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The Emerging Enterprise - Exploiting The Web
Exploiting The Web
Even the big boys are snoozing on using the web to keep customers.
By Dayna Haberle-Delmonico
I'm a firm believer in the adage "Those that snooze, lose!" If everybody's not snoozing about the web, then they're barely awake.
The popular press isn't doing anyone any favors when it comes to the Internet. I really get annoyed every time I read that the "dot-Com" mess has destroyed the web. It's the same way I feel when environmentalists say "we're killing the planet!" Let's get two things straightýwe're killing ourselves, NOT the planetýand the web isn't going anywhere, thank you very much!
The media is so bogged down reporting new IPOs, the government's investigation of venture capitalists, or the latest virus threat, that the message about the long term business potential of the web is covered with the proverbial 'spilled ink'. Yes, you can sell products and services via the web, you can gain new customers, it's your major marketing tool, but most companies (including big ones) only have a web site to keep up with the Joneses.
Most organizations don't have a clue what to do with their web site, or the real business potential of this new medium. The companies that have caught on are exploiting the web to the max, not only to gain new customers but to keep their existing customer base.
The web, on the whole, is currently little more than a collection of marketing brochures in electronic format. There's nothing wrong with that; however, the missing message in this medium is "keep them coming back" and new product announcements just won't do that for most businesses. Banks figured that out a while ago with little interactive applications that let you perform online calculations for your loan payments for cars, mortgages, home equity, or personal loans. Believe it or not, your company has that kind of content, too. You probably just don't know it.
NBC10.com (the Philadelphia NBC affiliate) has done one of the best jobs I've seen in merging their news content and the web. Granted, they're in the media business, with a multi-billion dollar parent, and, let's not forget, the "MS" in MSNBC stands for Microsoft. Even so, NBC10 has gone from a traditional TV web site into a site offering a multitude of information of value to users, not only with their own content but by partnering with other organizations. They've kept me and many others as consistent viewers and site usersýprecisely what they were aiming for. How did they accomplish this? Weather.
EarthWatch and Doppler 10,000 came first. While waiting for their better weather forecast (the only reason I watched NBC10 at the time), I saw a medical report on a new procedure for people suffering from compression fractures of the spine. Two or three months later my mother was diagnosed with one and in horrible pain. The NBC10.com story was still online (many news sites dump articles older than thirty days); this enabled my mother to tell her doctor the name of the procedureýa month later she was pain-free. That's the simple web at its best: finding something when you need it. NBC10.com has continued to go the extra mile and continued to bring us back and back again.
Their newest web user value-add is "My-Cast" from DigitalCyclone, the organization that brought the world EarthWatch. It provides local weather for any zip code in the lower 48 states.
Yesterday I received an email about a freeze alert for my parents' home in Pennsylvania (one of my zip code choices). Today I logged in to find out that the weather on the New Jersey coast this weekend will be good for boating, outdoor activities and fireworks, except for Sunday night. This makes it easy for me to plan my family's weekend activities, and what to pack.
The core of this weather information already existed from numerous sources. All it took was the brain to realize it and someone to add a user interface. We're definitely the better for it. It doesn't happen often, but this interactive web feature really made us sit up and take noticeýnot an easy feat with six technology editors.
The flip side of web content can be told using a billion dollar industry, with unbelievable demographics through 2015, apparently waiting for the world to beat a path to its door.
Two years ago we bought an RV Park Model. No, we can't drive it, thus the 'Park' part, but we do have a license plate for the 12'x 35' monster, just in case someday we want to move it. We love this place. It's the beach house we thought we'd never be able to have primarily because small beach "cottages" (aka 'shacks') in New Jersey run $200,000 and up. Our park model has a full bath, kitchen, living room, master bedroom, 2 lofts, heat, air conditioning, and more.
We found out about these little gems by accident, as did most of our neighbors. You place them in camping resorts on seasonal sites or land you own. Technically this is considered campingýbut from a suite at the Plaza compared to a tent.
Early on I tried to find the manufacturer's web site. They sure aren't submitting their site to search engines, nor are any of the other RV manufacturers apparently. When I finally found the site, there was very little information on Park models, with few interior pictures, and even fewer exterior ones. Well, guess what...the web site is exactly the same two years later. Worse yet, the whole industry appears to be that way. It's still virtually impossible to find manufacturers of RV Park Models on the first or second page of any major search engine. You can find resellers, but not that many of them, either.
Search on "vacation homes" and you won't find RV Park Models at all. Looks like a lot more baby-boomers with disposable income, who have been dreaming about vacation homes for twenty or more years, will have to find out about these by accidentýjust like our neighbors and usýfor a little while longer.
Will they keep me as a customer? Probably, but for other reasons (my cousin is a reseller). Suppose, however, I didn't have a family connection. We're happy customers with lots of friends and a large family. We'd love to have one of these on a mountain lake (yes, they're that affordable). Just try finding information on campgrounds that accept Park models within an hour or two of driving time from your home. The resellers know all this information. My manufacturer and the RV industry sure could help. If there ever was an industry screaming for a portalýwith info from manufacturers, RV magazines, sellers and customersýthis is it!
Okay, there is a lot more to customer retention than simply adding content to a web site, but missing the boat on relatively simple, do-it-from-your-desk-with-what-you've-got and a little creative thinking, sure can't hurt.
Dayna Haberle-Delmonico is Managing Editor of TechWeb Small Biz.
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