The Business Journal

Marketing encompasses advertising, branding, PR, sales brochures, labelling and packaging – all of which are intended to create potential customer interest, but then selling takes over. Selling involves person-to-person communication, either on the phone or face to face.

Now I do accept that some selling takes place on the internet, which is of course based on words and pictures. With regard to the internet, which is getting more and more sophisticated, not only does it require that you have
an excellent website that within three seconds of customers clicking on it must retain their interest, but it must also be very easy for customers to find what they are looking for.

The real sophistication comes in the marketing of the website and search engine optimisation (SEO), so that the site comes in high on the list selected by the search engines.

The whole process of winning business this way carries high risk, because the seller is dependent on customers finding the website. It also can be dangerous because this is a passive activity where the future is dependent on customers, and you could easily go broke waiting for the phone to ring or the order to arrive by e-mail.