Consider the Following
Establish A Presence
Approximately 1.2 billion people worldwide have access to the World Wide Web (WWW) and over 14 million (60%) UK households can access the web. No matter what your business is, you can’t ignore 35 million people. To be a part of that community and show that you are interested in serving them, you need to be on the web for them. If you don’t then your competitors will.
Networking
Business can be nothing more than making connections with other people. Every smart business person knows, it’s not what you know but who you know. Passing out your business card is part of every good meeting. 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 24/7 on the web.
Information Availability
Think of a Yellow Pages advert containing business information; What are your hours? What do you offer? How can someone contact you? What methods of payment do you take? Where are you located? Now think of a Yellow Pages ad where you have instant communication. What is today’s menu? Today’s interest rate? Next week’s special? If you could keep your customer informed of every reason why they should do business with you, don’t you think you could do more business? You can on the web.
Serving Your Customers
Making business information available is one of the most important ways to serve your customers; web technology dramatically increases the effectiveness of serving your customers. Consider making forms available to pre-qualify a lead so your staff are not tied up on the phone taking down information? Allow your customer to search for services and products against a database that tells him what is available in your store. All this can be done and much more on the web.
Time Sensitive Materials
What if your materials need to be released at a specific time and date? Advertising offline in directories and newspapers only provides static content. You could send out materials to the press with a 'Do not release before this date and time" statement and hope for the best but generally this type of service wouldn’t be possible. Web page content can be scheduled to come live at any time you specify automatically, last minute alterations or complete re-writes can be carried out and made live instantly. The scoop goes to those that wait for the information to be posted, not the one who releases your information early.
Selling
Do you consider the telephone the best place to sell your product or service, probably not? You might consider the telephone a tool that allows you to communicate with your customer, which in turn helps you sell things. This is how we think you should consider the web. The technology is different of course, but before people decide to become customers they want to know about you, what you offer and what you can do for them. This can easily be accomplished inexpensively on the web.
Live Multimedia
You could have a great product but if people can’t see or imagine it in action then they probably would not buy it. An album could be fantastic, 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 web allows you to add sound, pictures and short movie files to your company's info if that will serve your potential customers. No brochure will do that.
Frequently Asked Questions Answered
Whoever answers the phones in your organisation 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 the answer to before they deal with you. Post them on a web page and you will have removed another barrier for doing business as well as freeing up some time for the phone operator.
Silver Surfers
The demographic of the web user is probably the highest mass-market demographic available. A few years ago only the educated college student or computer boffin would be comfortable surfing the web. Nowadays everyone is accessing the web; researching, ordering groceries, banking, purchasing products, enquiring about services, meeting people and gambling the list is endless. Technology use across the age groups is on the rise, the latest and most surprising trend is the over 55’s and elderly accessing the information highway which gives them a new lease of life. The web is an essential part of today’s society and economy.
Offsite Team Communication
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 the web. A quick local phone call can keep your staff supplied with the most detailed information, without long distance phone bills and tying up the staff at the home office.
Specialised & Local Market
Selling a very specialised product? 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 35 million and growing users of the UK web, 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. Regardless of where you are located, there is probably enough local customers with web access to make it worth your while to consider web marketing. If the big client has web access then you should be there too. You can make the web a part of your sales team no matter where your market is.
Open All Hours
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 America or Australia 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 customize information to match needs and collect important information that will put you ahead of the competition, even before they get into the office.
Customer Feedback
You pass out the brochure, catalogue or booklet but it doesn't work… No sales calls or leads, what went wrong? Was it the colour, wrong price or market? ‘Keep testing’ the marketing books say and you'll eventually find out what went wrong. That's great for the big boys with deep pockets, but who is paying the bills? With a Web page you can ask for feedback and get an instant response while it’s fresh in your customers mind.
Test Drive The Market
We all know the cost of rolling out a new product or service. Advertising promotions and expenses are all time consuming, unpredictable and costly. Once you’ve been on the web and know what to expect from those who are viewing 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 expensively than any other market you may reach. With MaxiPRO you can have a crystal ball into where to position your product or service in the marketplace with no extra expense.
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.
Reach The Media
Every kind of business needs the exposure that the media can bring, but what if your business is reaching the media, as a newswire, a publicist or a bulletin. The media is the most wired profession today, since their main product is information and they can get it quickly, cheaply and easily online. Online 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 press rooms and digital text can be edited and output on tight deadlines. All of these can be made available on a web page.
