Internet marketing and the Offline Business

The staggering, regularly-referenced statistics on the number of websites and internet users worldwide can make taking one’s product to the internet look like the logical thing to do. And it is – but only to a certain extent. As many businesses have painfully learnt, simply making the product available online will not necessarily see sales grow dramatically.

Except for large, established business with a brand that is already well recognized, setting up a website is not the be-all end-all to generating and closing online leads. Similar to an offline marketing strategy, it is the quality of research, planning and execution that will determine the level of online revenue growth.

It is interesting to note that there are businesses today that continue to dominate their markets despite, unlike their rivals, not having a significant presence on the web. This may signify the ineffectiveness of the internet marketing approach used by the competition and is all the more reason why one must tread carefully before taking the plunge.

Not every business will necessarily grow through internet marketing. As an extreme example, consider a business that sells a product almost exclusively to pastoral communities in remote areas of a developing country. Chances are that such an audience may not have the requisite infrastructure to access the internet conveniently.

That being said, the internet can be a powerful tool for driving up sales. Any internet marketing plan must start with a feasibility study. The business must establish who its offline target clientele is as this will define the best approach to internet marketing.

Defining the target market will also determine where on the web the business should market its product. The internet enables a business to move its product beyond its local clientele to a global audience. But the World Wide Web is not homogenous. It is as diverse as humanity is. And since it is unlikely that a business intends to sell its product to every person in the world, it is important to know where ‘the people’ can be found online.

Another important step would be to get a listing on Google Local or the equivalent service on other major search engines. Google Local results now appear on the first page of a standard search. Businesses are more likely to get a first page listing in their area if their Google Local profile details are complete.

When marketing the product online, every business must develop a seamless handover from the output of their online efforts to the more tangible aspects of the transaction (i.e. product delivery). The ideal would be to incorporate ecommerce functionality on the site so that customers can place their orders online and an automatic notification sent to the product delivery team.

But a secure, fully functioning ecommerce site is not necessarily cheap. For a small offline business, it may be better to start with a standard website where client interaction would be limited to viewing product information and sending email enquiries. Ecommerce functionality can be incorporated later once it becomes clear what the level of interest is and the amount of traffic the website is attracting.


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