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| Internet Marketing: It is Time to Crack the Code Much emphasis has been given to using the Internet for marketing purposes. Unless I am missing something no one has truly cracked the code. What I mean by that is that we have the most exciting marketing opportunity in history and we have barely scratched the surface of its potential. Considering travel is the number two (#2) market on the Internet, we should be able to get timeshare its fair share. One of the greatest challenges has been to get the techies and the marketers together. There are some brilliant people that can write HTML code that literally can make a web page sing and there are marketers who would not know HTML from the PTA. Bill Gates is a brilliant man who knows a great deal about computers, but he has people working for him that know far more about his own software. He is the richest man in the world because he knows how to market his product. The trick to proper web marketing is not only in the web page development, although that is important. Just remember you could have the most amazing web presence, but if no one sees it the masterpiece is never appreciated. This is one reason why so many dotcom companies have gone kaput. The next wave of Internet success will come from driving business to your web site as opposed to waiting for the public to find you. This means that like most things it needs to come full circle, in other words using conventional marketing sources to drive traffic to your site. Just ask Monster.com if this makes sense. When I look in the Orlando sky I will see a big red blimp with Monster.com all over it. No 800 number or address just Monster.com, what more do you need to know? Now that we have our web site how do we get people to it? I originally took the conventional Internet approach. That was to increase traffic using search engines. I was actually told I was number one (#1) on many search engines for Orlando vacations and I believe we are still waiting for that first customer to book directly on the web site. I tried banners with not much more success. The numbers began to increase when we coupled our Internet presence with conventional marketing sources. We directed people to our web site through direct mail, media advertisements and telemarketing efforts. The Internet is destined to be the most effective marketing tool you have, you just need to plug it in. I was asked to speak about Marketing at the ARDA convention two (2) years ago. At that time I was asked what I thought of Internet marketing by an attendee. Internet marketing was not even a footnote on the program for that conference. My answer to the question was rather simple; I did not think much of it. I explained that while it was vital to have a web presence for credibility's sake, putting a lot of money into Internet marketing would not bear fruit. Not that I have done a 180 degree turn, but it is time to make your web site work for you. Fuel it up and drive it-- in timesharing we have never been known as timid marketers. Use the tools we have succeeded with in the past and use our web presence to multiply its effectiveness. |
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More Finn | Home Michael S. Finn, RRP,
writes an insightful bi-weekly column regarding issues of ethical and profitable sales & marketing. Read his bio here |
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