This week in class we discussed Amazon. There was a time that this would have meant I was in a Geography or Sociology class. But today most people would immediately associate the name with the king of the clicks-and-mortar revolution - Amazon.com
Amazon is an interesting case study insofar as its total reinvention of the traditional business model. I don't presume to have enough in-depth business knowledge to fully compare and contrast how Amazon has revolutionized the way we do business, but what I can do is share some thoughts on some things I have noticed about Amazon.
As we touched on in class, part of Amazon's strength is its extensive network of affiliates.
One such program is called the Amazon Associates Program. This allows bloggers and web developers to include Amazon.com advertising on their sites and earn referral fees if they drive sales to Amazon. A great example of "pull" marketing.
But where this kind of marketing really gets interesting is when it goes beyond banner ads and becomes more fully integrated. This is what the partnership between the business networking site LinkedIn and Amazon have achieved very successfully. As part of a LinkedIn profile, a user can recommend books they have read or pick books that they would like to read. Users can write short reviews and recommend titles to others. All the titles, obviously link back to Amazon and include the "look inside this book" feature, customer reviews and new and used copies for sale. It's a fully integrated, targeted solution that seems work seamlessly within the LinkedIn site without appearing too heavy-handed or out of place.
It seems as if Amazon has, once again, got it just right.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment