Internet Marketing

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Internet Marketing Myths

By Del Earle

Can you really sell to 30 million people on the Internet? Is advertising allowed? Is anybody making any sales? Can customers find you if you set up a World Wide Web site?

Media reports on Internet commerce are conflicting and often confusing. Myths abound. Many business people have suffered disappointment after investing money, time, and high hopes based on over-hyped legends of riches to be made in cyberspace. Others hold back from getting involved in Internet marketing because of the dark warnings of the doomsayers and their mythology.

If you’re in any kind of business, then you’re also in the business

of selling. You don’t want to miss out on an opportunity that could

make you money. But you don’t have money to throw away either. So you

stand to benefit from cutting through the mythology and getting at the

facts.

MYTH 1: You can advertise to 30 million people over the Internet.

No one is sure how many people are on the Internet. When I wrote

the first draft of this article, the highest estimate I had heard was

35 million. Then just today, as I was sitting down to put the story in

final form, I received a badly done direct-mail package proclaiming:

“ADVERTISE TO 90 MILLION+ FOR JUST $20 PER MONTH.”

But nobody really knows how many users there are, because there’s

no central authority over the Internet. No one owns it. It’s a massive

interconnection of computer networks, communication lines, and

switching equipment.

In October 1994, Matrix Information and Directory Services and

Texas Internet Consulting carried out an extensive survey, which

estimated that the “Consumer Internet” at that time numbered 13.5

million users of 3.5 million computers. This refers to users who could

access the Internet’s interactive services, such as the World Wide Web.

The internet has grown tremendously since then and millions more people are indeed on-line.

Still, this doesn’t mean that you will reach 27 million people

with your marketing message. Nor should you try to. The Internet is

not a mass market. Don’t try to send out mass unsolicited messages to

Internet users, whether through e-mail, mailing lists, or newsgroups.

People will be very annoyed and will let you know. There’s nothing to

be gained, and you’ll do much better by targeting your audience and

making use of the Internet’s interactive capabilities.

MYTH 2: If you don’t get your company on the ‘Net now, you’ll miss

the big boom.

There’s no proof you’re going to miss out on anything if you take

the time to do some research, get to know the Internet, participate in

the online community, and work out a strategic plan.

Personally, I think the low cost and the high possibilities of on-line marketing make it worthwhile to get involved now. By being an

“early adopter,” you may get better public relations value or stronger

positioning. Maybe you’ll even get rich.

But don’t rush to set up an online presence just for the sake of

being there or just for the sake of beating the crowd. You may find

yourself sitting by one of the thousands of “billboards in the desert.”

Even if you have to hire a consultant or an Internet “presence provider,” go into cyberspace with a plan and with your eyes open.

MYTH 3: You can’t advertise on the Internet.

The Internet is really a mosaic of many smaller virtual communities, each with its own history, culture, standards, rules, and

values. In some of those communities, the words “advertising” and

“marketing” have taken on meanings different than in the mainstream

business world. To people in some areas of cyberspace, the word

“advertising” is a four-letter word, but “marketing” is perfectly

acceptable.

I would offer this statement: Certain methods of advertising are

not tolerated on the Internet. I say “tolerated,” because there’s no

central authority to allow or disallow anything. However, some Internet

communities will not tolerate unsolicited advertising messages.

They’ll respond vehemently if you try. In some moderated newsgroups

or discussion groups, the moderator will filter out promotional

messages.

One of the best Internet marketing approaches is the “soft sell.”

Depending on your business, you might try:

* Participating helpfully in newsgroups while casually letting people

know what you do.

* Tacking a “signature” with contact information at the end of your

e-mail messages and discussion group postings.

* Placing lead-generating messages in electronic malls and directories.

* Preparing e-mail sales messages to send out to those who express

interest in your services.

* Setting up a World Wide Web site that offers useful information

and resources along with information about your business.

MYTH 4: If you try to advertise on the Internet, you’ll get

flamed to a cinder.

No, you won’t. Not if you do it right–by respecting the Internet

culture, participating in the online community, Advertising appropriately, and being a real resource for others. Also, it might help

to call it “marketing” instead of “advertising.”

MYTH 5: You can make a pile of money fast on the Internet.

Don’t buy anything from anyone who tells you this. In any business

effort, making money requires planning, strategic marketing, a good

product and offer, good customer service, considerable shrewdness–and

much hard work.

Maybe you will make a pile of money on the Internet. But you

won’t do it by buying into a get-rich-quick scheme.

MYTH 6: Nobody’s making any money on the Internet.

Many Internet entrepreneurs won’t say how they’re doing financially.

In many cases, that’s because they’re doing quite well and they don’t

want to tip off the competition.

I’ve seen reports by business people complaining that they have

tried the Internet and it didn’t work. Maybe they bought into some of

these myths. Maybe they failed to apply sound marketing principles in

establishing an Internet presence. There are principles of marketing

in cyberspace, but to learn them takes research, participation, and

time.

Will your company benefit from marketing on the internet or the

World Wide Web? No one can guarantee that. It’s too early, and the

medium is changing too fast to make predictions. One Internet presence provider, feels that right now a product should meet at least one of these criteria to be a good candidate for direct sales over the Internet:

* Appeals to the technologically savvy.

* Is a computer-related item.

* Appeals to a broad segment of the Internet user base.

* Appeals to a wide geographic audience.

* Is a specialty item otherwise difficult to locate.

* Is an “informed purchase”–the buyer responds to information

rather than hyperbole.

* Can be purchased over the Internet less expensively than by other

channels.

This provider is referring to direct sales. Many companies will also

benefit by using the Internet for communications, customer support,

sales support, soft-selling, and other purposes.

MYTH 7: Nobody can find you on the Internet. A variant: You can’t

find anything on the Internet.

The Internet is big. The World Wide Web, dominated by commercial

companies, is growing fast. To a beginner, the Internet can seem huge,

scary, and labyrinthine.

But the Internet is becoming easier for beginners to navigate. The

World Wide Web (WWW) has made a lot of difference. As long as you have

the URL (Uniform Resource Locator, or World Wide Web address) of a

site, all you do is enter the URL and your software will connect you

to the site instantly. Once you find a site you like, you can easily

add it to the “hotlist” or “bookmark” list in your software. This way

you can call it up anytime without having to retype it. So you can

very quickly become your own expert navigator.

Now to the next step: Many WWW site owners have set up directories,

indexes, search tools, and resource pages with instant links to useful

sites. Some of these “teleportation sites” provide general listings

with many subject categories and entries. Examples are:

Yahoo (URL is http://www.yahoo.com/); and WebQuery (http://webcrawler.cs.washington.edu/WebCrawler/WebQuery.html).

Other directories are specialized. There are excellent business

directories, such as (http://www.directory.net/)and the WWW Business Yellow Pages (http://www.cba.uh.edu/ylowpges/ylowpges.html).

Some directories allow you to find information by an automatic

word search, rather than having to scroll through long lists.

Enter these “top-end” sites in your own hotlist, and you immediately gain all of their capability. These directory sites and search

tools will continue to get better and easier to use, so that even new

users will quickly become crack navigators.

My point is that you can find your way around on the Internet–and

people can find you–if you set things up right.

To help people find your business site on the World Wide Web, set

up plenty of “pointers.” Negotiate links with other sites. Make sure

you’re in the directories and navigation lists, many of which are free.

You can figure out how to make the announcements, postings, and listings yourself, or you can have an Internet presence provider do it.

And be sure to promote your Internet presence through conventional

offline channels–ads, mailings, brochures, press releases, company

stationery, business cards, and packaging.

Del Earle is a freelance internet business consultant based in Claremont.

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