Changing A Paradigm Makes A Difference

Changing A Paradigm Makes A Difference
Learning through looking at things differently
August 1995

Learning to market services and products on the Internet may require unexpected techniques. By understanding the nature and environment of the electronic marketplace, we are more likely to see success. But in doing so, a paradigm may need to be broken and rebuilt.

I talked with a wonderful student in class last week about marketing on the Internet. She is a professional marketer who offers, among other products and services, mailing lists and postal solicitation services to her customers. By her own description, a relative novice to computers, she was positively engaged in the process of learning to use her electronic toolkit and the Internet to its fullest advantage. I wish all of the computer users that I meet were as positive and upbeat about accepting and using new technology!

To keep her privacy, I’ll call her Ms. Patricia Cause (PC). Ms. PC came to one of our Internet class with the goal of finding mailing lists on the Internet. At first I thought she meant email address lists, and I explained that I didn’t know of any email address lists that would suit her purpose. But no, she explained, she wanted traditional mailing lists with USPS addresses that were organized demographically. She had heard that the Internet offered access to a wide variety of information, and she wanted to find those mailing lists...wherever they were.

As I continued the class lecture, I kept thinking about her goal. I had a gut feeling that it would be a difficult, and possibly fruitless, search, but I couldn’t put my finger on why I had this feeling.

Finally, near the end of class, my light bulb turned on. One of the principal rules of netiquette is to not send unsolicited advertising via email. When sent to an audience, unsolicited messaging is called “spamming,” and this is one of the most grievous sins any Internet user could commit. The Internet is founded with the principle of free speech but also with the expectation of self-regulation and self-moderation.

In other words, most Internet email users expect to be safe from wanton advertising appearing in their email in boxes. There are specific electronic forums in which advertising is appropriate; however, email is not usually one of them.

While Ms. PC was looking in the world’s largest repository of information, the Internet, it was almost as if she were asking the wrong question in the right place. We performed a few preliminary searches using keywords such as “mailing,” “list,” and “mailing list.” But by the end of class we hadn’t found anything substantial.

I admit, I was a bit disappointed. I have prided myself on always finding a useful answer to questions posed by students, especially regarding Internet searching. I promised to continue the search on my own and to call Ms. PC when I found an answer.

Then it dawned on me. I’m searching for the solicitation mailing lists, or at least for the locations at which the lists are kept on an information system that eschews unsolicited mail. If I’m running into a blank wall, maybe I should change my tactic. Instead of searching for the mailing list sites, I should let the sites come to me.

I suggested to Ms. PC that she post request for help in the marketing and advertising forums of the Internet and of CompuServe Information Service (CIS), of which she is also a member. See if anyone else has a suggestion. Then offer to make the mailing lists that she already has available to other marketers who have Internet or CIS access. See if anyone is willing to exchange lists. By cooperating, Ms. PC may actually find the original answer for which she was searching.

I do see a potential downside to exchanging proprietary information with possible competitors; however, the concept of cooperative marketing is a big part of the Internet community.

I’ve been very fortunate in using cooperative marketing. Damar Group, Ltd. (DGL) maintains a list of recommended sites on the Internet that are useful for research and topical searching. This is the list of sites, worldwide, that we have found to have a high standard of quality and an abundance of information, not just data.

Where appropriate, I’ve asked the managers of these sites to list DGL’s site as a courtesy to their customers. In this fashion, DGL’s site has been listed on over 60 reference databases of Internet information, and last week our site was recognized as a featured hotsite worldwide. Due to this recognition, we received over 14,000 requests for information about our products and services in a single day. Luckily we knew in advance that we would be recognized and set in place an automatic response system for the inquiries that we expected.

By shifting our paradigm from direct competition and individual initiative to one of cooperative competition, DGL’s Internet site has become a welcome place to begin searching for information as well as a place to learn more about, and purchase, our products and services. If you would like to visit DGL’s site, contact http://dgl.com/ on the World Wide Web or registrar@dgl.com via email.

David Stephen Murphy is President and CEO of Damar Group, Ltd. which presents computer training classes, publishes computer learning guides, and helps organizations do business on the Internet. The website is http://dgl.com, and Mr. Murphy may be reached at dave@dgl.com or 410.567.5366.

updated November 2, 1996
http://dgl.com/tbm/tbm9508.html