Book marketing: 3 keys to turning your book into the next big thing
Beverly Tabbs
September 07, 2007
The Internet is the talk-of-the-town -- not just this town, but of all towns in almost all places. Yes, there are some places where it hasn't reached, but the numbers decrease every day. What started as a small, in comparison to what the Internet is now, happening just a few short years ago has grown faster and bigger that anyone would want their child to grow. It has grown to the place where the child is almost unmanageable. In that growth, there are many businesses that have go on line without any idea of what their web site is to do for them and how to use it to its best advantage.
As we hear and read what people say they want and what, in reality, it is that they want, we see why there is a problem doing profitable business on the Internet. The words people use to justify going on the Internet are not adequate for explaining what they want. It's like saying, "I'm hungry" when they are saying is, "I want a tuna fish sandwich."
If one is to use the Internet effectively and efficiently one must have, if they don't have one already, a Marketing Plan. A Marketing Plan? To a great percentage of people, a marketing plan means making out a grocery list. A marketing plan puts all aspects of a business's public face into a coordinated program. The addition of having a web site calls for a revamping of a marketing plan before one jumps into having a web site.
For business, the Internet should relate to doing businesses with customers . . . better known as "E-COMMERCE." There are two aspects of e-commerce -- business-to business (B2B) and business-to consumers (B2C) e-commerce. E-commerce, in both cases, relates to selling a product or service and delivering it on time at the right price -- better known as "fulfillment." B2B sites have fewer problems with fulfillment than B2C firms. For the former, the firm and their customers most likely have an ongoing relationship. Even if they don’t, the firm uses their site as a way of enabling prospective customers to have access to what the firm offers 24 hours a day. The result of having web site for B2B E-commerce is that it shortens up the reorder process - the time it takes to get additional orders. With B2C E-commerce it is different. More often than not, the business does not know their prospective customers nor do the potential customers know the firm. They are both there . . . but where?
We see the Internet as having 4 distinct uses. When trying to intermix these uses some businesses have some success, more have little or no success. Serving two masters is very difficult.
As we hear and read what people say they want and what, in reality, it is that they want, we see why there is a problem doing profitable business on the Internet. The words people use to justify going on the Internet are not adequate for explaining what they want. It's like saying, "I'm hungry" when they are saying is, "I want a tuna fish sandwich."
If one is to use the Internet effectively and efficiently one must have, if they don't have one already, a Marketing Plan. A Marketing Plan? To a great percentage of people, a marketing plan means making out a grocery list. A marketing plan puts all aspects of a business's public face into a coordinated program. The addition of having a web site calls for a revamping of a marketing plan before one jumps into having a web site.
For business, the Internet should relate to doing businesses with customers . . . better known as "E-COMMERCE." There are two aspects of e-commerce -- business-to business (B2B) and business-to consumers (B2C) e-commerce. E-commerce, in both cases, relates to selling a product or service and delivering it on time at the right price -- better known as "fulfillment." B2B sites have fewer problems with fulfillment than B2C firms. For the former, the firm and their customers most likely have an ongoing relationship. Even if they don’t, the firm uses their site as a way of enabling prospective customers to have access to what the firm offers 24 hours a day. The result of having web site for B2B E-commerce is that it shortens up the reorder process - the time it takes to get additional orders. With B2C E-commerce it is different. More often than not, the business does not know their prospective customers nor do the potential customers know the firm. They are both there . . . but where?
We see the Internet as having 4 distinct uses. When trying to intermix these uses some businesses have some success, more have little or no success. Serving two masters is very difficult.
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