Marketing on the Internet

Messages on the Internet can be either messages that you send out (such as email that the recipient pays to receive, directly or indirectly) or messages that come in to you (where you have invited customers and prospects to your information). There are different rules for each kind of communication, depending on who's footing the bill for the message and what people expect to see.

You can market on the Internet using only email: sending targeted announcements, building relationships with reviewers of your product, answering product support questions, putting product and sales information online, sending email ""newsletters"" to your customers, conducting surveys, researching competitors or trends.

When you're ready to make more of a commitment -- in technical expertise and in time -- you can create company information online that invites customers or prospects to come to you. Every company has some valuable information to give away that will provide a motive for people to come to you.

You'll succeed best if you start using the Internet as part of your overall marketing mix and build on your experience over time.

""Marketing on the Internet gives marketing and sales people a model for thinking about what you can do online, in terms of activities already familiar to you.