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

34 BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS INTERNET MARKETING
What Is Its Content?
Internet content is diverse. Like print advertising and direct mail, the
content of the Internet is largely based on the written word. As with
printed media, the Web portion of the Internet can and does rely on
graphic images to support marketing messages.
What Is Its Form?
Unlike print and direct mail, the Web enables moving graphics and sound
to be conveyed to the suspect, prospect, or customer. In that respect, it is
more like radio or television, and like the telephone, the Web can enable
one-to-one, interactive communication with e-mail or, as technology
progresses, even with voice. Yet, unlike any direct response medium, the
Web can present the suspect, prospect, or customer with a virtually unlimited
amount of marketing information in multimedia format.
What Is Its Delivery Format?
Print advertising is delivered through magazines and newspapers. Direct
mail is delivered via the U.S. Postal Service or another delivery service.
Radio and television are delivered via airwaves through passive
listener or viewer devices. Telemarketing is delivered over telephone lines.
Only the Internet (at least until computers truly converge with televisions)
is delivered directly via a computer. This is the most intriguing
part of Internet direct marketing—and one of the primary differentiating
factors that sets this medium apart from any other.
Finally, unlike any other medium, the computer delivers Internetbased
Web content in an entirely new form: nonlinear information. All
other media are linear: They have a beginning, middle, and end. Direct
response print advertising has a headline at the beginning, body copy in
the middle, and a call to action at the end. A direct mail package is
typically organized in a very logical, linear fashion: The outside envelope
is first, followed by the letter, brochures and any inserts, and the
reply device with a call to action, and each individual element of the
package is linear, with a beginning, middle, and end.
Each element in a good direct mail package reinforces the offer and
call to action, so even if two different people read the package elements
in a different order, all of the elements relate and ultimately lead to the
call to action. This is true, by the way, of other direct mail formats as
well, such as self-mailing pieces and catalogs. Direct mail is logical,
linear, and integrated. Even telemarketing calls and direct response tele-