Industrial marketing on the Internet: Its time has come, but are you ready?

The tools to help you take the next step are at hand, but exactly what do you need to make the decision to go on-line?

The Internet has matured. Technology-based companies are finding that more and more of their customers, as well as their competitors, are using and providing information over the World Wide Web. A sophisticated website, integrated with the rest of your strategic marketing plan and budget, is an especially powerful tool for getting and keeping customers. Now that the hype is beginning to fade, it's becoming clear that the Internet offers specific strengths, but also a few weaknesses, as a vehicle for industrial marketing. Nonetheless, for those of you still sitting on the electronic fence, it's time to take a serious look at what the Web can do.

The Pros and Cons

The Internet was not originally designed as a business tool, but as a high-level educational forum for sharing information. Many professionals have begged the whole question of going on-line, fearing the consequences of opening their company up to interloping netsurfers on the one hand, and doubting the Web's inherent value on the other. However, despite lingering misconceptions, the Internet is proving to offer distinct advantages for industrial marketers.

First, the Web is always open for business 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. What's more, access is immediate from anywhere in the world. A prospective customer in Tai Pei has the same access to the information on your website as someone in your own backyard, assuming they can both find you. The potential for expanding your market is nothing short of phenomenal.

Second, by establishing links between your site and others in the same or related industries, you can simultaneously broaden access to your company's offerings and make it easier for those who have a specific need for your product to zero in on your homepage.

This brings us to one of the strongest arguments in favour of marketing on the Internet. You don't have to find your customers; they find you. And they come to you prequalified, in that they are already expressing interest. An interactive website, from which the user can download product information and demos, input basic design requirements for sales follow-up, or request a quote on a specific configuration, can move a lukewarm lead several degrees up the sales-temperature scale.

However, the open access nature of the Web makes it necessary to separate the serious prospects from the window shoppers. By designing your site in levels which demand more detailed technical information from users the deeper they go, you can funnel genuinely interested users into your sales process. For example, you can use your site to initiate applications engineering for prospective customers by including the capability to configure CAD-style design drawings, or develop what-if scenarios interactively. It's an approach that is in keeping with the whole spirit of the Internet: the more you give up front, the better you look. And the better you look, the stronger the hook.

Increase Customer Awareness

Whether your marketing targets are to reach new customers and increase sales, cut costs, or promote your company's image, the Internet offers some unique benefits. Websites can feature new product releases, changing products specs, upcoming trade shows, news releases, existing ads and brochures, as well as brief video and audio messages. In fact, any information you want your market to know can be included on your website, and easily updated so that it's always current. You can add leverage to your entire marketing program by including your website address in all your marketing material, playing it both ways for all its worth. With 50 million Internet users out there, it's worth quite a bit.

Once your site is set up, passwords can be established for your sales people, so they can request and receive product information, including design drawings and computer-based presentation files, as well as send sales orders and receive order confirmation. A pretty powerful sales tool.

If you haven't already done so, spend some time on the Internet. You'll find an abundance of well-designed websites in virtually every industry, from automation to plastics to wastewater processing. See Figure 1 and Figure 2 for examples of effective and informative sites.

How Do You Create a Website?

You can start by assembling an in-house team who understands the scope and goals of your marketing plan.

Next, seek out an outside supplier who is experienced and knowledgeable about the Internet, has a proven, industrial-marketing track record, and can design an innovative and effective site for your company. It's important to design a site that has impact, is educational, provides some form of measurability, and acts as an effective tool in helping you realize your established marketing goals. It's also important who you choose to help you do it. One thing is for sure: Unless you are a web-savvy combination of computer wizard and marketing genius, don't do it yourself!

Implementing your site badly is worse than not doing it at all. It's worth spending a reasonable amount of time and money to establish realistic goals, then design a site that attracts positive feedback from your employees, customers, and suppliers, which is a good initial gauge of its effectiveness. Building an initial, quality website is not necessarily expensive. The cost of a basic site is between $3,000 and $5,000, but the amount can go up depending on the level of on-line promotion and interactivity you want for your site.

Announce your site, but not until it's 100 per cent ready. You don't want to look bad in the eyes of your prospective customers. Nothing looks more unprofessional and half hearted than a website that has "under construction" signs. When your site is completely ready, get some initial feedback from your employees, matching your expectations with the realities of your investment so far. Bear in mind that you can, and in fact should, update your site to meet the future needs of your market.

Now you're ready to go on-line and begin promoting your site on the Internet. You should register with Internet Yellow Pages like Yahoo, and keyword search engines such as Lycos and WebCrawler. You can exchange hotlinks with other related sites within your industry, and announce your presence to industry-specific newsgroups and resource sites on the Web.

Finally, include your World Wide Web address in all your corporate literature. Many of the real advantages of marketing your company on the Internet are not apparent until you actually go on-line. The very nature of the Web is such that a propitious surprise can occur at virtually any time. To be discovered by a prospective customer who has an exact need for your product, and happens to be in Finland, where you don't do much in the way of traditional marketing, is a joyful experience indeed.

As many as 50 per cent of companies in some industries are using and providing information by way of an on-line service. There's no doubt that the global information age is well on its way. For those who seriously want to take part, the World Wide Web is worth an in-depth look. As an effective marketing tool for industrial companies, the Internet's time has come.

This article first appeared in Manufacturing & Process Automation magazine, published by Kerrwil Publications Ltd. April, 1996.

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