================================================================= YOUR MARKETING IMAGE Neglect this, and your site will fail... =================================================================
Your Marketing Image
Now we come to the most neglected part of e-commerce and probably the most important. If your Web site is to have any impact at all then you need to market it.
This sounds simple and obvious, but it is often overlooked.
There are far too many website owners scratching their heads having developed an excellent site. Why? Because they haven't marketed their site and therefore nobody knows they exist.
Here are the basics:
Continuity of image
Your web page must promote the continuity of image with your other corporate marketing tools and company literature. The Web site must fit in with your company as well as within the immediacy of the Internet. Don't allow your page to break the continuity.
Its far too easy to get carried away with what the web can allow you to do and lose the image you are trying to build!
Holistic image
You wouldn't dream of printing your company stationery without phone and fax numbers, so why do so many business users fail to tell everyone both your e-mail address and Web site URL. This means that you should update your:
headed paper
business cards
complements slips
fax headers
product packaging
other corporate literature technical literature
advertising
e-mail signature files
other gismos that you give out,
Assumptive marketing
Your web site creates the opportunity to change the ways in which you broadcast information to the world about new products. You will not have to produce expensive brochures, backed up with telephone support; now you can refer your potential customers to your Website for all the information they require - saving your company time and money whilst offering better customer support.
Target marketing
With all the different target audiences your company has you will already have assessed the U.S.P. (unique selling point) that attracts them to your products. Your Web site is a great opportunity to reinforce the varied messages for your target audiences, rather than having to rely on one printed piece of material to satisfy everyone.
E-mail marketing
You can use the launch of your Web site to send an e-mail to every business whose e-mail address you know, advertising its birth and the wealth of useful information it has to offer. As you add more pages you can target specific market areas in the same way. And as your database of e-mail addresses grows, you will be able to increase the number of targeted businesses without it costing you a penny more in processing costs.
Who Should Host Your Site?
Although it is perfectly possible for your company to have its own web server with which to house your own site, there are many advantages in having your Internet Service Provider to host your site. For instance:
The costs are very much lower than paying for the hardware and leased lines needed.
The ISP will take care of maintenance 24 hours per day, and 24- hour monitoring is the norm. You can buy a variety of packages to suit your every need. Some incorporate domain name registration and e-mail forwarding.
We believe that our hosting services offer the flexibility for both the home and business user. To find out more Click here.
Written By Chris Falck
Director Rose Data Systems Ltd
***************************************************************** Chris Falck is an IT Consultant, Internet Marketer, Designer, and Webmaster of AUTOREPLY2U - http://autoreply2u.co.uk and eCom-RDS - http://ecom-rds.co.uk. (Amongst Others).
AUTOREPLY2U is the Ultimate Autoresponder & Follow-up Service and provides FREE & PRO accounts to its many users. Take the TEST-DRIVE by visiting the site or by emailing us at mailto:testdrive@autoreply2u.co.uk
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eCom-RDS offers Web Design, Hosting, Maintenance & Marketing services to SME's
You may reprint this entire newsletter and resource box on your web site, provided it is reproduced in it's entirety along with this resource box.
Copyright 2001. All Rights Retained by Author. *****************************************************************
