Do you have the time?
by: Jim Warholic
Yesterday, my favorite watch, the Casio DW-290-T, that I have had for ten or more years decided that it had had enough. It started out with, getting dimmer when the electro luminescent backlight was pressed. So I figured it was time to get a new battery. Driving over to the local Target store at 8:30 pm on a Saturday evening, it would simply be a matter of installing a new battery. As “Murphy’s Law” would have it, when dealing with time, this was not going to be the case.
My first clue that this was going to be an extended visit should have been when I approached the watch counter and asked for a battery for my Casio watch. The clerk behind the counter asked me, “do I know the battery model number?” “Well sure, just let me borrow your small phillips screwdriver and I can give you the battery model number,” I said. The sales clerk said, “we no longer have any tools to work on the watches.” “OK…, let me see if my trusty Leatherman multi-purpose tool had anything that would work,” I said.
Fortunately, the screws on the back of the watch were both slotted and phillips style. I had a small screwdriver on the Leatherman that worked just fine. After I got the back cover of the watch off, the clerk was able to see the battery number. She provided a new battery at the cost of four dollars and some change. I thought this would be great. I’ll be back in time… Foolish me.
While I was assembling the watch back together, the clerk asked if she could recycle the old battery for me. I said, “sure.” Big mistake. The new battery would not work in the watch. Or, should I say the watch would not work with the new battery. Making sure the battery was in properly, pushing buttons, taking it in and out again several times, had absolutely no success in getting that stupid watch to function again. Now my favorite trusted timepiece became a stupid timepiece.
The sales clerk during this time was helping out other customers and would occasionally come back to my counter area. She felt bad this had happened. I assured her it was not her fault. I stated to her, “Let me try my old battery, at least that one was functioning before I took it out.” “Well, um, let me see if I can find it,” she said. At that, she went over to the container of old batteries, which contained about a hundred or more of various types and sizes of batteries. She said, “I think it is this one. The one on top. But, I can’t get it out.” So, I start digging, and digging. Getting frustrated, I dump out the whole jar on to the counter. Seperating the same style battery as mine into a pile. Only a dozen or so of that style batteries were present.
I start trying battery after battery with no luck. No display at all. Murphy’s Law finally took its toll on my time. Time to move on. Get a new watch. OH, how I hate shopping for watches. This one had too many buttons and was hard to figure out. Another had a display that could barely be seen, unless you had the eyes of a 18 year old. I just couldn’t seem to find the right timepiece.
“How late are you open,” I asked the clerk. “10:00 pm,” she responded. “OK, I might be back,” I said.
Trudging over to the local Longs, where I had remembered that they also carried watches, I decided to give them a try. I finally found a watch that I could see, the buttons were just the right touch, and it did not take a rocket scientist to figure out how to operate it.
I am sure that many of you can relate to the time story. What is interesting is how this time story relates to matters on the Web. The Internet is a media outlet for B2B, B2C, and C2C. It is a marketing, advertising, and sales channel that really is difficult to encapsulate. Many B2B and B2C businesses want a website presence without doing much work. They want instantaneous gratification with an immediate website presence, that their website is showing up in the top search results for their marketing keywords, and the website becomes a powerful sales tool for their sales people to use. Time and time again, Presidents, CEOs, owners, and management of both large and small business fail to realize the amount of time it takes to develop a web presence.
Developing a good web presence encompasses so many aspects of a business’s soul. Time is the one item that will definitely be at the forefront of setting up and maintaining a website, marketing and advertising online, and web branding the company across a wide area of online channels. If the company is involved in a vary narrow vertical market or technical engineering area of expertise, then writing from company staff will be a prerequisite for developing a website. Good Internet marketing companies can provide immense help in the area of editing content for selected keywords, fine tuning from a search engine optimization and web branding perspective, online advertising strategies, search engine marketing, customizing and/or designing search engine friendly website templates, and web branding strategic marketing ideas. But, it still comes back to the business of sharing knowledgeable information in a customer centric way through good writing and online communication skills.
Talk with Professional Web Services today for information about Internet marketing services, ethical search engine optimization, search engine marketing, online advertising strategies, and web branding solutions. Contact us for B2B and B2C marketing Internet marketing services, strategies, and solutions.