Internet Marketing - Essay Example

Internet Marketing Internet Marketing Table of Content Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………3 Transactional e-commerce site ………………………………………………………….……..4 Competitive analysis…………………………………………………………………….……..5 Product strategy…………………………………………………………………………..……7 Price strategy……………………………………………………………………………..…….8 Place…………………………………………………………………………………………….9 Process…………………………………………………………………………………………10 People…………………………………………………………………………………………..11 Comparing internet tool………………………………………………………..………………13 Flow Chart of E-Bay Order Processing System…………………………………….…………15 Search Engine Optimization ………………………………………………………….……….15 Internet marketing plan………………………………………………………..………………17 Secondary market research…………………………………………………………………….18 Pay-per-click presentation...……………………………………………………..…………….27 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..………………28 Reference............................................................................................................................…...29 Introduction With the increased globalization, internet marketing has become a crucial aspect in efficient administration of product marketing and administration. As such, companies have shown a lot of keenness in modernizing their marketing strategies to match with the new marking trends. Basically, internet marketing entails the acts of placing adverts on various media platforms that are available in the world. In this case, companies use media such as social media, internet and websites to make their products known to different consumers. This article seeks to analyze various aspects that surround internet marketing. The article will lay emphasis on transactional e-commerce sites on which subscribers use to embed their products as a marketing strategy. In addition, the article will analyze various models on which web hosts make earning from sellers and other subscribers. To achieve the objective, the research will conduct the analysis of the adverts placed on various online channels, specifically eBay LO1 1.1 Marketing is an organizational function that involves the process of creating, communicating, and delivering utility to consumers. In addition, it entails the function of managing customer relationships in ways that is of benefit to the organization. (Reid & Bojanic,1996, p.8). This means that Marketing is defined as the process of communication that occurs between sellers or institutions and customers about the value of some product or service with purpose of selling this product or service. A long of the years the marketing methods has changed and improved and actually Internet Marketing and Electronic Marketing are ones of the methods more used by sellers to interact with their customers or potential customers. Internet Marketing involves the strategies used by a company to market its product or service online and this marketing strategies include search engine optimization and search engine submission, customers’ needs and wants, copywriting that encourages site visitors to buy these products, website design strategies, online promotions/ offers, reciprocal linking that allows customers contact sellers, and email marketing to attract customers for a specific business. Choosing Internet Marketing as part as your business strategy can bring you benefits. Some benefits are: Transactional e-commerce site Make possible for business provide information about the existence of their products, and, the customers the acquisition of these products or services online according to their preferences. Run business at any time Internet marketing allows a business without be influenced by the time, is not necessary worry about store opening hours or employees overtimes payments and became more comfortable for customers because they can access your products at any time and place orders when it is convenient for them. Costs Reduction Marketing products on the Internet also costs less than marketing them in a physical retail outlet or store, where usually involves costs of property rental and maintenance and bring benefits as order stock in line with demand, keeping the inventory costs low. Personalisation of the Web Experience and Data Collection Internet marketing make possible as well sellers personalize offers to customers by building a profile of their purchasing history and preferences. Thought tracking information’s about the web pages and products, will give to sellers information about the number of visitors or uses that visit their website and the type of products that they are looking for, permits also make targeted offers that reflect their interests. The information collected from tracking website visits further provides statistics for planning cross-selling strategies so that one can boost the value of sales by customer and motivating the connection between business or sellers and customers analysing their feedback. Competitor Analysis The use of internet for businesses also permits them to analyse their competitor’s online strategy. A company can keep well-informed of new products that are released, react about the influence of the price changes, or use the internet as a way to realise secondary data on their competitors and react rapidly to a change in their competitor’s strategy, and try to avail a service that enables them to beat or match their competitors. Worldwide connection Related to being in touch with the customers or attract new customers by marketing on the Internet, can overcome barriers of distance, making possible sell goods or services at any part of the country devoid of setting up local outlets, enlarging your prospective market and also export products or services without opening a network of distributors and making all necessary changes of these goods and services to be successful in different areas or countries. Although an alternative term is Electronic Marketing or E– Marketing that is defined as “The process of marketing a brand using the Internet” and this type of marketing can be direct to potentials or existent customers or indirect. E-Marketing is the process of application of Marketing principles and techniques via electronic media, where is used modern communication technology to let people know about the existence of your business and more precisely using electronic tools to marketed your business on the Internet. Doing marketing of products or services to promote a business or brand using digital channels to attract or establish connection with consumers is called Digital Marketing. Digital Marketing is the promotion of products or brands via one or more forms of electronic media. For example, advertising modes that could be applied as part of the digital marketing methodology of a business could comprise promotional efforts done via the Internet or even social media as television or radio, mobile phones and digital or electronic billboards. Electronic Business (E- Business) and Electronic Commerce (E- Commerce) are others types of strategies used by institutions to get connection with customers or promote their products and services. Electronic Business or E- Business is the administration of conducting business via the Internet. This means that is related to the process of buying and selling goods and services, using or providing technical through the Internet. E-Business term is frequently used in conjunction with the term E-commerce, but this type of marketing includes providing services in addition to the sale of products and E- Commerce is the method of buying or selling these goods and services, or even the transmitting of funds or data information, over an electronic network, mainly the Internet. These business transactions happen either business -to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business. E-bay is an American multinational corporation and e-commerce company, that provided consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales services via Internet and charges users an invoice seller fee on the basis of if they have sold or listed any items. Actually E-bay is the most popular shopping destination on the web. E-bay is also a good example of E- Business that operate in an E- Commerce way as a Transactional E- Commerce Site, because is a business that was planned online and operate only thought the website, being a E- Business. E-bay serves two main purposes: first they give to their customers the opportunity to expose their products or items on the web for selling thought transactions and second they give to their customers free advertised linking their sites to their products. 1.2 When we talk about Marketing Mix we are referring to combined actions, or strategies, used by companies to promote its brand or product in the market. Analysing the market, is important that the marketing mix of each company look at 4P’s, (Price, Product, Promotion and Place) but we can also look at extended 7 P’s that include also People, Process and Physical evidence. Product One of the products of E-bay is the PayPal. PayPal is an online transaction business that allows E-Bay customers make the payments of their products or make financial transfers on the internet and is an alternative to offline transaction methods such as checks and money orders. E-Bay provides services to business and customers. E-Bay permits their customers make choose like colour preferences of the products or different sizes. Products on sale at E-Bay include millions of appliances, collectibles, décor, computers, vehicles, furnishings, equipment and other miscellaneous items are bought or sold, daily and give suggestions to their customers about other products that can be related or be useful when they buy certain types of products. Bill Me Later is an E-Bay service that provides secure and suitable payment method designed for making purchases on the web or via mobile phone. Rent.com is an E-Bay subsidiary which is a first pay-for-performance online rental site, this service is a business model that overtook competitors who went with subscriptions or costs-per-lead proceeds models. The company charges the companies or users when a confirmed lease is produced via the site. Shopping.com is an online market Owned by E-Bay it provides a price comparison service and operates webpages in different countries like in USA, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Australia. StubHub is a subsidiary of E-Bay which acts as an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of tickets to sporting, concert and theatre events. Skype is an economical communication tool owned by E-Bay. This application can be used on computers, mobile phones or tablets for free and provides free video call or chat with other Skype members, free text messages and normal calls or calls to landlines at low rates. At E-Bay all products have warranties, where the makes possible for customer buy a product and in case of something happen they can solve problems or ask refunding their money. Price E-Bay is not the responsible for the price of the products that are available at their website, they only apply prices or fees to businesses or customers that want to use their websites to sell their products and charges 9-percent of the final sale price of these products, up to $50. At E-Bay, sellers provides a fixed price of their products and also these fixed prices can became a dynamic prising, changing when they want to offer some discount on the prices, this way we can see the original price and down the new price with discount and provide also a bidding option. E-Bay also practices a quality click model for pricing. The system makes payment to its affiliates "by the click". In this case, sellers and buyers are charged when items are listed on the platform as non-refundable Insertion Fee ranges from 30 cents to $3.30; this depends on the seller’s opening bid on the commodity. Sellers are required to pay a fee for additional listing options to advance the promotion. A closing sale price fee is costed to a seller at the end of the sale. This fee normally ranges between 1.25% and 5% of the final sale price. Place E-Bay does not have a physic store, the only place that they sell products is on cyberspace and they can change their website according to different countries and advert their products thought Internet by doing direct marketing for them and sending emails. E-Bay provides an international site visibility feature which allows some listings created on eBay.com to be posted on international sites as well. E-Bay’s Seller Information Centre aids participants by offering information on getting started, growth strategies and shipping http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/ Promotion E-Bay allows customers to get Coupons, discounts, Promotional codes, and bargains page at DealTaker.com to attract them. The eBay Bucks Rewards Program allows customers that use PayPal on E-Bay 2% money back on qualifying purchases, and those participants gets a rewards certificate for the amount of eBay Bucks. The customers that use these services have 30 days to spend it on any eBay product, paying using PayPal. E-Bay Radio provides the latest news and views to eBay members. Process E-Bay provides helpful information to facilitate the use of its services at E-Bay University http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/starting/university.html. E-Bay facilitates transactions by providing “Daily Deals” that is a programme where permits highpoint reduced prices parties to receive a Daily Deals Alert. E-Bay has also different types of process for businesses and customers. For example for businesses, from the moment that they start using E-Bay to sell products they can sell only 50 items per month, if they want to sell more than 50 items per month they have to contact E-Bay end agreed for a new fee and start selling 100 items per month and if they thing that 100 items is not enough they do the same process and start selling 500 items per month or agreed to be a premium member and sell the number of products that they want. For customers, at the moment that they decide buy something from E-Bay they have to do the sign-in or register to the website, if is a new customer, put their email address, choose the method of payment and after this can start selling or buying products from E-Bay, after buy or sell a product they received an email asking them to give a feedback about their experience and received an promotional email for their next shop. Physical Evidence To buy or sell a product on E-Bay is necessary a registration and the number of registrations are visible for everybody. Testimonials from people that already used eBay services. People President and Chief Executive Officer John J. Donahoe Chairman of the Non-Executive Board, Pierre Omidyar President of the PayPal Thompson Scott Senior Vice President BobSwan E-Bay purchases are now controlled by a new Buyer Security Program which covers the buyers full buying price and shipping and executed via a new streamlined customer service process. E-Bay Feedback is a process that lets participants monitor their transactions reputation as an eBay member. 1.3 Comparing Internet Tools Email marketing is one of the Internet marketing tools used by E-bay. Internet marketing makes possible be in touch with millions of customers and advertise products with a click of a button, increasing the interest of their customers in their product, which often results in increased sales. Email marketing provides an important position for building relationships between E-Bay customers and E-Bay and helps increasing the levels of customer retention. When a customer has bought a product from E-Bay website, they send a follow-up email to confirm the transaction and express thanks the customer. Some of others advantages for E-Bay for using this type of marketing are the fact that is a cheap, quickly and easy way to advertise products. It is more comfortable for E-Bay customers be contacted via email, this way they can read the email anytime and anywhere using their mobile phones or laptop and emailing customers regularly with special, personalized offers helps them to keep the relationship. However use this kind of Internet marketing tool can bring some disadvantages for E-Bay, for example the fact that they spend money to send these advertised emails to their customers but peoples in-boxes get inundated all the time with solicited and unsolicited emails and all servers can cut down on the amount of unwanted emails by filtering their emails to reduce the number of spam emails received or E-Bay’s emails can never be viewed by servers. Pay per click (PPC) is another Internet tool that many companies use to get target customers or business visibility on the cyberspace and also used by E-Bay. PPC is a type of search marketing where companies use to advertise, and result of a bid on a wide range of words related to their organization and whenever a prospect subscriber clicks on their ad they pay the bid price. The higher companies bid the higher they will appear in the search results. Pay per click is usually operated through PPC providers who afterwards have search counterparts which is where their gains appear. These results often emerge as the sponsored outcomes above the standard web product on a search engine. Generally thinking about competitors, pay-per-click (PPC) is essential for targeting heavily saturated key phrases and taking traffic to the site. It gives instant presence, can be assembled quickly and traced through to conversion. This can also facilitate an early presence in the web while optimizing the search engine. PPC can also be an important role and should be viewed as a comparatively inexpensive form of advertising. The huge advantage of the PPC models is that companies only pay only for a click from the search engine to their website. This is a guaranteed qualified lead; for example, when someone has keyed in the search term and clicking as that is what they are looking for. Normally, about 40% of search engine traffic comes from Pay-Per-Click. Some of the disadvantages and advantages of PPC are summarized below: Advantages Disadvantages Provides a rapid result to be at the top of the rankings - whilst companies wait for the effects of SEO Provides competent leads - the user was searching for the services/product Not all users click on sponsored sites Once companies stop paying E-Bay will not be listed PPC can be costly, and characteristically the most attractive keywords that drive the majority of the traffic are the ones with the biggest CPC Companies must continue to pay for their clicks every month even when their PPC budget drops The day-to-day work of correctly maintaining a PPC campaign is important requiring almost every-day oversight. 1.4 Flow Chart of E-Bay Order Processing System LO 2 2.1 SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Search Engine optimization is very efficient in crawling and indexing that have an effect on documents, files, saved documents and many other WWW applications. In addition, SEO also gives the users a chance to select on a given number of websites they know is relevant to what they are searching. The unique documents searched may be in word of PDF forms, as the available search engines search and crawl all over the place, stopping when necessary and making using of the best available links. In order for SEO application to be successful, there is need for an organization to identify a particular approach that they can use to get answers for asked questions through the search of relevant pages retrieved earlier because of their relevance (Moogan, 2009). Benefits of SEO According to Taylor (2015), SEO ensures free flow of relevant and targeted traffic that happens continuously leading to increased automatic searches of Google yearly. Google has reported over 2.5 trillion searches for 2014 alone, and the organization can take advantage of the increased flow of traffic to get their relevant searches. A Company like ADT can use SEO platform to inform their clients of the changes they are undertaking as they encourage consumers to identify with their plan. Levesque (2015),agrees with Moogan (2009), that the marketing manager of ADT can use SEO to popularize their advanced technology and their commitment to give customers improved lifestyle products or services in addition to links such as ADT plus. Red bull can also make a good use of SEO because of the many celebrities they use such as well known rappers, athletes and even car race drivers to popularize their brand. Oreo can ensure that the captivating video clips to promote the cookie are activated on the search engines and are easily accessible to the potential and existing customers. It therefore means that ADT, Oreo and Red Bulls can use the SEO platform to receive exposure to their panel of clients that maybe searching for certain solutions in the name of their products. Many Web users click on a link provided by the search engines, and presented by organic results to get positive results. Generated traffic is likely to be converted is likely to receive conversion, with the internet users showing various behaviors’ in accordance to their niche, as clients go for search engines with a positive impact. Weaknesses of SEO According to Levesque (2015), the main negativity with SEO is the amount of time it takes to produce tangible results, thus not a good option for organizations that want immediate results. Getting immediate ROI is not an option with SEO; therefore, many small and medium businesses that have low operating capital may not find SEO an effective internet marketing tools. In order to become a competitor leader in your niche, firms such as Red Bulls, ADT and Oreo have to invest in the best tools , meaning they have to spend more financially, in terms of trained employees and good technology.   2.2 An example obtained from the Amazon.com website. 2.3 Guidelines on SEO According to Moogan, firms such as red bull and ADT can only manage to get good rankings if they use well-established search engines with an efficient URL structure. It is important to use a media medium that does not hide important links from the internet spiders or crawls. A firm like red bull can generate a particular key word, ensure production of rich content, and match with what the searchers use on a daily process. The content should be produced on a daily basis, and at the same time refrain from using indexed words in crafted images, therefore avoid using Company Logos (2009). LO3 3.1 Secondary market research Secondary market research is ready for use, because of early compilation and organization. Red bull can use ready reports from customer surveys indicating customer unique needs and preferences in their niche, research of methods used by competitors, or information on the product development programs they can involve in, to improve their products and services. The available secondary information help an organization to operate differently in order to provide a better environment to increase customer base and quality of goods and services provided. A firm such as ADT and Red Bull can only increase their sales by ensuring apart from attracting new customers, they have repeated sales. Secondary information is crucial in getting to know the customer needs thus the need to develop computer programs that will keep the records to be used in future to improve their businesses. 3.2 electronic Customer relationship marketing Designed online Survey Survey Title Is content marketing and social media the reason why Red Bulls have experienced increased sales? Survey Theme Web Service Survey Purpose of the survey To establish whether content marketing and social media is the reason to Red Bull’s success. Approach Establish a feedback from the various client base of Red Bull of whether they got to know and buy a red Bull can because of the aggressive content marketing and social media presence. Sample size California residents Participants Customers in the city of California Survey method or data collection method Online survey Survey Questions 7 Questions How do you describe the addictive games introduced by Red Bull? positive Neutral negative How does the games comply to innovative standards? Very well Averagely well Not well How do you describe the games in terms of meeting ‘High Quality’ standard? Very well Averagely well Not well How often do you access the Red Bull TV, as compared to games from competitors? Highly often Very often Not often Would you recommend the addictive games to your friends? Yes No What games do you like most? Which areas do you think Red Bull should improve? Consent email (1) I obtained consent from the 100 participants to allow me give them questionnaires to answer. This is a physical survey conducted by Red Bull. The Company is trying to establish if whether the games they introduced in 2011 have attracted major clients on board and promoted the sale of their products. The customers in California will answer seven questions, which will take roughly 30 minutes, and then submit. The collected Data is confidential, and other people cannot see the information, because the respondents are not required to reveal their real names. The study will help Red Bull to develop better games of high quality as they improve on existing ones. The respondents will participate voluntarily, and they are free to choose, which questions to answer and which ones to leave out. (Produce a copy of consent document). Click inside the box to certify you are 18 years and above in order to participate in the study. Privacy and Confidentiality Respondents would not reveal their real names. Appreciation Red Bull appreciates acceptance by California customers for agreeing to participate in the survey. Feedback Participants will not receive any response but the results will be posted on Red Bull face book wall.. 3.3 How to conduct a survey A good survey requires good planning and schedules to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in terms of time and finances. Red Bull, for example has to understand why they want to conduct the survey, and how it will contribute to improvement of service in their operations. Even when the firm wants to change pertinent issues in their operation, a survey is effective to understand if it will work or fail (Odden, 2015). Red Bull has to identify the right demographic, which carries its best customers in terms of critic, as well as numbers. It should be followed by developing a good design used in conducting the survey. A good design puts in consideration the population to use and why it was chosen. If possible, for better results, a firm can use more than one population or divide it in different age groups. Use enough respondents to avoid vagueness and misrepresentation. A good number of respondents also ensure quality through selection of right sample. Time is also very crucial in ensuring the respondents respond as required (MacDonald, 2010). LO4 INTERNET MARKETING PLAN 4.1 The Outline Develop a two-year marketing plan for Red Bulls to identify the various marketing avenues to advertise their products and how they can effectively use the website to increase their market share in the market. The objectives include getting more people to use the red bull drink, as well access their games on all social Medias, especially the Red Bull TV. The firm is also aiming at increasing their revenues by 50%, with half of the revenue obtained from selling the drinks, and the rest from other internet and physical activities (Levesque, 2015). Strategic plan Red bulls will strategize to increase their traffic on search engines to gain more publicity through their addictive games, send of direct mails, product development, putting advertisement through content marketing, use face book, Twitter and other chat engines, as they change their website structure Target Audience The target audience includes the youths that access the games, because they are also the major consumers of the drink. Mainly target customers that are above the age of 18 years and are active in terms of exercises and participating in sports, then during their free time, they go ahead to play games while enjoying a can of Red Bull. Budget Red Bull will spend 1,000,000 U.S Dollars to develop good SEO tools and get the best staff to manage the programs. The time span is within a period of two years, while the scope is global, because the product. 4.2 PAY PER CLICK PRESENTATION PPC Proposal The PPC Campaign includes two major Framework structures and Campaign Management. The firm wants to conduct Online marketing to succeed in Branding, Lead Generation, purchasing and sign ups. In addition, the firm can conduct research on customer base, competition, and their online presence. Generation of key words while focusing on branding, competitors, services offered, products and specific locations. Bid Optimization using CPC, CPA, and CPM model. Red Bull will develop a writing ad on brand, product, Generic, and Geography ads that make use of major key words through insertion and banner ads. The Company will launch a campaign touching on the products they want to promote, in this case all the products they produce at their firm. The firm also concentrates on the physical location and the budgetary allocation; they are willing to spend on the organization. . Red Bull can conduct campaign targeting, which concentrates on key words for the target campaign, while making use of the developed searched engines to get the key words. Since content marketing is one of the firm’s strongholds, it will use texts as well as image ads on their website and other advertisement pages, such as Amazon and Google using the analytical codes from Google, on every web page, then insert a tracking symbol that reflects the conversion rate, on a specific page to appreciate the clients. CRM integration is also beneficial, not forgetting URL reporting, analysis of keywords performance and group reporting (Alexander, 2013). Conclusion This research has mainly focused on transactional e-commerce where different products are marketed online. In this case, the research has identified various channels through which consumers can selects and buy goods. Similarly, the web hosts earn from these transactions by charging the subscribers; this model is usually Pay-per-Click. The essay has conducted both primary and secondary research in order to establish the effectiveness of the online marketing. For primary research, questionnaire was used to get information for correct and appropriate conclusion. On search engine optimization (SEO), the essay has established the advantages and disadvantages that user accrue. Among the importance is various applications that are embedded. To further explain the advantages of using SEO, the research has tracked the online advertisement of the Red bull brand of energy drink. The article can therefore conclude that online marketing has enabled many companies to effectively compete at global arena. Further, the online marketing is a lucrative business where webhosts are making millions of dollars from subscribing companies. References Red Bull Social Media success formula, http://www.digitalorganics.com.au/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/red-bull-social-media-success-formula/ Alexander, S. (2013). ‘Redibility breakthroughs: How to establish instant credibility and trust with prospects and customers’. 4th edition, New York: Harvard University Press. MacDonald, J. (2010). ‘SEO Fitness Workbook’, 3rd edition, California: University of California. Levesque, R. (2015). ‘Ask: The Counterintuitive online formula to discover exactly what your customers want to buy’. 2nd edition, New Jersey: Dunham Publishers. Odden, L (2015). ‘Optimize How to attract and engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing’1st edition, New York: Wiley publications Taylor, J. (2015). ‘Launch it: How to Use Videos, Podcasting, Online Media and Viral Marketing to Become a Recognized Expert in Any Industry’. 3rd edition, Texas: Buzz Mountain Publishing. Moogan, P. (2009). ‘The Link Building Book’, 3rd edition, New York: Wiley Publishers. Read More