How does one of the biggest commercial projects in history make an internet presence?

Getting PR for the cash-flow enabled 101
Let’s digress away from internet based business, for a minute, and look at one of the biggest buildings in the world (except for some flower warehouse in Holland). Yes, I’m actually here in Macao for the opening of The Venetian^® Macao-Resort-Hotel. It is a 3,000 suite integrated resort. An integrated resort means this place is not only a huge hotel, it’s also a casino, a convention center and the biggest mall in the world. An indoor city, if you will.

Of course, a project of this magnitude is very well publicized. As of now the hotel portion of The Venetian is jam- packed with reporters from all around the world. Each reporter gets his trip all-expenses-paid, in return he writes an article. Believe it or not, paying each reporter plus crew, separately, is much more economic than paying a whole channel to air a favoring report. Hey! even the fifth richest man in the world (this title shifts like the tides in the sea, so don’t hold me to it ) has got to be economic.*

Does big in life mean big on the net?
Something this huge, has to have a huge internet presence, right? Well, Let’s review what’s going on e-media-wise.

The Venetian Macao has two websites, one for the press and one for the consumer (try the sitemap to get around more easily). While the site aimed at the press has simple programming with all kinds of information on The Venetian and Macao (not to mention media events), the consumer site is much more complex.

Improving Your Video Marketing
Flash player is used and still images are cleverly edited together to look like a video commercial. This is a popular technique with online marketers, but seeing as The Venetian holds a specialized media team, this familiar technique may not be as apparent. What marketers often call “video” is very similar to (and very often is) a Power Point presentation. Using the techniques used by The Venetian team requires a bit of knowledge in a basic editing program, and if you still feel intimidated, then check out myspace.com widgets for image showcasing. Can you see the resemblance?

Venetian Copywriting Tips
Although a lot of the copywriting on The Venetian website is fluff (just like the gold motifs), there are a few hidden treasures we can enjoy:
Titles: The titles of the pages (“Where X meets Y”) are not very SEO savvy, they are obviously directed at a human reader. One of the oldest, most traditional copywriting tricks is using the same first letter, because it’s catchy. However, it seams to be misused, in this case (a bland attempt at being witty&cute), because this trick is used for names and slogans, to make them memorable, and these titles are just not something that the customer needs to remember, in order to push him to buy.
Getting you to order: Take a look at the suite sales pages. A picture of the product with a list of features and a “make a reservation button”. If you’ve been an attentive student, up until now, you may be asking yourself, what about the benefits?! The doubt diffusion?! The Long copy?!!
Well, it comes down to the difference between a huge corporation and an independent marketer. The Venetian is part of the Las Vegas Sands corporation, which has an impeccable reputation in the industry, so actually no introduction is needed- the reputation implies the benefits. Also, The Venetian has a very specific target audience, and caters specifically to their needs. The marketing is focused on maintaining the reputation of the corporation as a luxurious all-encompassing resort. Rather than introducing benefits, it exhibits tempting luxury.

Saying No to SEO
The big corporations seem to overlook SEO completely. This is actually not surprising at all, if you understand the kind of waste that happens in every large system. Be it a large corporation, the army or the government- Money is wasted, food is wasted, research is wasted and even resources are wasted. So it’s no wonder The Venetian overlooks this in it’s programming and copywriting and aims the sight at the human spectator. Unless you actually type the search term “The Venetian”, you probably won’t find The Venetian on the front pages of Google.

The Venetian Macao is not for everyone, and neither is the web-site copy writing techniques, but there is a lot to be learned in the form of branding. And a visit to this integrated resort (if you can afford it) is educational as to how to make a consistent customer experience.

What’s good for the big man is not necessarily good for you.

* Disclaimer: Just so you know, I’m not part of this sorted media twist, I’m actually here, tagging along with my spouse, who’s part of the media crew of The Venetian, so I had to pay my own way, and we stay at a different hotel.

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