[9596] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet

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Is advertising relevant?

daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Russell Nelson)
Thu Jan 13 14:43:29 1994

Date:      Thu, 13 Jan 1994 11:40:15 EST
From: "Russell Nelson" <nelson@crynwr.com>
To: com-priv@psi.com

Is unsolicited advertising sensible in an environment when I can do a
WAIS search? Unsolicited advertisements are not only rude, they are
inefficient. For example, a good direct mail campaign will generate a
5% response rate.

Let's say I want to buy some AUI twisted pair transceivers.  In the
age of advertising, I would have to page through those card decks and
magazine ads and catalogs.  I might find half the manufacturers that way.

In the age of online searching, I could just search the appropriate
database for "AUI transceivers", and I would get a listing of every
manufacturer who's serious about finding me.  A database search like
that would be likely to generate a 90% hit rate for me.  And, more to
the point, I would be a customer for one of those manufacturers.

I think that Internet "advertising" is mostly going to consist of
ensuring that your company's information is easily findable.

-- 
-russ <nelson@crynwr.com>      ftp.msen.com:pub/vendor/crynwr/crynwr.wav
Crynwr Software   | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support.
11 Grant St.      | +1 315 268 1925 (9201 FAX)    | Quakers do it in the light
Potsdam, NY 13676 | LPF member - ask me about the harm software patents do.

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