The Internet as a Business Strategy

1
The Internet as a Business Strategy

• Kirk Shorte
• Marketing Director
• Jacks Diving Locker

2
What is Strategy?

• "Strategy is the direction and scope of an
  organization over the long-term which achieves
  advantage for the organization through its
  configuration of resources within a challenging
  environment, to meet the needs of markets and to
  fulfill stakeholder expectations".
• Tutor2u.net

3
Big meetings

• Strategy at Different Levels of a Business
• Corporate Strategy
• Business Unit Strategy
• Operational Strategy
• Strategic Analysis
• PEST Analysis - Political Economic, Social,
  Technological
• Market Segmentation
• Directional Policy Matrix
• Competitor Analysis
• Critical Success Factor Analysis
• SWOT Analysis

4
The Basics

• First and foremost businesses need to have a firm
  grasp on the basics
• Product/Service (why are you in business in the
  first place)
• Price (be competitive)
• Placement/Distribution/Delivery/Storefront/Boat/Pl
  ane
• Promotion/ads/Sales reps/Downloads/Website.
• Having a well designed website can help your
  business stand out from the crowd
• Easy navigation
• Relevant content
• Clear messaging

5
The Internet

• The late 90s the Internet was the talk of the
  town
• The Internet was the ultimate Faberge moment -
  you tell 2 friends and they tell 2 friends and
  so on.
• By the early 2000s the Internet was the scurge
  of the market
• Now days, the Internet (web 2.0) is once again
  all the rage

6
Tech and Venues

• Windows XP, Vista, Mac OSX, Linux, UNIX
• Database driven, Plain text, Streaming
  audio/video, High quality graphics, Animation,
  SEO, PPC, Adwords, Keywords, Meta tags.
• HTML, XML, XHTML, JAVA, FLASH, QUICKTIME
• Symbian, Java ME, Android, iPhone, Python, Palm
  OS, Pocket PC, etc..
• Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Plaxo, Linkedin,
  Ning, YouTube, Constant Contact, e-Interchange,
  Scuba Board.

7
Tech Venues (cont.)

• According to a Nielsen Study Social Networks like
  Facebook and Linkedin are more popular than email
  on the Internet
• The study also found that world-wide 2/3 of all
  Internet users have visited SN or Blogging sites
  accounting for 10 of all Internet time.
• Facebook saw a 168 increase in users while
  Linkedin saw an increase of 137
• The biggest growth spurt for Facebook is the age
  range from 35-49 years old. Approx 11.3 million

Pacific Business News 3/9/09
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Not just for the young
9
www.jacksdivinglocker.com
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What weve done

• Weve had a website for about 12 years
• It seemed like a no risk way to improve our
  business
• We started using bulk email as a communications
  tool about 4 years ago
• We have sent out over 109,000 impressions
• Weve posted video on YouTube and have slides on
  Photobucket
• We have improved our SEO scores
• Google Analytics tells us
• 57 of visitors to our site found us through
  search engines
• 24 of visitors to our site found us through
  referring sites
• 17 of visitors to our site came to us directly,
  probably from direct emails or from trade mag ads.

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What weve done (cont.)

• Bulk email has helped us get the word out
• Sales Events (Ocean Fair, Anniversary, Holiday)
• New charters (Pelagic Magic)
• Business announcements (new boat, awards, new
  dive club)
• Kids camps
• Weve used Social networking sites to connect our
  customers to each other and as a way to
  communicate off-the-record kine stuff
• Weve had a Myspace page for about a year
• We have 64 contacts
• Weve had a Facebook page for about 6 months
• We have 380 contacts

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How do we spell Success?

• Divers do a lot of research before they hit the
  shores so having a website is key to both attract
  and to capture new customers
• A high percentage of our business comes from
  repeat customers
• From the new business, approx 85 comes from
  people who have visited our website

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In conclusion

• Before you decide to go out and have a fancy
  website built make sure that it fits into your
  overall marketing/community/ communications
  strategy
• When it comes to the Internet there are billions
  of ways to waste your time
• Dont over reach - You dont have to have a Blog
  site, FB page, corporate website etc
• Be prepared to monitor your Internet properties
• You still need to keep the content fresh and
  relevant to maintain your lead over the
  competition.