Further, people must trust your ability to provide all of the above. Building marketing relationships implies some type of interaction. Netizens are inquisitive and more than willing to tell you what they think. If you or your company have the reputation for providing these things to the CyberSpace community, the marketing relationship strengthens.
Admittedly, this is something that hasn’t been possible before. Billboards don’t stay in sight very long, and TV spots are short and expensive. The sales pitch has been pitched in favor of dialog.
Electronically mediated commerce is possible over the Internet. Marketers, however, need to understand another subtle change when dealing with netizens. The relationships that become established between buyer and seller in CyberSpace are virtual relationships. On an information content basis, these interactions can be more enriching than the oftentimes impersonal contact with a retail sales force that too frequently seems to be under-trained. In the mundane world, however, the buyer can at least touch the goods. In the absence of the hands-on experience, confidence in a product, and trust in a company, must be established virtually.
This is the type of relationship that must, and can be, built using the existing tools and standards of the Internet. Through the World Wide Web you can take the netizen on a journey of exploration and information gathering. You can be seen as an organization or individual who cares about meeting the buyers needs, either by helping them make an informed decision, or merely by brightening their day a little.
By using e-mail, or real-time communications such as video, speech, chat, and interactive Web sites, the buyer/seller relationship can be established and maintained. The dialog that has been established can then be enhanced with electronically available information about your product, service, or company.
When designing a virtual presence in CyberSpace, the hopeful marketer should remember that this is not a traditional mass market. The paradigm for getting and holding attention has changed. User controlled information gathering and presentation means that merely scanning your brochure and logo onto a home page will be marginally effective at best.
Word of mouth travels at light speed in CyberSpace, and if those words are negative, they seem to flow even faster. It seems to be almost too obvious a point, but before any money flows through the Matrix, people are going to have to feel very comfortable in transferring their e-cash to you.
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Questions or comments about these Web pages? Send e-mail to
dave@reststop.net