Strategy is a big picture. It has to summarize on “How are you going to achieve your defined objective?”, while tactics are the methods to implement your defined strategy.E-Strategic Decision Options: Before taking your business online understand or review your business goals and objectives as it will help you understand what type of website is best suited for your business?
Is it just an electronic brochure or a micro site or a full fledged ecommerce website? After deciding up on what type of website you need, you should decide up on the marketing mix to define a clear cut online business strategy.
Marketing mix (a.k.a) 4ps are the essential elements to define the marketing strategy (be it online or offline). Before applying these 4Ps to the internet marketing/business you need to understand the additional 3Ps that’ll make internet marketing plan more stringent and powerful. The 3ps includes – People, Physical Evidence, and Processes.
Product – Product in internet marketing mix can be considered as two things,
1. Your actual product that you want to sell Online
2. Your Website itself is also a product
We all know that product/services that are sold via internet cannot be touched or experience it lively and to overcome this ecommerce site owners have to provide…
• Extensive product information – Product Description, specifications/features
• Multiple product images in different dimensions,
• Product tour through Video/flash presentation,
• Product Reviews from the consumers
These strategies will help online shoppers make informed buying decision. If you sell services then consider giving out case studies, free trials, product demos, testimonials, etc.
The Website through which the product is being sold is also a Product
• Your ecommerce website layout and design has to be User and Search Engine Friendly
• Ease of Navigation to reach the actual product,
• Good Website functionality (example: Search functions, product comparison function, etc)
• Customization and Personalization
These are just few things that has to be shown on your website to make it as an effective product and also to gain distinct competitive edge.
Price – Internet is a transparent medium. Online shoppers can get the pricing information from the sources like comparison shopping engine, internet marketplaces, auction sites, competitor sites, etc. and if your product price doesn’t just satisfy the online shoppers you cannot grow your wallet. It is very essential to continually monitor the product prices and fix an optimum product price to sustain in the long run.
Placement – Internet itself is a place where products can be purchased. Internet can be seen as a new and additional distribution channel for your products/services to reach your end audience. Your website on internet is not the ONLY place to sell products hence mull over other alternative and multiple online places such as marketplaces, affiliation, etc to sell your products. The more widely you appear in the internet, the more chance of being visible in front of your target customers.
Promotion – As said above internet is definitely a good place to sell products, but selling via internet requires effective promotion. To promote your products you need to utilize the online communication tools. The widely popular communication channels are online advertisement, online PR, sponsorship, email, search engine promotion, etc. you need to mix and integrate these promotional tools to enjoy the maximum benefit.
Promotion – As said above internet is definitely a good place to sell products, but selling via internet requires effective promotion. To promote your products you need to utilize the online communication tools. The widely popular communication channels are online advertisement, online PR, sponsorship, email, search engine promotion, etc. you need to mix and integrate these promotional tools to enjoy the maximum benefit.
People – When a shopper visits a traditional shop there would be a sales guy attending him, but when an online shopper visits an ecommerce website there is no chance that your customers will get a warm welcome, therefore consider humanizing your online business. There has to be different online contact strategies, so that your customers when feel like asking questions can get in touch with you instantly. One way of doing it is enabling "a live customer chat." No business can sustain without a real person’s involvement so make sure that your online business is backed up by the real people to service your online customers quickly and effectively.
Physical Evidence – Trust is still a matter of concern to the online users. Your website visitor, especially the first time visitor would not trust your website even if it has got an excellent visual appearance, rich applications or any other factor that would appeal a typical online visitor. Online shoppers look for prompt response to assure your authenticity. Tools like online security symbols, privacy policy, returning policy, trusted payment processing, customization and personalization, user reviews, encourage users for cross channel shopping by providing some discounts, if you have got an offline store will help you gain tremendous trust.
Processes – If you have a clearly defined process then it will have a positive impact in the overall service quality. It is imperative to integrate front-end and back-office systems to build the online business process. Setting up an online business process is not an easy task, hence care has to be taken to develop and optimize your online business process.
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Physical Evidence – Trust is still a matter of concern to the online users. Your website visitor, especially the first time visitor would not trust your website even if it has got an excellent visual appearance, rich applications or any other factor that would appeal a typical online visitor. Online shoppers look for prompt response to assure your authenticity. Tools like online security symbols, privacy policy, returning policy, trusted payment processing, customization and personalization, user reviews, encourage users for cross channel shopping by providing some discounts, if you have got an offline store will help you gain tremendous trust.
Processes – If you have a clearly defined process then it will have a positive impact in the overall service quality. It is imperative to integrate front-end and back-office systems to build the online business process. Setting up an online business process is not an easy task, hence care has to be taken to develop and optimize your online business process.
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