Branding: what advertisers might do with sites that don’t sell
by Sapphire (February 16, 2008)
I was listening to Affiliate Fortune Cookies on blog advertising and sponsorships when I had a duh moment. See, normally I think advertisers are looking for sales when they run ads. But sometimes they can be thinking about branding or good publicity.
Oh. Yeah, right.
And then it hit me: Project B-2 Bomber, the somewhat socially conscious site I started as a hobby which grew quickly into a group blog (with complete strangers - seriously) and visitors who comment a lot, may not drive sales for advertisers. My visitors are pretty focused on reading and responding. But what if your ad in our sidebar didn’t so much say, “Come shop with us” as “We’re with you, guys, keep it up!” What if I put above the ads a header that said something like, “People who support the B-2 Bomber Mission”, and only sought out/accepted advertisers who want to be associated with the things my readers value?
I mean, which banner would you click? One that says “Shop here” or one that says, “We agree with you!”
What if I pitched the “support our site” angle instead of the “drive sales to your site” angle?
What if I asked advertisers to write testimonials about my site, and I posted those in a post with links back to them?
Huh.
Posted in Blogging
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February 21st, 2008 at 10:08 am
With the advent of the blogosphere we seem to have jumped forward to the past (or is it back to the future?) Shoppers seem drawn to sites they feel offer a personal relationship. It’s the high-tech version of the 20th Century corner store, without having to deal with the weather.
February 21st, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I found your site through entrecard, and laughed out loud when I read your tagline. Thanks for the laugh. So true. Interesting content, nice site. Good luck!