Dear Ted,
Your second question has been alerady answered. Google Answers is not
in the "Beta" stage. It has been launched almost a year ago.
As for the first question, I have several ideas, based on my
experiene, and also several examples tried in the past, which in my
opinion were not successful.
What others have done
---------------------
There were and are several services that offer (or have offered)
expert services, for a fee, online. You could read my review on those
sites on :
Expert advice systems sites?
<http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=250464>
How did they market themselves and made themselves known to the public?
First of all, apparently, not with a lot of success, since most are in
demise today, or host a variet? of psychies, homework cheaters, and
sex calls providers.
The late Exp.com, for example, advertised itself with banners (or
email, I am relying here on my memory), offering $10 credit to every
new client that comes. Most clients never paid more than $10 for their
questions, hence not bringing any profit to the system, only
researchers to be paid. InfoRocket, in demise, not learning from the
competitor's mistakes, did the same: not only that it offered $10
credit to any new user, it also encouraged existing members to invite
new members and get more credit for that. Again, experts get paid, new
users always coming up (in fact, old users not returning, why return
when you can invent a new username and save your $10?), but the site
itself is ill-operated.
This model is in fact not far away from what Probonopublico has offered...
These examples are from my own experience, as there is very little
online to rely on, and it seems that no serious market research has
been done on marketing techniques among such sites.
Other sites, as well as these sites, used banners and other forms of
online advertisment. Some of them did not shy away of sending
unsolicited mails.
I think that there are several reasons how marketing could, in fact succeed.
Successful Marketing Techniques
-------------------------------
Think about your prospective audience. In the case of Google Answers,
I would say that there are some people who ask because they are
curious; some because they searched on Google and couldn't find the
answer for themselves; and some who realise that they need a
researched answer, from someone who's either an expert on the field,
or more experienced in reading professional material.
Those people, who would also pay for the service and who have a credit
card (credit cards are not as popular as one could think. Many people
in Germany, for example, have only debit cards and use in eBay mostly
bank transfers and direct debits).
That limits us to:
- Adults
- Credit card holders
With many here who are:
- Unable to find something.
- Writing a book/article and need specifics.
- Need medical, business or legal unprofessional advice (as Google
Answers' advices are not professional, even if - theoretically - an MD
or a lawyer gives them).
- Need other specific searches
- The curious crowd
No doubt, that those who add comments, add another reason to visit the
site, similar to the one found in Internet fori or discussion groups:
loyality and continuous discussion with "familiars".
Therefore, unlike strategies mentioned before, marketing of Google
Answers should be directed to these groups. For example, advertising,
if used (and I am not sure that it should be used), should be used
only to catch a distinguished target group, such as reference
librarians, investigative journalists, or starting-up business people.
However, I am not sure that advertising should be the main marketing
tool. PR is much more important than marketing through advertisment.
PR to the press, either about the site in general or on specific
questions.
For an example on PR on the site itself, see, another expert site,
this time a new one, Issuebits, and its latest PR attempts:
<http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&ie=UTF-8&q=+Issuebits&btnG=Search+News>.
However, general information on the site is usually available only on
one oppotunity. You can't publish more and more press releases beating
the same dead horse.
However, a full article about the service in a journal such as the
AARP journal could attract many new clients.
You could also market specific questions. I know that some questions
are popular on Blogger (and continue the good work, bloggers of the
world), some answer specifics that people are interested in. See, for
example, how a recent answer by Hailstorm-ga got good feedback:
<://www.google.com/url?sa=U&start=3&q=http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2004_04_26_index.html&e=747>.
Theoretically, one could market Google Answers by trying to publish
stories about specific questions, either funny, weird or revealing
some good research work.
Like viral marketing, PR is much better than advertisment, it is not
considered as one, but as an advice given by someone you trust - your
friend in the case of viral marketing (either off-line a-la Tupperware
or online, like many cases where "word of the mouse" advertised a
site) - or a journalist.
There could be also more ideas. Many sites attact users by sweepstakes
or competitions.
A user called Patrick once published on the site a riddle given to him
by his boss. The prize was very rewarding, and so was the price
offered by Patrick. However, I think the riddle also engaged people
because we are all very curious beings here:
Puzzle Ordering of US States (very tough)
<http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=50956>
Microsoft Puzzle, Very Tough, High Reward (repost)
<http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=66398>
A posting of a comlete mysterious riddle like this one, could bring
many users, especially if - unlike the regular Google Answers
questions - it would be open to all. Anyone could post a comment, the
one who gave the right comment gets a prize.
These are all my ideas, of course, and they have nothing to do with
Google Answers' official policy. If you want to hear official policy
on marketing Google Answers and/or bringing in more users, I suggest
you'll contact them directly: answers-help@google.com
Of course, you could offer a Google stock for every registered user.
I hope that answered both your questions. |
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