May 17, 2008

World Wide Web Proves Effective Marketing Tool in Promoting Business

by Leroy Newman, PenSoft President/CEO

(NEWPORT NEWS, VA) July 23, 1999. The internet (AKA World Wide Web, Web, WWW) offers some exciting new ways to market your products and services. It is the newest game in town, and lots of potential customers are surfing to discover what is available. Internet presence through a Web Site offers small companies the opportunity to appear big and to compete with large companies without the enormous costs of media advertising. This is often referred to as "leveling the playing field".
But, as some very large companies can tell you, the internet may not be the marketing panacea it was once thought to be. After collectively spending millions of dollars to establish their internet presence, many large companies are reducing those efforts due to, perceived or real, a lower return on investment than expected. Regardless, there are effective and profitable ways to market your products and services on the internet.

First, just as with any company project, you need a plan. Internet presence should be thought of as a part of your total marketing plan. Generally it should not be your only means of marketing, nor should it replace an existing productive marketing strategy, but it can be used in addition to other marketing avenues.

There are several things to consider while developing your internet marketing plan:

-- If you are not already familiar with the internet, there is a steep learning curve. Expect to spend many hours learning the language and procedures of connectivity, surfing, and e-mail.

-- It will probably require more effort and resources than expected. With the steep learning curve comes lots of time and effort, and probably more dollars than expected to complete the project.

-- What is your market? Is it local, statewide, national, global? The broader your market, the more likely you are to succeed using the Internet.

-- What is your product? Is it one that lends itself to marketing using the latest technology? Computer products and services, computer software, books, and music CDs are some of the hottest selling categories according to several recent studies.

-- How widely is your product known? Do you have a product name that is already widely known? If so, your marketing strategy should be one to increase exposure and name recognition. If not, your marketing strategy should introduce the product and offer direct sales on the Web.

-- Recent studies show Internet surfers tend to be educated middle class, business owners, or professional people. If your product or service can be used by any of these categories of people, you have a greater opportunity for success.

The Web Site is a passive marketing tool. People only see your information if they find you. Knowing this, there are several hints to help you make it an effective marketing tool.

-- Take an active role in the development and maintenance of your web site. No involvement will influence the success of your project.

-- Learn the Internet lingo. You may even want to learn HTML, the programming language used to develop web pages. The most effective sites are those created and maintained by the company providing the service or product. They can be more responsive to changes and keep the site fresher than if they are using a third party software company to make the revisions.

-- Choose an Internet service provider (ISP) wisely. Be sure the ISP can offer the services you will need to be successful, i.e. software and coaching to help you get started, enough telephone lines to properly service your requirements including e-mail, support to ensure your site is available to the outside world most of the time, and hard drive space for Web site growth.

-- Use innovation in creating your site. It must be interesting and offer some useful information to entice surfers to come back again, and perhaps even tell someone else about you.

-- Be sure your front page builds quickly. No one wants to wait for a lot of fancy graphics to build on the front page. Surfers want to know what this specific site is about in a very short time. If the font page builds quickly and has something to catch the surfers' interest, they will stay to review follow-on pages. After the front page, and the interest is peaked, additional pages may be more complex, have more slow building graphics, and have more detailed information. The deeper into the site, the more detailed the information tends to be.

-- Consider applying for your own domain name. It shortens the address to your front page and helps to identify your company. It also tends to "level the playing field" for small companies who are competing with larger companies for market share by making them appear to be big.

-- Use the search engine to your benefit. There are some 26 major search engines and numerous other sites cataloging web sites. They provide the service of helping surfers to search for a specific name, tope, or site. To be most effective on the Internet, you must aggressively present your information to them. In addition to receiving information from Web Sites, many search engines search the Web looking for new sites. Pepper you page with key words about your product. Consider words someone needing your product or service may use to search for your site, and put them early on the front page - some search engines only index the first 200 words on a site.

-- Use newsgroups to spread the word. Newsgroups are not intended to be places for advertising; however, interest in specific products can be helpful.

-- Make it easy for potential customers to order. Provide an order form as part of your Web Site. Offer a toll free 800 or 888 telephone number and FAX number. The easier it is, the more likely the sale. And, by the way, don't forget to have your mailing address there too. There are still customers who will want to mail a check.

The Web is only an additional means of promoting your product or service. Many of the principles are identical to the more traditional ways of marketing. This is a relatively new medium, but the concepts are the same. You want your potential customer to have enough information to either make the purchase decision or to contact your company for additional information. Many customers will want to know you are an established business. Be prepared to talk to them on the telephone and send brochures or other printed materials.

Always deliver 100% of what you promise. Use the speed of the Internet to spread good information about your company.

For more information about PenSoft, visit http://www.pensoft.com or call 757-873-2976.

This article is presented from a "lessons learned" perspective. We established our Web Site about two years ago, and we now have over 1400 customers who found us on the Internet resulting in over 3700 product orders and over $500,000 in revenues we would not have had without the site.
Additionally, some large companies found us on the Internet and have engaged us to produce third party, or private label, payroll software for them to market with their software. As a result, we created another branch of our software business.