The Web is the possibly the greatest, and last, opportunity for "the rest of us", a place where anyone can communicate with vast numbers of potential clients. And where even a locally oriented company can showcase its products and services with an ease and cost effectiveness that couldn't even be dreamt of previously.
Today, marketing encompasses many different and pivotal elements. One of the most exciting and potentially profitable areas of marketing today is Web marketing. Properly utilized, it can give you greater financial viability and organizational stability — perhaps enormously so!
But it is exceedingly rare that any company maximizes the full earnings their marketing opportunities could deliver to them. This is particularly true in the case of Web marketing, where most company owners and web designers are unaware of the potential marketing methods and channels — and are, therefore, unaware of the true, enormous potential of this medium.
FOR MANY PEOPLE, THE WEB IS THEIR PRIMARY INFORMATION CHANNEL
Someone recently remarked to us, “How can I take a real estate agent seriously who doesn’t even have a web site. ” And this was not some computer-geek 18-year-old, but rather a 40-year-old, middle-of-the-road member of the community. Such an attitude is increasingly prevalent, and is indicative of the importance of a web site in reaching almost anyone in today’s marketplace.
In the early days of the phone, use of the new tool was optional --- for a while. Very soon, if you didn't have a phone, you didn't have a business. Given our world’s rapidly increasing electronic connectedness, building an effective web site may be regarded as much more than simply important. We would suggest that it is essential to the future strength of your business.
YOU CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE TRUE POWER OF THE WEB
The potential of the Web, and its complementary tools of email, online commerce, and interactive communication systems, is enormous. An experience of our own illustrates this potential. In a pre-publication sale of our first book, our “electronically connected” group of clients out-bought the “paper newsletter” group by a factor of 20 to 1!
A web site can be much more than a simple contact point providing a few pages of information…
• Your web site has the potential to be a powerful part of your strategic marketing program.
• It could be operating at, or beyond, the level of effectiveness of your best marketing.
• It can integrate with and support all your marketing efforts. In fact, it can even become the hub of all your marketing.
• It can be, in and of itself, a powerful marketing tool.
The Web already is a serious and important marketing medium.
Marketing on the Web is exploding. The Web is the center of an information revolution comparable to the period following Guttenberg’s development of the moveable-type press. The repercussions are only beginning. We have now settled into a more accurate knowledge of what the Web can and can’t do. Some of the real advantages of the Web are interactivity, targeting, extensive market penetration, economy and measurability.
An effective web site can be so very much more than just some images and basic information. It’s an interactive research tool, a communications channel and a relationship builder. It can allow customers to communicate with each other to build a supportive community. It is an enormously powerful brand builder. It’s a direct-response marketing tool. It’s an educational medium. It is a powerful and customizable sales letter. It’s a catalogue. It’s an enriching experience of your products and services. It can be all this, and more — If it’s done correctly.
The cost of doing business on the Web has increased dramatically over the last decade — but so has the potential. The return, in terms of business building and profitabilty, is staggering.
Contrary to what some people would have you believe, the Web is not a 'magic bullet' that can fix a poor marketing plan, or substitute for an absence of other marketing —
but it is the single most powerful marketing medium available to you today.
