Hot Tip: Web Site Promotion

Coffee uber-retailer Starbucks generated advance publicity for a new Web site by promoting its premiere at another site--one it knew was visited by its target customers. As the coffee chain prepared to move its Internet presence from America Online to the Web last summer, Starbucks managers announced the news at a site where they thought their customers would see it: Lilithfair.com. As a 1998 sponsor of the concert event, Starbucks received a glowing write-up and a valuable link on the tour's site. "It let people know when we'd be launching the Web site," says Internet manager Heidi Wells, "and we got some experience in linking." The strategy can work just as well for newly renovated sites.