Do you see a problem here?  How does Google get away with this?  I’m pretty sure that if I made this mistake at work I would catch all bloody heck.  But then again, I’m not Google.

[polldaddy poll=1362581]

I just read Did Standards Kill the Online Ad Business by Saul Hansell on nytimes.com.  It is true that standard ad sizes lowered the cost of entry for digital ad networks, but these networks would have emerged and succeeded even if standards weren’t formalized.  Informal standards would have been dictated by the largest publishers or ad networks.  The success of ad networks has everything to do with their business models, and nothing to do with standards.  Furthermore, the online ad business is far from killed; it’s maturing.  Ad networks simply makes sense, on a medium where publishers are plentiful, and not limited by bandwidth over coaxial cable, printing, or distribution costs.  With the large quantity of publishers, mostly with a relatively small share of Internet reach, ad networks become necessary.  Most publishers can’t afford large sales teams, and don’t have the distribution to pull in scalable deals.

I would argue, though, that many large traditional media companies  have brought this tough competition on for themselves.  Many of them have turned to these same ad networks to back-fill the ad inventory they were unable to sell-out with their internal sales teams.  Why would a large advertiser pay a premium to buy ads on a premium site when they can pay a tiny fraction of that amount to get their ads on the same site through the ad network?  These publishers can typically block specific advertisers or industries on these ad networks, but unless every major publisher issues such a block, the savvy advertisers will continue to find cheap ways to get their message out using these standard units.

Here’s how traditional media companies can beat the effect of digital ad networks on the web:

1. Deliver a product people truly want to your audience. Migrating newspaper content to the Internet is simply not compelling enough to accomplish this goal.  You need to differentiate yourself from an overcrowded set of publishers.  And stop with the one way broadcast, already!  Engage your users!  Lucky for you, many advertisers still want their message on premium brands only.
2. Deliver innovating ad products that really pay off for your advertisers. This is difficult, because many advertisers are still not savvy enough to go after custom solutions.  Additionally, these solutions can be very costly.  That said, if you can show a few success stories, you can make it happen.  The bottom line is that you need to help your advertisers accomplish their goals if you want to keep them.
3. Don’t be so rigid, try something new and take a chance. Go out on a limb and try something that you’ve never tried before and can’t guarantee success with.  Just be sure to measure success, and have a plan in place so that you can make adjustments from what you learn.  Again, differentiate yourself!
4. Be and early adopter for all new media platforms, including social media. Rich Sanchez?  ’nuff said.

I certainly have my own theories on why good software ideas fail when rolled out to the real world.  As a product manager, I believe I know why good ideas fail.  Here are some questions to answer if you think your good idea is failing:

1. Does the idea solve a problem that causes a real frustration for users?
   You may have a good idea, and it may solve a real problem.  But do your users care enough about the problem to use your product?  Perhaps solving the problem just isn’t worth any effort or change in behavior for your prospective user-base.  If this is the case, you’re toast.
2. Does the solution require a larger investment from the user than the existing alternatives?
   It may be difficult to see this in your own product, but perhaps it’s just too darned hard to use.  Or perhaps it takes too darned long to accomplish a task.  I’m getting frustrated just thinking about this one!  It’s common to start with a simple solution that balloons by the time you get to completion, making it harder for users than what they were doing before.  Perhaps it’s time to go back to square one, and look for an easier solution.
3. Was a prototype of the idea tested on real users before and throughout development?
   Launching an entirely new product without prototyping and user testing throughout the process is like playing darts for the first time.  Good luck!  Do you really want to find out your execution was awful…after you’re done, or after a huge investment of time and money?  Better late than never, try it now.
4. Did somebody else do it significantly better before you got to market?
   Notice that I didn’t ask if someone else did it first.  I asked if they did it better and first.  It’s time to start thinking of versions 2 and 3, because you need to play leapfrog.  Fast.
5. Were enough resources put on the project to make it succeed?
   I’ll admit I’m not a big tennis fan, but I have heard of no man’s land.  It’s that area in the middle of the court when you can’t get to the net, but you can’t back to the baseline.  If you don’t stand in the right place, you don’t stand a chance to succeed.  If you can’t commit to the right resources and the right amount of resources, you’re going to fail.  You can either scale back on your goals, or pony up.  Commit.  Or quit.
6. Has the idea been given a true chance to flourish?
   Don’t give up so fast.  Some ideas just need time to catch on.  Which leads to the next point…
7. Was the idea aggressively marketed to the right segment?
   Some people believe the right solution will market itself.  I believe that may be true, over time.  But marketing is more than just consumer marketing.  You need to make sure you target the right potential audience for your application.   Demographics (age, gender, income range…), verticals, etc., who’s going to use it?  How are you going to make sure they know you have a solution to their problem?  Now you know who they are, just make sure you tell them.
8. Do all of the stakeholders buy in?  Completely?
   If not, change stakeholders or cut and run.
9. Did you define success and failure before you launched?
   How can you succeed if you never defined success?  Do it now, and lay out your goals for today, tomorrow, next month, next year, and the next three.  Hurry!
10. Is it priced right, or is there a real revenue model?
    “If you build it, they will come,” but can you afford for them to come?  Are you asking too much from people?  Or did you think at all about how you will make money?  Some companies, like Twitter and Facebook, use the technique of building audience first, and getting a business model later.  This could work.  But then again, it could not. Get yourself a business model, or fail.

Disagree with any of these?  Have some ideas of your own?  Please share, I’ll keep this list updated.  Perhaps you may even have some suggestions to get a bad idea to succceed!

Update 2/27/2009 – Check out a good related post by Seth Godin, Three things you need if you want more customers.