Why go online?

The days when companies decided to launch a website because 'it was the thing to do' or when 'our competitors have so we should' are hopefully over! The Internet is now becoming a mature sector where companies have clearly demonstrated the effective use of the medium to create new business and to utilise the technology to achieve things not previously possible using traditional channels.

There can be many opportunities and advantages in developing an online business, many of which revolve around the creation of a website which could be used for a variety of reasons, such as:

• enabling you to deal direct with customers in ways not previously possible
• allowing you to provide more efficient direct customer support, which can be beneficial to customers as well as reduce administrative overheads
• providing detailed product and corporate information to interested parties in both a cost-effective and immediate manner
• providing a source of further information to support offline advertising campaigns
• generating extra business and brand awareness via online sources such as search engines, banner advertising and links on other websites
• acting as a communications channel both internally and with other businesses that you deal with.

Issues to consider with an online marketing strategy

Whichever route you decide to take with your online business strategy and how you present your products or services, it will all be a wasted effort if it is not planned and marketed effectively. Like any other area of business, the process needs to be carefully planned and costed, targets set and then continually reviewed to help develop the online strategy in the face of rapidly changing market conditions.

The initial decision to develop an online business, either in isolation or as an extension of an existing 'offline' business will require questions such as:.

• What are your overall objectives and what role will the website play?
• Do I want to use the web for marketing, to serve an important business function or both?
• How is the Internet being used in your market and what are the opportunities - and threats?
• What can we expect to achieve with the budgets available?

How The Web Marketing Workshop can help

When you employ The Web Marketing Workshop at any stage of your online business development, you will benefit from our specialist experience of working with hundreds of websites across different market sectors and utilising a variety of business models.

We will provide you with an objective assessment of your online objectives and potential. We can assess your current situation, your market and competitors to provide either a full online strategy assessment, or our consultancy at different stages of the process.

So, if you are thinking of going online for the first time or want to review your current strategy, contact us to find out how we can help or request our FREE 30-minute marketing report to get an insight into the possibilities available.