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Painting a Picture I am a publisher on the Internet No different to a newspaper publisher which prints a newspaper carrying advertising and information for the reader or a radio station that broadcasts the advertisers' wares to the listening public. We all provide a means, a vehicle, whereby advertisers can communicate with customers. The Internet is a communications channel, an information provider that customers and businesses use. Quite simple really, some customers read newspapers, some listen to the radio; others search for information on the Internet. The Internet is not some strange thing out there; its need was recognized back in 1945 when the paper "As we may think" was published. There was no way they could build it then, they did not have the technological knowledge, we had to wait 25 years, then it was mainly used by scientists and academics to exchange information. (The Internet means "inter-connecting computers") Not until an English scientist working in Switzerland had a need to do more than send messages back and forth that the first web browser was developed. HTML (hypertext mark up language) was the key. All of a sudden you could link to other documents and pictures. Fast forward to 1995 and with the commercial release of Netscape, the Web was born. Just over ten years ago the world was changed for ever. Google, MSN, Yahoo, AOL, Ask Jeeves, the most popular engines, did not exist twelve years ago. Google the most widely used search engine in the world is only eight years old. Each share in Google is worth over UDS400. Such is the value of information and getting it to the right person. The marketing definition I like is "Get the right message in front of the right person in the right place at the right time and deliver the right experience. Information powers the Internet and borders no longer apply. The constraints placed on the consumer are falling away. The information is readily available on the Internet and the consumer determines what they access when they use their computer. It has been called the new game in town. Each person becomes a great power and every business has the opportunity to become a great power. On the Internet each is equal. Customers search and the business that can provide the right information will be the winner. In his book published in 1995 way before even he realized the power of the Web, Bill Gates talks about the Internet and its ability to deliver. But I venture to suggest that he was not thinking about search but rather thinking about the Internet as a pipeline whereby a business could deliver what they considered the customer wanted. In some ways this lead to the development of portals, large sites which were to become the entry point to the Web, a choke throat approach. We have the customer, sell space to the advertisers. Monetize. Then search arrived, the customer took control. They were no longer restricted to the portals and no longer did they have to wait for the newspaper to see the specials or promotions or listen to the radio for the latest news or make a time to watch TV. They could search for what they wanted and most importantly it permitted the businesses big and small to go on the Internet to meet the customers. Information became monetized not the space it occupied. So where is New Zealand in all this? How do we compare in the world with which we compare ourselves, after all everyone had the opportunity to start on the Web at the same time. The majority of New Zealand people embraced the Web, we have the second highest Internet usage per head of population in the world but where are the businesses. Early on, it looked like they were participating but these were what were called in marketing terms were the early adopters. Following these, again in marketing terms, was supposed to be the majority, but for New Zealand it did not happen there was no great majority of business following the early adopters. How do we compare after 10 years, not very well, possibly three years behind and the gap is increasing. Australia and China are ahead of New Zealand Why. Is it our political culture, the business culture? The causes are probably many and varied and the reasons could be debated for quite a while. Whatever the reasons, the fact remains, that right now, New Zealand businesses are not meeting the needs of the customer on the Internet. The reports of 2003 into the websites of the top 100 companies in New Zealand and the University of Otago School of Business survey results into small business did not paint a positive picture. It is now 2006 and nothing has changed, it would appear NZ traditional businesses still seem to think that a website is a DIY newspaper advertisement. They have no understanding of the media with which they deal. The world is moving on but New Zealand is not. This is the picture I paint. You may agree or disagree, that is your choice and I am willing to discuss. To advance in the 21st century New Zealand business will have to change its way of thinking, it is not longer acceptable to subscribe to the view, "that is the way we have always done it?" We have to change a culture and start using the Internet as an additional means to reach customers. Part of the change is to recognise that customers are in front of computers and local customers want to know what is available in their own town With local search you are reaching the community in which your live, local search means advertising to the local community via the Internet, placing services, employment, products and contact information where the customer goes and that means the Web. The customer needs information so they can walk through the retailer's, trades, and professionals door or pick up the phone and say I found you on the net. Take the step and put yourself at the forefront of the change that is to come. Make the local customer happy. Place Wanganui at the forefront on-line. 2006 Contact Us