Web Technology in Marketing: Friend or Foe?

Web Technology in Marketing: Friend or Foe?

C.J. Hayden, MCC



Every independent professional should have a web site, an

ezine, and an email marketing strategy, right? If you're not

taking maximum advantage of web technology to market your

professional services, you are behind the times, and missing

out on huge opportunities. At least that's what most

marketing experts would have you believe. But how valid is

this advice? And is it for everyone?



Before email was widely available, marketing newsletters

were printed on paper and sent by mail. There's no question

that e-mail is a more economical solution for sending a

newsletter. Instead of being able to afford only a few

hundred newsletters at a cost of $1 or more each, you can

send tens of thousands for only pennies. With an ezine,

technology can save you money and allow you to extend your

marketing reach. This is one of the many ways that web

technology can be your friend. Here are some others:



- A web site can attract new customers to your business

from across the street or far outside your local area. If

your site has high rankings in the search engines under

appropriate categories, or many links from keywords

prospective clients might search for, you may get dozens of

inquiries from people who otherwise would never hear of

you.



- Using email autoresponders can help you automate your

follow-up with likely prospects. Just subscribe a prospect

to an autoresponder list once, then send periodic broadcasts

to the whole list, encouraging prospects to hire you or

attend your learning programs.



- Participating in online discussion lists and message

boards can allow you to network with a large group of people

in your target market without leaving your home or office.

Appearing on live chats or webinars permits you to be a

public speaker without the time and expense of travel, and

speak to national or global audiences.



For these reasons and more, it appears that using web

technology is an affordable way to reach prospective clients

easily. You can potentially attract larger numbers of

prospects for fewer dollars than with many more traditional

methods of outreach. But there are pitfalls.



Broadcast email can be an efficient solution for following

up with prospects who already know about you. But it's a

terrible way to introduce yourself to a prospect for the

first time. Far too many coaches, consultants, trainers, and

other professionals add subscribers to their ezine or

autoresponder lists without their permission. Not only is

this ineffective as a marketing strategy since most readers

simply delete e-mail from people they don't recognize, but

it can seriously backfire when someone is offended by your

unsolicited mail.



Here are some other ways that using technology in marketing

can become your foe:



- Technology makes it easy to hide. When you have a web

presence, an ezine, and use e-mail autoresponders to contact

your customers, you may think there's no reason to contact

them in person. You may feel justified in not picking up the

phone, attending a business event, or suggesting a lunch

date if you think your technology is doing the job for you.

But a web site or e-mail isn't an equal substitute for a

prospect hearing your voice or seeing your face. It's pretty

rare for someone to hire a professional without talking to

him or her first, so if you put off the talking, you may

also be putting off the hiring.



- Launching and maintaining an attractive and useful

website, and achieving high search engine rankings for it,

can be an expensive and time-consuming project. Unless you

pay close attention to your budget, you can easily find

yourself spending much more to land each client than you

would ever pay using offline marketing methods. A

high-traffic web site is a valuable resource for a business

that can take advantage of a global presence or a large

volume of new clients. But if your business is primarily

local or you only need a few new clients each year, you may

end up paying for a level of visibility you don't really

need.



- Too many inquiries from the web can waste your time.

Anonymous visitors to your site will often email to ask

about prices and other details. These inquiries are

completely unqualified -- you don't know anything about the

people who are writing. If you take the time for a thorough

reply to each one, they can consume a significant amount of

energy. On the web as well as off, prospects who are

referred to you by people who know your work are much more

likely to hire you than those who find you by accident. If

that's so, perhaps it makes sense to put more effort into

building referrals than into building a broader web

presence.



Web technology is really no different than any other method

of marketing your services in that you must judge the

appropriateness of each strategy for your unique

circumstances. If you find writing to be a chore, perhaps a

regular ezine is not the best choice for you. If you only

need a few large, local clients each year, you may want a

web site for prospects to explore after you contact them,

but not spend your money on web directory listings or search

engine optimization. Autoresponder reminders may be

effective to increase enrollment in public workshops, but

not such a good idea to sell in-house training to

corporations.



Just because a strategy is the latest and greatest doesn't

mean it's the best. Publishing a blog may be terrific if

your target market spends a lot of time online, but not so

good to reach those who rarely open their browser. Webinars

can be an effective tool for attracting high-tech or

corporate clients, but not for home business owners or

consumers who operate older, slower computers with dial-up

Internet access.



Relying completely on technology to bring in clients can

also give you a false sense of productivity. When you are

writing copy for your web site or setting up autoresponders,

you feel like you are taking action about marketing. And

these activities can be important behind the scenes steps,

but you shouldn't confuse them with direct outreach to

prospective clients. Web copy won't make any sales until

people see it, and autoresponders will have no effect until

people are subscribed to them.



Web technology provides just another set of marketing tools,

not a complete solution. Using every marketing tool the web

has to offer is not a requirement of doing business. The

purpose of your marketing should be to bring you enough

clients to earn the level of profit you desire. When

marketing technology adds to your bottom line, it's worth

employing. When it doesn't, there's no reason to use it.



C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients NOW! Thousands of

business owners and salespeople have used her simple sales

and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a

free copy of "Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You'll

Ever Need" at http://www.getclientsnow.com