Icrontic offering an unprecedented new way to connect companies with engaged readers

Brian Ambrozy 12 Jul, 2010 at 8:20pm ET Article published in Life

The Icrontic high-five!

For years, the primary method of advertising on the web has consisted of obnoxious, obtrusive, and unsightly banner ads. They’ve become so ubiquitous that people are blind to them and many people even use software to block them.

Marketing experts have been decrying the death of CPC/CPM (Cost per click/cost per thousand impressions) advertising for a couple of years now, but we believe there is value in getting your message in front of the right eyeballs; we just happen to disagree with the method.

Today Icrontic is unveiling our new Day Sponsorship program. Instead of putting ads in front of everyone that they’re going to ignore anyway, day sponsorship provides advertisers a way to directly engage and speak with interested consumers. Readers and members enjoy the idea that someone is helping “keep the lights on” at their favorite discussion site, and appreciate companies who support their community.

We believe that this program solves many of the problems inherent with conducting business as a web community; it doesn’t alienate readers by overwhelming them with gaudy or annoying ads, and it allows advertisers to work with communities rather than just shout at them “look at me!”.

This is something new; we’re not sure how it’s going to work yet, but we believe we’re on to something that will make everybody happy and enable Icrontic to continue bringing our readers the coverage, community, and camaraderie they’ve come to rely on.

Comments

12 Jul 2010 ~ 10:07pm MrTRiot Definitely something new you're trying here. It's got a large amount of potential. Lets just hope the corporate world thinks the same way
12 Jul 2010 ~ 10:11pm Zanthian This just feels right. I like the concept of the sponsor actually being involved and available for questions on the forum.
12 Jul 2010 ~ 11:01pm Bandrik Bravo! This really does sound like a good idea. I actually LIKE it when an advertiser can get involved, step down to the customer's level, and actually interacts with us like a Real Human Being(TM).

For an excellent example of this in progress, take a look at this guy. His name's Andrew, and when wine.woot.com was selling one of his company's products, he went to their forum, introduced himself, and proceeded to have a fun interaction with the woot community. He even went as far as addressing someone's joke that the product looked like a bong in a similar light-hearted fashion.

The best part? The product was actually a really good product. So it wasn't just smoke and mirrors, it really did work, and it worked well.

So let's see here. Good product? Check. Good representative? Check. Awesome conversation with the community? Check-a-roony!

If only we could get people to do this as well with Icrontic. Prime, Lincoln, I hope this is the direction you're taking us.
12 Jul 2010 ~ 11:39pm TurboPenguin I'll be interested to see how this is implemented and how it works. It's a great idea and I am excited to see the details. I would love to see some companies take a few days to advertise their products on Icrontic and better explain how to get the most out of them.

It would be great if there was some sort of discount give to those who participate or maybe a raffle/drawing? Anywho great idea and I look forward to seeing it!
13 Jul 2010 ~ 12:28am pseudonym Sounds like an interesting plan, I can see this working very well. I'd much rather receive direct info from a company instead of a flashy ad.
13 Jul 2010 ~ 6:47am Shorty I think it's a great plan! I hope you can drive that kind of interaction. I would be more interested in buying something if I have spoken to someone. Works well for OCZ. Who here has bought an OCZ item having had a chat with Ryder?
13 Jul 2010 ~ 7:40am Zuntar um me!!;)
13 Jul 2010 ~ 8:39am Kwitko Any company that does this will immediately gain +rep from the Icrontic userbase. It's total win. Patent your idea ASAP and make trillions.
13 Jul 2010 ~ 11:57am QCH Yeah... what kwitko. This is an OUTSTANDING idea.
13 Jul 2010 ~ 10:45pm UPSLynx This is a good ideaâ„¢
13 Jul 2010 ~ 10:50pm MAGIC I would like to see product reps come into our IRC or do live message board chats about stuff they have coming out/ answer questions. People actually reaching out to me as opposed to pasting a banner and hoping i click it would influence my purchases for sure.
14 Jul 2010 ~ 12:48am Thrax Everyone knows what it feels like to get that personal attention when they go to buy a product. Put simply, it makes the buying experience that much better. Even if we have no questions to ask, being able to say "hey, I love your products" to someone who can go somewhere and make a difference is a big deal. That's doubly true when those products cost a fat chunk of coin.

Motherboards, video cards, SSDs, processors, Gameboys and consoles all lie within our interests. These are all goods that demand a fat chunk of coin. But it's not just hardware. It's Warhammer 40k, Magic: The Gathering, brewing, and fitness, just to name a few. It's easier to purchase them when you have the satisfaction of knowing that there's a connection to speak with when things go haywire... You're not just calling a phone bank, you're emailing a real person that you've talked to before.

Need proof? Let me tell you about the relationship between OCZ Technology and the members of Icrontic. It's very simple: when Icrontians are considering an SSD or memory, they're probably going to buy an OCZ part. It's like Kleenex or Qtip, folks. OCZ has become the brand we think of when these product categories are brought up. More than that, many people here can tell you all about their offerings: The model names, the specs, the prices... These are very, very informed consumers, and there are dozens of them.

But why OCZ? How did OCZ come to receive this privileged treatment?

In addition to having top notch products with an honest-to-goodness lifetime warranty and support that'll RMA your product if there's even a whiff of trouble, OCZ community manager Eric Ryder has become a member of our community. He's a friend. We trust him when he gives us advice or recommends one of OCZ's products, because he's invested the time and the effort to be more than just another one of the PR dudes that have hit and run our community.

He's uncle Ryder. He's been our friend for years.

This is not some strategy that OCZ has used, or some angle they've worked. To be absolutely clear, OCZ did not send Eric to talk to us. Rather, he found a community that he loved, and a community that so happened to dovetail perfectly with the products of his company.

This is the type of relationship any company can cultivate, but it needs to be genuine, it takes time and it takes effort. It's the polar opposite of the pump'n'dump advertising that has turned this entire industry into a wasteland of banners that go ignored on a regular basis.

Advertisers, it's a pretty simple equation:

Time and time again I have used the word "community" to refer to Icrontic, because we are more than a "forum." A forum is just a place to discuss topics... Icrontic is a place to be friends. Everyone here knows at least 20 other people on a first name basis, and that is very close to being the 100% gospel truth.

We are a very loyal bunch with a massive social network on Twitter, Facebook and in our every-day lives. Massive. We work for colleges, government contractors, Fortune 500 companies, the press and in IT. We are the decision makers for other people. People come to us and ask: What brand do I buy? What video card should I get? What game do you think I would like?

This nut can be yours to crack, but you better be damn sure that you're ready to be real, candid and transparent. In fact, we would love that personal attention; we'll even pass it on for you.
14 Jul 2010 ~ 1:11am fatcat

UPSLynx wrote:

This is a good ideaÃ¢â€žÂ¢

lol, that is what it says on yadda yadda the main article

I'm guessing alt code doesn't work on main pages...oh General Keebler Lincoln Russell....
14 Jul 2010 ~ 2:30am Canti

Thrax wrote:

He's uncle Ryder. He's been our friend for years.

This is the type of relationship any company can cultivate, but it needs to be genuine, it takes time and it takes effort.

I predict a similar relationship with another company one day.

This sounds like a great idea.
14 Jul 2010 ~ 4:14am LilPecan A brilliant idea! People do not want to be shilled to. They prefer to make purchases from people they have a relationship with.
What I find most companies don't get is, once they have that friendship based relationship with a consumer, those consumers advertise FOR them. That is Sales 101 but still companies make things more complicated than they need be.
This concept is a win/win for both the advertiser & consumer.
14 Jul 2010 ~ 7:34am RichD This is a great concept. In business that personal touch is really important and makes all the difference. Can I add a couple of points that Im sure have already been considered. Anyone with a "trade account" should have it identified in their signiture. If they are representing a company then they are no longer impartial and their recomendations may be prejudice towards their own own brand (this isn't to say that they are not accurate). Therfore whoever requests help should be made aware of this.

Also I assume that standard advertising "protocal" applies? ie someone from Asus cant say "Gigabyte boards suck, our Asus boards are better." but direct factual comparrisons like "our board runs at this spec which is better than that board, and ours is cheaper" would be acceptable.

IMO Icrontic is a fantastic place to come and get free impartial advice and if you can interface with people who work for hardware and software suppliers then that really enhances the site as long as it does not compromise the sites impartiallity.

Ryder is a perfect role model as I have never seen him make negative comments about a competitor and his advice is always acurate and informative. This is why so many of us have bought OCZ products. If it is done propperly, this is win win win.
14 Jul 2010 ~ 4:48pm MAGIC So, are you planning to go back to having subforums for different companies to display product and communicate through?
14 Jul 2010 ~ 5:03pm primesuspect No.
22 Jul 2010 ~ 1:59pm GHoosdum hoopledoople
Trolling for fun, in reality I think this is a fantastic idea.