It's been just about 10 years since I started using the Web as a medium for business and marketing. At that time, I approached some of the great marketing gurus to ask them what they thought about online marketing. Here are some of their comments:
"I don't have time to surf the web."
-- Top Commercial Copywriter, ca. 1995
"The Internet? Nah!"
-- Top Direct Marketing Publisher, ca. 1995
Both of them now have Web sites. One of them publishes an email newsletter and a blog and has written at least two books about online marketing. The other has an article on his site called "22 Rules for Internet Success."
Stories from the past couple of days emphasize to me the growing importance of the online medium as a sales channel. I heard both stories this morning on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition," but the story about Amazon.com also appeared yesterday on our TMCnet Web site:
I think it's interesting that, while many retailers are bemoaning the slow holiday season, Amazon is booming, 10 years later. And don't forget that 10 years ago the Net-bashers thought Amazon's Jeff Bezos was doomed.
The other story I heard on NPR this morning was about online music retailer CDBaby, which carries the CDs of over 80,000 independent musicians and groups -- no distributors allowed. The company keeps $4.00 from each CD sold and has sent over $11 million to artists since 1998.
Go here to listen to the "Morning Edition" program: CD Baby Finds Success in Online Music Niche
By far the greatest volume of music today is sold on CD, but the direct download music business is growing and will probably overtake the CD medium eventually. But in the meantime, CDBaby is a great example of the ability of the Internet channel to empower people to market their own products and services in new ways.
AB -- 12/28/04
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