Companies creating their image on the Web are divided into
two groups: e-business in the literal meaning and companies
from other sectors. The brand creation process in the first
case is very similar to the one undergone by all newly
founded companies.
Of course, the Web is characterized by a certain
specificity. The companies name is also its Internet
address and the simpler, the shorter, the easier to
remember and to key in it is, the better. It is perfect
when it corresponds to the character of the company's
activity, however the later you go on-line, the harder it
is to find an interesting and available domain. On the
other hand, a company has the comfort, that it can check
whether a particular domain is still available before
registering its name. Nonetheless a catchy name, which
looks good as a www address, is not enough.
Due to fierce competition, it is more important to find a
market niche and accurately adjust the offer to the
consumers' needs. As proven by American research, when it
comes to shopping through the Web, the price - against
common belief - does not play a superior role in the
internauts' decision process. The significance of the price
on the market fluctuates around only 10%, whereas its role
on the B2B market is even smaller. What matters, however,
is the comprehensiveness of the offer and its adjustment to
the consumer's needs. In relation to the abovementioned, a
rather obvious conclusion can be drawn: before you
introduce your new business to the Web you need to examine,
examine, examine. Especially, as the Internet allows you to
carry out consumer preferences research bearing relatively
small costs.
The results are solely determined by the Web. Of course an
Internet site is often promoted through other media,
however, unless it stands out, offers something new and
extraordinary, the internaut will visit it once and will
not return. The consequence will be failure of a particular
enterprise. In the other case, there are companies
conducting traditional activity, which take a decision to
create their own websites. Naturally, they try to register
a domain corresponding to the subject's name. The problem
arises when someone else has already done so, and what's
worse, it is not a domain for sale, but another company's
site (after all in different businesses there can be
companies that operate with identical names). A company is
not a new business and it will not change its name only
because a particular domain is not available. It has to
find a substitute solution and put much more effort into
making the consumer remember its Internet address.
An Internet site is a traditional company's "business
card". As a business card it needs to be in accordance with
its owner's visual identity system (a presentation's
convention cannot differ from what customers are used to
and what is identified as "branded"). On the other hand, it
needs to offer its clients something new, interesting and
extraordinary adding new value to the existing and known
brand. It needs to encourage internauts to return to it and
to visit it frequently. While in the case of e-business the
success of a website determines the existence of an
enterprise, a "business card" can improve companies' images
and win new customers, stay unnoticed, or undermine
consumer's opinion on a particular company - however these
are never matters of fundamental importance. The success of
an Internet company's website will be affected by the
market communication strategy it undertakes. A company
operating in a traditional environment puts far less
emphasis on promoting its website, and its popularity is
mainly a reflection of a particular brand's popularity.
The Internet's accessibility increases each year. However,
the vast majority of Internet receivers are young people -
in their teens and twenties, who haven't got the financial
resources yet to shop through the Internet and who are the
target group of only a limited number of companies. A
smaller interest from older people, who are the target
group of many companies, can be the cause of a small
presence of domestic subjects on the Internet. Of course
the majority of companies have their own websites - it is,
so to speak, a matter of honour. However, the quality of
these sites leaves a lot to be desired. The majority gives
you just basic information about a company - as if they
were aimed at people who knew little about it and wanted to
get to know its history and activity profile. Whereas there
is no offer directed towards regular customers, who should
be a company's key care. The sites drive away customers
with information about the last update being in 1998. You
can't get through to the company and when you finally get
the right number from any other source and you inform a
secretary about the mistake on the website she replies:
"Yes, I know that there is a mistake". The websites'
layouts are also poor - however this can be justified with
poor quality of Polish Internet connections, which work
even slower when a website layout is too rich. The average
quality of potential customers' equipment also prevents
companies from creating more sophisticated sites.
On a global scale, the Internet is a new phenomenon both
for countries where intensive economic development has been
taking place for years and for those who have just started
catching up for the past decades.
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This article was translated by mLingua Worldwide
Translations, Ltd. mLingua provides professional language
translations in all major Western and Asian languages,
software localization and web site translation services.
Please visit http://mlingua.pl
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