Doing Business on the Internet

How can the Internet improve my business?

Before businesses dive into the brave new world of internet marketing, the best advice is: look before you leap. Yes, businesses are stampeding to the Internet by the thousands. Yes, everyone is talking about the Internet and the Web. Yes, the Internet seems as though it really will eventually provide enormous commercial opportunities.

The Internet potentially has powerful advantages over TV, radio, popular press, and the telephone.  In this age of brutal competition and sudden death for companies that fail to compete effectively, business people in almost all industries realize they cannot afford to let competitors get out in front of them.

When new trends and technologies appear, smart business people take their best guess at how those new developments can best be utilized to create a competitive advantage, and they rush in and hope for the best. In strategic terms, early commercial entrants on to the Web are trying to position themselves to be leaders in electronic marketing and, thus, maintain or achieve leadership in their respective industries. Some will succeed at it and some won't, but only those that make a serious commitment stand any chance at all. So if you hope to use the Web to your competitive advantage, make a serious commitment.

Create a first-rate web site, market it as effectively as possible, and update it regularly. But before you jump on the Web at all, you have to decide what you think this unique new medium can do for your business and then tailor your Web site and marketing strategy accordingly. Here's some help in figuring out what the Web can do for your business.

Retail stores selling everyday items

The Web is ideal for vendors of common products to employ marketing strategies to encourage people to shop at their stores. For example, a store can use the Web to notify customers of sales events, to feature product information, to emphasize customer service, to promote a positive image, and as a means of allowing customers to get in-depth information after their interest has been triggered by TV, radio. print, display, or word-of-mouth advertising. A manufacturer in California in urgent need of an unusual plastic extrusion might use the Web to locate a vendor in Maryland that they otherwise would never have tracked down.

Entertainment, restaurants, casinos, hospitality businesses

The Web is also ideal for companies whose customers tend to know what they want, and where they want it, but would like to know more information about the company than the basic information they get from the phone book or guide book before they call or visit.

For example, restaurants, nightclubs, resorts, bed and breakfasts, and auto repair shops are just a few of the countless types of companies that could benefit greatly from a Web presence. Customers seeking these businesses tend to make impulse decisions, and so an attractive, persuasive Web site can generate a lot of sales and bookings that would otherwise never occur.

Fast Food and Convenience Stores

At first glance it isn't obvious that there is much reason for such companies to be on the Web. But there are opportunities to create competitive advantages here, too. Large franchises, for example 6-Twelve, Subway, McDonalds, or Little Caesars Pizza, could have on-line zoom-in locator maps to show customers where the stores are located. And it costs very little extra to include a menu and specials.

Professionals

Professionals who historically don't advertise much could use the Web to allow potential clients to find them and let know more about the personal philosophies, professional specialties, or other factors that sets their practice apart. Doctors and dentists, attorneys, psychologists and counselors, architects, consultants, appraisers, and engineers all could all find new clients on the Web. Many insurance agents, plumbers, maintenance and housecleaning services, and security services spend a lot of money on yellow page advertising. Web advertising could be a less expensive, yet very effective, complement.

Newsletters, magazines, and other print media

Any organization that goes to the effort of producing a free newsletter can easily and cheaply put the newsletter, along with back issues, on a Web site. This could dramatically reduce printing costs, save paper and waste, and increase readership. Subscribers could be notified by Email that a new edition has been placed on the Web or could be Emailed the newsletter itself, although this would lose the slick production values and links possible on the Web. Magazines and other print media that now charge for publications have a real dilemma facing them. Do they go on-line or not?

With so much free news and information on the Web, magazines and newspapers, especially general interest publications, may have a hard time charging for on-line subscriptions. And unless your publication can draw the large Web readership of a U. S. News or the New York Times, charging for advertising on your Web pages may be difficult, too. On the other hand, without some sort of Web presence, any publication that hopes to be thought of as consequential and progressive will be conspicuous by its absence.

The Internet is the dawn of a new information age, so it is not surprising that companies whose primary product is information are the ones struggling the hardest and flailing the most wildly to find a rational and profitable place in the new electronic medium.  

Almost any business that advertises

Virtually any company that now spends money on broadcast or print advertising can either save money or convey better, more in-depth, and more persuasive information by augmenting existing advertising with Web advertising. For example, instead of taking out large, wordy print ads, a company could instead use smaller, cheaper, but more striking and attention-grabbing print ads that pique interest and refer customers to your Web site. This approach would be especially effective when the primary customer base is either businesses or up-scale consumers because both of these groups have a high degree of access to the Web.  

If you have a Web site, can people find it and why should they visit it?

Between the nature and limitations of the available search engines and an all-too-common lack of marketing strategy on the part of businesses, many Web sites never get found by the potential customers who want to find them. Making sure your Web site gets found, ideally at the top of search engine result lists, is a big part of a successful Web marketing strategy. Developing this part of your strategy may be the trickiest part of all. You may want to develop your own strategies if you have a great deal of time, specialized technical and business knowledge, and the right temperament and aptitude to get your arms around the entire Web phenomenon so you can see how every piece fits and connects together today and where it is going tomorrow. Otherwise, you will save a lot of money, disappointments, and headaches, by employing a Webster Communications.

The Level Playing Field Fallacy

Much has been made of how the Web is the first egalitarian mass advertising medium in that small businesses can have a presence equal to the large companies. Technically and at the moment there is some truth to the claim because, sure enough, any business, large or small, who puts a good-looking web page on the Internet will, sure enough, have a presence more-or-less equal to every other Web page. At first glance, it sounds like an adman's dream: Everyone has direct access to your ad, and no one has a bigger ad than yours.

If you have a company with products or services worth selling, and you have vision combined with a well-conceived marketing strategy, the Internet might be your ticket to becoming a household name, too.

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