Web Business Plans
Before you build a house, you start with a plan. Like a house plan, a plan for the Web involves many considerations.
1. Consider your objectives for the Web
There are at 4 major objectives:
- Advertise
- Market your brands, products and services using the Web as an online marketing tool
- Share information with partner organisations
- Take and place orders online
2. Decide marketing activities that are suited to the Web
Never make the mistake of separating Web marketing from your other marketing activities.
For example did you know that you can increase customer satisfaction more through using the Web than by using a support line? And it is now becoming technically feasible to integrate both.
3. How you will communicate with business partners?
Putting shared information online is leading to e-Business trading groups.
4. Create and test a Web Business Plan
4.1 Analyse your competition.
Look at what they are doing on the Web. If they are not using it, can you beat them to it? Can you learn from what they are doing and do it better?
4.2 Create an organizational needs assessment
Doing a business needs assessment can help clarify which Web tools and resources to use, and which to emphasise. What are your particular business's needs?
4.3 Create the business plan
Using the results of the needs assessment, you can then turn to creating a plan for a Web presence for your organization. The first activity is to examine your company mission, goals and objectives, and growth strategy. What are your underlying business philosophy, and your major business and marketing goals? What is your current position in the market? Are you seeking to expand your market? Are you planning to decrease your time to market? Do you want to create a system on the Web for taking and placing orders? Do you want to decrease support costs? Pre-qualify potential customers?
Determine where the Web will bring business benefits for you. Develop clear requirements. Discuss it with your partners. Consider pilot sites. Do not presume that your partners will use the new technology just because it is there.
4.4 Carry out the business plan
Create phases with well-defined results. Do pilot tests. Start slowly and build upon your successes.
4.5 Evaluate the plan, assessing success and evaluating your position.
Once your plan is under way, you should evaluate its progress, checking on its effectiveness and profitability. Do not try to do a "bottom line" assessment too soon. Like all business strategies, Web plans need to be fine tuned and to mature. Also others on the Web take time to become aware of your presence.
5. Implement continual improvement
Finally, consider what improvements you need to make. Track your results, review your effectiveness, and run again through your plan.
Call us now for a Web Road-map briefing or a Web business plan to help you. Contact us or look at our other services.