Electronic commerce (E-commerce), the buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet, is undergoing explosive growth. Much of current E-commerce focus is moving more and more to business-to-business related activity. Internet related business-to-business transactions is currently in the tens of billions of dollars per year range with estimates that this number will be $1.3 trillion by the year 2002. (EDI -- electronic data interchange -- long the mainstay of electronic buying and selling amongst large companies, is being quickly eroded and replaced by Internet based transactions.) Even if you are a new small business, you can't afford to miss a seat at this table. Today's savvy marketeers know that this avenue can offer some rich rewards.

Marketing has been loosely defined as a business activity that directs the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer. With this in mind, and a large grain of salt, how does one do marketing over the Internet?

Remember, the Internet can do only one thing: convey information. It has not reached that stage depicted in Star Trek wherein you can demand, "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot!" and have the computer's "food replicator" materialize it from a flow of electrons coursing through wires. No, the Internet can only convey those electrons in forms which carry information.

Sure, you can order a new coat, buy a car, or have flowers sent over the Internet, but what you are really doing is issuing instructions to someone who will do the actual work for you.

Broadly speaking, there are only three areas of the Internet which are of use to business when doing marketing. These are: e-mail, the world wide web (the famous "www."), and newsgroups.