"If you are not continually trying to put yourself out of business then someone else will!"

       David Goldsmith
       MetaMatrix Consulting Group

Before the Internet, most all advertising followed the pattern of a one-way street. Advertising was an extension of marketing, and information flowed in one direction: from the advertiser's mouth/hand to the customer's ears/eyes.

On the Net, advertising and marketing lines blur, and sometimes the two are the same. Furthermore, the Internet isn't called the information super-highway for nothing. If you don't open your website for 2-way communication, your competitors will pull into the fast lane, pass you, and take your customers with them.

Here are some easy ways to capture and service customers with your website. If your website doesn't have these basic features, it's time for marketing to make adjustments.

*Gives information about the products/services, the company,

new products/services, improvements.

*Provides visitors with easy-to-find company stats: (toll free) phone and fax numbers, e-mail address, mailing and delivery address, and any others that apply to your firm.

*Makes it easy for customer to move from one screen to another and back to the Home page.

*Simple, uncluttered, succinct. Uses both text and graphics to

make interesting and to appeal to people with different learning styles.

*Empowers customers. Allows customers to help themselves with a click. Examples are on-line banking, on-line shopping and ordering, and various how-to's, as they apply.

*Separate e-mail click to contact your company easily.

Don't be afraid to "step out of the box" and try something new, as long as it meets your company's marketing objectives. Everybody's looking for the next new thing. And remember, a key concept for success today is that knowledge breeds growth. Customers now want information and involvement. Keeping the customer happy means keeping the customer.

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GLOBALIZATION: A Fresh Perspective

We watch televisions knowing that they're produced in Japan. We drive American cars comprised of 60% Canadian parts. We wear clothes made in Korea. These are all examples of globalization that are commonplace to us. As consumers, we understand and accept the idea of outsourcing manufacturing processes to other countries. This is a precursor to what is now called "globalization."

As business people, we understand that the Internet and new means of communication have brought about the existence of globalization, but many of us are left wondering, "What is globalization?" At the very least, we see it as a way of expanding our customer base. We can now sell to potential consumers around the globe! Hence, the name globalization.

This belief is true, yet quite incomplete. In response to the requests of many of our readers for a more complete definition, we'll attempt to bring some simple answers to this issue of the Communicator. (For those of you who already understand globalization in depth, congratulations.) Globalization of one's business goes beyond sales and marketing, and goes beyond outsourcing manufacturing production. Globalization encompasses all aspects of business operations, such as accounting, customer service, hours of operation, hiring... What this means for businesses is that a business no longer has to look within their own geographic locale to perform basic business operations.

Take for example, Dell Computers. Dell's accounting functions are taken care of in the UK. So, when you purchase one of their computers, your checking account is responding to a business activity taking place in another part of the globe, not in Texas, as you may have assumed. If you place a call to your investment broker and inquire about a specific investment opportunity, the source of your broker's report may be from Hong Kong.

A good number of corporations today have hours of operation that are continuous around the globe. If you're a software company, you may utilize personnel 24/7 to implement the creation of new products by moving code from country to country as its completed. The next project team would then start thier day and in turn when they finish thier 8 hour shift the code is moved to the next time zone.

Have you ever visited Guru.com or the ever popular Monster.com or Kforce.com. These are global on-line job recruiting or hiring sites. Regarding the area of personnel and hiring, many companies are now searching for new hirees, not in the local, state, or even national markets. Silicon Valley corporations hire cream of the crop engineers coming from India. And the number of other entities following suit and hiring from the global market is immense.

Globalization can, and does, touch every aspect of business operations today. Businesses of all sizes and in all industries are growing, expanding, streamlining, and functioning by utilizing the benefits provided by a global market arena.

Suggested Reading: For an in depth look at globalization and how it affects commerce and politics, read The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Freidman. It is an expansive, broad lesson on the subject of globalization, and well worth the time to explore.