Sparknotes’ Internet Marketing

Last night, I was reading a plot summary for Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dallowway, and my eyes happened to stray–just for a second–to the right column of boxes I usually ignore on every website. The word “Procrastinate!” caught me off guard. Curious, and mostly uninterested in the plot summary I was reading, I clicked.

Every Sparknotes page has a box featuring articles aimed at distracting students. Each article has a catchy and occasionally controversial title such as “You Kiss Your Mother with that Mouth?” and “Pregnant with Syphilis at 14: Thanks a lot abstinence-only education” Don’t lie: you would have clicked too.
The articles, similar to blog entries, each tell a witty anecdote or highlight an issue. They have cartoons as well.
First I was puzzled: why would any site would want to distract its users away from the reason they visited the site in the first place? Then it hit me. Sparknotes.com has implemented a brilliant self-promotion/new media marketing strategy that causes its users to spend more time and clicks on their site (increasing ad rates) while giving them a chance to spread entertaining material by Sparknotes around the social media scene with a “Share this” widget.
Here’s why I think their idea is brilliant: I had the privilege last week of hearing Mike Volpe of Internet Inbound Marketing company Hubspot, speak on the internet transforming the landscape of marketing. In ablog post, Volpe writes:
“Fewer people are going to tradeshows, direct mail response rates are decreasing, email marketing is becoming less effective, and cold calling is becoming more difficult. People have more tools for blocking out this interruption marketing (spam filters, caller ID) and even governments are helping customers block this marketing (CAN Spam Act, National Do Not Call lists).”
At first glance, the box looks like an advertisement, so, my first impulse was to ignore it, to block it out. But seeing I was being offered the choice to distract myself, I in no way felt my life was being interrupted. I, the consumer, was in control. By granting this power to me, Sparknotes made me more willing to accept their invitation to read their content, talk about it, and spread it around to others. They effectively increase the power of their brand and draw visitors, who may have no intention to read literature summaries, to their material.
Pretty smart, Sparknotes, pretty smart.