February 2002
MAINE MEDIA & MARKETING
Offline savvy helps make online sales successful
Copyright © 2001 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
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In 1999, I was pretty sure I was about to become very rich. I wasn't exactly sure how, mind you, but the Web was involved, with a plan to leverage its marketplace powers to vend my talents. My thought was that if the kids at CMGI–young men mostly, fresh-faced whippersnappers without even a college degree–were getting rich off ideas as thin as their resumes, then I could, too. I'd just put myself on the Web and savor the generous buyout offers that were sure to follow.
Financial planners would covet my business. My enemies would be devastated.
In mid-2000, feeling like a chump, I noticed I was still working for a living. Then that fall, I watched as the dot dominoes began to tumble. Now it seems that what sells on the Web is smut and junk. (I think it was Kant who said, "Naked women and garage sales shall lead to riches.") Since I'm blessed with neither the figure for prurient Web-cam close-ups, nor the pack-rat qualities of a successful eBay-er, what's a small-businesswoman to do to sell on the Web?
To understand what's working today, I asked Ken Greenleaf, business development manager at Targetect (www.targetect.com), for advice. Based in Rockland, Maine, Targetect specializes in Web site development, design and implementation for online marketing and information delivery.
Kimberly McCall: Tell us how you help clients.
Ken Greenleaf: We develop strategic plans for businesses to use the Internet, and then implement the plan. Architecture first, then design and construction. Our work is goal-oriented, so we help our clients articulate their goals and then use the 'Net as one of the tools to reach those goals.
We do the plan, the design, the graphics, the coding and the database back end. Most of our sites are now dynamic, which means the client can control most of the site without special technical skills. We host sites on our servers, and provide "co-location" for those who need dedicated servers. We have an e-mail program for large e-mail blasts to opt-in lists and a new program for small lists.
McCall: What Web marketing techniques are working today? How have things evolved in the past few years?
Greenleaf: What we've found is no surprise. If you know how to market your product or service generally, you can have good success on the Web. Different things work for different types of businesses. For instance, we work with someone who sells roses for cold climates, an extensive niche market with fairly narrow parameters. He has a good product and supports it with good service and excellent information. He has seen good growth in his online sales.
Another success is a small chain of stores that sells American crafts. They know their market and their customer base, and that knowledge is reflected in the good sales they've been getting in the few months they've been online.
There are no special techniques, except for the search engines. The rest is simply understanding what the medium does well, which is present coherent information and interconnectivity, and ignoring what it does badly, which is graphical entertainment. A good site with just words always wins over a graphic-heavy site that doesn't reveal its purpose readily.
The evolution over the past few years has followed the direction of the medium's strengths: providing knowledge by putting a coherent order on data and information. It makes things–ideas, products, background information, knowledge of what's available, best prices, etc.–easily available for use. Do that well, make your visitors comfortable, serve their needs and keep your process simple and you'll do well.
McCall: E-commerce sites have come and gone. eBay makes money and Amazon just posted its first profit. What can we learn from these two success stories amidst myriad failures?
Greenleaf: It's important not to throw babies out with bathwater. Failures come from bad business plans, not e-commerce models. If you have a business plan worth maybe $250,000 per year in realistic revenues, then you are nuts to spend $10 million getting up and running. On the other hand, if your plan is still worth that $250,000 and you can get running for five figures, it makes sense to go ahead.
That's the real lesson of the past two years. There are plenty of e-commerce sites that are doing quite well, and in fact the national figures show significant growth in online sales every year, dot-bombs notwithstanding.
Of course you still have to do it right. We were examining a site with a good product, design and plan but poor conversion rate, and found a hitch in their commerce system that would drive away all but the desperate. In any retail business you have to treat your customers well or they'll go elsewhere. That's just as true online as it is on Main Street.
McCall: What are the elements of a Web site that sells?
Greenleaf: Clarity and service. Price, too, but that's not so important unless your product has become a commodity, like computer memory. If people can get what they need, and more important can find out what they need, they will buy from your site. Information, ease of use, a clear presentation and good service are the keys, just like in a physical store.
I've been involved in a lot of sites and one thing seems clear. The most successful sites are those in which their owner is engaged in making it an integral part of their business. If you use it, it will help you. It's not a short-cut to riches, just another tool for your business. A very powerful tool if you use it right, and using it right is different from one business to another.
McCall: Any last bits of advice for selling on the Web?
Greenleaf:
- Think about what you want to accomplish in terms of your overall business goals.
- Be realistic about projected revenues and return on investment
- Work with someone who understands the medium, who can do more than just design.
- Think about your online store as if it were a new store in a new location, a branch of your current business.
Kimberly McCall is a writer and the president of McCall Media & Marketing, Inc., a business communications company in Freeport, Maine. The monthly "Sales Force" columnist and frequent contributor for Entrepreneur magazine, McCall also contributes to inc.com and The Wall Street Journal's StartupJournal.com. Sign up for her free marketing bulletin at www.MarketingAngel.com or contact McCall at 207-865-0055.