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March 2004 Monthly Newsletter :: Anduro Marketing Inc. The Business of Internet Marketing The reality of conducting business over the Internet remains a story in progress. Generally, the business world is still sorting out which paradigms successfully transfer from traditional marketing to the Internet. Techno-evangelists have promoted the Internet as an entirely new way of doing business. In light of fast-paced change, there may be a temptation to leave contemporary marketing ideas behind. In times like these, a business with a consistent perspective and strong planning will succeed in a market that may not be as different as some think. The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same The fact is that Internet Marketing isn't very different from traditional marketing. You still have to create product awareness and maintain consumer interest in order to support a purchase decision. Though statistically a more effective sales tool (see a Case Study), your company's website design should be similar to a trade show booth. Parallel questions must be explored, such as "how will we attract visitors?" and "what value will we offer potential customers?" Some things certainly have changed, and the main differences are speed, cost, and metrics. Processes that once took weeks can now potentially be accomplished in days, hours, and sometimes a matter of minutes. What once cost tens of thousands of dollars sometimes now costs only a few thousand. What was once measured in subjective terms can now be specifically quantified and valued to the penny. Businesses have a new range of services to take advantage of for themselves and their customers. Business to Business Internet Business Internet Marketing is a viable tool for any product sold to customers who use the World Wide Web and e-mail. Today, consumers of complex products are progressively conducting their research on the Web. B2B companies can use the power of their website to improve sales cycles by making it easy for visitors to qualify themselves through self-education. A B2B can further maximize their direct sales efficiency by using the website to filter qualified prospects. The key is to leverage the broad reach of the Internet to draw your prospects to your website. Your site should provide the information your prospects need to ultimately draw the conclusion to choose your products and services. Promoting the right "Web draw" conversion collateral will encourage your visitors to convert a call to action and motivate them to buy sooner. Using a combination of Search Engine Marketing and other promotion techniques helps build branding and generate leads. Online PR tactics include participating in online communities, writing articles for e-zines and web portals, or participating in product reviews or awards programs. These activities will help you reinforce your promotions and even helps build your search engine ranking by adding to your link popularity. Your Kingdom for a Customer Promoting the right lead conversion and response techniques will appeal to visitors and motivate them to purchase your products or services. A successful strategy is to make the virtual environment of the Web into a personal experience. Doing so produces added value for your visitors. Useful techniques include: posting materials such as educational Web-casts or white papers that speak to your visitors or providing a forum for your customers to share their story. Making your website a community will encourage visitors to return to a known source of useful information in their purchase decision process. As with any business, the goal is to keep costumers coming back. A sustained sense of community will be more effective than continually changing advertising or temporary promotions. Not Just a Shot in the Dark It should be noted that some of the problems from conventional business models can also show up in the Internet business world. Without the proper tools, information tracking, analysis, and storage can pose the same challenges online as they do on paper. An interesting statistic from the consulting firm of Accenture, states that nearly 3/4 of marketing executives believe they are unable to measure ROI on a given program investment. Thankfully the Internet has also equipped business with the tools to avoid these information processing difficulties. An extensive set of behind the scenes tools can be used to track from the early browsing stages to actual purchase and follow-up. While these tools can be very helpful, discipline, organization, and proper planning are needed just as much online as in the office. Lessons from the Lemonade Stand Remember, no matter what sector your business is in, there are some marketing principles that never change. Quite simply, the more unique your products/services and target market are, the better you are likely to do online. The advantage of the Web is that it offers characteristics of niche markets for niche products at the mass market level. The key to success, naturally, is proper marketing. Current projections place continued user growth at up to 40% per month (Source: WebSense). As access to information grows, the number of users increases exponentially, as does the implications for any business online. The evolution of business over the Internet means there is always something new to learn. It is important, however, that businesses not abandon the important marketing concepts of the past. Some companies pour money into a fancy but ill-planned Web program only to lose out. But by creating a comprehensive Internet Marketing strategy which involves solid conventional marketing techniques, you have the opportunity to take advantage of the vast possibilities of the Web. |
