Rules of the road when taking your business for a spin on the infobahn

Digital Rule #1: Planning is stupid
We're all learning here. When the digital generation has the majority of disposable income in their clutches, our learning curve will flatten, but until then every foray online has something to teach us. Having a grand plan with a five-year goal says, "I know what I'm doing and where I'm going". Oh really? And what have you done about Bluetooth or the NNBT (next new big thing)? You don't have a clue - the best you can do is muddle along, planning a few weeks ahead.

Digital Rule #2: The same motive does not mean the same behaviour in all situations

When you buy a book, you are attracted by the cover, you pick it up, look for the price, read the jacket, look at the price, glance at the inside, look at the price, weigh the book in your hand trying to equate the worth of the book to the money it costs, hold the book at arm's length, take another look at it, proceed to the checkout and pay. You then stand a 10% chance of actually consuming the book beyond the first chapter.

That's the way it works - there should be no way in a million years that Amazon should fly. But it does.

Although people's motives remain the same (they still want things better, cheaper and faster), consumer behaviour in the analog world cannot be extrapolated into the digital.

Digital Rule #3: Resource allocation is a 365-days-a-year phenomenon

Online success means different things to different people - if all you need are your company credentials, then a simple page with all the relevant details would be a 'successful' strategy, requiring limited (and appropriate) resources.

If you're an estate agent, then you need to resource up with a digital camera, learn how to use it and have a webmaster who understands that he/she is regularly going to have to update pics. You also need to answer your email (as simple as this sounds, only about half the estate agents I mailed recently have replied).

If you are going to trade from your site, then understand that you have opened a store. Someone needs to serve the customer and mind the store.

At the end of the digital day, a website offers a combination of only three things: to trade (sell), to inform (tell) or to entertain (dwell). Hence, your Internet MixTM will contain a variation on these three elements.

The Internet Mix TM

So, deciding to go online is quite simple:

Don't plan with your conventional time-frame, don't assume you can predict consumer behaviour (maybe your kid can, but you can't) and understand that if you're going to open something, it has to be managed. Then evaluate your Internet MixTM, adjusting the ingredients (tell, sell and dwell) as you go. Serves millions. Enjoy with a good Cabernet.