Internet e-Commerce is becoming increasingly important, and if you are not online with a great store that’s optimized to be found, you are missing sales!   Web Stores are a great way to reach a broad audience and they are gaining greater acceptance among shoppers.  A well-thought-out Storefront on the Internet that is optimized to be found in search engines, and which features your merchandise in a professional, user friendly format is incredibly valuable to reach a greater geographic area, and improve market share.

If you’ve considered e-Commerce,  this recently published statistic will open your eyes to the opportunity: more than half of US Consumers plan to to their holiday shopping ONLINE in 2009.  Over one fourth say they will purchase more gifts over the Internet than they did last year.

The results of the “2009 Mindset of a Multi-Channel Shopper” survey show an increasing trend as consumers elect to do more shopping on-line than ever before.  Last year was the first year that the web surpassed “Brick and Mortar” stores as the preferred way for multi-channel shoppers to purchase holiday gifts, the e-tailing group reported.

Social Media gains in importance as a tool to drive traffic to your eCom site; it was cited as influencing the purchase for 37% of the audience, compared to 24 % last year.

Concerned that creating an e-Commerce site is expensive? Almost 90% of online shoppers are willing to pay full price for hard-to-find items

85% cite convenience as their primary reason for turning to Internet e-Commerce

Wish lists are becoming increasingly important

Top product categories purchased online are books, clothing, music, toys, consumer electronics and gift certificates

Free shipping is highlighted as a compelling offer – the number one reason consumers elected not to make an online purchase was cited as high shipping charges, by 62% of the respondents.

Out of stock?   Seven out of ten loyal shoppers will go to your competition if you don’t have the item.

Offering pick up at the store location is important with 60% of the shoppers.

Mobile phones for price checks, stock checks and promotion redemptions is important to 33% of your shopping audience.

About the survey:  The research included a poll of more than 1,000 consumers about their shopping habits and plans for the upcoming holiday season.

To visit two of our most recently launched e-Commerce stores, visit:

www.pubshops.org

www.aftercareplanning.com

The first week in October, after several months of development, WWWC launched a SharePoint Intranet for Beneficial Bank.

Beneficial Bank is a full service bank that has been serving the Delaware Valley community since 1853. Headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, the company has 70 neighborhood branches and provides a modern work environment for over 1,000 employees.

Beneficial previously had an Intranet, but it was primarily made up of static HTML files. Every time Beneficial wanted to add or edit content it required the department managers to write tedious HTML code, which took a great deal of time. Consequently, the Intranet was not being kept up to date.

Another downside of Beneficial’s Intranet was that its look and feel had not kept pace with the bank’s branding so it looked out of synch with the public website and the bank’s marketing materials.

Beneficial Bank’s senior management decided to use Microsoft’s SharePoint server for the new Intranet. As SharePoint experts, we were chosen to customize the Intranet to meet the bank’s needs. Beneficial had learned about WWWC from management who had previously worked at Commerce Bank, whose entire Intranet, used by the bank’s thousands of employees on a daily basis, was developed by WWWC.

WWWC first set up the SharePoint portal server. Taking advantage of SharePoint’s built-in security, content management, and document management features, WWWC was able to establish sites specific to each department. This allowed department managers to maintain their own Intranet content without the need to know HTML or other programming technologies.

Beneficial’s new Intranet looks nothing like a traditional SharePoint website. With workflow, departments, and permissions in mind, WWWC started with a planning stage before the software was installed and followed the process all the way through configuration. By writing actual tutorial documents with screen captures, WWWC showed Beneficial Bank how it could configure departments by using the software. WWWC also set up a branded interface, which required the bypassing of the pre-made templates offered by SharePoint.

Some of the benefits Beneficial is now realizing with its new Intranet include:

• Customized and optimized employee-centric software for the company’s needs
• Improved standard template layouts and user-friendly, branded interface
• Accessible tutorial documents on configuration for bank employees for easy updating
• Improved and streamlined department collaboration for increased productivity

Ever since Google launched its AdWords program, businesses all over the world have used it to generate motivated leads through efficient and automatic ad campaigns. Now Salesforce has joined with Google to create a specialized program that uses Google’s existing AdWords model to maximize and streamline marketing for your company.

Salesforce makes it easy to set up new AdWord campaigns right from your Salesforce account. Salesforce also makes it easy to link your existing AdWords account to your new CRM program. This integration gives you even greater control over managing your ad campaigns and maximizing your leads.

While Google makes it easy to review each AdWord campaign and determine the most efficient use of your advertising budget, Salesforce gives you targeted feedback relative to your marketing campaign. With Salesforce, you can see the exact leads generated through each Google AdWord campaign, providing you with a thorough view of your marketing plan from the click point on a website to active clients.

Salesforce also gives you a comprehensive look at organic lead generation through integrated lead tracking software. Where Google AdWords helps you better organize your marketing campaign, the organic lead tracking programs help you visualize how individual clients found your site via search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Not only does this help you determine your company’s exposure online, you can use it to improve existing pages on your website to attract even more organic search hits.

The revenue tracking programs in Salesforce also help you determine the return on investment (ROI) for your marketing plan through Google. Salesforce gives you a complete overview of what’s working and what needs to be changed. Since the Google programs are incorporated into the Salesforce marketing model, all of your revenue statistics are recorded in real time, giving you even greater control over small and large changes for the immediate future. The Salesforce model also lets you fully customize your dashboards to track the success of your marketing strategy.

By integrating Google resources into the Salesforce package, Salesforce has created a streamlined process to help any business maximize the potential of profitable internet resources. This unique combination of programs improves communication with associates and customers, streamlines collaborations within your business, and provides immediate targeted feedback from online marketing campaigns. With Google applications, Salesforce raises the standards of business development and provides any company with the tools they need to build a successful future online.

Google Docs provides users with an easy way to share documents and files safely online. This remarkable program also eliminates the hassle of attaching and downloading files and gives everyone the ability to read and make changes. Salesforce gives you direct access to Google Docs through an easy tab browser.

Salesforce also lets you link these doc files to existing records or other Salesforce files, giving you greater ability to organize and crosslink clients and information. This integration also gives you the ability to search for Google Docs within the system and even helps you create quotes and proposals that you can post to Google Docs for use in collaboration with partners and associates. You can also use spreadsheets with this software feature, giving you even more flexibility for sharing information.

Google Calendar makes it easy to plan and organize important events and deadlines, and Salesforce helps you synchronize and exchange all your calendars through one convenient system. Simply update an event in Salesforce and set it to synchronize with a Google Calendar to share the events with others. You can also create timelines and deadlines for projects to help you visualize your workload.

Salesforce also allows you to customize your Google Start Page by displaying important dashboard components right when you open your browser. This feature gives you a fast, overall view of your Salesforce progress, deadlines, or task lists without having to open Salesforce separately.

Next article will discuss Salesforce and Google Adwords.

The world has changed.  From the perspective of a marketing geek, it’s amazing to me how much technology has impacted the way we reach our audiences.  The days of traditional marketing are gone and the days of social media and tracking brand identity are here.

No longer is it safe to put your advertising for the product on television, radio, newspaper, magazine… then sit back and wait to “monitor” the results in sales.  No longer can we identify our demographic in broad strokes, such as femailes 18 to 35.  There is just too much information available to and from our customers for advertising agencies, publicists and marketers to take that dangerous approach.

If we are not monitoring our brand – what’s being posted or said about us on the Internet, we run the risk of negating any paid advertising that we do.  In fact, the example of Pizza Hut, where a couple of employees created a video that disrupted our concept of the brand, brings to light the accessibility and availabilty ‘new media’.

So, what’s a marketer to do? 

 First – be aware of channels where the brand can be mentioned, either positively or negatively.   In the case of Comcast. there is a team involved to monitor customer complaints, and take quick action to respond to them.  Other companies are jumping on that bandwagon.  Can you afford not to?

Second – take advantage of new media opportunities.  Are you on Twitter?  Do you have a business page on Facebook?Are you writing articles about the company? Does the company have a blog?

Third – Join communities and monitor the conversations.  Join in the conversations. Humanize the company. 

The days of faceless giant corporations are coming to a close – those are the dinosaurs that face extinction; much like taking the corporate jet and asking for taxpayer dollars.  Today the customers are vocal and they want to be heard. They want to interract, and they want their opinion to count. 

Can you afford not to listen?