No, but you should think carefully about what you're trying to do, and how to be more strategic in your approach.
What you want, essentially, is to reach people in the online space. People find you best when they're looking for you. They google their way to you. You don't have to try to find them so much as you've got to be there when they come looking. To be available to them online you need to be relevant to a particular set of search terms. But it doesn't help if you're being searched for by someone in Reykjavík Iceland, and your company sells heaters for a local market, in, say, Auckland New Zealand. So you must be searchable to a local market.
Being searchable isn't enough. People aren't interested in ads. A large proportion of time on the internet is spent reading, browsing, info-chunking. What you want then is for your product, or brand or service to be available online as a feature. This has value in that it has information in terms of text, photos, keywords, links, contact details, not at a website but in an individual article. And that article can be anywhere, as long as people can find it.
SHOOT is a resource that provides space for certain companies. It's a paid for endorsement, but it's also what you'd pay any online journalist to do a feature. SHOOT won't endorse any product, for example, not tobacco or alchohol companies. SHOOT's premise is to provide the truth, to provide genuinely useful information, and to promote genuinely useful and sustainable products or services. There are some exceptions to this, for example where a product is simply worthy of merit for convenience-sake etc. But in general SHOOT wants to be associated with life affirming brands and products.
It is in the interests of SHOOT and the associated brand to associated with one another, as blogs are by definition small online communities of like-minded people. Thus your advertising is even more likely to be in a target rich environment, with a captive and relevant audience.
Here's how it works in more detail:
SHOOT has already advertised Dell Computers, CELL C, Cisco, Earth Hour, Standard Bank, Standard Bank 20/20 Cricket, Rocketboy Media, Times Live, VW Golf GTI and Adgator Media Campaigns. What you get is not just a block of color on a webpage, but a feature article and photographs designed and written independently by photojournalist Nick van der Leek.
Who?
Nick is the editor and content manager for SHOOT, and has otherwise had photos and features published in almost all South Africa's major publications. Look out for the July 2009 issue of Men's Health to see the sort of quality this man is capable of pulling out of his hat.
What?
New Media presents an exciting challenge for companies seeking to turn up their fortunes during a downturn. What you want is exposure and good value. You want a targeted message that gives you bang for your buck. So what does SHOOT offer you?
Well, a lot really.
SHOOT is one of only a handful of blogs independently operated that is consistently in the top 20 News and Politics blogs in South Africa. It is consistent in terms of quality content.
Why?
Get up close and personal to your customer. You get to intimately associate your product or service with SHOOT, and how intimately you want to be part of SHOOT's truth is up to you.
SHOOT content tends to be an astute observation of news, politics, tech, social fabric and a special focus on energy and community altruism. It isn't a tabloid blog, it isn't a list digger. It is highly contemporary but it has a conscience. It is a daily slice of careful attention at the matters going on in the world that the Mainstream Media gloss over, misinterpret, or fail to even identify. There are also personal columns several times a week that readers have voted as their favorite content. So, it's personal too.
As such, SHOOT has a core audience that is educated, discerning, introspective and you may be surprised, passionate about ideas.
Facts and Figures
SHOOT was started in South Korea in October 2004. year on year growth has been acquisitive without exception, with the the past year increasing it's traffic by over 400%. Currently SHOOT attracts 10 500 unique users a month, roughly half from the United States of America and half from South Africa.
They are interested in the real deal. The truth. Real functionality. Honest to goodness performance. Something that works. Something that is part of a broader solution. Something that adds value to our mutual experience. For this reason SHOOT is not interested in marketing sham products, or products that do not enhance the prospects of people or otherwise. So no tobacco advertising will be considered, nor alcohol.
Packages
SHOOT bloc - 220px × 160 px [SAMPLE ABOVE]
Clicks through to your website or email.
Monthly stats updates.
R3000 per anum/R2500 per half anum/R750 for 1 month.
SHOOT post - 120px × 600px [SAMPLE ABOVE]
Clicks through to your website or email.
Monthly stats updates
R5000 per anum or R2500 per half anum R1000 for 1 month.
Design
You do the design and artwork. You either provide the proofs as images or as HTML, either is fine. The image then goes to the right hand column of SHOOT. Limited space is available and once this space is taken, no further advertising will be sold until a 'slot' opens up.
Features
Features have the benefit of giving your brand a deeper and wider ubiquity on the internet. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising. Word of blog is a runner-up. Features aren't mandatory to go with the above packages but they are recommended to get bang out of your money invested. Using blogs you also stand a better chance of getting customary queries and comments fed through to you from more than a single database source. Features are divided into:
- annual
- half
- and block packages
If you're interested in making use of this unique service, email me here.
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