Kill Santa: an Internet Marketing story August 21, 2006
Posted by Andrew Wee in : Internet Marketing, Market Research, affiliate marketing , trackbackWhen’s the best time to go into Internet Marketing some ask.
Anytime.
But if you’d want to capitalize on huge masses of people, rabid for products, and willing to shell out top dollar for products and services, you can’t get better than special events, celebrations and holidays.
The Olympics and World Cup are way past (with some racking in revenue in the tens of thousands off affiliate marketing) and retailers rejoice as the year-end shopping comes about.
For some retailers, more than half their annual revenue could come from the Christmas shopping season alone, so there’s adequate time to do strategic planning to capitalize on the business opportunities.
We can’t kill Santa, but we can sure make a killing at Christmas.
How fantatical are the consumers? Consider Zach Comm’s (son of Adsense guru Joel Comm) post on: Bionicle - A Fan Critiques the New Sets.
Fanatically loyal fans can make and break the market.
Put toys and Christmas together and you have a lucrative market.
To succeed however, you’d need to do accurate research to position yourself for success.
Here’re some suggestions:
- Scope out the forums: What’re the hot topics? The Xbox360 and PS3 are on everyone’s lips, but could there be a sleeper hit? Maybe paintball guns? The new-fangled Furbies? Star Wars toys? Only insiders have the inside scoop, so blend in, get the buzz.
- Top seller’s lists/wishlists: Amazon and other retailers list their bestsellers (possibly updated hourly depending on their order processing infrastructure). Identify trends. What’re the hot new technologies that’ll be in toys? GPS? Bluetooth? USB/firewire connectivity? What will the next ‘killer’ toy be? Is it for boys? girls? unisex?
- Support for other channels: Successful retailers will tend to expand their branding and presence by branching into other media like Web sites and TV programs, cartoons, etc. You can gauge the popularity of these media by looking at their Alexa/Google PR rankings (for the Web), Nielsen ratings for TV, and rating services for radio programs.
- Offline still rules: The above channels are adopted by manufacturers/brand owners, but it’s important to adopt a needs-based approach and get feedback from the consumers themselves. Poll your little nephew/niece and his friends. Talk to your friends kids. Get a pulse for what’s hot and hip. Not from the advertisers, but from the consumers.
With good data at your fingertips, you can then position yourself.
Opportunities are always out there.
It’s just a matter of seeing them.
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hi andrew,
thanks for dropping by my blog. Interesting background you have there. From passively witnessing the dotcom bubble in the halcyon days of 99-01 in the media circle to your active involvement in internet marketing today, you seem to have come full circle. =) Your interest in internet marketing is right up my alley, will be checking out your blog more often. Cya!
hey Bjorn,tks for dropping by. and tks for the comments. come by and build a business and build your bank balance too!
Man, I can vouch for that! I used to do Internet Marketing for a company … the last quarter of the year (Oct, Nov, Dec) used to do more business than the first 9 months of the year!
If you’re marketing to a U.S. audience, they really save their dollars for the christmas season. Now, honestly I haven’t taken advantage of product launches (I’m sure Andrew knows more about what a great formula Jeff Walker has hit upon) … but the whole concept of these special events and celebrations is that they are natural product launches! People automatically assume there’s going to be a sale and save their dollars for these occassions.
Hey Rachit, I hope you charged more for that consultancy!
tks for dropping by.
I’m still having difficulty accessing your site.
any opportunity to mirror it or stabilize it?
i bet you had a blast in India.
Maybe you could advise Bjorn.
heh.