A conversation with Larry Chase is always a learning experience. He's either tried something or knows someone who has, and isn't hesitant to share what works and what doesn't. This book is just such a conversation. Written in a chatty style, it's Larry sharing proven tips and tactics. The book is divided into two parts: (1) integrating the Internet inside your company, and (2) integrating the Internet in your marketing.

First, he talks about ways companies can use the Internet to improve their business through cost-saving measures, human resources, and information searches. For some of these resources, he draws upon materials developed for the Web Digest for Marketers (WDFM, http://www.wdfm.com/) he has edited for two years. I was fascinated by his chapter entitled "http://007 Spying on Your Competitors and Yourself." He tells you how to "slice and dice" your competitor's site using AltaVista to display all the pages in the site, and explains what to look for, all the time using various cloaking techniques so your competitor doesn’t even know you're there.

Web marketers will be most interested in the second half of the book. Don't mistake this for a comprehensive book on marketing; it makes no such claims. See it as a guide to marketing strategies that work. For example, Chase explains how consultants can brand themselves --complete with personal domain names trademarked in 24 hours in Tunisia to protect against having a domain name displaced by InterNIC. He recommends pretty stringent Web page graphic maximums -- only 30K for the first page and 20K for successive pages -- tighter than I would recommend. But he makes an important point: if people have to wait too long to see the graphics, they won't find out what you have to offer.

It's refreshing to hear someone speak frankly about how to get the best buy on banner advertising by adopting a tough negotiating strategy with publishers. He thinks both banner ads and opt-in mailing lists are somewhat overpriced, and expects to see prices drop. He also suggests advertising in targeted e-mail newsletters and discussion lists. His chapter on e-commerce cautions patience for the market to develop: a person's buying habits change slowly, he says.

One of the strongest sections is on how to develop an e-mail list and online newsletter (or a discussion list). He explains how the e-mail version of WDFM evolved, and offers tips on getting subscribers, promoting the list, finding a list provider, managing the list, and selling advertising. Another chapter compares and contrasts Direct Marketing techniques with Web Marketing, and finds many points of correspondence. He discusses concepts such as split copy testing, cost of acquisition, reminder services for branding, and loss leaders. Chase disagrees with those who see banner ads as a vehicle for branding. "Ad banners are nothing more than 'outer envelopes' [to use a Direct Mail analogy] with a teaser piece of copy." It's getting people inside the envelope that's important, he says. Copy for direct marketing on the Web should be couched in one-to-one terms, but written more succinctly than print copy. Online readers appreciate quick bursts of information.

The final chapter about PR on the Internet also contains some gems. He explains how to (and how not to) send news releases to journalists. He recommends developing newsworthy events to promote websites, and then sending releases to traditional PR circuits, such as PR Newswire and Business Wire, as well as Web sources such Eric Ward's URL Wire (http://www.urlwire.com) and John Audette's NewsBureau (http://www.newsbureau.com/welcome.cgi?1017).

"The dance instructor saves the best steps for himself," Chase's mother told him, but he didn't follow mom's advice this time. "When it comes to the Internet," he says, "there are new dance steps to be learned and mastered every day." Learning just one or two of Chase's steps will pay the price of the book several times over.

Read more articles from Web Marketing Today, Issue 46, July 1, 1998

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