Screaming Penguin - Source Does Matter

For once I disagree. I tend to find John Dvorak's brief opinion columns pretty much on the mark, although thats probably because he never jumps out on any limbs. In this weeks article he mocks the internet startup companies who 'throw away' money by investing in TV and radio advertisements. Although I agree that any little dotcom ebusiness that advertises during the superbowl is not likely to recoup the monumental multi-million dollar 60 second slots, I wouldn't agree that reaching out to the TV and radio audience is less effective than online banner ads.I have noticed a wonderful transformation in the way online companies are advertising over the last year. Do you remember the radio adds where they would advertise a website and spend three minutes spelling out the address, "H" "T" "T" "P" "Colon" "Forward Slash" "Forward Slash" "blah" "blah" "period" "C" "O" "M"? I do and I am ever grateful that the average person now understands how to get to 'blahblah.com'. Of course now if you tell them to go to 'blahblah.net', you know they will still try 'blahblah.net.com', but that is another step in the educational process altogether. Dvorak insists that users are unable to remember a URL that they hear when driving down the road and that those funny commercials trying to drive the 'blahblah.com' name into your head is not effective. It may be less effective for foreignsweatshopclothes.com to advertise on tv than for Old Navy, but thats not because people can't remember foreignsweatshopclothes.com. Its because more people know how to use a mall than those who know how to use the internet. It also helps if people know how to spell. But all that is changing as Americans get lazier and too fat to walk up and down the mall strips for more than an a half-hour at a time. They will want to stay at home, not only because traffic has reached the point that they have little choice, but also because online shopping burns less calories with it simple movements of the eyes and wrists, which incidentally are already becoming the strongest muscle groups among male teenagers.The point is that if you want to reach the tv and radio audience, don't spend your time and money trying to carve your URL into the audiences cranium. Sell them a product. If they want what you are advertising or you can convince them that they want what you are advertising, they will find you. If you don't have a product, don't waste your money. Stealing market share only works for monopolies like Microsoft.   zdnet news