What About the Web?
Banks and insurance companies sell intangible services whose success is based on gaining the trust of their customers. “Trust us,” they say to the public, “and we will not fail you.” Since it's virtually impossible for them to actually demonstrate their service quality and differentiation (all banks are pretty much alike in what they can do; insurance offerings are basically commodities), they rely on branding and image to create demand. Knowing that their service is invisible, they go overboard to make tangible what they can: their buildings.
Traditional bank branches in many parts of the country are sort of semi-Federal looking: brick, white trim, massive columns out front. Insurance companies—and bank corporate offices—tend toward the tallest skyscrapers in town. Both kinds of buildings say successful, reliable, massive, strong, conservative: all attributes that people want in someone caring for their money. Would you open an account at a bank built out of plywood and tarpaper?
What's that got to do with IT spending? IT managers are like bank customers. They are buying something basically intangible (technology) with a promise of a reward (some return on that investment, whether increased productivity or reduced costs). If you're trying to sell your product to that IT manager, you have a fundamental problem unless your name is Oracle, Cisco, Microsoft, IBM.
Little guys going up against those monoliths have a tangibility and credibility problem. You need the high-tech equivalent of a skyscraper with a plush lobby. What can you do?
Fortunately the solution isn't all that tough. In a virtual world the skyline is made up of web sites. First you need visibility (like the skyscraper). You can get that through careful use of traffic programs, driving visitors to your site. Your home page is your lobby: how it looks, the way it presents your message, will create that enormously important first impression for your prospects when they drop in.
