Corrections or additions?
This article was published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on November 24,
1999. All rights reserved.
Fast Food For E-Business: Telofski
by Melinda Sherwood
Branding won’t be as important in the E-business
economy, says Richard Telofski of eBusiness Analysts.
Whether you agree or disagree, this is lesson number eight in
Telofksi’s
new book, “Fast Food for E-Business Marketers,” a
pocket-sized,
100-page primer for the businessperson breaking into business on the
Internet. Telofski covers the death of brands, the realignment of
organizational structures, and the flipping of the traditional
supply-demand
model through graphics, pictures, wisecracks, and the book’s mascot,
a character known as “Painfully Traditional Rabbit Economist,”
an illustrated rabbit that appears from time to time to make a point.
Telofski, who has an MBA from Rider and a BA in mass communications
from Rutgers, headed a competitive intelligence consulting firm prior
to starting eBusiness Analysts, a Tamarack Circle-based strategy and
marketing planning firm for online ventures (609-497-0122). The
company
just launched a virtual consultancy at
https://www.ebusinessanalysts.
For as little as $255 a year, businesses transitioning to E-commerce
can pose questions to a virtual consultant by the name of
“Buzzy,”
a composite of all the staff members at eBusiness Analysts. Answers
are custom-tailored to each business based on information collected
at registration, and responses are promptly issued through E-mail.
Clients also get a free copy of Fast Food for eBusiness Marketers
when they sign up.
The book is a quick read — maybe an hour — but it tackles
some pretty heavy economic issues (although with chapters titled
“Space,”
“Time,” “Matter,” and “Fractals,” it seems
more like a physics lesson). There’s a recap, or “take away”
portion, that outlines the main points at the end of each lesson so
theoretically, you could skim the book in a few minutes.
Some advice “to go:”
“Informationalize” any product or service thatyou have on the Internet. From the book: “Abstract the informationelements of any product or service to solve customers problems.”Find employees who know about people, because all businesstransactions are based on human behavior. These points are reiteratedover and over: “People are the keys to the New Economy,” and”Hire really smart people.”Don’t be afraid to put seemingly contradictory elementstogether on the Web, like competitors. In today’s economy, writesTelofski, it’s essential to be a part of the network, in the”economicweb,” so to speak, even if that means linking with a competitor:”The presence of so many competitive elements will attractqualifiedpotential buyers,” he writes. “If your offering is superior,the buyers will become your customers. But if they do not become yourcustomers, you will still benefit from the network feedback, receivinginformation as to why your offering was not chosen.”Be able to withstand the test of a search on your productand company. Traditional branding won’t hold up when everything aboutyour product — pricing, suppliers, even corporate culture –is exposed: “Search technology will quickly reveal inferiorproductfeatures or prices that are not competitive,” Telofski writes.”No more hiding behind a brand in the New Economy.” For thatreason, branding won’t be that important, says Telofski, becauseinformationthat empowers consumers will be right at our fingertips.Allow for the free-flow of information within the company,just as information flows freely in the economy at large. This isTelofski’s “fractal” theory: each department, or fractal,of a business needs to be exposed to supply and demand as though itwere a company unto itself, without the political and budgetaryconstraintsimposed by management. “If management controls the flow ofinformationwithin the company in a `non-fractal’ fashion,” he writes,”howcan the company expect to function as efficiently, and as fractally,as the larger economic system of which it is a part? Then it is atodds with a system that is supposed to ensure its survival.Finally, E-business is about action: “Get on board or getrun-over,” writes Telofski.Previous StoryNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
