Spiegel & Associates - Chemical Sales

Today, more and more chemical buyers turn to the Internet to locate, qualify and order products and services on the Internet, also called the World Wide Web.

This emerging international marketplace for the chemical industry contains many companies alert to marketing opportunities. The reason: it provides prospects with 24-hour global access to sales and technical information. The potential is for the Internet to become "the telephone" of the future. It is certain that this technology is fast becoming an important source for information for the entire chemical industry.

The Internet offers small business unprecedented opportunity to compete with larger companies. Placing a Web site on the World Wide Web, (Internet) immediately provides a small chemical company with a platform to reach prospects and customers around-the-clock. Because the Web is a global network with connections in over 100 countries, it opens an international market for every company. Customers in Japan, or Great Britain, or Brazil, or Singapore can now discover what a small chemical business in Germany has to offer. So no longer are companies limited by geographic location or lack of branch offices. They can now have a presence online that reaches prospects around the world.

Closer to home, small businesses also benefit from the Internet by accessing their own vendors and suppliers online. They can also obtain information by screening competitor sites. Most companies find they get faster response time and better service when they use email to contact customer support desks. Substituting email over the Internet for more costly phone and fax communication will save money and project the image of a well-connected, technically advanced company. And the more the Internet grows the more valuable all these advantages become. Even if you think the Internet may not yet be ready for your products or services -- or that you might not be ready for the Internet -- you can't get involved too early in something as potentially rewarding as the Internet.

Ask yourself this question: should I invest my time, energy, money, and other resources in marketing my products or services over the Internet or should I work on something else?

Of course, there is no one right answer for every situation. However, consider the following. No one will advise you to stop marketing your products and services in ways that are presently successful for your company. By all means keep doing whatever works.

With a Web site on the World Wide Web, you are taking advantage of a sales channel that places your company in an accessible new communications environment. Any Internet marketing activities you begin should provide additional exposure and should complement your traditional marketing efforts (and vice versa).

The Internet is potentially the greatest advertising tool and time saver that our industry has ever seen. Where else can you advertise your company and get worldwide attention at a lower cost than any other communications tactic? This market is clearly too large and growing too fast to be ignored for long. Granted, most web sites remain simply brochures online. Yet even that has benefits because it saves the cost of mailing the brochure.

Some chemical companies are using the structure and tools of the World Wide Web today to aid their own internal communications and alleviate data access problems through a development called "Intranet." As the name implies, the Intranet is an intra-company communications system. Basically, any number of computers storing information and communications software, called "servers", are linked together in a confidential, company-only "web." This allows employees to access information throughout the company using conventional browser software. In many cases, an Intranet web closely mirrors the organizational structure of a company itself. Thus, servers offer general information such as corporate news, human relations information and electronic mail. They also provide opportunities for research groups and manufacturing to share information globally and speed cross-functional exchanges.

Should I Start Marketing on the Internet Today?

The number of people using the Internet is expected to soar to 200 million in 1999 from 38 million in 1994. In the coatings industry, about 25 % of the companies in the US and Western Europe have an Internet presence. By year 2000, it is projected that almost all coatings companies will be using it.

All the media talk about the World Wide Web promises opportunity for the future, but caution should be used because marketing on the Web is still very new. With that in mind, let us note that there are two general approaches to marketing on the Web. The first, and more likely for chemical companies, is to use the Web as a supplement to traditional marketing – just one more tactic in an overall communications strategy. This will give the company more exposure to potential customers and therefore, more sales. The second reason to develop a web site is to use the Web to generate profitable online business. In this discussion, we are limiting the focus to the first reason.

In its basic form, a Web site is one or more electronic pages that appear on a computer screen consisting of text and graphics. A Web site is customarily stored on a computer with a local Internet Service Provider, a company that charges a monthly subscription fee. The computer used by the "service provider" is called a server which is connected to the Internet. An Internet service provider, also called a "host" can add your electronic Web site files to the Internet. Since every Web site on the Internet needs an address, the typical web service provider will issue an address, called a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) for your Web site. Your address is customarily registered by your service provider for a nominal fee, that gives it a "domain name", with your company name, and adds ".com " if your firm is a commercial enterprise.

Set goals. Before you embark on any new marketing venture, set goals for it. Some businesses create Web sites to develop new business, or to put information online or to take requests for support. Design your site according to your goals. For instance, if your site is designed to provide technical support, make sure you have the personnel to fulfill this objective. Setting goals ensures your Web site development will complement your existing marketing efforts.

Evaluate other chemical company sites. Before you begin your own site, spend some time online, and see what other firms are doing. Use the industry links to the chemical industry (see list at end of this article) to find out how other firms in your market area of are now using the Web. It is interesting to see how their sites are designed and what they offer online. Take a look at these sites for ideas or inspiration. "Download" these pages to your PC and then print the pages of the sites that are attractive.

Locate an internet service provider. This is the most common means of accessing the Internet. Your "provider" usually employs a designer called a "Web master" who can help with many aspects of Web site development, including registering a specific URL domain name for your company, registering with search engine programs and more. If possible, look for a provider serving business customers selling technical products.

Find a good web consultant and design for your goals. Today, a web consultant who is knowledgeable in the chemical business can help a client communicate better with its prospects and customers. Work with an outline of the topics you want to include in the Web site before the consultant begins writing it. One of the key questions to examine is the extent and size of graphics treatment. Large, elaborate digitized graphics files take much longer to download, so there may be a delay of as much as a few minutes, depending on the speed of the user's modem and the complexity of the graphics. Consult your web site designer and your provider to determine your best course of action.

Build in a mechanism to track results. Although there are no solid demographic figures on web sites, it's possible to develop your own tracking mechanisms. For instance, by offering something of value to your audience, such as a newsletter or survey results, you may entice users to leave their email addresses or some other identification in exchange for the information. Sites should offer users an email icon, and your web provider should be able to provide a counter to determine the number of visitors viewing your site on a daily, weekly or monthly.

Change it. It's important to keep updating your site, offering new information, industry reports, a newsletter, or other options to encourage users to return. Some sites include monthly features or other time-sensitive materials that visitors will refer to regularly.

Establishing a presence on the World Wide Web is just the beginning, but it does not mean much if you are not prepared to spend time and money to promote the Web site to potential customers. Once your Web site is up and running, publicize and promote it.

In order to explore the Web your computer must be equipped with browser software which allows your PC to interpret the documents that exist on the Internet. Netscape and Internet Explorer are examples of browsers.

The Internet is becoming a valuable tool for the chemical industry. Many companies already have a dynamic presence on the Web. These corporations offer technical data, sales information order placement, and email capability for contacting the company online. Among the larger publicly traded companies you can see current investor information as well as business news. Chemical industry professionals can find information on chemical processes, environmental regulations, materials safety data sheets (MSDS) and equipment specifications.

You can use your browser to access individual Web sites or a wide variety of search engines. In starting the search process remember that search engines categorize information in a variety of ways. You may wish to use the biggest, most powerful search engines such as Yahoo, Infoseek, Lycos (www.yahoo.com; www.infoseek.com; www. lycos.com) to find industry-specific search engines, which will narrow your focus and help your search. Yahoo’s category for chemical processing information is www.yahoo.com/business and economy/companies/chemicals. Its chemical page offers a large variety of links to various chemical related sites, including current chemical industry news, raw materials suppliers, organizations and equipment. You can also use Yahoo to find a more specialized search resource like ChemConnect (www.chemconnect.com); which is a large directory of chemical and chemical industry suppliers. It is just one of many potentially useful directories. More are listed at the end of this article.

In addition to the focus of this article which are chemical companies, you can find related sources such as equipment suppliers, engineering firms, consultants, trade associations, professional societies, government regulatory agencies and universities also on the World Wide Web. Many of these sites offer business news, environmental issues, sources for competitive intelligence and library searches.

Conclusions

Your first step is to develop a Web site for placement on the Internet or World Wide Web. We recommend that you hire a web consultant with chemical industry experience to guide you through the development and launch of your Web site. The consultant can develop your site to include graphic treatment, table of contents page, technical literature, sales information about the company and a mechanism to transmit email. The online World Wide Web service provider should be screened by the web consultant for its capability in hosting your site.

Next, for your Web site to be effective, the site should be registeredwith the major search engines and listed with the Online Marketplace companies serving the chemical industry.

Prospects and customers will not visit your Web site unless they know it exists. Thus, the promotionof your Web site is vital to success. Press releases and use of the Web address on all advertising, literature and stationary are vitally important for increasing the awareness of your site.

Monitoring your Web site should be undertaken to determine its effectiveness. For example, a simple counter-tracking device to count visits can be installed with the help of your service provider. The use of a giveaway or a survey can be used to evaluate the presentation.

Maintenance, the last element in our five basic steps, is key to a successful Web site. Hire a service provider for your Web site who can maintain the content when it is to be revised with new technical data, or sales information. The host server should also be one who is investing in new technology.

Follow these guidelines and your company will enjoy a competitive edge in the emerging information age the Internet brings to the chemical industry.