Reaping the Harvest of the Web
The Six Keys to a Successful Internet Marketing Program
by Don Magary
Two and a half years ago when RV America On Line® was launched it was pioneering a relatively new medium with a limited number of RV industry companies participating. While the potential for the Internet has increased exponentially, the number of RV companies that have explored the Internet as a new way of marketing remains a relatively low percentage. RV News estimates that less than 20 percent of companies in the RV industry have web sites today. And considering the success of those companies that have web sites, that low number is quite remarkable.
Dan Holt, a founding partner of RV America On Line, said, "Hardly a day goes by without hearing Internet success stories from RV dealers, parts and service centers, and rental operators about their web sites."
Holt pointed out that RV dealers seem to be enjoying the greatest success followed closely by RV rental operators. For example, Alan Libove, president of Hitcharama RV in New Jersey, reported eight new RVs sold in March to customers who would not have known about Hitcharama had they not been on the Internet. In addition, Libove said that several International rental contracts were written for his RV rentals business.
While all dealers with web sites are not enjoying equal success, there appears to be common factors in successful sites. Holt said, "First and foremost, there is a direct correlation between how actively top ma
nagement gets involved with the site and the web site's success. That doesn't mean that people in lower levels of management are less committed to making the Internet work for their companies; it's more that unless the owners or presidents of the companies take their Internet presence seriously, then the sales manager and sales people aren't likely to take it seriously either."
And unless the sales team takes the web site seriously and looks on it as another method of generating leads and eventually sales, then the whole effort of having a web site is lost.
Working with a lead that comes in from the Internet is certainly different than a lead that contacts the dealership by phone or simply drops in to see the new RVs. That Internet lead more than likely contacted the dealership by e-mail. In more cases than not, the e-mail address is all the sales team has to go on -- no address, zip code or other identifying criteria to let the sales person know where the person lives. This contact has to be taken seriously. The intimacy and immediacy of e-mail starts creating a relationship in the consumers mind the minute he or she clicks on the "send" button. In order to handle this prospect properly, the sales person needs to be adept at responding via e-mail. In the prospect's mind he expects that someone from the dealership will respond to his inquiry within a reasonable amount of time. It's best if the response can be sent back the same day. The next day is fine too; however, if he doesn't receive a response in a day or two, he's making judgements about your dealership and importance the sales people places on him as a potential customer.
So an inattentive sales staff not only may foster a bad impression of the dealership as a whole, they might be sending a potential sale down the road to a competitor. In order to avoid this, the top management at the dealership has to place importance on the company's Internet presence. That could mean investing in training progarams for the sales staff, inviting them in to see the company's Internet site and ask for ideas on how to make this marketing medium more effective. Involvement with the web site will help the sales staff to buy into making the Internet work.
The second common factor in successful web sites is how the different companies view the Internet. Companies that have a vision for the Internet's potential are reaping the rewards while those who haven't figured out that this is a completely different marketing medium will be floundering in their woes. It boils down to the difference between dynamic and static marketing. An example of static marketing would be a display ad in the telephone company's YellowPages. You have one chance a year to revise, update and create your message. Those companies that view their Internet sites as no more than another "yellow pages" ad only in a different medium are those most likely to abandon their web sites citing that it's a waste of time and money.
A dealer's consumer show presence would be a good example of dynamic marketing. Not only is there interaction on a personal level between the potential customer and the sales team, the product and it's presentation is likely to change from one week to the next. In this dynamic atmosphere the dealer has the ability to start building relationships with everyone who walks by.
However, those companies that know that the Internet is a dynamic medium, constantly evolving and changing, are the ones that are having success today and will continue to have success in the future.
According to Holt, the third factor for a successful web site is visibility. How do people find it. Holt said, "Once a company has it's web site on line, the real challenge then becomes building traffic to the site. Just like building lot traffic at the dealership, building traffic for a web site is also an on-going challenge and may be the most complex of all the issues facing companies that want a successful web site."
Unlike the Field of Dreams, if you build it that doesn't necessarily mean that "they will come."
"No," Holt continued, "the site must be promoted and it all starts at the company. When we first launched RV America On Line, we noticed that one dealer, Stalkups RV Superstore (www.stalkupsrv.com) in Wyo-ming, was getting an unusually high number of visitors compared to similar sites -- more than double the nearest competitor. Upon investigation we discovered that Stalkups traditionally ran a lot of classified ads in many regional newspapers
and each of these ads carried the Stalkups web site address as well as its e-mail address.
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