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Sales and Marketing
:
The Buzz about Selling/Advertising vs. Keeping and Growing Relationships
By Terry Roberts
If you follow the media and e-mail discussion groups about the
Internet, you've no doubt seen that much of the buzz is about
selling things and advertising on the Internet.
I think there are primarily two reasons for this:
1. There are many Web site owners who are looking for ways to
finance their site maintenance, if not the initial development,
and the big bucks spent on advertising in other media is an
obvious target for them to go after.
Most, however, are finding that it takes a great deal of
traffic to justify much in the way of advertising revenue, and
that the bulk of the advertising dollars are being spent with a
small group of sites at the top of the Internet "food chain",
like major search engines, large content publishers and large
virtual communities.
2. We are witnessing the ironic law of new technology at work.
The law says,"any new technology is first used in the way the
old technology was, ignoring the very things that make the new
technology worth using."
For the first time in history, organizations have at their
disposal a tool which offers platform independence (it can be
used from any kind of computer, cutting through a nightmare of
network compatibility problems with other information systems),
inexpensive access, easy access, global scope, multi-media rich
content, interactivity, ability to survive natural or man-made
disasters, easy and seamless navigation through the content on
millions of computers, unlimited ultimate capacity, and the
ability to change content quickly and easily to keep it dynamic
and worth re-visiting.
Never before has there been a tool so ideal for keeping and
growing relationships. And yet, so much of the current focus is
on selling and advertising because we're using the technology at
this point in the way old technology was, ignoring the very
things that make the new technology worth using.
In the next few years, I predict we will see a dramatic
awakening to the greater potential of Internet technology to
keep and grow relationships. The benefits will be so great, that
many organizations will find that alone justifies their Internet
investment, even if they don't sell a thing or generate new
customers via the Internet (but they will do that as well!).
NetNurturing is the name I've given to this concept of keeping
and growing relationships via high-value Internet applications.
The broad objectives of NetNurturing are to build preference and
loyalty for your organization, to obtain greater share of
customer, and to move customers from mere acceptance of your
organization to advocacy for your organization.
Those concepts will be the on-going focus of the NetNurturing
Letter. With your feedback, my goal is to make these ideas as
concrete and relevant as possible. The principles behind the
ideas we will explore will be relevant to marketing even if you
aren't actively involved in the Internet yet. I hope you enjoy
the ride!
I look forward to your contributions, questions and suggestions.
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Copyright 1997 All rights reserved. Terry Roberts Consulting &
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"NetNurturing" and "Terry Roberts Consulting & Services" are
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