Web Site Frenzy

When customers are educated and aware of your business offerings, you're more likely to get a sale. But educating and creating awareness — the hallmarks of marketing and sales — aren't that simple.

The Internet is widely accessible, making global awareness and education within reach for businesses of all sizes. A well-crafted Web site provides information and generates leads from qualified customers. It can also capture marketing information, have links to relevant subjects, facilitate online purchasing, and even interact with site visitors by leading them to a product or service that dovetails perfectly with their needs.

Internet Business Success

The Internet has proven to be a viable marketing medium. When Google reinvented online advertising with targeted, classified-like text links, it made searching for information and vendors intuitive and easy. That trend now has a successful track record with advertisers: soaring profits from selling these ads have helped drive Google's stock market capitalization to some $85 billion, making Google the most highly prized media company in the world.

According to Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, "The great part about the Internet of all the existing mediums from before is that it's the first one that is truly global. Its impact is massive."

So massive that Julie Roehm, who has more than $2 billion to spend this year as Chrysler's director of marketing communications, is allotting close to 18 percent of this year's budget to online advertising. Next year she plans to allocate more than 20 percent. That means in 2006 roughly $400 million that used to go into TV, newspaper and magazine ads will be spent on Internet marketing. In a recent Fortune magazine interview, Roehm said, "I hate to sound like such a marketing geek, but we like to fish where the fish are."

Supporting Research

MarketingSherpa.com recently conducted a study on business Internet usage. One thousand five hundred people participated in the survey, from executives to IT professionals. The findings highlight why savvy professionals like Roehm are taking their Internet presence seriously to optimize future business opportunities. Some highlights include:

• Searchers are often warm, not yet hot, prospects.
  A little over half the respondents said they used the Internet to search for possible vendors 30 to 90 days before making a particular business expenditure. Web sites that feature campaigns to educate warm potential leads. A Web site can be the perfect vehicle to create awareness, educate and spur mid-cycle lead generation. Prospects use the Internet to compare information and make their short list of potential purchases.
• Prospects Visit Your Web Site
  While traditional media are certainly still important for creating brand awareness, the Internet is becoming an integral part of marketing plans for companies of all sizes. Almost twenty percent of survey respondents were likely to go directly to a manufacturer's or vendor's site, even when they're 30 to 90 days out in the buying cycle and merely conducting research.

Web Site Considerations

The Internet is a much more powerful tool in a marketing arsenal than people first thought. Potential customers are able to make purchasing decisions based on Internet research. Unlike sales people, Internet sites are ready to provide information when the prospective is ready to learn.

An effective Web site can educate, generate leads, and provide a global presence. The popularity of search engines — as well as their ability to quickly locate targeted information — makes it easy to see why businesses are shifting their advertising dollars to Internet campaigns.

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