Millions of businesses, and perhaps many of your competitors, are rushing to establish
web presence. As several leading consultants have indicated,
"there will be two types of businesses in the future, those who successfully
do business through the internet and those who don't exist".
We know that your goal in establishing web presence is to be
successful and to increase your bottom line profits. Unfortunately, it
is more common to see web sites are clearly not successful.
One very important tool to help ensure the success of your web site is to create
a Internet Marketing Plan Document. Use the
document to help you clearly write down answers to some tough questions about the
viability of your internet marketing project.
It is always much better to spend the time to think through the key challenges ahead
of time and to realize the amount of financial, personnel, and time resources that
will be required. There is nothing more frustrating than finding out that there
is still a long way to go to successfully complete the project after allocated funds
and other resources have been totally depleted.
Several excellent books have been written on creating a solid business plan document.
They all address issues similar to those listed below.
Feel free to go through the exercise below and try to answer these questions for
your own product/service. You may find the exercise quite enlightening.
ARC Web Online has extensive experience in helping clients create an Internet Marketing
and Sales Plan and has developed a process that applies some rigorous methodologies
to quickly and efficiently answer these questions about any E-Commerce business.
- Why does my company need a web presence?
This is probably the central question that must be answered in order to put the
whole project into context and to determine the amount of resource that can be justifiably
invested in this exercise. It is important to be as specific as possible in answering
this question because you will have to answer how much are you willing to invest
to achieve your quest for web presence.
- How suitable is the product for marketing/selling
through the internet?
Not all products are suitable for the e-commerce environment. Some products are
best marketed through the traditional channels and media. If you feel your product/service
has sufficient attributes that would make it web friendly
then by all means pursue it. Otherwise you have to make additional allowances in
your plan to ensure adequate support to compensate for the weaker attributes.
- What are the various options and web
presence levels appropriate for my product?
There are several options and web presence levels to consider in starting to market
your product via the internet. For some products it is more appropriate to only
have product information brochures and asking visitors to email you or give you
a call for more information. In other cases it only makes sense to go for the full
fledged e-commerce implementation that includes product information, sales information,
shopping cart system, credit card or cash payment system and shipping and handling
and fulfilment system.
Almost in every case it is prudent and appropriate to go through a staged plan starting
from an initial test implementation gradually reaching full operational stage.
- How likely are the clients to visit
my web site?
The answer to this question is linked to your overall marketing and promotion plan
and, specifically linked to what specific actions you will to take to drive traffic
to your web site.
As you know, there is a direct correlation between number of visitors to your site
and your sales volume. If your plan does not include a concrete list of activities,
(supported by financial resources), to be carried out throughout the web site launch
period and continuously thereafter, you can forget about having a successful web
site.
You will find this site full of ideas and action suggestions that you may want to
consider incorporating into your marketing plan.
- What is the specific, MEASURABLE objective
that must be achieved?
This gives a wonderful opportunity to spell out exactly what your bottom line is.
What is your sales growth target in using the internet channel? 2%? 10%? 50%? 200%?
How much additional revenue does this generate? What would
be the bottom line profit?
- How many visitors a month will be
needed to achieve this objective?
It is believed that there is a rough correlation between number of visitors, number
of potential buyers who express interest and number of actual buyers who are converted
from prospects to clients.
This "conversion ratio" is influenced by several factors including
product attributes, visitor demographics, timing, marketing material etc.
If this figure is not already known for your product, you could start from industry
standard figures under the worst case scenario. if your business plan holds under
worst scenario assumption then it probably has a good chance of success.
Here is a hypothetical example to ponder: Assuming only one out of hundred (1%)
visitors to your site is converted to an actual buyer of your product and assuming
it costs US$5.00 to drive these one hundred visitors to your site would the bottom
line profit justify such a project? Would your decision be the same if you could
have 10,000 visitors or 1,000,000 visitors?
- What mechanisms are used to generate
new visitor traffic?
There are several mechanisms that can be used to induce more traffic to your web
site. The most important among these include proper registration and maintenance
with all the major search engines and continuous advertising of your web site through
inexpensive services. Active participation in user-groups and listing in directories
affiliated to your product categories is also very useful.
- What compelling reasons will generate
repeat visitors?
Ask yourself this question about your web site: "is
there an absolutely compelling reason that would cause your visitors to re-visit
your site?"
Many web sites fail this test. A great web site is designed, some initial advertising
campaigns conducted generating respectable initial traffic. But then the number
of visits starts to slowly go down to nothing. Initial enthusiasm is replaced with
disappointment and over time the whole project written off as a total waste of time
and money. The main reason? Lack of compelling material
that would cause visitors to want to visit again.
A mechanism for maintaining interest and loyal visitor must be built in as part
of the web site design. This is not something that is added as an afterthought.
Most successful sites produce continuously fresh information
that is useful to your visitors and offer this information for free.
Others offer free services (such as free email) that would compel visitors to go
to their site in order to use their services. Yet others maintain a mailing list
of their clients that is frequently used to inform subscribers of new useful information
in their web site and invites them to take a look.
- What internet technologies are most
suitable for this project?
Assuming there is an attractive business case for your product, and a good marketing
plan is in place the next set of issues to consider has to do with selection, implementation
and management of technologies required to implement your web site. Several questions
need to be answered:
- Designing of your web pages consistent with your marketing style and product image
- Finding the right web hosting service, or setting up your own server
- Implementing software to manage your product information catalog
- Implementing software to handle secure financial transaction for on-line credit
card payment
- Implementing firewall and other security measures to protect your web site
- Who will manage the implementation
of this technology?
This issue simply boils down to whether you want to do the implementation in house
or have professional companies such as ARC Web Online handling this bit of activity.
- Who will maintain and update the
information on regular basis?
The question of proper maintenance of a web site. Proper refresh of search engine
registration and the technical issues associated with expansion of services and
higher visitor traffic and security issues all have to be carefully reviewed and
understood. Depending on the size and expertise level of in-house IS department
team this activity could either be done in house or out-sourced to professional
companies such as ARC Web Online who specialize in providing precisely such services.
- What organizational changes are required
to properly service the internet marketing and sales channel?
This is a big hurdle in e-commerce implementation for larger companies with heavy
duty systems solidly entrenched. E-commerce must be viewed as a new
channel that is different from other traditional marketing and sales channels.
Careful study and detailed preparation may be required to ensure successful merger
of the e-commerce channel with other existing processes. For smaller companies this
may be less of an issue.
- What is the operational cost of web
site maintenance?
Operational cost should take into account the costs associated with regular update
and maintenance of the site, regular marketing activities to be carried out to increase
new visitor traffic and to retain existing clients. It should also factor in cost
of continuous upgrading of technology as e-commerce industry continues to mature
and better tools continue to become available.
- How much will the overall project
cost?
The cost of overall project is the sum of the initial implementation cost plus annual
maintenance cost for a number of years you select as your project horizon. A horizon
of two to three years is probably sufficient for e-commerce projects.
- How exactly will the added revenue
measured?
This can become a real contentious issue depending on product type and currently
existing channels. For example if an airline were to setup a web page that encouraged
visitors to call its travel agency for booking information, it would be difficult
to exactly quantify the additional referral generated through the web site unless
a special telephone number is designated to handle web site generated referrals.
Some companies chose to take a statistical sampling only and use the result obtained
to estimate for overall company.
For smaller companies or companies who sell a specific product through the internet
channel only should be able to quantify benefits much more easier.
- And what is the projected Return
On Investment (ROI)?
Given the total project cost for a period of three years and the projected additional
revenue expected through the e-commerce channel over the same period of time.
Professional and unbiased answers to these questions will provide you with a solid
basis to help you make a decision.
ARC Web Online will help you quickly produce your Internet
Marketing and Sales Plan.
