E-Marketing
MD. RASHEDUL HASAN
How significant is the Internet for
marketing?
• The relative importance of the Internet for marketing for an
organization still largely depends on the nature of its products
and services and the buyer behavior of its target audience.
• easyJet (www.easyjet.com), the low-cost European airline, the
Internet is very significant for marketing its products. EasyJet
now achieves over 95% of its ticket sales online and aims to fulfill
the majority of its customer service requests via the Internet.
• For organizations whose products are not generally appropriate
for sale online, such as energy company BP (www.bp.com) or
consumer brands such as Unilever (www.unilever.com), the
Internet is less significant, but is still rapidly growing in
importance.
What is E-marketing?
E Marketing stands for Electronic Marketing. It also referred to as web
marketing, online marketing, or Internet Marketing. E marketing is the
marketing of products or services over the Internet.
Internet marketing can be simply defined as, “Achieving marketing
objectives through applying digital technologies.”
In practice, Internet marketing will include the use of a company web
site in combination with online promotional techniques such as search
engine marketing, interactive advertising, e-mail marketing and
partnership arrangements with other web sites.
However, for Internet marketing to be successful there is still a
necessity for integration of these techniques with traditional media such
as print, TV and direct mail.
E Marketing is the product of the meeting between modern
communication technologies and the age-old marketing principles that
humans have always applied.
The Role of E-marketing
According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing (www.cim.co.uk)
The role of e-marketing,
• Identifying – the Internet can be used for marketing research to
find out customers’ needs and wants.
• Anticipating – the Internet provides an additional channel by
which customers can access information and make purchases.
• Satisfying – a key success factor in e-marketing is achieving
customer satisfaction through the electronic channel, which
raises issues such as: is the site easy to use, does it perform
adequately, what is the standard of associated customer service
and how are physical products dispatched?
MARKETING APPLICATIONS OF
INTERNET MARKETING
• An advertising medium. For example, BP plc and its subsidiary
companies, such as Castrol Limited, uses large-format display or
interactive ads on media sites to create awareness of brands and
products such as fuels and lubricants.
• A direct-response medium. For example, easyJet uses sponsored
links when a user is researching a flight using a search engine to
prompt them to directly visit the easyJet site by clicking through to it.
Similarly the easyJet e-mail newsletter sent to customers can
encourage them to click through to a web site to generate sales.
• A platform for sales transactions. For example, easyJet sells flights
online to both consumers and business travelers.
• A lead-generation method. For example, when BP offers content to
business car managers about selecting the best fuel for company cars
in order to identify interest from a car fleet manager.
MARKETING APPLICATIONS OF
INTERNET MARKETING
• A distribution channel. For example, for distributing digital
products. This is often specific to companies with digital products
to sell such as online music resellers such as Napster
(www.napster.com) and Apple iTunes (www.itunes.com) or
publishers of written or video content.
• A customer service mechanism. For example, customers
serve themselves on easyJet.com by reviewing frequently asked
questions.
• A relationship-building medium where a company can interact
with its customers to better understand their needs and offer
them relevant products and offers.
For example, easyJet uses its e-mail newsletter and tailored
alerts about special deals to help keep its customers and engage
them in a dialogue to understand their needs through completing
surveys and polls.
Our changing media consumption
OUR CHANGING BUYER BEHAVIOR
CHARACTERISTICS OF EMARKETING
• The Internet has brought many unique benefits to marketing, one
of which being lower costs for the distribution of information and
media to a global audience. The interactive nature of Internet
marketing, both in terms of providing instant response and
eliciting responses, is a unique quality of the medium. Internet
marketing is sometimes considered to have a broader scope
because it refers to digital media such as the Internet, e-mail,
and wireless media; however, Internet marketing also includes
management of digital customer data and electronic customer
relationship management (ECRM) systems.
• E Marketing is the process of marketing a brand using the
Internet. It includes both direct response marketing and indirect
marketing elements and uses a range of technologies to help
connect businesses to their customers.
CHARACTERISTICS OF EMARKETING
• Internet marketing ties together creative and technical aspects of
the Internet, including design, development, advertising, and
sales.
• Internet marketing does not simply entail building or promoting a
website, nor does it mean placing a banner ad on another
website. Effective Internet marketing requires a comprehensive
strategy that synergizes a given company's business model and
sales goals with its website function and appearance, focusing
on its target market through proper choice of advertising type,
media, and design.
WHAT ARE THE E-MARKETING
TOOLS?
The Internet has a number of tools to offer to the marketer.
• A company can distribute via the Internet e.g. Amazon.com.
• A company can use the Internet as a way of building and
maintaining a customer relationship e.g. Dell.com.
• The money collection part of a transaction could be done online
e.g. electricity and telephone bills.
• Leads can be generated by attracting potential customers to
sign-up for short periods of time, before signing up for the longterm e.g. which.co.uk.
• The Internet could be used for advertising e.g. Google Adwords.
• Finally, the web can be used as a way of collecting direct
responses e.g. as part of a voting system for a game show.
DIFFERENCES FROM TRADITIONAL
MARKETING
• One-to-one approach
The targeted user is typically browsing the Internet alone, so the marketing messages
can reach them personally. This approach is used in search marketing, where the
advertisements are based on search engine keywords entered by the user.
• Appeal to specific interests
Internet marketing places an emphasis on marketing that appeal to a specific behavior
or interest, rather than reaching out to a broadly defined demographic area.
"On- and Off-line" marketers typically segment their markets according to age group,
gender, geography, and other general factors. Marketers have the luxury of targeting by
activity and geo-location. For example, a kayak company can post advertisements on
kayaking and canoeing websites with the full knowledge that the audience has a related
interest.
• Effective Market Targeting
Internet marketing differs from magazine advertisements, where the goal is to appeal to
the projected demographic of the periodical. Because the advertiser has knowledge of
the target audience—people who engage in certain activities (e.g., uploading pictures,
contributing to blogs)— the company does not rely on the expectation that a certain
group of people will be interested in its new product or service.
• Automated different content
In Internet marketing the delivery of different content based on the geographical
location and other personal information is automated.
THE ADVANTAGES/BENEFITS OF EMARKETING OVER TRADITIONAL
MARKETING
• Reach
The nature of the Internet means businesses now have a truly global
reach. While traditional media costs limit this kind of reach to huge
multinationals, E-Marketing opens up new avenues for smaller
businesses, on a much smaller budget, to access potential consumers
from all over the world.
• Inexpensive
Internet marketing is relatively inexpensive when compared to the ratio
of cost against the reach of the target audience. Companies can reach
a wide audience for a small fraction of traditional advertising budgets.
• Scope
Internet marketing allows the marketer to reach consumers in a wide
range of ways and enables them to offer a wide range of products and
services. E Marketing includes, among other things, information
management, public relations, customer service and sales. With the
range of new technologies becoming available all the time, this scope
can only grow.
THE ADVANTAGES/BENEFITS OF EMARKETING OVER TRADITIONAL
MARKETING
• 24-hour marketing
With a website your customers can find out about your products even if your office
is closed.
• Interactivity
Whereas traditional marketing is largely about getting a brand’s message out there,
E Marketing facilitates conversations between companies and consumers. With a
two-way communication channel, companies can feed off of the responses of their
consumers, making them more dynamic and adaptive.
• Immediacy
Internet marketing is able to provide an immediate impact. Imagine you’re reading
your favorite magazine. You see double-page advertising for some new product or
service, maybe BMW’s latest luxury sedan or Apple’s latest iPod offering. With this
kind of traditional media, it’s not that easy for you, the consumer, to take the step
from hearing about a product to actual acquisition. With E-Marketing, it’s easy to
make that step as simple as possible, meaning that within a few short clicks you
could have booked a test drive or ordered the iPod. And all of this can happen
regardless of normal office hours. Effectively, Internet marketing makes business
hours 24 hours per day, 7 days per week for every week of the year. By closing the
gap between providing information and eliciting a consumer reaction, the
consumer’s buying cycle is speeded up and advertising spend can go much further
in creating immediate leads.
THE ADVANTAGES/BENEFITS OF EMARKETING OVER TRADITIONAL
MARKETING
• Demographics and targeting
Generally speaking, the demographics of the Internet are a
marketer’s dream. Internet users, considered as a group, have
greater buying power and could perhaps be considered as a
population group skewed towards the middle-classes. Buying
power is not all though. The nature of the Internet is such that its
users will tend to organize themselves into far more focused
groupings. Savvy marketers who know where to look can quite
easily find access to the niche markets they wish to target.
Marketing messages are most effective when they are presented
directly to the audience most likely to be interested. The Internet
creates the perfect environment for niche marketing to targeted
groups.
BENEFITS OF E_MARKETING
THE 5S THEORY
DIFFERENT TYPES OF ONLINE
PRESENCE
• Transactional e-commerce site
These enable purchase of products online. The main business
contribution of the site is through sale of these products. The
sites also support the business by providing information for
consumers that prefer to purchase products offline. Visit these
examples: an end-product manufacturer such as Vauxhall
(www.vauxhall.co.uk) or an online retailer such as Amazon
(www.amazon.com).
DIFFERENT TYPES OF ONLINE
PRESENCE
• Services-oriented relationship-building web site
Provides information to stimulate purchase and build
relationships. Products are not typically available for purchase
online. Information is provided through the web site and enewsletters to inform purchase decisions. The main business
contribution is through encouraging offline sales and generating
enquires or leads from potential customers. Such sites also add
value to existing customers by providing them with detailed
information to help them support them in their lives at work or at
home.
Visit these examples: B2B management consultants such as
PricewaterhouseCooper (www.pwcglobal.com) and Accenture
(www.accenture.com), B2C portal for energy supplier British
Gas (www.house.co.uk).
DIFFERENT TYPES OF ONLINE
PRESENCE
• Brand-building site
Provide an experience to support the brand. Products are not
typically available for online purchase. Their main focus is to
support the brand by developing an online experience of the
brand. They are typical for low-value, high-volume fast-moving
consumer goods (FMCG) brands for consumers.
Visit these examples: Tango (www.tango.com), Guinness
(www.guinness.com).
DIFFERENT TYPES OF ONLINE
PRESENCE
• Portal or media site
Provide information or news about a range of topics. ‘Portal’ refers to a
gateway of information. This is information both on the site and through
links to other sites. Portals have a diversity of options for generating
revenue including advertising, commission based sales, sale of
customer data (lists).
Visit these examples: Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) (B2C) and Silicon
(www.silicon.com) (B2B).
Each of these different types of sites tends to increase in sophistication
as organizations develop their Internet marketing. Many organizations
began the process of Internet marketing with the development of web
sites in the form of brochureware sites or electronic brochures
introducing their products and services, but are now enhancing them to
add value to the full range of marketing functions. From static
brochureware sites to dynamic transactional sites that support
interactions with customers.
EVALUATING THE STRATEGIC
MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES
• 1 Market penetration. The Internet can be used to sell more
existing products into existing markets.
• 2 Market development. Here the Internet is used to sell into new
geographical markets, taking advantage of the low cost of
advertising internationally without the necessity for a supporting
sales infrastructure in the customers’ countries.
• 3 Product development. New products or services are developed
which can be delivered by the Internet. These are typically digital
products.
• 4 Diversification. In this sector, the Internet supports selling new
products which are developed and sold into new markets. As well
as assisting large corporate organizations develop their markets,
perhaps the most exciting potential of the Internet is to help small
and medium enterprises (SMEs) expand.
HOW DO INTERNET MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS DIFFER FROM
TRADITIONAL MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS?
1.
-
-
-
Interactivity
the customer initiates contact;
the customer is seeking information (pull);
it is a high-intensity medium – the marketer will have 100
per cent of the individual’s attention when he or she is
viewing a web site;
a company can gather and store the response of the
individual;
Individual needs of the customer can be addressed and
taken into account in future dialogues.
HOW DO INTERNET MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS DIFFER FROM
TRADITIONAL MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS?
HOW DO INTERNET MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS DIFFER FROM
TRADITIONAL MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS?
2. Intelligence
The Internet can be used as a relatively low-cost method of
collecting marketing research, particularly about customer
perceptions of products and services.
Nestlé are able to profile their customers’ characteristics on
the basis of questionnaire response. A wealth of marketing
research information is also available from the web site
itself. Marketers use the web analytics approaches to build
their knowledge of customer preferences and behavior
according to the types of sites and content which they
consume when online. Every time a web site visitor
downloads content, this is recorded and analyzed as ‘site
statistics’ in order to build up a picture of how consumers
interact with the site.
HOW DO INTERNET MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS DIFFER FROM
TRADITIONAL MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS?
3. Individualization
Another important feature of the interactive marketing
communications is that they can be tailored to the individual
at relatively low costs, unlike in traditional media where the
same message tends to be broadcast to everyone.
example of personalization is that achieved by business-tobusiness e-tailer RS Components (www.rswww.com). Every
customer who accesses their system is profiled according
to their area of product interest and information describing
their role in the buying unit. When they next visit the site
information will be displayed relevant to their product
interest, for example office products and promotions if this
is what was selected.
HOW DO INTERNET MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS DIFFER FROM
TRADITIONAL MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS?
4. Integration
The Internet provides further scope for integrated marketing
communications.
First, there is outbound Internet-based communications from
organization to customer. We need to ask how does the Internet
complement other channels in communicating the proposition for
the company’s products and services to new and existing
customers with a view to generating new leads and retaining
existing customers?
Second, inbound Internet-based communications customer to
organization: how can the Internet complement other channels to
deliver customer service to these customers? Many companies
have now integrated e-mail response and web site callback into
their existing call-centre or customer service operation.
HOW DO INTERNET MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS DIFFER FROM
TRADITIONAL MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS?
HOW DO INTERNET MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS DIFFER FROM
TRADITIONAL MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS?
• 5 INDUSTRY RESTRUCTURING
Disintermediation and reintermediation are key concepts of industry restructuring
that should be considered by any company developing an e-marketing strategy.
For the marketer defining their company’s communications strategy it becomes
very important to consider the company’s representation on these intermediary
sites by answering questions such as ‘Which intermediaries should we be
represented on?’ and ‘How do our offerings compare to those of competitors in
terms of features, benefits and price?’
• 6 INDEPENDENCE OF LOCATION
Electronic media also introduce the possibility of increasing the reach of company
communications to the global market. This gives opportunities to sell into
international markets that may not have been previously possible. The Internet
makes it possible to sell to a country without a local sales or customer service force
(although this may still be necessary for some products). In such situations and
with the restructuring in conjunction with disintermediation and reintermediation,
strategists also need to carefully consider channel conflicts that may arise. If a
customer is buying direct from a company in another country rather than via the
agent, this will marginalize the business of the local agent who may want some
recompense for sales efforts or may look for a partnership with competitors.
HOW DO INTERNET MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS DIFFER FROM
TRADITIONAL MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS?
HOW THE INTERNET CAN BE USED
AS AN INTEGRATED
COMMUNICATIONS TOOL
_ The Internet can be used as a direct-response tool, enabling
customers to respond to offers and promotions publicized in other
media.
_ The web site can have a direct response or callback facility built into
it.
_ The Internet can be used to support the buying decision even if the
purchase does not occur via the web site. For example, Dell has a
prominent web-specific phone number on their web site that
encourages customers to ring a representative in the call centre to
place their order.
_ Customer information delivered on the web site must be integrated
with other databases of customer and order information such as those
accessed via staff in the call centre to provide what Seybold (1999)
calls a ‘360 degree view of the customer’.
_ The Internet can be used to support customer service. For example
easyJet (www.easyjet.com), which receives over half its orders
electronically, encourages users to check a list of frequently asked
questions (FAQ) compiled from previous customer enquiries before
contacting customer support by phone.
MIXED-MODE BUYING
The process by
which a
customer
changes
between online
and offline
channels
during the
buying process
Limitations of E-Marketing
• Internet marketing requires customers to use newer technologies
rather than traditional media.
• Low-speed Internet connections are another barrier: If
companies build large or overly complicated websites, individuals
connected to the Internet via dial-up connections or mobile
devices may experience significant delays in content delivery.
• From the buyer's perspective, the inability of shoppers to touch,
smell, taste or "try on" tangible goods before making an online
purchase can be limiting. However, there is an industry standard
for e-commerce vendors to reassure customers by having liberal
return policies.
Develop an e-marketing plan
• Identify your target audience - if you identify multiple targets, rank
them in order of importance so that you can allocate resources
accordingly. Profile each target group and understand their
requirements and expectations so that you can pitch your costs and
benefits at the correct level.
• Set your objectives - possible objectives could include awareness
raising (of your business or disseminating information about your
products or services), entering new markets, launching a new product,
focusing on sales (building Internet sales of a product or increasing the
frequency of sales from regular customers), or internal efficiency
(decreasing marketing costs, reducing order-taking and fulfillment
costs, or improving customer retention rates).
• Decide upon the marketing mix - you should choose a mix of emarketing activities that will help you achieve your objectives and fit
with any existing traditional marketing activities you already have
planned. For an outline of the range of e-marketing options
Develop an e-marketing plan
• Agree a budget - careful budgeting allows you to prevent costs
spiraling out of control. By identifying the returns you expect to
make from your investment in e-marketing activities you can
compare these with the costs in order to develop a cost/benefit
analysis.
• Action planning - identify the tactics for implementing the
selected e-marketing activities. The plan should also cover other
non-Internet marketing activities that are being undertaken.
• Measure your success - build in feedback mechanisms and
regular reviews to enable you to assess the success of your emarketing activities, particularly as e-commerce is such a
dynamic and fast-changing area.
THANK YOU