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Companies and marketers continue to shift marketing budget and activities from outbound marketing to inbound marketing. Although the trend is significantly higher for B2B companies; B2C companies which have historically focused most on outbound marketing are also shifting more budget and activity to inbound marketing.

Outbound marketing is the traditional push style of marketing of sending messages to the masses to attract the attention of those who may have a need for a product/service/solution. Typical outbound marketing channels are TV commercials, print advertising, radio, direct mail, tradeshows, cold calling, telemarketing, email blasts, etc. Outbound marketing uses intrusion and interruption tactics to get attention in the hope that some people respond. The reasons for outbound marketing’s decline include:

• People are tuning out from many of these channels. For example, TV viewership continues a multi-decade decline, newspaper subscriptions and sales are down substantially, tradeshow attendance has declined significantly and many have stopped running, etc.
• People are blocking the intrusions and interruptions from these channels with methods such as do not call lists, call blocking, Tivo, spam filters, etc.
• Outbound marketing channels tend to be high cost with low yield.
• Difficulty to measure effectiveness and ROI on an immediate basis. Results are usually aggregated over time periods with limited specific feedback to make adjustments.

Inbound marketing on the other hand is a pull style of marketing focused on being found by prospective buyers. Typical inbound marketing channels are websites, search engines, blogs, social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter, videos, etc. Inbound marketing uses techniques such as permission, content, and relationship marketing for buyers to find the vendor. Think about how your own shopping habits have changed – most people first go online to do research and get information about what they want buy and then decide what and where they’re going to buy. Inbound marketing is about creating a presence and positioning for your business/product/service/solution to be found by buyers.

The key difference is that outbound marketing is about blasting something out to find buyers whereas inbound marketing is about establishing the right presence and positioning for buyers to find you. Some of the advantages of inbound marketing are:

• Inbound marketing channels are where buyers go to find what they need.
• When someone finds you, they’re already self-qualified as a prospective buyer.
• Costs are lower and more directly scalable to results.
• Geographic and demographic reach is granular and unlimited.
• It is possible to target specific buyers for a particular product/service/solution.
• Extensive tracking and measurement data to monitor, manage and fine tune marketing programs in real-time is available.
• Much of what you do for inbound marketing is a lasting investment with longer term returns.

A Forrester Research survey on B2B marketing budget comparisons between 2008 and 2009 shows significant increases in budget allocations for inbound marketing activities such as websites, search marketing, video, podcasts, newsletters, social media , etc. The survey also shows significant decreases in budget allocations for outbound marketing activities such as trade shows, direct mail, outdoor, print, TV, radio, sponsorships, etc. Although B2C marketers still use outbound marketing heavily, many B2C companies in various industries as diverse as banking, automotive, apparel, insurance, etc. are making substantial moves into inbound marketing.

Outbound marketing still commands the lion’s share of marketing budgets, but continues to show declining returns. Inbound marketing is getting more attention and an increasing share of budget allocation with better results and continuing improvement of techniques.

How to use this information to benefit your business

• If you’re like most companies, you’ve probably looked at reducing the marketing budget over the past year. Have you analyzed where to cut and where to increase in terms of these marketing and buying trends?
• Have you considered shifting budget from less effective outbound programs to inbound programs with greater immediate and long-term potential?
• Even though some types of marketing such as trade shows and advertising have worked in the past, it’s time to reevaluate what’s working now.
• Inbound marketing is a huge opportunity to level the playing field with larger competitors and reach new buyers.
• Inbound marketing is about being found by buyers when they’re ready to buy. If you’re not there, they won’t find you.

Copyright © 2009 Ingistics LLC and Marketance™ www.marketance.com

Chris Anderson wrote an article about ‘The Long Tail’ in a wired magazine article in October 2004 followed by a book, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More. The article and book describe the niche business strategy of selling relatively small quantities of products to a large number of niche markets. The article and book generated a lot of interest, discussion and debate at the time.

The statistical frequency distribution basis for the long tail was known and studied since at least 1946. The basic premise is that the volume of potential sales decreases as products address more specialized or niche markets as indicated by the yellow long tail in the diagram. The earlier business response to this phenomenon was applying the Pareto principle to focus on the 20% of products that generate 80% of the sales volume as indicated by the green area in the diagram.

The Internet enables online businesses and retailers to profitably reach buyers for increasingly smaller niche market segments. Books and recorded music are good examples of long tail opportunities. Local stores, regardless of their size, have limited shelf space and only stock the most popular books or music. It wouldn’t be profitable to stock and only sell a few copies of a CD to a small sub-segment of the local population interested in a niche genre or obscure artist. However, if you aggregate these small sub-segments across the population of a country, you now have potentially thousands of customers for a niche market segment. An online store can be profitable focusing on niche markets in the long tail.

It’s 5 years since Chris Anderson published his long tail article and much of what he discussed has happened and is still occurring. Niche businesses are thriving online. Niches are subdividing into many smaller niches. Online businesses are providing unprecedented access to an increasing variety of niche products that were previously inaccessible to many buyers. It is now possible to reach previously invisible or unreachable niche audiences with the dynamics of an online business and infinite keyword search capabilities.

How to use this information to benefit your business

• Online businesses can thrive in the long tail. A few thousand customers in a country, region or even the world could be a profitable online business.
• There are many diverse and underserved market segments outside of the mainstream that large companies or physical locations don’t address.
• If you have a physical brick-and-mortar business serving a niche market, you can significantly expand your potential buying audience by adding an online store.
• The cost and effort to compete for popular keywords in the fat part of tail is beyond the reach of many smaller businesses. However, competing for niche terms comprising of multiple keywords in the long tail is very viable. For example, getting your business on page 1 search results for “vacation travel” would be challenging and costly. However, appearing on page 1 for “eco travel birding vacations Caribbean” is within the capability and cost reach of a niche online business.
• Niche markets bring people with common interests together in a community. As a niche online business you can develop and leverage that community by sharing your passion and knowledge for whatever the niche is, with your customers.
• You can create your own market space for competing on your terms by further fragmenting a niche market into your own niche within a niche.
• You can reach new audiences in additional geographic areas for your niche product very profitably with an online business.

Copyright © 2009 Ingistics LLC and Marketance™ www.marketance.com

The Internet is the ubiquitous and universal source for information about almost anything. When most people want to find products, services or information, they use the Internet, or more specifically, they use search engines that have indexed the content of almost every website in the world. Since there are many millions of websites around, the challenge for businesses is to get your information found by people looking for what you offer.

That’s where Search Engine Marketing (SEM) comes into play – to get the various search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing to list information from your website and specific web pages for relevant search queries. The real challenge is not getting it listed, but getting it listed in such a manner that it shows up high enough in the search results to get attention. There are two primary SEM approaches to draw attention to your information on the Internet:

1. Organic – the website content is organized in a manner that search engines can readily identify the information context and relevance for indexing so that the results show up in relevant searches. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) uses methods to specifically optimize website content to achieve the correct and best search engine results. SEO begins with understanding how the search engines work to index websites and produce results for a search. Based on this knowledge, SEO employs numerous techniques to optimize the content and various internal settings of a website so that it will achieve better search engine rankings than competitive websites.
2. Paid – a business pays for various forms of advertising such as paid placement, paid inclusion and contextual advertising for their website to feature in search engine results. Pay Per Click (PPC) is the most common method for paid inclusion in search engine results. In Google it’s the first 2 or 3 listings highlighted in yellow on the search results page plus the sponsored links in the right hand column. With PPC Internet marketing, a website operator pays for associating a specific keyword with their website. When someone searches for that keyword, the search engine displays the associated website information and link. Each time a visitor clicks on this link to their website, the website operator pays the search engine a pre-determined fee. The cost per click depends on the popularity of the keyword(s) and how much other website operators are willing to bid for that keyword to link to their website. This means that the more a website operator is willing to pay per click, the higher an entry will rank in the search results list. Each search engine has separate PPC contracts.

SEM is a marketing strategy that requires proper research, planning, management, execution and continuous refinement. SEO begins with the website design and construction, and is a continuing process to improve results and stay current with search engine changes and quirks. PPC or other paid options are part of the overall business marketing and advertising budget to achieve the best possible ROI across all marketing possibilities for the target market(s). Search engines continue to evolve and change how they index and rank web pages.

How to use this information to benefit your business

• Search Engine Marketing should be a high priority for every business who wish capitalize on their website and Internet investment.
• You need to do both Organic and Paid approaches to get the best results.
• Paid methods produce results fastest – within hours or days. Organic methods take months to produce results.
• Organic search is essential for high performance long-term sustainable results.
• There are many websites and articles on the Internet about how to do SEO. Getting the basics done right is relatively straightforward – any reasonable website developer should know how to do it.
• Getting outstanding long-term results with SEO requires more expertise. SEO consultants are a dime a dozen – do your homework and check references before retaining someone.
• Although organic SEM seems to be free since there are no direct payments like PPC, doing SEO correctly does require paid expertise and resources.
• SEM is a major factor for achieving Internet Marketing success – it deserves the right attention and funding, but only within an overall, defined Internet Marketing strategy.

This article is just a basic introduction to Search Engine Marketing. We will provide additional information to use in your business over the coming months and years.
Copyright © 2009 Ingistics LLC and Marketance™ www.marketance.com

If you think that the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) applies only to websites that target children under 13, you’re uninformed. Sony found out the hard way, and as a result Sony has agreed to pay a $1 million fine in settlement of a case brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). You can avoid falling into this trap with your general audience site if you follow 3 simple tips.

COPPA or COPA?

In January, 2009, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the government’s appeal of a July, 2008 ruling by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals that the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 (COPA) was unconstitutional. This refusal by the US Supreme Court means that COPA is now unconstitutional — once and for all.

COPA should not be confused with COPPA. COPA (now unconstitutional) imposed both civil and criminal penalties on commercial website operators that publish sexually explicit material without also using credit card authentication or other technological measures to verify viewer age and block access by minors.

COPPA, on the other hand, prohibits the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information from children under 13 on the Internet through the use of unfair or deceptive practices. COPPA requires parental notification and consent prior to the collection of such information, and as you’ll see below, COPPA applies not only to sites that target children, but also to general audience sites (the COPPA trap). COPPA is constitutional, and it’s currently being aggressively enforced by the FTC.

The Sony Case

On December 11, 2008, the FTC announced its agreement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment in which Sony agreed to pay $1 million to settle the FTC’s COPPA claims. Specifically, the FTC’s charges were based partially on information collected by Sony regarding the date of birth provided by registrants to Sony’s social networking sites.

The key fact here is that Sony’s sites are “general audience” sites — that is, their sites are not “directed to children”. Sites that are clearly directed to children fall easily within the regulation of COPPA. However, general audience sites also are regulated if they “knowingly collect personal information from children under 13″, and that’s where Sony fell short according to the FTC.

Sony represents hundreds of musicians and entertainers, some of which are popular with children and teenagers. To promote these artists, Sony operates over 1000 related websites. Many of these sites provide social networking opportunities including functionality providing for personal fan pages, reviews of albums, uploading comments, posting comments, and private messaging.

As part of the registration for many of Sony’s sites, Sony required users to provide personal information, including their date of birth. Approximately 30,000 children under 13 provided their dates of birth which resulted in Sony having knowingly collected information from children under 13, without first getting parental consent. The FTC alleged additional COPPA violations including the failure to provide sufficient notice of what information was collected from children, how Sony used and disclosed this information, and the failure to provide parents with a reasonable means to review the information collected.

3 Tips To Avoid Tripping The COPPA Trap
If you operate a general audience site, you’re encouraged to act on the following tips to avoid an outcome similar to the Sony case:

1. Review your registration pages to see if you have collected age-indicating personal information such as age, date of birth, or school grade — if so, remove these fields from your registration process, and for the information already collected from children under 13, the best recommendation is to see an attorney for a possible remedy before it’s too late;
2. Review your site to see if there is any page (or pages) that may inadvertently be directed to children — even if your site as a whole is not directed to children, if a single page is directed to children, you should modify it or comply with COPPA; and
3. If you want to age-screen registrants, you should use a methodology that is age-neutral — that is, a methodology that does not encourage children to lie about their age (for example, don’t stipulate that “you must be 13 or over to register”), and if you ask for a date of birth, collect only the month and year, not the day.

Conclusion

The lesson to be learned from the Sony case is that general audience sites are not immune from regulation by COPPA. If you operate a general audience site, follow the 3 tips, and if you have unresolved questions, see an attorney — a COPPA violation is a serious matter.

This article written by Chip Cooper. Copyright 2009 Chip Cooper.

Leading Internet, IP and software lawyer Chip Cooper has automated the process of drafting website documents for small websites with his MyLegalFirewall website documents drafting service. Discover how quick, easy, and cost-effective it is to determine which legal compliance documents you need and to draft them online, and claim your FREE Special Report; Determine Which Legal Documents Your Website Really Needs.
Disclosure: this website is an affiliate of DigiContracts.com and may be paid commissions for sales referred by this website.

When last did you give your site a quick legal check-up? Online businesses are now highly regulated, and there’s substantial liability if you site’s not legally compliant. In addition, your customers are becoming more Internet savvy, and a site that’s not legally compliant is not going to be trusted. So, let’s get started…

Use This Checklist If You Already Have The Basic Site Documents In Place

1. Copyright Notice. Check Your Copyright Notice. Your copyright notice consists of the following elements: the word “copyright” or copyright symbol (c in a circle) followed by the year of first publication followed by the name of the copyright owner. It’s also a good idea to add “All rights reserved worldwide”. Example: Copyright 1996-09 Digital Contracts, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Note that if you update your site from time to time, you should add a date range reflecting the fact that the site has been updated each year within the date range. If you haven’t updated yet for 2009, do it now.
2. Blogs, etc. Have you recently added a blog or any other functionality that permits visitors to post text or digital files to your site? Or, do you plan to do so as part of your marketing plans for 2009? If so, you need to have a DMCA notice in your Terms of Use and you also need to file a DMCA Registration form with the U.S. Copyright Office. These steps will create a “safe harbor” from strict liability for copyright infringement if a site visitor posts infringing material to your site.
3. Personal Information. Do you collect personal information from site visitors? If so, review your Privacy Policy to make sure that you identify all of the categories of personal information you collect and the way in which you share this personal information. If you’ve changed these policies since you posted your Privacy Policy, amend it now… without delay.
4. Data Security. Check your data security measures. If you collect personal information, you are required to implement “reasonable and appropriate” data security measures. These measures are essentially moving targets since data security technology evolves at a relatively rapid pace. What may have been “reasonable and appropriate” a couple of years ago may not pass muster today. Update your security procedures, if necessary.
5. Future Sale of Your Business? If your online business is starting to be successful and generate positive revenue, have you ever considered that you might want to sell it for a profit in the future? If so, be sure that your Privacy Policy specifies that personal information collected may be transferred and shared in the event of a sale. If you don’t do this prior to collecting personal information, you won’t be able to pass it on to your purchaser. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stipulated in recent settlements that personal information collected prior to posting this notice in your Privacy Policy will not be transferable in the event of a sale. And this personal information (your opt-in lists and customer lists) are the real value of your online business.
6. Service Providers. Do you use service providers to provide hosting, site maintenance, SEO services, or other site functions where they have access to your server? If you don’t collect personal information, your answer to this question is immaterial, but if you do (and only an email address will suffice), you need to enter into privacy and security agreements with your service providers. The FTC stipulated in a couple of recent settlements that you would be liable if you don’t.
7. Registration Agreement. Does your site require site visitors to register for certain benefits such as a membership or subscription rights? If so, you need an electronic agreement (a so-called “click-wrapped” agreement where the user clicks on “I ACCEPT”). Your agreement should be presented conspicuously in the registration process and it should require an affirmative act (clicking on “I ACCEPT”) to complete the registration. You also need to be sure that all of your warranty disclaimers and limitations of liability pass muster.
8. Collect Birth Dates? Do you collect the date of birth as part of your registration process? If so, and if this date indicates that children under 13 are registering, you will be liable for substantial damages under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) if you do not comply with COPPA’s stringent requirements. You should either modify your information collection practices or comply with COPPA, or both.
9. Creditor Under FACTA? Do your registered users make periodic payments payable as monthly or quarterly installments, or do you extend credit so that payment is made after receipt of the product or service? If so, you fall within the statutory requirements of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA). FACTA requires that you adopt a “Red Flag” Identity Theft Policy before May 1, 2009, or face substantial liability.
10. Sales Intermediaries? Do you use affiliates or resellers? If so, a recent New York case illustrates that you may be liable for their actions if they violate certain laws acting on your behalf. For example, are your affiliates engaged in illegal spamming activities? If they are offering their own end user license agreements, do they properly disclose certain activities such as the use of pop up ads? You should check your affiliate and reseller agreements and modify them, if required.

Use This Checklist If You Don’t Have Your Site Documents In Place

You may be just starting your online business, or you may have procrastinated a little with your website legal compliance. If you fall into this group, you should get started without delay. I’ve developed a procedure that will help you determine the correct mix of legal compliance documents for your site. Part of it is set out below.

First, if your site does not collect personal information, you should consider these documents:

• A Legal page for your intellectual property notices; and
• Terms of Use.
• And if you allow site visitors to post text or digital files to your site (for example via a blog, forum, or chat room), you’ll need a DMCA Registration Form (see No. 2 above).

Second, if your site collects personal information, but does not require registration to open an account or to use or purchase a product or service, you should consider these additional documents:

• Privacy Policy.
• And if you have service providers that have possession of your server or have access rights to it, you’ll need a privacy-security agreement for these service providers (see No. 6 above).

Third, if your site requires registration to open an account or to use or purchase a product or service, you should consider in addition to the foregoing documents, a customer agreement such as:

• A software as a service (SaaS) agreement; and/or
• A Software License Agreement (for software downloads).
• And if you are regulated by FACTA (see No. 9 above), you’ll need a Red Flag Identity Theft Policy — before the May 1, 2009 deadline.

Conclusion

The checklists provided above are not exhaustive. However, they should point you in the right direction as you give your site a new year’s legal compliance check-up.

A simple check-up — and remedial action if necessary — is one of the best investments you can make in your online business.

This article written by Chip Cooper. Copyright 2009 Chip Cooper.

Leading Internet, IP and software lawyer Chip Cooper has automated the process of drafting website documents for small websites with his MyLegalFirewall website documents drafting service. Discover how quick, easy, and cost-effective it is to determine which legal compliance documents you need and to draft them online, and claim your FREE Special Report; Determine Which Legal Documents Your Website Really Needs.
Disclosure: this website is an affiliate of DigiContracts.com and may be paid commissions for sales referred by this website.

Why Aren’t Website Owners Aware of Website Legal Compliance Requirements?
I believe the lack of awareness and understanding is due to several factors:

• Most small website owners don’t have an Internet attorney; most don’t even feel the need for one, and the ones who do, don’t know how to find one they can trust;
• Most website developers don’t inform their clients of the need for website legal compliance;
• Website regulation developed without fanfare; to date, there is no federal privacy statute of general application that would have been highly publicized at the time of passage;
• Privacy and data security regulation has developed in piecemeal fashion in the form of state statutes (with California leading the way); federal jurisdiction was not created by any Internet-specific statute – the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) assumed jurisdiction for enforcement of privacy and data security violations by claiming jurisdiction (successfully) resulting from its authority to regulate false and misleading claims under Section 5 of the FTC Act; and
• Despite press releases by the FTC regarding claims filed against websites, the message is just not getting through to entrepreneurs; for example, in the last 3 years, the FTC has settled with fourteen businesses over inadequate data security for personal information with substantial fines levied in some cases, and the FTC’s aggressive enforcement has continued into 2009 with two new actions filed in the first two months of 2009.

So, given the factors listed above, it’s understandable why most entrepreneurial website owners aren’t aware of the need for website legal compliance. However, website owners won’t be able to plead ignorance. The cliché you’ve heard before is true – “ignorance is no excuse”.

16 High Risk Activities That Indicate The Need For Website Legal Compliance.
There are certain website activities that are now very high risk – and indicate the need for legal compliance measures. They include:

1. Collection of any single element of personal information; for example, if you collect merely an email address for a sign-up form for product information, a newsletter, or a downloadable report, you have entered an area that is highly regulated – and which presents a very significant exposure to legal liability;
2. Collection of credit card information;
3. Failure to operate a secure server that stores personal information;
4. Failure to identify and assess internal and external risks to the security of personal information;
5. Failure to monitor the effectiveness of security of personal information and update security measures as indicated by changes in website operations;
6. Offering monthly subscription or membership payment models, or any payment scheme where payment is made over time after the delivery of the product or service;
7. Sharing of personal information with others for purposes of direct marketing;
8. Permitting third party service providers such as website maintenance and SEO service providers or hosting service providers to have access to the internals of your server;
9. Transmission of personal information outside the website’s secure system or across public networks; Nevada and Massachusetts both have statutes regulating these activities;
10. Operation of a blog or forum that permits users to upload text or files;
11. Operating a website that targets children or at least by virtue of graphics, text, and products or services would be attractive to children under 13;
12. Serving third party cookies (e.g. Google Analytics);
13. Serving behavioral ads (e.g. Google’s AdSense);
14. Appointment of online resellers or affiliates;
15. Use of a competitor’s trademark in keyword-triggered ads; and
16. “Borrowing” someone else’s privacy policy without detailed analysis of how it fits your own specific business and marketing practices.

You should make Website Legal Compliance a Top Priority. If your website engages in any of the risk factors listed above, website legal compliance measures are required — and compliance should become a top priority ASAP. The legal liability for failure to comply can be significant.

This article written by Chip Cooper.  Copyright 2009 Chip Cooper.

Leading Internet, IP and software lawyer Chip Cooper has automated the process of drafting website documents for small websites with his MyLegalFirewall website documents drafting service. Discover how quick, easy, and cost-effective it is to determine which legal compliance documents you need and to draft them online, and claim your FREE Special Report; Determine Which Legal Documents Your Website Really Needs.
Disclosure: this website is an affiliate of DigiContracts.com and may be paid commissions for sales referred by this website.

The Ruder Finn Intent Index surveys online users to determine the reasons they spend time online. The table to the right is a summary of the results published July 1, 2009 sequenced by category frequency.

The most frequent reasons people go online are to learn (88%), have fun (83%) and socialize (80%). The least frequent reason people go online is to shop (31%).

Some additional interesting results from the survey:

• Seniors are going online today for the same reasons younger people are – to have fun (82%) and to socialize (80%).
• The desire to learn drives people to the Internet – top areas are new subjects (68%), the world (65%), disease or medical condition (61%), eating healthier (55%) and managing finances (37%).
• Almost half of people (47%) go online to learn to improve themselves and nearly one-third (31%) to find self-help experts or books.
• 44% of people go online to create or update blogs and 42% of people go online to read other people’s blogs.
• Three times as many people go online to compare prices (66%) versus people via dating sites (21%).
• Top product categories people shop for online are household items (49%), electronics (45%), music (35%), movies (29%) and school or work supplies (29%).
• More men (42%) than women (36%) go online to do business.
• Women (48%) are more likely than men (39%) to go online to advocate for an issue or position.

This Intent Index provides some very useful demographic data and insights to consider for your business Internet marketing plans and activities.

How to use this information to benefit your business

Because only 31% of users are online with the primary intent to shop, businesses need to develop a comprehensive Internet marketing strategy to reach potential buyers through multiple channels:

• The most frequent reason people go online is to learn. What educational content about your product/service/solution/industry can you provide to attract online users to your business and website?
• How can you attract potential buyers from people seeking to have fun online? Are there relevant entertainment sites to target for advertising? Can you offer some appropriate means for people to pass time, be entertained or escape online?
• Are you participating in Social Media Marketing to connect with people online?
• Do you have a blog about a topic of interest related to your business to attract people who regularly go online to read blogs?
• Review the detailed results of the Ruder Finn Intent Index to consider how you can fine tune your Internet marketing to get more customers and sales.

I will monitor updated results for this survey and post updates on any trends or additional insights.

Most brick-and-mortar businesses that establish a presence on the Internet tend to replicate an online version of their physical business.  Nothing wrong with that – it’s the logical place to start and should be your first point of presence on the Internet.  But don’t stop there – the Internet is so much more powerful and flexible for doing much more than just creating an online version of your physical business.

Here’s a great example to start thinking more creatively about your online presence.  NBC launched an educational resource called NBC Learn using their existing NBC News archives.  The NBC News archives were already online as part of their core traditional business.  NBC Learn is a completely different product delivered using innovative technology (HotChalk) for a completely different audience (schools) using an on-demand paid subscription model ($2,000 per school building).  NBC Learn is a successful business extension.

There’s more to this story.  A couple of years after launching NBC Learn, they were exploring how to create demand directly with students.  The service is sold to schools (initial marketing focus) and used by students.  NBC developed ‘What’s Your iCue?’ video quiz games as a promotional campaign aimed at students on Facebook.  The iCue promotion was setup with advertising sponsorships.  NBC disclosed at a recent Internet strategy forum that the iCue sponsorship revenues now exceed the NBC Learn subscription revenue.

To recap, NBC starts with putting their traditional news business online.  They then parlay those existing assets into the new NBC Learn business as an additional revenue source.  To promote the new business they create a sponsored promotional campaign on Facebook that becomes another revenue source on its own.

How to use this information to benefit your business

• Hopefully this gets your attention to think about what you could do to create additional businesses and revenue sources.
• Think outside the box for different variants of your business online.  You have a totally different environment on the Internet to do things you can’t do in your brick-and-mortar business.
• Consider a different audience for selling your product/service/solution.
• Consider how to promote your product/service/solution to those who ultimately use it but don’t necessarily buy it.
• Think about different formats to present your business and/or product/service/solution using ideas like games, quizzes, video, competitions, fun elements, etc.

Copyright © 2009 Ingistics LLC and Marketance™ www.marketance.com