What is the relationship between Marketing and Web designing? How can a better understanding of marketing help the web designer manage his Business more profitably?
What is marketing?
The American Marketing Association defines marketing as "the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals". On the other hand, The Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK defines marketing as "the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customers' requirements profitably". Note the occurrence of Customer Satisfaction in both definitions and the underlining concern for Profitability in the second definition. In other words, a Businessman needs to identify the needs of a consumer and explore ways of satisfying these needs in order to make a profit.
The Webmaster therefore needs to understand his client's customers. Does the client sell to various segments of customers (e.g students, retirees, young upwardly mobile professionals, etc?) or only one homogenous market such as any one of these segments? What are the lifestyles of such customers? What do they like to do in their pastime? How do they relax? Where do they live? What are their aspirations? If, for instance, the client's customers are tertiary school students, are they interested in sports? Would it be right to create a page on the client's website for snippets of information on the lifestyles of sports personalities around the world, even though the website markets an interactive software to help students write term papers and long essays? Or take upwardly mobile professionals, as another example. How about including a page (on the website of an insurance company selling policies targeted at this segment), which contains links to write-ups explaining several possibilities of personal finance and wealth creation opportunities? Will such "side attractions" ensure repeat visits to the website?
Once a Webmaster knows his client's customer, he can anticipate the customer's wants, appeal to the right emotions and show that customer how the client's product or service will benefit the customer.
The discerning Webmaster must also try to understand the industry within which his client operates, his client's competitors and what these competitors offer in comparison to what the client offers. If any of the competitors has a website, how customer friendly is the website? Does navigation within the site make it easy for the competitor's customers to make orders? Can the customer have his most cogent questions answered right there on the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page without having to go through the pains of writing a mail? Can the Webmaster then create a website for his client, that will outsell the competitor's site in these areas?
While the client sometimes provides a brief explaining the kind of
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