Internet Marketing
Proven, sound marketing principles drive effective Internet marketing programs, not high-tech, Internet wizardry. As I have been preaching since 1996 (Mercer Business), the Internet enables a company to expand its reach and finely target its marketing messages when used as one part of a coordinated marketing program.When integrated to enhance and support marketing efforts, rather than replace them, the Internet becomes a powerful vehicle.
In 1997, I presented a seminar on Internet Marketing to help small retail and hospitality business owners understand how to harness the power of the Internet to build their businesses. The speaker who preceded my presentation touted how the Internet would save small businesses thousands of dollars in printing costs and eventually drive printers out of business. Rather than send consumer prospects the attractive, full color brochure that had helped expand his business, he directed prospects to his new Web site and proudly eliminated the brochure. I kept my mouth shut. Given the expanded reach of the Web, I expected he would need to print more brochures than in previous years to accommodate the additional sales leads.
Printers, by the way, still exist. Commercial printing alone grew from sales of $88.1 billion in 1996 to $102.7 billion in 1999, according to a study published in Printing Impressions. It seems those dot coms realized the impact of printed media kits for selling ad space and printed reports for instilling confidence in venture capitalists, as well as printed brochures for selling products and services.
It is unfortunate that overzealous Internet sales people, along with aid from the sensationalist media, created impossible expectations for the role of the Internet in business. TV did not eliminate the radio, radio did not eliminate the newspaper and the Internet will not eliminate any of its predecessors.
Internet Marketing cannot succeed in a vacuum. Rather, its impact is directly proportional to how seamlessly it is integrated within a company's broader, traditional marketing communications program. Internet Marketing can work if you know what you're trying to accomplish.
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