Not a day goes by without yet another article extolling the virtues of the Internet. An estimated 30 million worldwide users to date and more logging on every day. To the small business owner, the real question is, Where does the hype end and the reality begin? Is the Internet really a viable proposition for the traditional small business, normally constrained by lack of time, staff and money? 10 questions to ask yourself The best way to determine whether or not the Internet makes sense for your business is to apply a simple “yes” or “no” answer to 10 important marketing questions: 1. Do my clients require specific product information before they can buy my product/service? 2. Do I spend a majority of my time selling the benefits of my product only to be asked, “Can you send me more information?” 3. Is my long-distance phone bill more than $100 per month? 4. Have I lost business as a result of playing phone tag with a potential customer because I was unable to “sieze the moment?” 5. Would a new employee handling sales paperwork free me to increase my companys revenues? 6. Is there an international market for my product? 7. Does my product have a story to tell? 8. Am I spending more than 20 percent of every dollar I make on marketing-related expenses? 9. Would instant customer feedback benefit my business? 10. Would the ability to capture orders 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, help my business? If you answered “yes” to just one of these questions, you should at least explore the possibilities that Internet commerce can offer. If you answered “yes” to five or more, you should dedicate some serious time and resources to finding out how the Internet actually works (and how it can work for you). If you answered “yes” to eight or more of the questions, you need a fast-track education about the Internet before your competitors claim the medium for themselves. The smart small business owner will make plans to explore the Internet, find out what the Web can deliver and then formulate a strategy to exploit it. As Jeff Vick, Marketing Specialist at Creative Video explains, “The Internet will do to business in the 21st century what the telephone did to business in the 20th century.” The Web — How does it work? According to Vick, the Internet works well as a commercial sales tool for businesses that need to exchange information in order to specify a particular products size, color, model, price, etc. Multiple orders can be booked, billed and fulfilled through a simple response mechanism included on an Internet site. Much of this information can be communicated through the Web. While it is actually only one portion of the Internet, the Web serves as an extensive reference library that can provide any level of additional information about a particular subject, issue, item or product. As in a spiders web configuration, the Web provides an ever-increasing source of interlocking information about the subject in question. Simply point and click and you can dive deeper into additional layers of information. The Web also has certain features that make it ideal for marketing. It can display pictures and massive amounts of text about your product as well as send and receive order information while at the same time generating a receipt. If your product requires a lengthy explanation in order to communicate its benefits, the Web is the place to do it. Customers and prospects can view that information at their own pace — in many instances, via sophisticated video and audio commercials. Since were talking digital information here, there is very little difference between one word and one thousand words. And if you feel that youre spending too much time processing paperwork and not enough time selling, a well-designed Web page may be one of the potential keys to your businesses future success. How important is e-mail? An important byproduct of the Internet is e-mail, or electronic mail. Once you learn to use this valuable tool, youll wonder how you ever got along without it. Forget about what time it is, or whether its “worth a call” — with e-mail, it costs no more to send a message to Sydney that it does to Syracuse (the actual cost is about $1.00 an hour). And time zones become irrelevant as well. You and the recipient can view the messages at your convenience, thereby eliminating the dreaded game of telephone tag. So get serious! How does the smart business operator approach the formidable and intimidating task of investigating the Net? First, gather your thoughts as to what you would like your Web site to accomplish. Imagine that your customer can ask you anything he/she wants to know about your company and product — anything from product price to employee birthdays — and in no particular order. Analyze each possible scenario and list all the information relevant to it. Then, and only then, begin to organize the scenarios into a flow chart. Once you have the flow chart polished, try to find flaws in it. If your customer is browsing through the pricing section of your flow chart, will he/she be more interested in going to shipping next or reading your companys mission statement? After you feel that youve developed a solid grasp of the different portions of the business that youd like to present to your clientele, you are now ready to interview potential agencies who are skilled in creating Web pages. According to Vick, there are 3 questions you should ask a potential Web page creator: 1. Have you done this before? 2. Who have you done this for? 3. May I call them? While creating some Web pages may require the skills of a computer Ph.D., most will not, and there are competent companies in most major markets capable of accomplishing the task in a cost-effective fashion. Prices for creating a simple Web site can range from a low of $2,500 to high of $20,000. In fact, some of the Fortune 500 marketers have created sophisticated and complex Web pages that can literally run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in some cases, the millions. But for the average small business, the investment will probably be in the $5,000 to $10,000 range. And remember, you must keep your Web site content fresh, or your prospects will have no reason to come back. Seeing your own World Wide Web site up and running on the Internet can be a proud moment for any business owner. It also can mean the start of a whole new way of doing business. It has the potential to increase productivity by extending operating time to a full 24 hours a day. But this will only happen if your business really needs this technology and can use it effectively. Evaluate your situation honestly. If its right for you, acquire it. If its not, save the money. And if you want to see what its all about, contact a Web creator and ask to see a demonstration. One picture is really worth 1,000 words. Alf Nucifora is an Atlanta based marketing consultant. He may be contacted by e-mail zubicon
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