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| | Marketing
on the World Wide Web
- What is the Internet?
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- Who exactly is using the
Internet?
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- What is the WORLD WIDE
WEB?
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- How fast is the WORLD WIDE
WEB growing?
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- What are the benefits of
being on the WEB?
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- How does the Internet compare
to traditional marketing?
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- How much does it cost to
establish a presence on the Internet?
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Q. What is the Internet?
The Internet is a global system of public and private computer
networks. It enables universities, governments, businesses and consumers to communicate
via computers, modems and phone lines. There are over 85 million people in 190 countries
using it.
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Q. Who exactly is using the Internet?
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology surveyed 4,566 Internet
users and found 72.5 percent were men, 27.5 were women, and the average age was 37.7. The
average age of commercial online service subscribers is 39 according to Jupiter
Communications. The Georgia Institute of Technology surveyed 4,777 WWW users and found
that 56 percent are between 23 and 38 years old, 74 percent are male.
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Q. What is the WORLD WIDE WEB?
A seamlessly interconnected set of several thousand sites that
all share a common format. The Web, which is growing at 15 percent per month. It is
the hottest frontier on the Internet because it's extremely powerful, flexible and easy to
use. The beauty of the Web lies in the way documents (which can be sounds, photos or text
) are directly linked to each other. A presence on the Web is referred to as a "Home
Page".
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Q . How fast is the WORLD WIDE WEB growing?
Wired magazine's Internet Index reports that the World Wide Web
grew 2,713 percent in 1997. It also reports the number of countries connected to the
Internet grew from 137 in 1993 to 190 in 1997.
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Q. What are the benefits of being on the WEB?
- 1. You can deliver your marketing message to a worldwide audience of
millions.
- Everyone with access to the Internet (the current estimate
is over 85 million people) can see your message at any time day or night. A potential
customer can view your promotional material from the comfort of their own home or the
convenience of their own office. The Internet can make vast amounts of information
accessible to anyone with a computer. With personal computers currently outselling
televisions -- and 70 percent of those PC's being purchased for home use -- you are
tapping into a medium that has endless possibilities.
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- 2. You can communicate directly with your clients/customers.
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- Through the use of e-mail, customers can send requests or receive
information quickly and inexpensively. You can, for instance, provide information on
special sales, last minute promotions or upcoming events to millions of people all over
the world without print or postage costs. By the same token, your customers can send you
requests for promotional material or provide you with valuable feedback.
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- 3. Create a new channel for sales.
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- New and secure encryption software now allows you to sell products
and services directly over the Internet. This new technology allows customers to place
orders by credit card without the fear of having their card numbers stolen.
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- 4. Position yourself for the future and stay ahead of the competition.
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- In the near future, almost every business will be online because
this technology will continue to improve and expand. You don't want to be left behind. The
key is to stay ahead of your competition by using this technology to your advantage. As of
March 1998, there were over 40,000,000 Web sites of which 27,000,000 were commercial.
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- 5. Create a profit center by selling advertising space to third parties.
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- Your Internet site can be a source of new revenue by selling ad
space to third parties. In the case of the Travel Industry, this could mean: tour
operators, car rental companies, hotels, cruise lines, etc.
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Q. How does the Internet compare to traditional advertising
and marketing?
1. It is more expansive, yet far less expensive.
- Consider a typical print ad in a newspaper advertising a vacation
package to Rio de Janeiro: It may include the price of the tour, a two or three line
description of the tourist attractions, phone numbers for the airline and tour operator
and maybe a small black and white graphic.
The same ad on
the Internet can include all of the above plus the following: several pages of descriptive
information on the hotels used, flight schedules, site seeing tours, prices and more.
There can be several full color graphics of beaches, cities, and mountains. There can be
built in "links" to other places on the Internet with information about things
to see and do in Brazil. A comparable amount of ad space in a newspaper would cost many
times more than the price of having a presence on the Web.
- The Internet allows you to make a vast amount of information
readily available and easily accessible to your customers.
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- 2. It is interactive not passive.
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- Traditional forms of advertising are passive; you listen to a
radio ad or read a newspaper ad without interacting in anyway with the content of the
advertisement. The Internet allows for the customer to be directly involved in the flow of
information. The user is in control of what he or she sees.
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- In addition, your site can be configured to immediately
provide customized information based on a users input.
For
example, a form can be presented to the user when they first come to your site asking them
what their interests are. The form may ask: what destinations are you interested in? When
would you like to travel? What is your price range? In response, the user may answer: Rio
de Janeiro, October, less than $1,200. Based on those responses the user would be
presented with a list of vacation packages to Rio in October for less than $1,200.
No other media allows for this type of dynamic, customized
marketing and advertising. Only the Internet provides you with this very powerful means of
reaching your customer base.
- 3. It is global not local.
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- The Internet can be accessed from over 174 countries. To reach the
same amount of people by a television commercial would be astronomically expensive. To do
so by newspapers, magazines, or direct mail would be a logistical nightmare. On the
Internet however, your marketing message is available to someone in New York City as well
as Moscow, Russia and Tokyo, Japan.
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- 4. It is a permanent presence not a brief "blurb."
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- Your Internet site is active 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It
is always there for your customers to access. A radio spot or television commercial is
over in 60 seconds, a print ad is usually set aside after it is read. The material in a
Web site can be reached by a customer whenever he or she desires. It is not limited to
certain days of the week or hours of the day.
- Your Web site is permanent presence for you company; giving
customers important facts, answering their questions, and creating an interest in your
products and services. It is a sales person/marketing department that never sleeps.
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Q. How much does it cost to establish a presence on the
Internet?
Getting a worldwide presence on the Internet doesn't have to
break your budget. Nova
Stars Information Services has several inexpensive and
cost effective solutions to get your company on the Web quickly and easily; Check our web
site at www.The-Saudi.Net
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