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If you’re a
small business frustrated with trying to “get your arms
around” Internet marketing and e-business solutions, you’re
not alone. There are, however, some simple strategies that you can
implement to successfully to engage in an active program to
promote your business online.
Now Internet is
increasingly used by a large number of small businesses to reach
their potential customers in the most cost-effective manner
several small companies have run into problems with either simple
websites that are not sticky enough or are not updated frequently.
eCreativa has been told that due to lack of resources and
coordination, some time-critical announcements could not be posted
on their websites causing a lot of confusion among their customers
and embarrassments. For
instance, sudden closures due to bad weather should be clearly
available on the website so that customers can immediately know
about it.
Small companies
have been frustrated with not being able to find the right
Internet marketing solution for their needs.
It is clear that a large proportion of small businesses are
seriously committed to exploiting online opportunities. By now,
the benefits and strategic considerations are apparent to almost
all decision-makers. However, actually making this transition is
not easy, especially when small businesses do not have the liberty
of suspending their operations and dedicating themselves
exclusively to making the transformation to online business.
The dilemma
Executives and
entrepreneurs still must meet their regular business goals.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that by
the time you get your arms around one solution, your competitors
have already taken a much more sleek approach.
What should
small businesses do?
The
major issues that we see small businesses facing are:
- What
will deliver the most value to our customers and business?
- How
do we prioritize so that we do not exhaust our resources?
- How
fast should we move to keep up with technology but not spend
exorbitant amounts of money?
These issues
are not easy to address because they have to be balanced with
regular financial goals and limited availability of resources.
Here are some guidelines to consider:
1) No business
succeeds without best-in-class approach. Building the coolest
website is not going to be effective unless it is backed up by
solid operations. For
instance, if you take 3 days to answer an email, your visitors are
less likely to use your website and instead try to call you (which
is definitely more expensive for a business).
2)
Internet has to be seamlessly integrated into the overall
marketing program. Without a proper integration and coordination
with other communication programs, you might send confusing
messages to the marketplace and not be able to fully exploit the
potential of the Internet.
3) If you do
not understand the Internet completely, do not try to do it
yourself. It is new, complex, and changes faster than anything
that you may be used to in running a small business. In the
existing setup of a small business, it is hard to develop the
necessary skills and speed. Therefore, eCreativa always emphasizes
that companies should seriously consider outsourcing this function
and focusing their attention instead on managing their actual
business.
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