Marketing/Communications

Most of what appears on the Internet at present serves a company's basic marketing and communications needs. Whether a website is a traditional marketing/communications experience (offering information on a company's objectives, personnel, experience, history, or capabilities), or an elaborate brand-building experience (enhancing a brand's stature with customers, creating brand awareness, or serving lifestyle needs), by and large, they talk at their customers. However elaborate these may be, they are usually merely Internet "presences."

Examples of mar/comm sites range widely, from a few pages on the Web with contact information and directions, to large sites for companies with everything from press releases to investor information to brand-enhancing lifestyle magazines. These are almost exclusively produced for customers and follow the same broadcast/publishing model as corporate magazines, customer newsletters, or other "brochure-ware."

Examples of the types of functions covered by mar/comm sites include:

• Corporate Information (directions, officers, and department descriptions)
• Marketing Materials (including Press Releases)
• Publicity and Promotions
• Brand Messages
• Limited forms of Direct Marketing
• Investor and Analyst Relations Materials

Mar/comm sites are usually the least complicated to build and the least expensive. On occasion, these are sub-sites within a larger site, such as with separate divisions within a larger company.

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