Ignore Internet Marketing At Your Own Risk...

"The internet is coming!"
For years, we've heard the proclamations about the impact the internet would be having on our business: "The internet is coming, the internet is coming." Frankly, it's been a little like the old joke of the guy sitting on the edge of the bed telling his partner how good it's going to be. The fact is that most people just didn't see or, well, feel that the internet was going to be that big a factor. Well, sure, there was Amazon.com that turned the retail book industry on its ear... and, OK, there was eBay's success, and the whole online stock trading thing... but for most of our businesses, we looked at the internet as being business as usual, but with a virtual twist. Selling would still be selling. Shipping would still be shipping. Margins and profits would still be calculated the same way.

But it's not business as usual. The internet is upon us and if you ignore its ramifications on your sales and marketing, it might not be long before you'll be joining the ranks of manufacturers of buggy-whips, film-based cameras, and vacuum-tube electronics. And it's no longer "the internet is coming" ... it's here.

Here's a few data points to chew on...

* At the end of 2007, internet traffic to online commerce sites exceeded 3.5 million visitors per minute (Akamai Technologies statistics).

* In 2007, advertising spending on the internet will grow by 28.2% whereas all other advertising spending will grow by only 3.9% (Zenith Optimedia Research)

* In the largest markets (i.e. U.S., U.K., Canada, Japan, etc.) one out of every ten advertsing dollars is spent on the internet. In two years time, it will be one out of five. (eMarketer.com)

* Watch out Yellow Pages, search engine marketing is growing more than 50% a year and is already at $10+ billion. (SEMPO survey 2006)

* 83% of 1500 marketing professionals surveyed by Datran Media Research selected email marketing as the single most important advertising medium of 2007.

The Internet is Here!
Are you? Your company? Beyond using email for correspondence and for accepting the occasional purchase order, and except for creating a website as an online brochure for your company, are you taking your place in the world of internet marketing?

Here's a quick checklist to see where you are:

1. Do you build and maintain email lists of customers and prospects?
2. Do you send out regular promotional emails? Do you track click-thru rates?
3. Do you use autoresponders?
4. Do you advertise on search engines?
5. Will your web site emerge on the first page in a search of relevant keywords?
6. Do you use pay-per-click advertising in other venues?
7. Do you participate in, or sponsor, any internet affiliate programs?
8. Do you regularly track web site and web page traffic? Is it going up?
9. Have your brands been extended to address the internet?
10. Do you have a formal "link-in" program?
11. Do you utilize internet forums or article distribution services to increase web traffic?

If you can't answer "yes" to more than six of these questions, you're probably not doing enough to take your place on the internet. And if you ever expect to do so, you'd better act now.

Internet marketing is now, not later.
Many marketers have recognized that internet marketing is something they are going to need to address. But it's something to do later, when there's more time. There is no more time. The internet has rapidly become the most effective way of accessing and expanding your market. If you're not taking your place in that expansion, then you're losing market share -- and in an electronic venue like the internet, that means you're losing it quickly.

Don't underestimate the effect of the internet on your marketing. It's so important to your business that it deserves a very high level of attention and visibility. So much so, that it won't be long before forward-thinking companies begin to appoint a new type of CIO -- not Chief Information Officer, but Chief Internet Officer -- to head their marketing operations.

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