E-Commerce Vs. E-Business

You’re not running an online store; you’re running a business that is now online. What’s the difference between e-Commerce and e-Business?

E-Commerce is selling online. But e-Business goes beyond technical. It takes into consideration your operations, your competitors and the marketplace. It’s strategical and tactical. It also includes Business Intelligence.

In the case of Electrical Marketing, our industry is the Industrial/Electrical supply chain where manufacturers and distributors have large inventories, databases and complex supplier relationships. Understanding an organization’s “e-Business” versus e-commerce needs means we don’t deal with plumbing supplies, automotive parts or something else. We are Industrial and Electrical. This virtually eliminates a learning curve when taking on a project. And the projects have evolved.

Beyond Data…
The Era of Content Marketing Has Arrived

Beyond data, the “Content Era” is here. From a search engine marketing viewpoint, we’re seeing that you can leapfrog the competition by not stopping at data. Unique, educational and informative content about your products and services is helping leaders win visibility in “e-Business”. This sets them apart from e-Commerce stores by positioning them as Subject Matter Experts. Search engines want unique content. Those doing “e-Business” stand out as knowledge-based providers who do more than ship boxes. Data is a great start and earns you a spot at the table. Unique, substantive content like an electrical or industrial distributor microsite will feed your business as digital marketing evolves.

Extend Your Existing Resources

As a marketing director with independent and national distributors, I hired web agencies to write code. Beyond that, we did everything “in-house”. We knew our business and developed our skill sets to run the online business. Eventually I found a service provider with hands-on, staff experience that matched our organization’s business model. This literally extended the staff’s existing resources because they’d walked in our shoes.

Gone are the days when you post 10’s of thousands of products and appear in search engines.  You can gain a competitive advantage now by creating “original” content.

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