The Internet as a Communications Tool

The World Wide Web is a client-server application that provides a graphical user interface for information presentation and interactive communication. What this means is that we can communicate in almost any way imaginable over a network of computers. And the computers add previously unprecedented functionality to the situation.

That said, the primary goal in marketing communication is to add value to a product in the eyes of a prospective or current customer. Another way to say this is the fulfillment of wants, needs, and desires. The Web is an exciting opportunity for us as marketers to add value to products and services and fulfill wants, needs, and desires through the use of interactive information presentations and transaction systems. Over time we can build successful marketing relationships through this process.

These systems can be highly effective for marketing communication. The best systems duplicate successful physical world models. Buying books over the Web just duplicates a highly successful model of direct catalog marketing. All the Web can really do is provide an interface for information retrieval, interaction, and transactions. But this is a powerful situation for marketers as the Web empowers customers by giving them what they want, how they want it, and when they want it.

But let's not forget that the Internet and Web is a communications tool. It is not a business solution but instead provides communications tools that can facilitate business and interaction. The technology is not the answer. Using the technology effectively provides customers with answers to their questions. And that is what marketing is all about.

Exercises

Evaluate How Your Organization Communicates

To begin thinking about the Internet as a communications tool, let's start by answering a few questions about our own communication methods.

a)When you communicate professionally, what's your primary method of communication?

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b)What is your secondary method?

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c)What kinds of information do you communicate?

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d)When you are asked a question by a customer or colleague, where do you find the answer?

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Evaluate How a Live Web Site Communicates

Using a computer connected to the Internet, your first lab assignment in this section is to purchase a book over the Internet. You are a consumer with a want, need, and desire. You want to purchase a book. To do so, follow these steps:

Point your browser to amazon.com, an on-line bookseller.

a)Have you ever visited amazon.com before?

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Search the Web site for any book you wish. If you need a suggestion, try looking for the book titled "Versed in Country Things."

b)Which book title did you search for?

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Complete the steps necessary to purchase the book until the last possible option to buy is presented. You don't need to purchase a book to complete this lab exercise. But do everything up to the point of purchase, including completing the customer account information requested by the Web site if you haven't done so previously.

c)Record the steps that are involved and the information exchanges that take place in the purchase of a book over the Internet.

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Terminate your visit to the on-line bookseller. Check out the news at cnn.com.

Exercise Answers

Answers

a)When you communicate professionally, what's your primary method of communication?

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Answer:Though we may not realize it, our primary communication tool at work or home is probably the telephone. This involves voice communication in a synchronous environment.

Unfortunately, the problems associated with synchronous communication grow every day. It is becoming increasingly rare that two parties are available for voice communication spontaneously. Along with phone appointments and conference calls, this situation has led to the frustrating growth of voice mail communication.

Voice mail could be called asynchronous voice communication. But problems occur when converting this type of communication to text. This is necessary for the actual use of information. There is a better way. An asynchronous method of personal and professional communication using text, which is my primary method of business communication, is electronic mail.

More and more people are using e-mail every day. It is a direct, personal, text-based communications channel that is instantaneous and inexpensive-a perfect channel for marketing and communications in general.

b)What is your secondary method?

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Answer:After phones and e-mail, communication usually involves hard copy vehicles for text and graphics.

This includes everything from internal memos and operations forms to external marketing materials and annual reports. Just think about how many pieces of hard copy printed material literally covered with text and graphical information are available for your review at any moment in the office. We spend billions of dollars and hours creating, printing, writing, approving, editing, mailing, distributing, filing, and tossing hard copy materials every day.

The good news is that the growth of the World Wide Web has created a hyperlinked publishing environment that duplicates and actually increases the functionality of written material. The Web interface is more interactive, dynamic, and flexible than the current hard copy examples. And Web-based information can be distributed at relatively low cost, requires virtually no storage, and can be changed and customized instantly.

c)What kinds of information do you communicate?

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Answer:Obviously, your answer will vary here. The following represents the type of information that this question should have yielded for you.

On a daily basis I respond to external communication from current and prospective students with marketing and operational information. I respond to my staff and colleagues with different operational and sometimes personal information. I process two piles of incoming hard copy information (mail). I constantly create new versions of both operational (memos and internal forms) and marketing materials in hard copy for later distribution and internal functioning. I also constantly convert voice mail messages to more voice mail messages and respond to a constant stream of personal and professional conversations via e-mail.

Except for reading my mail, which usually involves a flick of the wrist into the circular file, almost every one of these information transfers either can be converted to Internet technology or already is. Communication between myself, my students, and my staff is almost exclusively by e-mail. The writing of this book was accomplished using e-mail and File Transfer Protocols (FTP).

Internal operations between departments involve e-mail and paper-based forms that could be converted easily to Web-based formats. Any information retrieval I do is accomplished via the Web. I get almost all of my professional information from this source. And every purchasing decision I make, from airline tickets to projection equipment, involves Web-based information. Though I am a Web proponent, there is no reason to believe that the rest of the business world is moving in a similar direction. If we use these Internet and Web communication tools effectively, which will probably involve nothing more than developing them as we use them ourselves, as marketers we will benefit greatly.

d)When you are asked a question by a customer or colleague, where do you find the answer?

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Answer:Unless you know the answer from memory, you probably have to look it up somewhere. Hard copy storage of information involves files, manuals, and good old-fashioned books. But more and more information retrieval involves databases.

While books and files are static databases themselves, business information is usually stored in databases for operational and logical reasons. Information can be shared, developed, and manipulated by more people in a dynamic fashion and can be compiled and reviewed on demand.

When a customer contacts me with a question about billing or course grades, I refer to our internal database, which I access via a network from my desktop computer. This takes my time and energy. If I made this database available to the students directly, they could answer their own questions, which would make them happy. I would also have more time to do other things and theoretically save money through postage and lost time, which would make me happy.

If I put my internal database on the Web for student access, I'd save time and money and make the students happy. This is why the Web is good news for marketers and communicators.

Answers

Point your browser to an on-line bookseller. A popular Web site for this type of commerce is amazon.com.

a)Have you ever visited amazon.com before?

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Answer:Your answer will vary, but if you frequentamazon.com or have purchased from it in the past, your experience will be slightly different from that of somebody who has never visited the site.

I accessed this Web site via the amazon.com home page. I'd always heard good things about this site but hadn't yet participated out of loyalty to my local book shop. You will see as we progress through this exercise how this Web site is an excellent example of relationship marketing over the Web.

Search the Web site for any book you wish. If you need a suggestion, try looking for the book titled "Versed in Country Things."

b)Which book title did you search for?

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Answer:Your answer will vary. Here's mine:

I searched for a publication of Frost's poetry by typing the book title into the search field. The Web site returned a description of the exact book with pricing, availability, and even a little thumbnail picture. The thumbnail helps out with the lack of tactile interaction and is a replacement for the physical process involved with traditional retail shopping.

Two options were also presented to purchase the book: putting the book into a traditional on-line shopping cart or using a single-step process.

Complete the steps necessary to purchase the book until the last possible option to buy is presented. You don't need to purchase a book to complete this lab exercise. But do everything up to the point of purchase, including completing the customer account information requested by the Web site if you haven't done so previously.

c)Record the steps that are involved and the information exchanges that take place in the purchase of a book over the Internet.

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Answer:The following is an account of my experience. Yours should be similar.

I tried the quick method but wasn't an existing account holder. After attempting to change an account that didn't yet exist, I was given the option to create a new account. If I hadn't been persistent, I could have gotten frustrated and abandoned the effort. After a couple of redundant screens were overcome, I was able to create a new account. It involved first setting up an account name and password and then inputting contact and credit card information. A confirmation screen displayed my new account information and gave me the opportunity to return to browsing. This link brought me back to the home page. But now things on this index page were subtly different. I now had a customized message welcoming me by e-mail username and an option to view book recommendations.

Setting up an account and purchasing a book involved approximately eight different, linked Web pages. Every screen requested my choice of action, and two involved completing forms to input my contact, payment, and shipping information. The amount of time was minimal.

This situation was driven by me, the end user, at my convenience, though the Web site presentation dictated the interactions necessary to complete the transaction. The effort was completed by me on my schedule.

This is an important distinction in Internet communication and Web marketing. As Web marketers, we receive the communication from the customer. Like traditional direct marketing, we dictate the actions, but it is up to the prospective customer to complete the actions. The great thing about the Web, however, is that end users are empowered by the technology interfaces and can receive an immediate response to their actions. And they can participate at their leisure.

One of the fundamental goals in Web marketing is to empower end users in their interactions with us. We benefit from a lack of overhead in conducting transactions with computers instead of traditional methods, and the customers benefit by engaging marketers on the customers' own terms and receiving immediate informational and transactional responses. Web marketing is good news for both parties involved.

Terminate your visit to the on-line bookseller. Check out the news at cnn.com.

The purpose of this last step is to terminate your connection with the amazon.com server.

Self-Review Questions

In order to test your progress, you should be able to answer the following questions:

1)Which of the following is NOT an example of relationship marketing at the amazon.com Web site?

  1. _____ Customized welcome page for repeat visitors
  2. _____ Discount over retail price of product
  3. _____ Offering book recommendations
  4. _____ One-click ordering
  5. _____ All of these are examples of relationship marketing at amazon.com.
2)Which of the following is the most effective means of communication today?

  1. _____ Telephone
  2. _____ Postal mail
  3. _____ Electronic mail
  4. _____ Voice mail
3)It is not likely that the Internet will ever become a primary source of marketing and/or communication.

  1. _____ True
  2. _____ False

Quiz answers appear inAppendix A, Section 1.1.



Exploring Web Marketing and Project Management
Exploring Web Marketing and Project Management
ISBN: 0130163961
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2000
Pages: 87

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