Thoughts on International Domains and Usability

I responded to a question on Linked about the use of domains. Here is the original question:

I am about to start an internet marketing campaign in Canada for a product that I am importing from the USA. Their website (example) is www.CoolProduct.com, my question is: do I promote www.CoolProduct.ca, or www.CoolProductCanada.com, in my marketing? I have both registered, and one will have a redirect to the main site I end up using.

Here are my thoughts:

The focus of domain selection process should always be on usability. So, you may want to do some research on the most common used domain (whether it is .com or .ca). If .com is the most common domain, you will find that many users will mistakenly recall the CoolProducts part of the domain, and automatically assume it is a .com domain. If this is the case, I would suggest using CoolProductsCanada.com.

If, on the other hand, it is common and popular to use .ca domains in Canada, and other similar or industry brands are using a .ca domain, then the more “expected” domain would be a .ca and I would recommend going with the CoolProduct.ca domain.

The key is user memory retention — which one are they most likely to recall–and ease of use (easy to spell).

Another approach is to do some benchmark research or competitive analysis. If your competitors are using one or the other, that is an indicator. Also, look across industries or product lines to see what other retailers/marketers are doing.

The final thing would be to see if there is any research available on internet usage in Canada (or your particular country). This would give you the most factual data.

The LinkedIn user followed up via email with this thought: “If I get coolproduct.com to link to me for my Canadian customers, I think I am better off using coolproduct.ca as it is shorter and easier to remember.”

I would agree with his thinking in general there. Another key thing is he would have the need to brand the regional nature of your market (Canada only), so the .ca may do that best.

Streaming radio station's audio on an ad-driven website?

LinkedIn member, Kelley Boster, Owner at Corporate Promotions & Incentives LLC. asked a compelling question through the LinkedIn Answers section.

Would Radio Stations allow their streaming to be accessed on other websites?

I have a Client who’s primary product is website advertising and we would like to see if we can add the “sound” dimension by partnering with a radio station with a matching demographic that offers “streaming” through their website? Would radio stations be open to this idea to allow streaming through another website that is not their own? What would the obstacles and/or objections be to this suggestion?

In dealing with potential radio content partnership, it is key to realize that a radio station’s revenue model is advertising as well. Radio ad sales have not been doing all that well, considering the current economy. Most radio stations build custom “player” interfaces that allow them to sell banner ad space to online listeners. So, I don’t see how any logical radio station would give up their revenue “inventory.” Also, while most radio stations are not making their bread & butter from online ad revenue, they do use online ad inventory to “sweeten” the deals for traditional radio advertising. I worked for a website property of a major radio conglomerate, and we would regularly have to display ads for “radio” customers (while not really seeing any revenue for it).

But, here are some thoughts to consider:

1. Independent or locally owned radio stations who might not yet have an online stream may be open to letting you make money of it, assuming you pay for the cost of the stream.

2. Stations already online may consider sharing revenue (50/50, 40/60, etc.) if you make it worth it. What can you offer the radio station that they don’t have already?

3. How about recording the radio shows, and offering them as “podcasts” or on-demand streaming, as opposed to “live.” The radio station gets a “secondary” market (through shared revenue) they probably would not have otherwise (most are not yet into podcasting as they see it as competition) while your website does not eat into their live radio audience. You could also arrange it so the radio station website can also provide the podcasts to their users directly.

The radio industry is an “old fashioned” industry, and from my experience, they are being slow to adapt and jump into the online world. When they do–and many radio/media companies are–they tend to have old fashioned radio industry mindset about how to do things, and revenue sharing and open-source are usually not included in there. Its a tough industry, so you’re going to have to be real creative in proving you can offer something of worth to their listeners and to their bottom line.

Below I provide a link to my previous employer’s web property. It is a very good model of the sharing of audience between radio and a website. Notice that several of Salem’s major radio hosts are bloggers who provide content on the website. They also regularly mention the website in their daily live radio shows. In exchange, the top 5 radio hosts get prime placement on the website, with direct links to the show websites and prime advertising of the radio host’s books. In this case, though, both the website property and the radio network are both owned by the same parent company, enabling the “innovation” leaders to “force” the change needed to make this work.

I’ve also posted below 2 links to an Economist set of articles on the convergence of old media with new media. Since you are in the web world, a lot will make sense to you, but you should read it from the point of view of what it communicates about the radio and traditional media industry. It is revealing of how far behind they have been and may be insightful into figuring out a model that will be tempting to your potential radio station partners. The first link is to the whole set of articles. The second Economist link is to the article on podcasting and radio.

Here are some articles and reference links that might be worth checking out in reference to the above:

Links:

* http://www.townhall.com
* http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6794156
* http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6794210

RelevantNoise: Keeping track of the political buzz

I’m a big politics buff, so I thought this article was rather interesting as it brings together my interest in interactive media and the world of politics (and its related to a tool I have used and can recommend).

Bloggers and social media enthusiasts on the Internet have weighed in on the recent McCain – Palin ticket, and the responses have pulled the Republican nominee into a virtual tie with Senator Barack Obama in the blogosphere.

I’ve had the opportunity to test-drive the technology behind this — lots of powerful intelligence and analytic tools to help you interpret the “noise” out there.

…according to RelevantNoise(TM), Zeta Interactive’s technology that mines the Internet’s social media landscape — including over 100 million blogs, as well as countless message boards and online communities — the buzz on the Internet regarding John McCain has skyrocketed by more than 12 percent since the announcement of Palin as his running mate, bringing him virtually even with Obama for the first time in the campaign.

I’m rooting for McCain, and was happy with his pick for VP, so its nice to read the good news. From a political strategy point of view, it seems to me that all the attacks on Sarah Palin is backfiring for the Obama campaign and has them off-message.

Since announcing Palin as his running mate, McCain also has benefitted from an increase in positive posts on the online media landscape. According to RelevantNoise, the number of posts that were determined positive in tone increased from 47 percent in the month prior to announcing his VP to 59 percent positive on the day that McCain named Palin. (Click the URL to see the volume and tonal charts) – http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080903/NYW144

How can offline marketing support online marketing and vice versa

I came across a great question in LinkedIn Answers and I think I’ll share it here. The question from Ann Lacres was, “How can offline marketing support online marketing and vice versa?”

Here is my 2 cents:

Online marketing can serve as another way to better segment your marketing dollars. So, while you can do “email reminders” to reinforce direct mail drops, you can also allow customers to choose how you communicate with them, giving them more control over how they interact with your company. This will allow you to increase the relevance and the effectiveness of each channel.

Another approach is to use offline marketing to drive customers to an online “funnel” where you can identify the customer and serve-up targeted offers or content. The value of offline is that you can do mass-communication reaching millions, but the weakness is that it’s not interactive–the customer can’t respond to your offer on-the-spot. So, use offline marketing to drive to a micro site where you can provide more depth, as well as breadth, of information–and customer-unique targeted offer.

I’ll ad to my initial answer that another power of using online as a response tool for offline marketing is that by using an “opt-in” mechanism, you can actually measure your promo costs ahead of time and get more “intelligence” out of the whole campaign. At my current employer, we do opt-in promotions tied to a customer’s spending habits, so we are able to track ahead of time what the total max cost of the promo is going to be months ahead of when the rewards are delivered.

A couple other LinkedIn members had some good ideas, including this one from Ms. Jennifer Woodard:

If you have an brick and mortar store, your online marketing can support your offline marketing my including your address to your store and hours on your website. You can offer specials on your website that have to be presented in the store to be taken advantage of. You can offer in your store places to sign up for your company newsletter, refrigerator magnets with your company information and website address, etc.

I think the key here is to let the customer choose his/her preferred “channel” to shop, rather than having pre-conceived notions about what customers want. Otherwise, you won’t see the response rates you are hoping for.

Bold: Modernista goes "siteless"

Marketnig Vox is reporting that Boston-based Modernista dismantled their site, and is going “web 2.0″ with their new modernista.com destination. I think this has to be the gutsiest web strategy I’ve seen, specially when considering it’s from an ad agency.

When users “Google” the agency and click on Modernista, they are brought to the same results page — with an added nav bar. Clicking on “About” brings you to either Modernista’s Wikipedia entry or Facebook page.

The agency’s past work appears on Flickr, YouTube and del.icio.us. For company news, users are directed to Google News.

As MarketingVox points out, it’s risky as it means that competitors and potentially disgruntled ex-customers might have a way to place negative information within their web destination. You have to give them credit for walking the walk when it comes to the web.

Connecting your organization with new media

Rob Neppell just launched a new company:

Kithbridge, Inc. was launched as an evolution of one of the blogosphere’s original and most successful blog-tracking sites, The Truth Laid Bear. While The Truth Laid Bear provides a portal and blog search engine for individual bloggers and blog-readers, Kithbridge provides customized technology, services, and strategies for businesses, political campaigns, nonprofits, and other organizations which seek to fully engage with the growing and dynamic world of the blogosphere and new media.

Kithbridge’s founder and president is Rob Neppell, known online by the pseudonym “N.Z. Bear”. In 2002, Rob created the first and still-definitive blog tracking system, The TTLB Blogosphere Ecosystem, and over the past five years has earned a reputation as one of the key innovators in the new world of weblogs and citizens’ media.

If your company is wanting to make inroads in the world of new media, Rob is your man. You can read more here.

Online Campaign Strategy

I had the opportunity to present to a group of college students from Patrick Henry College at a weekend Leadership Institute Campaign School in Arlington. Great audience — very attentive and focused, with good questions all through out the hour 1/2.

Here is my power point, provided via SlideShare.net.

What The Internet Can Do For Your Candidacy

Here is a Power Point for a presentation I gave to a group of aspiring UK conservative politicos. You can also see it over at SlideShare.net and vote on it.

Show me, don’t tell me.

Stop the Presses makes the argument that a YouTube video is more powerful than a press release when it comes to trying your case in the courts of public opinion.

One video on YouTube–whether it be comparing two songs recorded 25 years apart or showing a laptop battery exploding–is infinitely more compelling than a press release describing the same situation.

To quote 70s rock icons Rush: “Show me, don’t tell me.“

It works both ways — your customer might put up a video showing how bad (or how great) your product works, AND your marketing or communications team can use it to show your product’s great features.

Closer look at alternate-reality games

Earlier, I wrote about a mystery movie trailer I saw before the Transformers movie. It turns out it may be a part of a complex game-based buzz-marketing technique called Alternative Reality Games.

The trailer reveals it’s for a 2008 Paramount film from wunderkind producer J.J. Abrams (“Felicity,” “Alias,” “Lost”), and virtually no other details, so we’re left wondering: What’s the name of the movie? Who’s the villain? What freedom-hating beast(s) — HulkGodzillaKong? the Cthulhu? Taliban evildoers? — would decapitate Lady Liberty?

Joshua Zumbrun writes about the mystery movie teaser that has gamers looking for Alternate Reality games.

Alternate-reality games, for those unfamiliar with the genre, are perhaps best illustrated with an actual example: Imagine you find a Web site. The owner says it’s been hacked and she asks the online world for help. People search the site and find corrupted data files, and a countdown to the year 2552. The site is like many small sites that run into tech problems and need help.

Except the site is fake. The woman is fake. Stay with us here: Her entire world is a fictional creation, a web of fake sites and fake blogs, with more and more mysteries slowly unraveling, as online participants decrypt codes in the corrupted data files. As it happens, 2552 is the year that an alien horde invades Earth in the Xbox video game series Halo. Indeed, the entire fictional world was part of an alternate-reality game called I Love Bees — promoting the 2004 launch of Halo 2 and deepening the mythology of the Halo world — created by a firm, 42 Entertainment, devoted exclusively to the creation of “immersive entertainment.”