The internet

Marketing on the web uses all the familiar aspects of usual marketing. The web is only different in that reaches millions of people worldwide so finding your target market may prove a little more difficult.

There are currently over 100 million websites worldwide, increasing all the time, and in Britain there are (June 1999) over 12 million on the Internet, 60% of whom are online from their own homes. In 2000 a survey conducted said that those who had been using the web for a while surfed LESS and LESS.

The hugeness of the web means that you are unlikely as a charity to make a massive impact on the web unless you are one of the larger better-known charities. Simply being on the web and on some of the larger search engines will NOT suddenly mean that 12 million people are going to be e-mailing you. Current Internet growth is in the area of selling products (government announced in August 1999 that commerce on the internet had increased by 44%).

However for the small charity, the internet does provide a cheap tool for communication and therefore an incredible tool for creating the one to one relationship with your clients which will ultimately help your organisation to create better strategies all round and to focus on particular areas of fundraising that work.

Charities that will benefit from online donations etc. are those, which offer information (e.g. cancer charities, health charities, etc).

YOU NEED TO GO ABOUT USING THE WEB JUST LIKE YOU WOULD USE ANY OTHER TOOLS OF COMMUNICATION (e.g. direct mail, telephone fundraising etc).
Brainstorm with your colleagues and a group of donors who are online to see what potential there is.

Beginning to use the web

When beginning your Web Strategy the first place to start is with e-mail and your current 'clientele'. You need to find out in subtle ways:-

Which of your clientele are online - from work? From home? This will give you an idea as to how large your target market online is.

What do you know about your clientele - what are their hobbies, how old are they, what kinds of income bracket are they in? Once you have their e-mail you may consider asking them there opinion on certain things like, fundraising, the internet, perhaps if their own companies run charitable giving, perhaps they are advertising gurus etc.

What is their expertise? Would they be interested in helping you if they can, not just to stuff envelopes (which generally leaves volunteers bored and unfulfilled), but are they experienced in any particular area e.g. accounting, budgeting, sales, training, computers etc, where they would consider donating some time.

Would your on-line supporters be willing to comment on your current literature, your website, etc. E-mail offers you a very cheap way to get comments back very quickly and may save you time and money on the stuff you are sending out. Of course giving people the chance to comment means that they often think they are being given a chance to voice their grievances, but take this with a pinch of salt and extract what is useful to you to moving forward.

Use e-mail to create that one to one relationship with your clients for very little to no cost.

Where to find your target market

Newsgroups.

These are networks of discussion groups pertaining to any and every subject. You can start discussions on newsgroups by posting messages to the newsgroup. As there are newsgroups for every subject and sub-subject, you can find people with common interests by visiting the newsgroup most likely to be of interest to potential clientele. However note that commercial postings are not considered correct use of the newsgroup.

Check out www.dejanews.com. This will tell you what newsgroups are discussing what and if you have a relevant question or query you could then post that question to the relevant newsgroup.

Mailing Lists

Joining a mailing list means that you are going to receive the e-mails directly sent to you from those on the list. Again there are mailing lists of every subject. Again this is a way to ask questions and send queries.

Advertising on the internet

Firstly you must advertise your website on the Internet. You do this through 'Search Engines'. All you have to do is go to the major search engines and submit your website. Here are the largest search engines:-

www.altavista.digital.com

www.excite.com

www.infoseek.com

www.lycos.com

www.search.com

www.yahoo.com

www.yell.co.uk

To check that your website has been registered you can check it at www.did-it.com

Remember you not only can submit your website but individual pages too.

Final note

People who have computers at home get bogged down with e-mails, mailing lists and newsgroup information. If you are going to contact clients in this way, keep it simple, keep it to the point and keep it friendly.