Interactive Marketing

This area is just exploding at the moment. People are jumping into interactive marketing: on the Internet, the online services, the World Wide Web, through CD-ROM. But what most people are doing is they are just extrapolating traditional marketing methods and the traditional marketing frame of reference onto cyberspace. Simply re-formatting existing programs and campaigns to fit the online environment.

First of all, that's probably not going to work. People who are online are paying by the minute to be there. Whether through the Internet or through online services, people are paying to access information. They're not that willing to pay to read advertisements. Look at television. People use VCRs and remote controls to avoid watching commercials, and the incremental cost of watching television is nothing. Even with cable, people do not pay by the minute to watch TV. People are certainly going to have problems with paying by the minute to read advertising online.

Secondly, putting traditional marketing in the online environment is a waste, because it is not taking advantage of the full potential of this medium.

Basically what we're talking about is a new marketing paradigm. We're moving away from the era of mass marketing, where we had broadcast television, broadcast radio, advertising in large circulation metropolitan newspapers. The era where you framed your message to appeal to the lowest common denominator and then sent it out in volume over the broadcast networks, in the large newspapers, through magazines, and other mass media.

But over the years, a continuum has emerged. Starting with the special interest magazines, then with the specialized channels on cable television, and with telemarketing and direct mail. What we've been moving toward is a more highly targeted type of marketing. And of course that has now reached a mature and sophisticated level. You can buy mailing lists with almost any criteria specified. What the online environment does is extend that continuum to its ultimate conclusion which is -- targeting the individual and constructing your message to fit the specific needs of that individual.

There are several things that enable us to do that. First, the increasing availability of communications bandwidth. It is getting to be dirt cheap to send out digital information. In addition to that is the two-way, interactive hypermedia/multimedia technology. These two developments enable us to deliver detailed, personalized information to individual members of our market. To appeal to people on an individual level. To give them the feel that they are interacting with us in a very personal way. That is the true potential of marketing in cyberspace.

The technology makes possible a highly personalized, individually tailored message that can appeal directly to the interest of the individuals in our market. That is the key thing, and it is a very powerful concept.

With traditional marketing, the way to achieve volume in your marketing is to simply broadcast your message out in large quantity. On the broadcast networks, in newspapers and magazines, direct mail. Attempt to obtain as much exposure as possible for your message. However, with this new interactive, online environment, things work a lot differently. The way you achieve volume is not through mass dissemination from any one point. But it is the fact that your message, because it is digital, and can be faithfully reproduced, enhanced, personalized and duplicated over and over again through successive generations without any distortion or loss of content. Instead of putting it out all at once to a huge audience, you just put it out to a small audience, let it find people who can identify with it and appreciate it, let those people duplicate it and your message finds its market. That market turns around and passes the message on. What you get is an exponential growth in the delivery of your marketing message.

The distribution of your message is determined by the market itself. Your best customers who listen to and identify with your message, turn around and they repeat your message to people they know, and they add their own credibility to it without taking anything away from the original message. You are able to achieve exponential growth with a very low initial exposure. That is a very, very powerful concept, not only because of the potential for huge growth in your market, but also because of the ability it gives you to align perfectly with your market.What happens in this situation is that your marketing plan is the market itself. The direction of your marketing effort is determined by the market itself. Now THAT is a powerful concept. It enables you to react immediately to changes in the marketplace. It enables you to uncover markets that you never would have known would have existed. It enables you to use the resources of your best customers to find other customers. It aligns you extremely well with the market.

What you need to do at the beginning is design your message with the understanding that it will be repeated through many generations. You need to have a core message, and it needs to be customizable. Also, you must have a quality, competitively priced product and be ethical in your business. You're not going to be able to run any rip-offs through this type of operation because you are depending upon satisfied customers to do your marketing.

The primary challenge of a situation like this is the growth itself. It can be overwhelming if you do not have to resources to support it. Because what happens is, unlike traditional marketing, here you have exponential marketing growth, you, to a certain degree, lose control. Your marketing takes on a life of its own and it trancends your own efforts. It's like planting a seed and get it going, and it takes on a life of its own and becomes self-sustaining, as long as you provide the backup and support and quality products.

Now, what does this sound like? Of course, it is network marketing. Network marketing has always been an excellent way to achieve individualized marketing on a mass scale. Now with the explosive growth of computer networks and other technologies that enable individuals to communicate with other individuals, imagine what will happen now. Network marketing is the form of distribution that is best positioned to take advantage of the interactive revolution.