By: PAI Patin Associates, Inc.By: PAI Patin Associates, Inc.
Whether you are an enthusiast or skeptic, like it or not, the Internet--especially the World Wide Web (WWW) is a part of our personal and commercialfuture. At no time since the advent of television has such expectation andcontroversy surrounded what is essentially a new form of communication. Whetherthe Web becomes primarily a medium of information, entertainment, commerce,or all of these has yet to be determined. One thing is certain, there isno escaping the attention being given to the "Net", nor to the ubiquitousURLs that seemingly are attached to every company's advertisements.
What Are Businesses Doing On The Internet?
What Results Can You Expect From 'Advertising' On The Net?
(Hype vs. Fact)
The Keys To Successful Marketing On The Internet
Who Uses The Internet / World Wide Web?
Over half of web users range in age from 25 to 44 (56%) with the rest splitevenly between older and younger users. There are almost twice as many male(65%) than female users, and 88% of all users have at least some collegeeducation or more. Contrary to popular expectation, Internet users are notprimarily students; only 16% are full time students while 63% are inprofessional, technical, or managerial occupations. Of those reporting theirhousehold income, 63% made over $50,000 annually (25% over $80,000).
Thus, Internet users are younger, better educated, and have higher incomesthan average. Also, 55-60% have used the World Wide Web to search forinformation on products and services or to find information on companiesand organizations. And some 14% or 2.5 million users in the U.S. and Canadahave even purchased products or services directly over the Internet
Statistics Source: CommerceNet/Nielsen Internet Demographics Survey
Though many publicized statements tout upwards of 40 million Internet users,this number is much smaller when limited only to those in the U.S. and whouse the Internet for more than just e-mail purposes. About 9.5 million Americansfell into this category in 1995; but that was more than double the numberof users in the previous year. This growth in users proves the Internet tobe more than just a passing fad. Of these users, 8.4 million were adultsrepresenting nearly 7% of all U.S. telephone households. Since about 36%of U.S. telephone households reportedly owned a home PC, the potential forfuture growth seems assured.
Mixed use of the Internet for both work-related and personal purposes isthe norm; only 11% of users use it only for business while almost 29% neveruse it for business. "Apart from younger techthusiasts, for whom the Internetrepresents a kind of alternative lifestyle, most users view the emergingWorldwide Web as a reference resource rather than an integral part of theirmedia lives." Interestingly, the hours spent on the Internet (an averageof 6.6 hours per week) came from reduced TV viewing and telephone use. Whenasked how they viewed the future of the Internet, today's users respondedforemostly with "information access, communications, and education."
Statistics Source: FIND/SVP American Internet User Survey
Relatively little research has been conducted on the business use of theInternet. However, the CommerceNet/Nielsen study summarized the followingstatistics on the percent of WWW users (i.e., using the Net for businessespurposes) who have used it for:
· Gathering information 77%· Collaborating with others 54%· Providing vendor support and communications 50%· Researching competitors 46%· Communicating internally 44%· Publishing information 33%· Purchasing products or services 23%· Selling products or services 13%
Statistics Source: CommerceNet/Nielsen Internet Demographics Survey
accommodation in TolouseFrom this table it would seem that selling products and services is asignificantly minor use of the Internet compared to gathering and providinginformation or expanding one's business network. However, these numbers reflectthe "business use" of individuals, not the intended purpose of the many thousandsto millions of commercial web sites that exist on the WWW.
It doesn't take a lot of Web browsing to conclude that the business sitesfound there are there primarily for self-promotion purposes. One common elementof nearly all business sites is to provide an online brochure-like profileof what the business is about and what it has to offer. Some, like the sitesof automobile manufacturers, allow you to extensively review and researchtheir product line, while others like specialty item stores and service providersmay actually allow you to purchase their wares online with a credit cardnumber or by other means.
ERROR MSGCommercial Web sites typically serve any or all of the following purposes:
Note that all but the last two of these purposes do much to promote the interestsof the business but offer little for the user (unless of course that userhas an immediate interest in, or need for, the specific product). This isimportant, because as we shall see next, commercial success on theInternet depends on the ability to attract potential customers to your siteand this means appealing to their reasons for surfing the Net in the firstplace information gathering.
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Hype: Your business will reach 40 million+customers on the Internet.
Fact: Your business will reach only thosepeople who can find you on the Internet and then only those who are interestedin and attracted to your site.
Unlike television, the Internet is not a passive media. The information theredoes not just come to you; you must go to it. This means that Web users mustsearch the Net constantly to seek out the information they are looking for.Or they must obtain URLs that might interest them from company advertising.Web site creators will list their sites with as many Internet directory servicesor "search engines" as possible. These sites, like Yahoo, Lycos, and otherswill include your site description on their database which users can thensearch for online. However, even here your information is up against thehundreds of thousands-to-millions of other site descriptions that are allcompeting for the Web-surfer's attention.
Promotion and relevance are the keys to being noticed on theNet. More and more companies are paying to place "banner ads", oftenwith graphic logos and designs at strategic places on popular Web sites inorder to attract the type of Internet user that would be most interestedin their business. This is not only an expensive solution, but one whichoffers few truly relevant locations for effectively targeting your market.
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Hype: Successful businesses will be thosewho are selling their products directly online.
Fact: Some businesses, but certainly not all,will gradually add online ordering to their current practice only as it makessense to do so.
Yes, there are often success stories published about the mom-and-pop coffeestore or corner merchant who opened their virtual doors on the informationsuperhighway and wound up swimming in orders. The formula behind this successis not really that simple however... These successful "virtual establishments"have many, if not all, of the following characteristics:
ERROR MSGNot all businesses can or will want to be self-sustaining online merchants,but nevertheless they can use the Internet as an effective form ofpromotion by reaching their relevant market consistently and economicallywith worthwhile information.
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Hype: Only those businesses who have investedmany thousands of dollars into their Web site design will be the ones whoattract the Internet users.
Fact: Remember, Internet users are searchingprimarily for useful information. Those Web sites that serve a useful purpose,and are unobtrusively entertaining in the process, will be those that arevisited again and again.
While entertainment value does count, spending thousands of dollars on yourWeb site design may not always attract the visitors you want. The mostentertaining and informative Web pages which are most often visited are thosewhich are well organized, useful, colorful, and interactive without beingcumbersome and designed to the point of confusion. Don't be fooled by thegreat promises you may hear by simply placing your company's informationon the Web. Good results will come more from continued attention,promotion, new material, and followup than from initial design andplacement.
(NOTE: The more you design fancy graphics, animations, frames,etc. into your Web pages, the slower your pages will appear before users.One day this may not matter when everyone's computer hardware makes Internettransmissions lightning fast. But for now a lot of entertainment value islost on users who must wait long periods of time to receive each of yourWeb pages. It is also interesting to note that up to one-third of Web usersturn off their graphics viewing capability at least some of the time in orderto speed the transmission of pages. LET YOUR BUSINESS OBJECTIVES AND BUDGETGUIDE YOUR WEB PAGE DESIGN, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.)
CONCLUSION
You can expect at least the same results from promoting your businesson the Internet that you might with any well targeted advertising, promotional,and public relations campaign except that you can achieve such a presenceonline Antwerp Hotelsmuch more economically than with any other form ofadvertising.
The Keys To Successful Marketing On The InternetMillions of Internet users search the Web for sources of information, companyproduct/service offerings, entertainment, communication, and the sheer thrillof exploring for something new and different in the vastness of cyberspace.Yet, even with the current phenomenal growth, both in users and Web sites,the size and diversity of the Internet makes it less and less likely thatany one person's message will be seen. The more people that are talking,the less anyone is heard.
In some respects, the problem of marketing in cyberspace is similar to massadvertising: How do you get your customers' attention in a growing tide ofever more colorful, bolder, louder, more entertaining (and more frequent)messages? Yes, the technology of the Web makes it possible for very smallbusinesses to look as big and important as IBM itself, but the sheer sizeof the Web clearly is the biggest obstacle to getting your message heard.
Many who are experienced with Internet marketing have made the followingobservations which we believe are the keys to successful marketing onthe Web.