Business-to-Business Internet Marketing, Fourth Edition - Lifecycle ...

240 BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS INTERNET MARKETING
sending an online application and getting a user ID and password. Obviously,
you could also become a paid advertiser.
In other communities, you may have to pay a membership or participation
fee, or you may have to contribute part of the revenue you
receive from the community, if you sell something through that community.
Some communities, such as virtual malls, may rent you virtual
space on a contractual basis. Still others may ask you to subscribe for a
certain period of time.
This should not deter you from exploring the business viability of
communities. Certainly, you can tell a lot about a community just by
the companies it attracts. Typically, name-brand companies will not
participate in a community that is not a legitimate operation. Following
is a suggested plan of action to help you evaluate communities for potential
business participation.
Find the Right Communities
There are so many kinds of communities that you must first do a broad
search to locate those communities that may have business or marketing
value for you. You can start with the communities mentioned in this
chapter, but there may be tens or even hundreds more that apply to
your particular needs. Go to several of the portals mentioned earlier
and use their search engines to help you locate appropriate communities.
Remember that communities are not always identifiable as such;
they could be portals, hubs, virtual malls, auction sites, or any site where
Internet users congregate regularly.
Narrow Your Options
Armed with this preliminary list of communities, begin to narrow your
options by critically evaluating each site. First classify the potential communities
into free versus paid sites. Then make sure you understand
whom the community serves. You want to be certain that the target
audience is appropriate for your product or service. Finally, determine
from the information on the site which companies are involved in the
community. You want to learn if your competitors participate. You also
want to know whether or not the buyers and sellers are from companies
that fit your company’s own profile or are the kinds of companies you