2008
It is widely reported that there are 6.5 billion people on the planet spread throughout 194 countries (I only have another 171 to see!) Follow this link to test yourself.
How many do you attempt to reach? Perhaps you concentrate on your domestic market only. What if you looked overseas? How would you promote your service or products to them?
In the age of the internet, it is possible to reach many of them. According to World Internet Stats (www.internetworldstats.com) there are approximately 1.3 billion internet users.
When a company becomes a global marketer, it views the entire world as its market place and makes only a few adjustments to its product or service to accommodate local conditions. Global Brands like Coca Cola; Nike; Ford, etc make very few changes to their products but reach a global market.
If you already have on-line marketing strategies, you’ll appreciate the benefits of the internet. However, if your current marketing is constrained to off-line marketing you may be missing out on a global market.
One of the most popular ways to reach a global market is to have a web site.
Too many small businesses fail to believe in the web as a business tool. A website doesn’t have to be used solely to sell your products. It can be used to let potential customers know you are there. For small businesses particularly those that rely on a local customer base this can be an invaluable source of additional customer enquiries.
For companies who are now considering gaining web presence I would urge them to go for it. You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. You do not need to sell on the web to have a meaningful website. In many cases a business website can be used purely for lead generation.
Many businesses rely on customers from the local area. Typically these would advertise locally and in doing so would receive a stream of local customers. In this situation I believe this business is losing out on an additional extra stream of customers by not having a company website. Just imagine how many people go to an internet search engine looking for your service. Remember if you don’t buy the lotto ticket you’ll never win the prize!
If you have experience in building a website then you may be able to achieve this part on your own. If not then you would be best to leave this to a web design company. Developing a website is not something you do half hearted. You do want to convert as many users as possible, an unprofessional looking website is not going to achieve this.
You’ll need at least the following:
Homepage: An introduction to the potential customer. Very general information and a phone number
About us: Go into a lot of detail about the company. Give the customer a lot of information about the company.
Contact us: Let the potential customer get in touch by email, ‘phone or by mail. It is also a good idea to use a feedback form so the user can contact you directly from the webpage. Another idea that can work well is a “call me” feature. The user supplies their phone number and a time. Someone then calls them back at the time specified.
If you want to go global, try this quick geography test. It will take you 5 minutes but it’s fun and will test your knowledge. I achieved 379, 498 the first time around…see if you can do better.