A little more than 20 years ago the internet transitioned from a government and university information system into a commercial and personal entertainment and communication system. The "Web" rapidly became a hybrid of broadcast media and direct mail that didn't need video production studios or printing presses. Web-surfing began cutting into what had traditionally been TV time and businesses were enthusiastic about the seemingly perfect way to deliver marketing messages. The Internet became a part of everyday life and as capabilities and devices became more sophisticated the web became essential.
Following the lead of an online bookseller that went live in July of 1994 called Amazon.com, many other businesses were built to capitalize on this new vehicle for commerce. The number of conventional businesses that added a website far outnumbered the online only firms and still do. Among the millions of businesses with websites are thousands of suppliers and distributors in the promotional marketing/specialty advertising industry. They all believe that a website is essential and the efficiency of the internet will reward them with greater business success. That is where killing your business may begin!
Depending on the type of business and products or services sold, the internet takes on a different function. For a national beverage brand it is essentially a billboard advertising venue. They simply deliver a general message instead of waiting for your to drive by. For tradesmen, contractors, doctors, lawyers and others it is the equivalent of the Yellow Pages or other directories. For retailers a website is a catalog and order processing portal. But for the promotional marketing/specialty advertising industry a website is generally just a tool to help your work with existing customers. Yes – a few distributors do a great job using a website as their primary customer point of contact, but what isn't always apparent is the additional contact by email and phone that each transaction requires. Neither is the hundreds of hours of work (or thousands of dollars in costs if someone is hired to do the work) necessary to keep a website only business operating.
If you put all your marketing eggs in the Internet basket you might be killing your business. The efficiency of delivering your message might go way up but the effectiveness may head in the opposite direction. Most promotional industry people quickly realize that customers are not going to just happen upon their website and then automatically buy something. So driving people to the website becomes essential. But the statistics show you might be making a mistake. In April of 2015 a study reported in Direct Marketing News involving 116,000 contacts found that driving people to call you was 12 times more effective in generating sales than creating web leads. They concluded that generating calls should be the goal of your marketing efforts, not driving people to your website.
Obviously if you consider your business to be a commodity seller with products of general appeal and you think a mass market approach is the way to go – give it a try, it worked for Amazon! But if you are interested in long-term business relationships where you help your customers build their business with great ideas, creative message delivery and extraordinary value, you should consider your website a tool that allows you to be more effective with established customers and prospects you already have made contact with.
I love the internet! Without it you would not be reading this article. As an information resource it can't be beat. Quite possibly, you are on the Identity Marketing site because of an outbound email from them today. Driving you to this site is exactly what they want. Understanding how you want the Internet to work for you will allow you to design a website that will bring effectiveness to the forefront and not worry about efficiency so much. If you are Coke and control 42 percent of the carbonated soft drink market a general ad to as many people as possible is both efficient and effective. But when your goal is to create a long term customer with personal interaction and you make efforts to drive those people to do something – make it to give you a call, not necessarily visit your website. To quote Peter Drucker once again, "Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things."
Gregg Emmer is chief marketing officer and vice president at Kaeser & Blair, Inc. He has more than 40 years experience in marketing and the promotional specialty advertising industry. His outside consultancy, providing marketing, public relations and business planning consulting to a wide range of other businesses has been a useful knowledge base for K&B Dealers. Contact Gregg at gemmer@kaeser-blair.com.