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[This article first appeared in MARKETING MIX, Vol 23 Issue No. 2 March 2005. Pg. 38. It appears here in its original, un-edited form]
Post-boom-pop we are still waiting for the promised land of broadband and the convergence of media in digital spaces. When that happens, we hope, all our dreams of the Internet's potential will come true: we'll have speed, mixed media and all the users for it to be a mass media tool on the level of TV, radio or print.
But we always seem to be waiting with the Internet. It's been over three years since the dot.com crash. Will we ever see that promised land? Or is there something less obvious that we're missing, a space of potential that already exists.
Although there are instances of money making directly through the online channel our understanding of the benefits of it have broadened. We know that it can extend Brand awareness through online advertising and just having a website (but nothing on the level of say, television). And we understand it's potential as a one-to-one relationship channel between customer and company and customer-to-customer-to-company in community based spaces.
But if, in one form or another, the other channels are actually doing the same jobs just better then where does meaning lie in the online channel?
It lies in the meaning it holds for our customers.
Researching and identifying what customer's needs are and answering them through the provision of information and functionality available over the Web is where value lies. A website must be designed around its customer's needs, the thoughts and questions on their minds and most of all it needs to be an enabler through information. That's where its meaning lies.
Truly placing customers at the centre of our thinking and in the way we conceive of our projects will inevitably bring returns to companies and Brands because the customer will find meaning there.
Unlike our other media channels, the Web is passive, un-invasive. Customers are not going to visit a website unless they believe that their needs are going to be addressed there. And they certainly wont return if their needs haven't been answered.
If we build inventively within the limitations of our context and around our customer's needs, then we'll create trust. You don't need bandwidth to create trust.When trust is created in the online channel it will become top of mind, it will change behaviour and drive customers online more often because that trust will have been established. A captive audience that arrives at a website of their own free will is surely the promised land we're looking for.
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