math class but now, colleges give away Internet appliances and/or digital content devices to incoming freshmen. The same technologies that baby boomers are gradually adopting are being demanded by the younger generations.

The new economy is getting old; the web is nearly transparent compared to the virtual panic it caused in the late 90’s. Even though the immediate business advantages were often overstated, the profound affect that ubiquitous mass information transfer will have on society is difficult – if not impossible – for us to fully grasp. Volumes are devoted to the study and we’ve only just begun.

One clear affect on business is an increase in competition; the Web broadens customer reach and makes substitutes easier to access. A rush for web revenue caused a temporary insanity among many business leaders early on. Confusing was how quickly the Internet changed the operational benchmark. It caused businesses to forget there was more to sound strategy than just doing what others do only better; the “me too” scheme. Strategies converged creating a hyper competitive – at times cannibalistic – business ethos.

Internet based businesses turned their focus on reach, price and delivery [operational efficiencies] but since efficiency gains are easily duplicated, there is no longer any other sustainable advantage to be had through simply improving business operations. The Internet, it seemed, had changed everything; price is king.

Luckily, that’s not entirely true, good sound business strategy is still reliable. Every business should use the Internet as part of an effective strategic position – the key word being “part” – integrating it as a tool. Allowing Internet channels to operate separately from conventional ones can dilute your strategy and/or cannibalize market share causing margins to drop or conflicts to develop.

Your integrated strategy should create a sustainable competitive advantage over your rivals. It’s still not entirely wise to compete based on price; the Internet screeched that point loudly in the late 90’s. Avoid it. Your industry’s “best practices” and differentiated positioning – combined – remains the cornerstone of good strategy. Likewise, anything that creates barriers that your competition must scale is a model strategy.

The Internet lowers entry barriers for competitors by reducing cost for sales and delivery channels, personnel, physical assets, and access to supply chains. Starting an Ebay business and grabbing your share of the revenue is an example of low entry cost. The key is to look for strategies that increase barriers for competition. I envision a movie chase scene where the chased continually throws things in the path of the chaser – not a bad business tactic.

Differentiate your value. Be specific. Resist the temptation of trying to capture a share of the entire market [an approach related to the “me too” scheme stated earlier]. Making trade-offs – sacrificing activities that fail to differentiate you from your rivals – helps you avoid strategic fuzziness. In turn, trade-offs and sacrifices create a higher differentiated value as perceived by your target customer, thus avoiding competition based solely on price. In the chase, think of taking a motorcycle through the narrow streets of London when your pursuer is driving a Hummer.

The moral: unique offerings, strong customer relationships, proprietary material, strong industry knowledge, continually relieving customer pain points and other long-established strengths fortify a strategic position whether you’re an Internet based business or not. The Internet has made it more critical to establish an integrated strategy that differentiates your position. Continuous improvement of operations is a given and no longer can be counted on to sustain meaningful advantages over your competition.

My great grandmother has a website –

Ok, not really – but the number of websites is almost unimaginable.  What’s more, there are sites sitting on the Web like so much roadside litter; cyberspace junk or webside trash that hasn’t changed in years.  If they were printed on paper it would have long since yellowed.