Underground Web Designs Blog

If you read much online business literature, it seems there are two camps about how to do business online. The first focuses on more traditional advertising, while the second focuses on authentic communication. Which one works better? To be honest, at this point I don’t know. I’ve read good arguments for both. Before we get in too deep, how about some definitions first. What exactly do I mean by Traditional Advertising and Authentic Communication?

Well, when I think of Advertising, the first thing that comes to mind are big TV ads or billboards it Times Square. It’s big, it’s in your face, it’s usually expensive, and it’s only purpose is to make you buy something. On the internet this translates to extensive use of Pay-Per-Click campaigns, highly tested and optimized landing pages, and exacting sales copy designed to create an irresistible desire in people to buy a project.

By contrast, “Communication”, in the context of selling something, involves a much more personal connection with your audience; at least to me it does. To me communication is what blogs and social media are all about. It’s about putting your stuff out there and asking people flat out what they think of it. YouTube, Facebook, Squidoo, and Digg are all great examples of this. Communication is all about word of mouth and “viral” marketing.

Now, the question of which works better? Like I said at the beginning, I don’t know. When I first got into online business, I was deeply prejudiced against traditional advertising. Coming from a consumer’s point of view, I didn’t (and still don’t) like it’s generally impersonal, in your face nature. As I grew a bit more experienced however, I came to see that for all it’s faults, traditional advertising does produce results, which is good from a business owners standpoint. On the flip side, while much more “consumer friendly”, communication based advertising can be much harder to make work. It requires a lot of time, and a fair bit of skill to write things people will read and engage with. It takes even more skill (and dare I say luck) to produce a successful “viral” campaign.

Personally, I still prefer “communication” based marketing, because as a consumer I prefer feeling like my opinion and feedback is appreciated and acted upon. Because the internet is such a flexible medium and makes communication so easy, I think it would be a shame for it to become filled with blatant “interruption advertising”. Having said that, I’m not 100% sold on either method, and would love to hear what you think and how you market your business.

Do you use “traditional advertising” or “communication marketing” to sell your products or services, and why did you choose the method you did? Please post your experiences in the comments section!

What does the internet mean?

A quick google search will turn up several definitions, all along the same lines: 

Internet: A global network; an interconnection of large and small networks around the world.

Now, that may be what the internet is but that’s not what the internet means. When you think of the internet, do you think of a network of computers that spans the entire world? That may be part of it, but that’s definitely not all the internet is. The internet means much more than just a global network. The internet means easy, immediate access to anything. It means communicating with friends and family around the world in the blink of an eye. It means ordering what I want in 5 minutes from my office chair, and either downloading it right away or having it delivered a few days later.

If you’re in business and have a website, how does your website match with this “instant gratification” definition of the internet? Are you helping people find what they want, when they want it? Or are you trying to sell them something they don’t want? Does it take them a long time to find what you sell — or worse yet, to buy it once they’ve found it? Do you even know what your customers want?

In order to be successful online, you have to understand how people see the internet and work with them. Help them find the information they want quickly, easily, and simply. Make your product available to the people who are looking for it, but don’t annoy those who don’t. Interact, communicate, and listen.

What definition of the internet does your website follow? Are you still looking to reach everybody? Or do you provide exactly what a small niche is looking for?

I know, I know, everybody’s saying to use this or that social network to promote your business. Well, even though I don’t agree that every business should be using social networking, there are certainly some businesses that should use it, and use it well.

If your business is a local business– you’re offering a local product or service and don’t plan on shipping it all over the world — Facebook is the perfect way to promote it. In fact, a local business is the only type of business I would recommend use Facebook, for three reasons:

1. Local businesses match Facebook’s goals. Facebook is designed to connect you to your friends and let you share with them what you’re doing. If your business is a local thing, you can tie into this friend connection by creating a group for your business and getting friends to join, posting pictures of friends or others using your products, etc.
2. You can capitalize on interaction. Besides connection, Facebook is all about interaction — Who did what, when, and with whom. Use this dynamic to promote your product. Get people talking about you and your business with their friends. Make your business a part of their lives.
3. Make your business comment worthy. Facebook is all about short comments. Wall posts, picture comments, etc. Make sure that what you do is worth commenting on. If nobody comments on your business you will get no benefit from Facebook.

In order to promote anything successfully on Facebook, it has to be interesting to your current friends list. If you start a Facebook group for your business, remember that only your own friends will see it at first. If they find it interesting, it will spread. If they don’t, it will fail. If what you do is of no interest to your own friends, then don’t bother promoting on Facebook. Try something else. But if you can make what you do interesting to your friends — enough that they will comment and interact with you about it — you have the potential to grow a very large business using Facebook.

Now I’m just like the next guy — I won’t comment on just anything. But this whole post was inspired by a local business using Facebook for advertising and promotion. Take a look: Bake Me A Cake. Look at the pictures, read the comments. If you can do this with your business, then promote it using Facebook. If you can’t generate this kind of buzz, don’t waste your time.