Site Unseen?

As a distributor, you’re well aware of the need to market your product, and market yourself to make sure you stay visible to your customers. So why wouldn’t you use the same tactics to market your website once you have committed yourself to having one?

The urgency to get on the Web has subsided somewhat, but for many small businesses there is still a strong desire to explore and acquire new technologies, including making their way onto the Internet. Whether they have a site that is strictly a presence — with contact information and a company overview — or full-fledged e-commerce capabilities, distributors are moving toward going online to market and sell their products and themselves. But in order to use their website effectively and profitably, they first need to learn how to market the website itself. Though e-commerce transactions, more than likely, haven’t returned much of the initial investment, those who stick it out and put time and effort into their planning will someday be rewarded with a stronger customer base and increased sales.

Experts believe that marketing through websites offers a major advantage since distributors can present company and product information on demand. Sandi Kozsuch, director of audience development for WorldNow, a New York-based provider of Internet technology and consulting services, says the Internet offers immediacy, allowing customers to get in-depth information whenever they want.

“The Internet is about doing,” says Kozsuch. When customers want information they can get it very quickly as opposed to more traditional ways of customer service, he says.

Distributors Hard At Work
The distributors SM interviewed are all at similar stages of website development. There is an industry consensus regarding the need for expansion on the Internet, and distributors are busy and eager trying to put together a viable and cost-efficient Internet plan.

Peggy Droege, vice president and director of purchasing at Renard Paper, St. Louis, has an active e-business site. Currently she’s working with a local multi-media company — planning and proposing ways to raise the number of hits.

“Our focus is for our website to become more interactive,” says Droege. She explains that Renard Paper will implement suggested ideas for a three-month trial, then determine if there has been an increase on online shoppers visiting the site.

Marketing strategies include: “cross-linking” — getting your company’s name linked from another website that sells related product and that targets the same market; creating an active site that involves transactions; telephone; and publishing a newsletter for distribution to all top accounts and new customers.

Jim Christison, president of Danville Paper & Supply Inc., Danville, Ill., says his company is also in the process of updating marketing tools.

Christison says the company has its salespeople refer customers to its website. He says the importance of using any means available to increase product recognition shouldn’t be underestimated.

“Any additional tool is enabling you to put your product in front of people,” he says.

Name Recognition
According to Droege, Renard Paper prints its company’s e-mail address on all promotional material and newsletters. “We have a solid focus for growth and do everything we can [in an effort to] have people know who we are,” Droege says.

Christison has a similar philosophy. His company prints its name and URL on all promotional items: pens, pencils, mouse pads, etc. “We do simple things to get our name in front of existing customers,” explains Christison. Danville Paper also recently began adding its Web address to all statements, invoices and flyers.

Fred Kfoury Jr., president and CEO of Central Paper Products Co. Inc., Manchester, N.H., says he attached his company’s name to as many things as he can, including the side of his trucks.

Central Paper also uses radio advertising. “We’ll sponsor a non-profit commercial. For example, one for the United Way, and at the end of the commercial it will say, ‘brought to you by Central Paper’ and give our website,” says Kfoury.

Customers Know Best
Experts agree that the best way to market anything new, like a website or its features, is through its existing customer base, says Robert L. Segal, a partner of Frank Lynn & Associates, a Chicago-based marketing firm.

Your existing customer base is your most valuable resource when it comes to marketing any new product — in this case your website. After all, they’re the ones with the greatest need for it, and perhaps the ones that demanded it in the first place. Keep that in mind as you decide where you can most effectively invest your marketing dollar.

It’s also valuable to interview your end users to determine what they like, dislike and expect from your website. Not only will you get some useful information about value-adding features, but they’ll appreciate the proactive measures you’re taking in making your website a worthwhile tool for them to use.

“Talk to customers to know what they want and expect,” advises Dean Lubnick, vice president and director of new media services at Hampel/Stefanides Inc., a full-service advertising agency headquartered in New York.

“Objectives should be defined in order to fill [customers’] needs.” Lubnick says.

One such need is access to real-time accurate information on accounts. A website packed with information that’s useful to the customer will improve efficiency, and keep the customer coming back. For instance, if you are an account holder on Kfoury’s site, individual information about the user is online, and special programming allows users to review order history.

“We ask end users what they think, and if they don’t like something, we’ll change it,” says Michael Gosson, president of Parish Maintenance Supply, Syracuse, N.Y.

Expert Advice
Distributors can educate customers in a number of different ways about what their website offers. First, they must take stock of what level or stage the company’s website is at, Segal explains. There are five levels, the first two being the most inexpensive. They focus on giving product information and pictures and starting basic interaction between end user and distributor.

“Look at the distributor — not all are alike,” says Segal. “If the company is doing well, it should focus on moving to the next step,” he adds. Unfortunately, the latter levels are expensive, explains Segal, and only the very large distributors are working at the last phase.

The stage distributors are at in their website development determines the way — and to what extent — they expose and market themselves to potential users. For instance, if a distsributor recently invested in some costly technology, they would likely want to make a greater push to make sure that customers are taking advantage of that technology.

Reveal the Reasons
If a company hasn’t gotten a great response to its website, Segal says, it needs to explore the reasons. “Talk to the customers; ask what sites they are using and why those sites are useful. Ask what they would like to see, whether or not they have visited the site, and if not, why?”

E-business/commerce is all about changing, says Gosson. Distributors need to change their marketing plans and techniques accordingly.

“In order to succeed, you need to adapt to and embrace the change,” he says. “There is a time element involved as to when a person or company accepts change. The majority of small businesses are slower by design,” explains Gosson.

The best vehicles for promoting a website are through newsletters, marketing stationery and literature, and at trade shows, explains Segal.

Businesses should also register with as many major search engines as they can, Lubnick adds.

And according to Lubnick, knowledge is power.

“Know what’s going on with the Internet [in regards] to your specific industry,” continues Lubnick. “Work with industry portals to build traffic to your site.”

Segal says distributors should send newsletters — not junk mail — to existing customers to keep them informed, and also to partner up with other companies. “Another way to reach new customers is to create links with related websites,” adds Segal.

All agree updating a website’s information on a timely basis is important to keep it fresh, lively, and interesting to peruse. In turn, distributors have new information and changes to use in marketing materials.

“Updating web information is ongoing, everyday,” says Kfoury. “That’s one of the more tedious, but greatly needed, jobs.”

Eventually, Danville Paper would like to be updating its Web material on a weekly or daily basis, says Christison. Right now it’s about every other week.

Droege explains that with Renard Paper it depends on the program. It has a Web planner for customers that is updated daily, whereas the catalog is amended once a week.

Do the Right Thing
Once it becomes clear what your website’s purpose is, distributors can determine how to accomplish their goal and begin to get the site in front of their customers.

“If people do it right,” says Lubnick, “and build it organically, they [the customers] will come.”

Renard Paper is a family-owned company, and budgets are sometimes tight, so not a huge amount goes to technology. This means getting the most for its money.

Droege explains that not a lot of money is spent on flashy web design. “We don’t really like that,” she says. Instead Renard Paper focuses on the content included on its website; its catalog is linked to the site and the company is in the process of acquiring the capabilities to sell equipment over the site.

There are options for touting certain items or products on websites, though, many of which can be very effective at grabbing the user’s attention. Christison says that some banners are a useful function of his company’s website. “Banner ads draw attention to things that we think customers believe are important.”

The website’s content and approach should depend on what the company is trying to accomplish. For distributors, informative content is extremely important to users.

“Pretty pictures are not helpful, but providing useful information, like MSDS chemical sheets, is,” Segal says.

Another fairly inexpensive feature to provide your customers is linking a basic accounting system to the website, where the customer can see the products, place the order and check on the order, Segal says.

Once a company is doing well at its current level, it shouldn’t be afraid to acquire new capabilities to increase interaction between customer and company, Segal says.

The End-User Result
Distributors’ websites can become valuable marketing tools for product, but it’s important to make sure the site itself is marketed properly so that people use it. All the bells and whistles in the world won’t do any good if customers don’t know your website is there.

A website offers the opportunity to gain new customers, not to mention a convenient and cost-effective way to serve the ones you have. To be successful in its implementation, though, distributors need to find the time and capital to make sure your customers know about it, are happy with it, and use it to benefit their businesses.

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