Approximately
half a billion people worldwide have access to
the World Wide Web (WWW). No matter what your
business is, you can't ignore this number. To
be a part of that community and show that you
are interested in serving them, you need to be
on the WWW. You know your competitors have it
already.
2.
To Network
A
lot of what passes for business is simply nothing
more than making connections with people. Passing
out your business card is part of every good meeting
and every business person can tell more than one
story how a chance meeting turned into the big
deal. Well, what if you could pass out your business
card to thousands, maybe millions of potential
clients and partners, saying this is what I do
and if you are ever in need of my services, this
is how you can reach me, 24 hours a day and inexpensively.
3.
To Make Business Information Available
What
is basic business information? Think of a Yellow
Pages ad. What are your hours? What do you do?
How can someone contact you? What methods of payment
do you take? Where are you located at? Now think
of a Yellow Pages ad where you have instant communication.
What is today's special? Today's interest rate?
Next week's parking lot sale information? If you
could keep your customer informed of every reason
why they should do business with you, you can
if you own a web site.
4.
To Serve Your Customers
Making
business information available is one of the most
important ways to serve your customers. How about
making forms available to pre-qualify for loans,
or have your staff do a search for that classic
jazz record your customer is looking for, without
tying up your staff on the phone to take down
the information? Allow your customer to punch
in sizes and check it against a database that
tells him what color of jacket is available in
your store? All this can be done, simply and quickly
if you own a web site.
5.
To Heighten Public Interest
You
won't get Newsweek magazine to write up your local
store opening, but you might get them to write
up your Web Page address if it is something new
and interesting. Even if Newsweek would write
about your local store opening, you wouldn't benefit
from someone in a distant city reading about it,
unless of course, they were coming to your town
sometime soon. With Web page information, anybody
anywhere who can access the Web and hears about
you is a potential visitor to your Web site and
a potential customer for your information there
.
6.
To Release Time Sensitive Materials
What
if your materials need to be released no earlier
than midnight? The quarterly earnings statement,
the grand prize winner, the press kit for the
much anticipated film, the merger news? Well,
you sent out the materials to the press with "The-do-not-release-before-such-and-such-time"
statement and hope for the best. Now the information
can be made available at midnight or any time
you specify, with all related materials such as
photographs, bios, etc. released at exactly the
same time. Imagine the anticipation of "All
materials will be made available on our Web site
at 12:01 AM". The scoop goes to those that
wait for the information to be posted, not the
one who releases your information early.
7.
To Sell Things
Many
people think that this is the number 1 thing to
do with the World Wide Web, but we made it number
seven to make it clear that we think you should
consider selling things on the Internet and the
World Wide Web after you have done all the things
above and maybe even after doing quite a few more
things from this list. Why? The answer is complex
but the best way to put it is, do you consider
the telephone the best place to sell things? Probably
not. You probably consider the telephone a tool
that allows you to communicate with your customer,
which in turn helps you sell things. Well, that's
how we think you should onsider the WWW. The technology
is different, of course, but before people decide
to become customers, they want to know about you,
what you do and what you can do for them. Which
you can do easily and inexpensively if you own
a website.
8.
To make pictures, sound and film files available
What
if your widget is great, but people would really
love it if they could see it in action? The album
is great but with no airplay, nobody knows that
it sounds great? A picture is worth a thousand
words, but you don't have the space for a thousand
words? The WWW allows you to add sound, pictures
and short movie files to your company's info.
No brochure can do that.
9.
To reach a highly desirable demographic market
The
demographic of the web user is probably the highest
mass-market demographic available and over 2000
search engines availability will remain high for
many years to come.
10.
To Answer Frequently Asked questions
Whoever
answers the phones in your organization can tell
you, their time is usually spent answering the
same questions over and over again. These are
the questions customers and potential customers
want to know before they deal with you. Post them
on your web page and freed up some time for that
harried phone operator.
11.
To Stay In Contact With Salespeople
Your
employees on the road may need up-to-the-minute
information that will help them make the sale
or pull together the deal. If you know what that
information is, you can keep it posted in complete
privacy on your web page.
12.
To Open International Markets
You
may not be able to make sense of the mail, phone
and regulation systems in all your potential international
markets, but with a Web page, you can open up
a dialogue with international markets as easily
as with the company across the street. As a matter-of-fact,
before you go onto the Web, you should decide
how you want to handle the international business
that will come your way, because your postings
are certain to bring international opportunities
your way, whether it is part of your plan or not.
And if your company has offices overseas, they
can access the home offices information for the
price of a local phone call.
13.
To Create a 24 Hour Service
If
you've ever remembered too late or too early to
call the opposite coast, you know the hassle.
We're not all on the same schedule. Business is
worldwide but your office hours aren't. Trying
to reach Asia or Europe is even more frustrating.
But Web pages serve the client, customer and partner
24 hours a day, seven days a week. No overtime
either. It can colllect important information
that will put you ahead of the competition, even
before they get into the office.
14.
To Make Information Changes Available Quickly
Sometimes,
information changes before it gets off the press.
Now you have a pile of expensive, worthless paper.
Electronic publishing changes with your needs.
No paper, no ink, no printer's bill. You can even
attach your web page to a database which customizes
the page's as many times in a day as you need.
No printed piece can match that flexibility.
15.
To Allow Feedback From Customers
You
pass out the brochure, the catalog, the booklet.
But it doesn't work. No sales, no calls, no leads.
What went wrong? Wrong color, wrong price, wrong
market? That's great for the big boys with deep
pockets. With a Web page, you can ask for feedback
and get it instantaneously with no extra cost.
An instant e-mail response can be built into Web
pages and can get the answer while its fresh in
your customers mind.
16.
To Test New Services and Products
We
all know the cost of rolling out a new product.
Advertising, advertising, advertising, PR and
advertising. Expensive, expensive, expensive.
Once you have been on the Web and know what to
expect from those who are seeing your page, they
are the least expensive market for you to reach.
They will also let you know what they think of
your product faster, easier and much less expensive.
For the cost of a page or two of Web programming,
you can have a crystal ball into where to position
your product or service in the marketplace. Amazing.
17.
To Reach The Media
Every
kind of business needs the exposure that the media
can bring, as we touched on in reason #5 "To
Heighten Public Interest", but what if your
business is reaching the media, as a newswire,
a publicist or a public policy group. The media
is the most wired profession today, since their
main product is information and they can get it
more quickly, cheaply and easily on-line. On-line
press kits are becoming more and more common,
since they work with the digital environment of
more and more pressrooms. Digital images can be
put in place without the stripping and shooting
of the old pressrooms and digital text can be
edited and outputed on tight deadlines. All the
these can be made available on a Web page.
18.
To Reach The Education and Youth Market
If
your market is education, consider that most universities
and schools offer Internet access to their students.
19.
To Reach The Specialized Market
Sell
fish tanks, art reproductions, flying lessons?
You may think that the Internet is not a good
place to be. Well, think again. The Internet isn't
just computer science students anymore.
With the 500 million and growing users of the
internet, even the most narrowly defined interest
group will be represented in large numbers. Since
the Web has several very good search programs,
your interest group will be able to find you,
or your competitors.
20.
To Serve Your Local Market
We've
talked about the power to serve the world with
a Web page. How about your neighborhood? If you
are located in San Francisco Bay Area, the Raleigh
NC area, Boston or New York, there is probably
enough local customers with Web access to make
it worth your while to consider Web marketing.
A local Palo Alto, CA restaurant even takes lunch
orders through the Internet! But no matter where
you are, if the big client has Web access, you
should be there too.
