Distributors should also think about how to use customer service to differentiate themselves from competitors. Responding to customer questions posed online provides marketers with real-time marketing research. Responsive marketers can utilize this information to offer Web sites that provide the desired information and to develop service levels that best meet the needs of customers. Develop an online brand Web sites allow marketers the opportunity to build a brand online. Building an online brand doesn't mean inventing a new brand.
Web sites provide marketers with another tool to reinforce their image and identity.
Although company Web sites are common today, their rate of success varies. Successful Web sites tend to be part of an integrated marketing communication program. Successful companies use traditional media and marketing tactics such as direct mail, print advertising and trade shows to drive more prospects to their Web sites. Some companies pass out CD-ROMs shaped liked business cards to demonstrate the company's Internet capabilities and hyperlink the customer to the company's Web site. You can't assume that if you build a Web site, people will come to it.