MARKETING
Why limit yourself to advertising in a local newspaper when for the same money you could advertise globally? Marketing is about understanding and creating the market where customers want to buy, using technologies such as advertising sales promotion and public relations.

Better Targeting
Promote your company inexpensively to potential customers around the world through your website on the Internet. With a website customers come to you; it shows they are already interested in your market.

Websites record how many hits or visitors your site gets (as long as they stay). Asking people to register for further information provides you with valuable marketing leads.

Regular Follow-Ups
Web marketing needs tailoring to the opportunities and the medium. Once you have drawn someone to your website, the key is to keep them interested. Detail up-to-date price lists, special offers, and new products in small, accessible, structured pages. Let potential customers use your web site to e-mail you enquiries and comments. Or keep in regular contact with clients by sending direct mail-shots automatically by e-mail.

SALES

New Ways To Take Orders
On the Internet, your web site could enable customers to browse detailed descriptions of your products and prices, and let them place orders automatically 24 hours a day. They can pay either by credit card over the Net or – if nervous of giving their card details, ask you to contact them by phone.

Smoother Sales Transactions
You can process your customer’s orders more efficiently – and probably get paid quicker – with Electronic Data Interchange. The initial investment could be offset against reduced transaction times and costs.

Isn’t EDI expensive?
Initially you will have to invest time and money to build trust and agree business processes with your trading partner. But you will receive payback. An EDI transaction costs very little and EDI frees staff from time consuming processes such as chasing invoice payments.

EXPORTING
For today’s business, geographical boundaries are disappearing. Online, Japan is now no further away than Jarrow.

Rapid Customer Contact
E-mail has made the world a smaller place. At the cost of a local phone call, it is as quick and easy to e-mail a customer abroad as it is to the next town. If you deal in services and products that can themselves be stored electronically – anything from video files to photos – e-mail can be used as the actual export mechanism to send the item overseas.

A Source Of New Markets
The Internet gives companies access to potential customers and business contacts worldwide. For researching possible markets, you can access a wealth of export information or locate useful contacts for advice and assistance overseas.

OPERATIONS
The more smoothly an organisation operates, the more profitable it is likely to be. If you are looking to create a more flexible workforce or speed up trading processes, a WBIS can give you the opportunity to reduce expenses and create a leaner more focused operation.

Working Productively
E-mail lets staff and customers communicate more effectively, whether they are sitting in the same office, town or even country.

Slashing Overheads
A single CD-ROM (or DVD-ROM) can store huge amounts of data – 300,000 text pages – so keeping paper records like company accounts on CD-ROM can achieve dramatic savings in shelf or warehousing space It also makes it easier to find the information later.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
In a market where products are similar, it is often the quality of customer service that separates the winners from the losers. In an increasingly competitive world, new technology could give you the edge with your customer – providing a quicker, more efficient, customised service.

Online Customer Support
A customer will often judge a company on how well it handles their enquiries. By linking all information into a central database, everything a customer might want to know can be available instantly. The database can include the customer’s background information and transactions – and can be updated every time the customer visits your Web site. Put the database on the network and anyone in your company could provide a helpful and useful response.

Better Customer Information
You can use a WBIS to give your customers direct access to company information.

A company web site on the Internet keeps your customers up-to-date with your latest products, prices and special offers. Web sites can be updated much more frequently than printed brochures.

Improved After-Sales Service
The most profitable business is repeat business – a good after sales service is essential. E-mail and the Internet can take away some of the administrative burden that comes with processing queries, maintaining customer records and keeping customers informed.

E-mail facilities on your web site let your customers’ e-mail you questions or customer satisfaction questionnaires, even purchase goods. E-mail your customers regularly automated newsletters or let them know about special offers – cheaper or easier than traditional mail.