The following paragraph is taken verbatim from my book, 'Key Concepts in e-Commerce':
'Arguably one of the most significant developments the Internet has brought to marketing is to give impetus to
marketers' objectives shifting from helping the seller to sell to helping the buyer to buy. Consumers now expect
to be facilitated in their research on the product or service that best meets their wants and needs. The web is
significant in that, unlike others, it is a pull media. An integral element of the concept of helping the buyer
to buy is the development of consumer generated media.'
Now, I have old lecture notes from 1999 where I talk about 'helping the buyer to buy'. But where did I get it
from? A search online shows the phrase is not commonly used, and the oldest reference is 2004. I'm not a particularly
original kind of guy - I'm sure I didn't invent the concept. So who did?
That it is not popular on the web suggests it pre-dates the Internet - maybe I picked it up in my sales days? It
is a salesy-kind-of-notion.
Oh, I forgot to say - I really do believe in the notion of helping the buyer to buy. If you [the marketer] make available
everything the customer needs to make an informed purchase decision then if they decide to buy your product they are more
likely to be satisfied by that purchase.
Hmmm - now that sounds as though it belongs in a sales-training course.
As a footnote, I am not the only one who supports this notion, though not in the same words. Web content development
expert Gerry McGovern says 'old-school marketing is about getting customers to do things.
Web marketing is about helping customers do things'. [source:
Manage your customers' time].
Different words - same ethos?
