Letters - 28 November-5 December 2006

to radically change the current business models. Why is everyone so
surprised now?

When I was at Expedia five years ago, the ignorance and fear of the
wider industry among most clients and agencies was immense.

When we subsequently started our media sales training business, we found
our traditional media sales courses sold well.

We have always offered an online media sales training course, but
everyone said "not yet - soon, but not yet". Only in the past six months
have we had serious enquiries and bookings. So now, as usual, apart from
some market leaders, the UK is playing catch-up, while Europe and the US
are forging ahead.

There are companies in the UK who are well ahead of the game, but if you
look at the vast majority of regional newspapers and
business-to-business magazines, they have made tentative online
offerings without truly understanding either the business potential or
the creative possibilities.

Now they are paying the price.

They will try to recruit staff to plug the gap and launch online
"initiatives" and "directories" without truly exploring readers'/users'
actual requirements and online behaviour.

Many baulk at a few grand to give their current staff the skills and
knowledge they need. They are watching traditional ad revenues slip,
losing share to massive online growth and are trying to "slow the loss"
rather than being creative about how to use online media effectively for
their advertisers.

It will not be long before we are carrying around "throw away" digital
newspapers rather than paper ones. How will our clients advertise in
them? What will it cost? Don't we want to think about these questions
and develop a strategy?

Amy is right to cite managers who until now have relied on one or two
online experts in their teams.

The reality is that if attitudes in traditional media do not change more
quickly, then only media owners who possess the facts and the ability to
sell quality online media schedules will survive

DIGITAL CAMPAIGNS DO NOT HAVE TO INCUR HIGH COSTS

Gerry McKenna, CEO and co-founder, Match Day Media

While Counting the cost of digital (page 28, 14 November) raised valid
points about the ability of online campaigns to reach targeted
audiences, it also highlighted the high and rising costs involved.

However, I believe there are other digital platforms available without
excessive commission charges, optimisation costs and with a far less
labour intensive campaign, yet possessing a potentially greater ability
to reach the predominately male ABC1 16 to 44-year-old market.

Match Day Media supplies a valuable service to football fans inside
stadiums, providing a platform for brands to fully engage this audience
within their natural environment.

There is no clicking away from internet pop-ups; no making the tea
during an ad break; no changing to one of the numerous alternative
channels as soon as your favourite programme ends. For brands, once the
campaign is underway, the work is done.

There is no optimisation necessary, as the highly targeted group is in
one place each match day and caught in their natural and chosen
environment. Brands only buy the audience that is watching at the time
their ad runs, and can even select their target demographic based on our
reach and frequency model.

With the campaigns not requiring continual management, it is possible to
use a digital platform to reach a highly-prized audience with targeted
communication, without incurring high costs or wastage in audience and
resources.

PROPER RESEARCH IS VITAL FOR A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS BLOG

Ashley Carr, Managing director, The itpr Group

Bloggers within industry need to consider what they want to achieve
before starting a blog. There are potential benefits from using blogs,
but does that mean employers/ees should rush out and start one?

There are two issues to bear in mind. Firstly, many business people tend
to have limited marketing skills, even less time, but oodles of passion.
So if someone has undertaken limited marketing or self-promotion, does
investing their time and effort in an early adopter technology give them
the best return? Unlikely.

Secondly, these new technologies (often bandied around using terms such
as Web 2.0 and PR 2.0, depending on your industry) are still evolving
and even the largest companies are still trying to understand the best
approach.

What is becoming evident is that the technologies are not offering a new
business model that means we throw out the old approach. They are just
another mechanism for connecting with your customers or improving your
relations with them.

Search the web for various "tips for blogging" and the same ideas come
up over and over: create value, gather market intelligence, relate to
business topics, humanise your company build brand, etc.

If you remove the fact that these articles are about blogs, the tips
could be equally applied to improving customer satisfaction.

My advice is: do not ignore the opportunity, but equally, do not get
sucked in at the expense of proven contact methods.

Look for advice in the traditional places: your senior management, your
PR, marketing and webagencies. If the use of blogs does not support an
existing strategy, then do not complicate things with an unproven
tactic.

ZERO DOESN'T FIGURE AS FAR AS CITY AM IS CONCERNED

Lawson Muncaster, Managing director, City AM

While I was happy to see City AM's record distribution figure of 92,899
listed in your ABC write-up for October, (October leaves red-tops
reeling, page 11, 14 November), I was a bit perturbed that you
calculated that figure to be a year-on-year percentage increase of "0".
Technically, you should have written "n/a", as City AM was not audited
until December.

However, your readers might like to know that we were unofficially
distributing 67,000 copies in October last year, so our new figure is a
percentage increase of 39%, which is the highest increase of all
newspapers you listed.

So, while I was ecstatic to see us mentioned, my reaction to seeing "0"
is less suitable for publication - let's just say "n/a".

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