Forwardslash, Tengara, WilsonWeb, 4Marketeers.com

MarketingToWebMarketers.com
Practical News & Tips on Selling
to Internet Advertisers & Marketers
May 30, 2000 - Vol. I, Issue 3

Please forward to your friends & colleagues. We depend
on you to grow our readership!

*NEWS: 4marketeers.com, Wilson Internet,
Internet Marketing Warriors

*CASE STUDY: Tenagra’s O-A Email Discussion Group

*EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Joseph Jaffe of Forwardslash on How
He Uses Agency Alliances To Grow His Business

*JOBS: Jupiter, Topica

**Note: Are you reading a pass-along copy? Get your own
subscription today by going to our Web site:
http://www.marketingtowebmarketers.com"

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NEWS:
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* 4Marketeers.com: A Beta Way to Test Your Products?

When Silicon Valley long-timer Ken Davis organized
4Marketeers.com, an online club for marketers in the
region a couple of years ago, he thought it would be a
great way for people to learn about new jobs and local
get-togethers. Nowadays though, the list's heaviest
advertisers seem to be Internet marketing and advertising
suppliers such as LiveMetro calling out for "Beta users"
for their latest products. Is this just a clever way to
talk up new products without shameless self-promotion, or
is it an honest call for beta testers? Both probably.
4marketeers.com has about 2,000 Bay area and Silicon
Valley members and costs $150 for a one-time
announcement. Contact kendavis@4marketeers.com.
http://www.4marketeers.com

* 15% of Your Sales Reps’ Business Cards are Wrong

We’re given lots of business cards from sales reps
and business development folks from Web-marketing service
firms when we’re out hobnobbing. And every one of them
gets a courtesy copy of MarketingToWebMarketers.com,
because that’s the kind of nice people we are.
Amazingly, 15% (yes, we did the math) of courtesy copies
bounce back to us. Why? Because our new friends’ e-mail
addresses on their business cards are either typos or
outdated. (Yes we double-checked.) So, out of every
10 sales reps 1.5 have the wrong email address on their
card. Have you checked your reps’ cards recently?

* Media Buy of the Week: Wilson Internet

Wilson Internet is the ultimate online information center
(with two outbound newsletters) for beginner Web
marketers and small business marketers online. In fact
more than 50% of his 96,000 (!) opt-in subscribers work
for small companies or as consultants. So, it’s a great
media buy for people targeting the SOHO marketplace as
well as a great buy for people targeting newbies to the
business directly and through the consultants who
influence bigger offline companies taking their first
aggressive online steps. Newsletter text ads cost $50-
$35 CPM. Web site banner space is $45 CPM with a 5,000
minimum. The site claims a banner clickthrough average
of 15-20 per 1,000. ClickTrade, Net Promote, and
TurboAds are some of Wilson's ad buyers.
http://www.wilsonweb.com

* Yea/Nay: The Internet Marketing Warriors

Got an e-mail from ikideidu@adeavodeuiluokecaine.com (is
the word “cocaine” subliminally written in there?) and it
looked a lot like spam. “Make Money Online … Like Me!” it
beckoned. Upon opening, “ATTENTION MARKETERS!!!” popped
up in huge letters. Body copy read, “There is a ‘group’
out there that is not known to the general public. It is
a group of Very successful Internet Marketers all in one
forum!” So I clicked the link and what Web site pops up?
One with the lengthiest, most boring pitch we’ve seen,
starting with,

“You'll find out… The Secret Of How To Create Hot, High-
Profit Information Products Out Of Thin Air Literally
Overnight And Sell Them For So Much That It Will Make You
Feel Guilty!”

And for $49.95, this campaign from The Internet Marketing
Warriors gets a major Nay. Next!
http://www.thewarriorgroup.com/whatsinside.html

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CASE STUDY: Tengara Corp
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Are you expanding to the UK? Now there’s an easy way to
find UK based partners, agencies, PR firms and vendors,
The British Web Design & Marketing Association’s online
procurement guide. Go to:
http://www.bwdma.co.uk/webprojectguide/index.html
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

* How Tengara Corp. Boosts Their Brand by Hosting the
Famous Online Advertising Discussion List

Tengara Corp. CEO Cliff Kurtzman couldn’t believe how
fast his Online Advertising Discussion List grew at
first. Now, four years into it, he’s looking to double
the 10,000 subscribers by August.

THE SITE: Tengara gets a nice, free promotional boost by
hosting the list and Web site, but occasionally, the list
directly leads to business. Kurtzman reports that he
recently got a $3,500 ad buy when he mentioned in a
posting a tennis newsletter he puts out. The company
also sells ads on the list, “so it’s definitely a profit
center,” he says. “But it puts Tengara in a high-
visibility role in the industry. It helps our brand.”

AUDIENCE: Top-level players in the Internet advertising
and marketing business, on both the agency and client
side subscribe to this list. Kurtzman says 90 percent of
the subscribers never post, but remain faithful readers.
“We had one person the other day who said it was his
first post in four years.” Then there are 20 or 30 people
who always post.

If someone gets overly self-promotional, their posting
won’t make it up. This, after all, is a class joint. “It
wouldn’t be good for them to say, ‘We’re running a 10
percent discount on our inventory,’” Kurtzman tells us.
“Once in awhile that comes in. We don’t allow them to
hype their service.”

ADVICE: So how should sales reps interact with potential
clients at o-a.com? If you post an item of value, then
people will often click through your SIG to learn more
about you. “A sales rep could use the list to respond to
people’s questions,” Kurtzman advises, “and to show how
people have benefited from buying their media inventory
or services.”

GOOD GUY AWARD: “Kurtzman promises to donate 50 cents to
the American Cancer Society for every new subscriber to
www.o-a.com by August. Scott Brew, president at
Adtegrity.com, has promised to match the donation.

http://www.o-a.com

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Joseph Jaffe of Forwardslash, Inc.
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* How Forwardslash Grows By Allying with Agencies

New York-based Fowardslash Inc., which provides online
and offline marketing services, doesn’t directly pursue
its Internet clientele. Instead, the company partners
with other agencies to help out with their clients.

We spoke to president Joseph Jaffe, who points to the
incredible, shrinking unemployment rate (3.9 percent in
February) and explosive growth in U.S.-based online
advertising (from $3.6 billion in 1999, to a projected
$17.5 billion in 2003, courtesy of eMarketer) as the
basis of his strategy.

“Agencies are either spread too thin across disciplines
or are turning business away,” Jaffe tells us. “We
partner with agencies and give them the ability to expand
and enhance an online media company. We take care of the
dirty work and allow the agencies to concentrate on the
mission-critical part of the campaign.”

Jaffe believes the most successful agencies in the long
run won’t be jacks of all trades – they will outsource
parts of their business. Right now, Forwardslash has but
two deals (Jaffe wouldn’t reveal them), but expects to
grow by making its presence felt at high-profile trade
shows.

Forwardslash strongly emphasizes its focus on ROI
objectives for clients, and has a built-in monitoring
system to make sure banner and clickthrough campaigns
are optimal for that particular Web site. The company
also performs Web-site creation, design and maintenance,
and rich media, mailing list and targeted inventory
campaigns. It provides online media planning and buying.
Most interesting is its 24-hour communication call
center, staffed by 125 people.

“It’s the fastest-growing part of the present company’s
business,” said Jaffe, who points out the call center
handles telephone and e-mail inquiries. “Nowadays, you
cannot get an Internet company on the phone.”

We wondered about how the relationships work with the
agencies – is there friction between the two sides? --
and Jaffe says his company plays somewhat of a
subservient role. “We believe too many cooks spoil the
broth,” he told us. “We prefer to have one point of
contact – the agency.

“We’re strictly working for them at this stage. Down the
line, we want to be partners. We want to be able to go
back to the agency and say, ‘This didn’t work out well.’
Right now, we don’t want to step on toes.”

Big surprise: We assumed Jaffe would tell us its the
traditional advertising agencies that are looking for
Forwardslash’s online expertise. We were wrong. “It’s
the traditional agencies that have gone interactive that
are the least receptive to us,” he said. “It’s too new.
They’re not willing to let go. It’s the new; it’s the
pure plays. It’s the smaller interactive agencies who
are the lowest-hanging fruit. They want ideas about how
to grow their business.”
http://www.forwardslash.com

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JOBS:
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*Topica Seeks East Coast Sales Director

Topica, a permission-based online e-mail company, is
looking for an Eastern director of sales to secure
advertisers in the East Coast for the ad network and
generate significant ad revenue for the company. The job
is based in New York City. Jobs@get.topica.com

* Jupiter Seeks Direct Marketing Manager

Jupiter Communications, a New York-based online research
firm, is looking for a direct marketing manager, events,
to assist in database marketing for lead generation
events at the company. Jobs@jup.com

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EVENTS:
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Web Attack 2000 - June 8-9
Roseland Ballroom, New York City
http://www.iconocast.com/

Jupiter Global Online Advertising Forum - June 19-20
The International Advertising Festival, Cannes, France
http://www.lions-jup.com:81/global_register.html

Web Marketing World - Oct. 30-Nov. 3
Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, New Orleans
http://www.thunderlizard.com

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MarketingToWebMarketers.com INFO
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