Marketing Web Products and Services

By Erik Johnson, World Bank Institute; with Heather Creech, International Institute for Sustainable Development
May 2001

Just as with any product or service, a Web site must be "marketed" if it is going to become well known. It cannot be assumed that, once your site is online, people will find it on their own. Search engines have become increasingly sophisticated at indexing and retrieving Web sites, but the number of Web sites has also increased exponentially. If your site does not appear within the first 50 links retrieved by a search engine, it is unlikely that users will find it. Therefore, additional efforts need to be made to ensure that people know your site exists and that they have a reason to visit it.

The following should be taken into consideration in marketing Web products:

• strategy development;
• financial resources; and
• staff resources.

Strategy development

The purpose of every Web marketing strategy is to increase "traffic" (i.e., the number of times people visit your site). Even though the broader goal of your Web site might be to build awareness of certain issues, this will not be accomplished unless people are enticed to visit your site.

Civil society organizations (CSOs) do not usually take the time to develop marketing plans for their organizations as a whole, much less their Web products and services. However, in order for marketing efforts to bear fruit, at least some planning is required. Even if you do not have the time to produce a full-fledged marketing plan, you should take time to devise some form of strategy, however modest.

Four elements in a marketing strategy:

1. Determine your audiences and your niche

• Keep the information needs of your user in mind: CSOs often focus on what information they want users to have (pushing information out), rather than on what users may be looking for (pulling users in).
• Look at what similar information is already available, and distinguish your product/site from the competition.
• Be specific in defining your audience: your audience may include your co-workers, board members, project partners, media practitioners and donors, as well as broader groups you seek to influence on a given issue.

2. Build brand identity and brand loyalty

• Establish a strong, distinct identity for your Web site, your products and services, using consistent design features, clear writing style and good navigation.
• Make sure your institutional logo and wordmark are consistent across all materials: letterhead, business cards, print products, electronic products.
• Register a domain name that is simple to remember. Take into account the name/acronym of the organization and whether you wish to include the geographic domain.
• Create online communities of people interested in your issues, as a means to encourage repeat visits to your Web site, and a means to further disseminate your knowledge.

3. Combine a variety of tools for publicity and promotion

• Web-based tools;
• e-mail tools; and
• off-line tools (i.e., print, CD-ROM, etc.).

4. Use Partnerships

• Private sector partnerships can provide you with:
  a. their own marketing services: both advice for developing marketing plans and access to their own marketing outlets (e.g., including your information in one of their mail-outs);
  b. financial resources; and/or
  c. in-kind resources (e.g., hosting of your Web site).
  
  
• Academic partnerships can provide you with:
  a. access to student and faculty audiences; and/or
  b. in-kind resources (e.g., hosting of your Web site, voluntary student help).
  
  
• Government partnerships can provide you with:
  a. financial and in-kind resources; and/or
  b. access to their marketing outlets.
  
  

Financial resources

Given the general preferences of most CSO donors to provide project funding rather than institutional support, it is difficult to access funding for general marketing activities.

• Marketing can and should be built into project budgets, as part of the means by which the project achieves its intended results.
• There are relatively inexpensive ways of marketing organizations and their Web products. The good news is that the Internet offers many cheap ways to market. That's not to say that all marketing is inexpensive. The private sector spends millions and millions of dollars a year to market on the Internet. So there is a wide range of possibilities to explore, depending upon your budget.

Staff

Issues index:

• Understanding the "Market" of our Web sites
• Brand Identity and Brand Loyalty
• Web-based Marketing
• E-Mail-based Marketing
• Off-line Marketing
• Exploring Strategic Partnerships for Marketing