The Chatterbox

The New (Marketing) Frontier

There is a very interesting development that has been trudging along in its infancy recently that is about to explode on the 'Net in my opinion. Collectively this new opportunity is known as API, or Application Programming Interface(s).

What are API's?

Basically they are nothing more than a bit of coding that can be used to connect to databases in order to retrieve information. Nothing too complicated actually. Rather similar to how you can use PHP in conjunction with MySQL databases to retrieve and display information.

The major difference is that API's are used to connect to someone elses data, that they have of course given you permission to retrieve and use. So instead of making a connection to your own local database, you're connecting to and manipulating the data being offered by some other company.

The trick, and in fact the opportunity, is in utilizing an API to provide more data, or better data, or data in a more usable format than is currently available. And for we marketers, monetizing our use of the API movement.

Okay, that's all nebulous and intriguing, but it's kind of vague still. Especially the part about how this may be the next frontier for the internet marketer.

In a nutshell, several very large web properties have jumped firmly on the band wagon. They're offering you access to a lot of proprietary data which you can build API tools to sort, organize and display in a way they have yet to offer. It's almost akin to the Open Source movement since you can get ahold of the data completely free, at least for testing purposes. (Note that they all put some restrictions on the "free" side of things, but if you develop something that you can monetize most also offer other types of licenses that allow greater access and the ability to commercialize your creation.)

Who are we talking about that is allowing this unprecedented access to inside information? Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, and Google to name a few.

That's quite a list, isn't it? We're talking the biggest of the big are already firmly on-board the API movement, with more to follow surely.

I've been looking at this and mulling it over in my mind for several months now. What spurred me to write about it here is an article in the April 2005 issue of the Business 2.0 magazine that hit my doorstep this past week. For the record, they don't publish the whole article on their web site, but it's one that I recommend picking up for this one artile alone. Or subscribing to since I seem to get a lot of really solid information from lately.

The article contains several quotes from industry leaders, pointing to the fact that all of them are very happy with the way the API movement has helped them and their customers in the relatively short time a small group of API developers have been taking advantage of their new openness.

Some of the current API tools that are making money for their developers include:

• Hive Group, which has developed custom browsers that integrate with and display Amazon products and iTunes songs


• ScoutPal, which brings Amazon products to your cell phone, practically turning it into a wireless bar code scanner


• LivePlasma, which interacts with Amazon's database to provide visual search for music and movies


• Bonfire Media, which bring eBay auctions to your mobile phone


• Channel Advisor, which uses API's to assist sellers on Amazon, eBay and other sites manage and automate their operations


• Super Pawn, which condenses and organizes the inventory of a 46 pawn shops to sell it on eBay

The above is just the tip of a very large iceberg.

The superior access API technology offers to developers is unprecedented and almost boundless. Even if something you need, as a developer, is not currently available from one of these portals, they've been very proactive in listening to developer requests. So if you have a plan for a tool that would be useful, but which needs another nugget of information or deeper access, it's a good idea to approach the portal to explain what you need and why. They've all been very forthcoming, especially if it's going to help their bottom line.

What makes this all intriguing to me is that it's a 180 degree turn from the way traditional businesses treat their proprietary information and internal systems. Those on the leading edge have taken much more of an Open Source approach, and been very happy with the additional revenue the API movement has generated for them.

As you can see from the above examples, there are more possible uses than one can begin to imagine. And it goes both ways. Meaning the profit potential can come from several business models.

Can you imagine building some little tool that is found to be a Must Have for a large percentage of those millions of eBay sellers? You would be a millionaire overnight.

By the same token, can you imagine getting together a group of Overstock suppliers (or any other brick and mortar business for that matter) and offering to help them sell their inventory through one or several of these portals or via Pay Per Click advertising on the search engines themselves in exchange for a small cut of the profits? Completely removing the "tech boundary" and campaign management issues that so many struggle with?

Or what would happen if you built a tool set that made use of the various API's made available by the search engines to analyze what elements of the competitors sites are pushing them into the Top 10 ranking positions for the most competitive search terms across all of the search engines. Something that would break it all down into a sensible plan of action to help other vendors compete for that traffic?

(Side Note: Yes, I already have a couple of SEO/SEM tools in mind that I'll be working on in the very near future.)

I'm 100% serious when I say that the possibilities, and the possible markets one could target are endless.

With the expansion of the API Movement, the stage is set for entrepreneurial developers to become quite wealthy, while providing truly helpful applications, across every conceivable market.

The New Fronteir Indeed...

I, for one, do not plan on missing the API boat. I would encourage you to get on board also, before the cabins start filling up. Now is the prime time to take advantage.