Fundamentals of Online Marketing

Introduction

We are in the age and times of “here” and “now”; Individuals and organizations seem to be in a hurry and everyone wants to obtain quick and immediate results. There is also the issue of tight schedules and very busy lifestyles, so everyone is looking for the quickest and the most convenient medium through which to transact business, to share information,socialize etc., the internet is that medium.

Internet marketing is the cheapest and the quickest way for companies to reach a wide target audience and it is also the most convenient way for consumers to purchase products and services.

This article introduces you to online marketing and the different types of online marketing, the different business models that internet marketing is associated with and then the benefits and limitations of internet marketing.

Online Marketing and the different types of online marketing

Online marketing, also known as internet marketing, web marketing or e­-marketing is the marketing or promotion of products or services using the internet as a medium. In order to benefit from the new technologies in today’s global environments, marketers are developing strategies that suit the digital world.

Internet marketing is considered to be broad in scope because it not only refers to marketing on the internet, but also includes marketing done through e-mail and wireless media.

Customer relationship management system and digital customer data are considered to be sub divisions of internet marketing.

Internet Marketing ties together the creative and technical aspects of the internet including design, development, advertising and sales.

Internet marketing refers to the placement of media along many different stages of the customer engagement cycle through the following types of internet marketing;

i. Search engine optimization

This is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines through natural or unpaid search results.

ii. Search engine marketing

This is a form of marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages through the use of paidplacement, contextual advertising and paid inclusion or through the use of free search engine optimization techniques.

iii.Display advertising

This is the use of web banners placed on a third-party website or blog to drive traffic to a company’s own website and increase product awareness.

iv.Social media marketing

This is the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

v.Email marketing

This involves directly marketing a commercial message to a group of people using electronic mail.

vi.Referral marketing

This is a method of promoting products or services to new customers through referrals, usually by word of mouth.

vii.Affiliate marketing

This is a marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s ownmarketing efforts.

viii.Inbound marketing

This involves creating and freely sharing informative content as a means of converting prospects into customers and customers into repeat buyers.

ix.Video marketing

This type of marketing specializes in creating videos that engage the viewer into a buying state by presenting information in video form and guiding them to a product or service. Online video is gaining wide popularity among internet users and companies see it as a viable method of attracting customers.

Types of internet Usage among companies

Brick and Mortar Company

This operates in a real life only and uses internet to provide information. Organisations like universities are example of this.

Click and Mortar Company

This type provides both in real life and through internet. Vatan computer is an example of this.

Click-only Company

This operates only online and you cannot contact in real life with such a company, you can only buy those items online.

Business Models

A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers and captures value, whether economic, social or any other form of value. The purpose of business model construction is part of business strategy.

Internet marketing is associated with several business models and these include:

i. E-commerce

This is a model whereby goods and services are sold directly to consumers, businesses or from consumer to consumer using computers connected to a network.

ii. Lead-based websites

This is astrategywhereby an organization generates value by acquiring sales leads from its website. It is similar to walk in customers in retail world. These propects are often referred to as organic leads.

iii. Affiliate marketing

This is a process where a product or service developed by one entity is sold by other active sellers for a share of profits. The entity that owns the product may provide some marketing material for example, sales letters, affiliate links, tracking facilities etc. however, the vast majority of affiliate marketing relationships come from e-commerce business that offer affiliate programmes.

iv. Local Internet Marketing

This is a strategy through which a small company utilizes the internet to find and to nurture relationships that can be used for real-world advantages. Local internet marketing uses tools such as social media marketing, local directory listing and targeted online sales promotion.

Benefits and limitations of Internet Marketing

Benefits derived from internet marketing

i. Internet marketing is relatively inexpensive when examining the ratio of cost to the reach of the target audience. Companies can reach a wide audience for a small fraction of the advertising budget

ii. The nature of the medium allows consumers to research and purchase products and services conveniently. Therefore businesses have the advantage of appealing to consumers in a medium that can bring results quickly.

iii. Internet marketers have the advantage of measuring statistics easily and inexpensively, almost all aspects of an internet marketing campaign can be tracked, measured and tested in many cases through the use of an adserver.

Limitations of internet marketing

i. One major challenge of internet marketing is the problem of scams. Many internet products are promoted with deception and this makes it difficult for one to know what one is buying. This is very common with products that are supposed to train or aid internet marketers in making money. Most of these products are empty boxes, in which there is essentially nothing there, yet a buyer is to make money by reselling this empty box to others.

ii. The inability of the consumers to physically feel or try out the product can be a limitation for certain goods.

iii. Internet marketing is completely based on the advertisement and the information that the advertisement and the information that the advertisement might lead to i.e. websites, blogs etc., this makes it impossible for marketers to use the x-factor/personal touch factor/human touch factor to influence the audience.

Conclusion

Online marketing or e-marketing has registered its presence in this contemporary society as it has proven to be an inexpensive, convenient and fast approach to exchanging goods and services. However, swindlers have taken advantage of its lack of personal touch or human touch factor to swindle unsuspecting customers of their money. This however has not hampered the widespread and the popularity of online marketing.