Oops, Did I Say Internet Marketing? Joe Michaels Principal Century Technology Group When people ask you what you do for a living, what do you say? I’ll bet that four out of five times you use the words "Internet marketing" in your answer. And I'll bet what you really mean by this is, "I make money by getting more people to click on my clients' websites. Well, if that's what you say and mean, I've got some important news for you. You're probably leaving an enormous amount of money on the table. Sure, there's a business today for increasing impressions, click-throughs, visits, etc. But far bigger business is going to come from a new service that can't rightly be called “Internet marketing,” at least not in the traditional sense of the term. The new service I'm talking about is called "Customer Migration." Say What? So what is this Customer Migration thing and how does it differ from Internet Marketing? Simple. As I said before, Internet marketing primarily helps companies who need to increase the number of people who click to their website. Customer Migration helps most of the rest of the companies in America. To benefit from Customer Migration, a company need only fit two categories: 1) Company has offline customers 2) Company has built a website that adds any kind of value to these customers Consider, for example, your local bank. If the bank wants to think in Internet Marketing mode, it can build a marketing-brochure website that extols the benefits of opening an account with them and heartily encourages you and other web surfers to drive to the nearest branch and deposit some money. In this case, yes, the bank could benefit somewhat from good ol' fashioned Internet Marketing. However, if the bank is smart, it will think in Customer Migration mode. The bank will build an Internet banking solution for its current customer base. By getting its customers to use the Internet to do banking transactions, the bank will significantly reduce its expenses and save substantial cash over time. Cheaper and More Efficient But, where does the value of this Internet strategy really come from? It comes from the fact that customers actually use the Internet solution. It comes from the migration of customers from expensive, less efficient, brick-and-mortar solution A to cheaper, more efficient, Internet-based solution B. But will Internet Marketing motivate the bank's customers to use its Internet solution? You and I both know that all the sexy web banner ads in the world won't be enough to shift the bank's customer base to the web. Ditto for reciprocal links, search engine registration, opt-in direct e-mail, and most of the other stuff traditional Internet marketers use. A New Kind of Campaign To successfully get these customers to change their behavior and move to the web, someone needs to run a new kind of marketing campaign ­ complete with print ads, direct mail, posters, broadcast ads, e-mail, and, yes, some Internet Marketing. But make no mistake. This new kind of campaign starts with thoughtful e-business strategy. And it has a big, broad, critical mission. That mission is Customer Migration. What makes Customer Migration so remarkable is that it doesn't just apply to banks. It applies to all companies trying to use the Internet to better their business and their customers' lives. Plus, it doesn't just apply to websites. Kiosks, intranets, extranets, and other Internet applications require similar Customer Migration efforts. Lots of companies in lots of industries -- banks, package shipping companies, manufacturers, retail stores, and even supermarkets -- are already thinking in Customer Migration mode. Dozens of other vertical industries will be thinking this way very soon. Do you want to just increase click-throughs when most of America's companies need your help migrating customers? So the next time someone asks you what you do for a living, take an extra second to think about your answer. You may want to hold out for less marketing and more migration. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - http://www.clickz.com/archives/1110977.html - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -