Online Marketing and Marketing Environment - Article Example

MARKETING Online marketing Every business intends to attract new s as well as retaining the existing s, and therefore they should keep improving on their marketing styles. For this to be accomplished, marketing variables such as price, advertisement and channel of advertisement should be aligned in such a way that they fully satisfy the existing customers as well as the new customers. Over the years, marketing tools such as television advertisements, mails, personal selling among others has been used to advertise businesses. The prevailing technology changes have brought about the emergence of online marketing which comes in the form of screen-to –face interfaces. Marketing is defined as any activity undertaken by an organization in relation to buying and selling products with the aim increasing the margin of sales, purchases and profits. It involves processes such as pricing, promotion and distribution of products so as to satisfy the customers more and also benefit the organization. Marketing is a combination of steps and operations which widen the pool of customers as well as creating loyalty in the existing customers. Successful marketing is achieved through a universal approach which involves market analysis, market planning, implementation and finally market control. Online marketing which is also called internet marketing is defined as any efforts done solely over the internet in order to attract new customers or maintain the existing customers. This form of marketing utilizes various internet marketing tools to drive traffic to the website of the advertiser (Hamill and Karl 19). The common tools of marketing include banner advertisement, emails, and pay per click and are used to bring value to the advertiser (Lee, 67). This form of marketing is growing rapidly since more and more people are becoming internet literate and hence it is able to reach a large pool of potential customers. Internet marketing builds and maintains positive customer relationships through online activities whereby the customer and the advertiser can exchange ideas, products and even services. Internet marketing was introduced many decades ago but has not receives full appreciation until the recent years. Those who first used it did not fully utilize the unique characteristics it has and hence it has gained popularity at a slow rate. The Internet is composed of numerous marketing features that organizations require to fully explore in order to enjoy the unlimited benefits. The marketing features in the internet should be incorporated in the marketing strategies of an organization so that it maximizes on the returns from this unique advertisement tool. Internet marketing is advantageous since increases the chances of interaction between the customer and the advertiser and hence the advertisers are in a position to gather information that will enable them adjust their products to fit the consumer needs (Brown and Goolsbee 137). Interactivity of the internet therefore makes it more advantageous over the common methods of advertisement where interactivity if any is very minimal. Interactivity with the customer leads to a higher level of involvement which consequently brings about increase in customer loyalty and increased chances of purchase to a potential buyer. Online marketing allows the advertiser to showcase all the products that they are producing all on a single platform. This feature allows a customer to be aware of other products apart from the product he/she was looking for and it may also prompt the, to purchasing an extra commodity other than the product they initially intended to purchase. The advertiser is also able to include a lot of information about a product which benefits the customer and hence creates product loyalty. With online marketing, the organization has global access of customers, information and also sources of raw materials (Brown and Goolsbee 119). This means that by virtue of being in the internet the marketer is able to reach customers all over the globe, get information from the customers and similar product producers, and also get information on where to outsource the raw materials of the product they manufacture at a cheaper cost. Internet marketing eliminates all barriers of global commerce mainly experienced by small businesses since they are able to reach as many customers as the big companies do. Economist say that time is money and should be fully utilized in order to realize more profits. Online marketing is the fastest mode of advertisement and it is time independent since it can be accessed at any particular time. Unlike other forms of advertisement, it does not require any physical presence of a staff and is hence very independent. The web is available for access for twenty four hours unlike the other modes of advertisement such as personal selling which are only active on working hours of the staff. The internet satisfies the customers more since unlike in other advertisement tools they get what they are searching for rather than what is being advertised to them. Apart from removing the geographical boundaries, time barriers and lack of access, looking for products on the internet is interesting to the customer since it is interest driven. Presence of the internet has changed the market from offline to online and all marketing feature have been replicated in the virtual world. It offers an opportunity to showcase promotions, product histories and detailed information that cannot be experiences in the traditional offline media (Jones, and Barry, 46). The web offers features such as click to buy which gives marketers a greater promotional freedom than what is in the offline world. The internet has reduced the complex chains of distribution channels in the market and it is therefore less involving. The middlemen re eliminated since the buyers purchase the products directly from the processor and obviously at a cheaper cost. Despite the few limitations in terms of bandwidth and level of technology, the world is adapting to this new form of comprehensive advertisement. However online marketing also has negative aspects and hence cannot be fully satisfying unless integrated with the normal modes of advertisement. In conclusion, online marketing has numerous advantages to both the advertiser and the consumer and therefore every business should strive to utilize it. The features it comes with such as interactivity, global access, time independence and global access cannot be enjoyed in any other form of advertisement Marketing environment In marketing, environment is defined as any direct or indirect force that affects or has influence of the capability of an organization to carry out its business. The marketing environment is composed of forces that a business has no direct control over, but they affect the functionality of the business and its ability to fully satisfy its consumer’s needs. The market environment is composed of the macro environment which is the societal influence and the microenvironment which is the organization related influence (Kilbourne and Beckmann 732) The internal environment is composed those factors inside the organization that affect its marketing operations either positively or negatively. It consists of the stakeholders of the organization, functional areas within the firm, existing products and the companies marketing strategies. The companies nature such as its manufacturing ability, distribution capacity and marketing strength are also included it the internal marketing environment. The marketing staff should be considerate of the internal factors before formulating any marketing strategies in order to ensure that they succeed. The external environment is classified into two major categories which are micro and macro environment (Kilbourne and Beckmann 699). Understanding the macro and micro environments is important in planning on marketing strategies since it helps the company device methods of effectively competing with rivals, and easily identifying threats and opportunities. Any factors concerning the organization are called internal factors, and they fall under the five Ms’ of marketing. The five Ms’ are Men, Money, Machinery, Materials and Markets, and they are all important internal factors that can be used to influence the external environment positively. The five Ms’ of marketing are addressed in different departments in the organizational structure. The departments involved are the human resource department, the operations department, the accounting department and the research and development department although it differs depending on the structural organization of the firm. The method by which resources are allocated in the organization determines the quality of output that the organization will have. It is therefore important that the resources are allocated well within the organization so that the quality and quantity of output is maximized (Dillon 459). All departments in the organization should work cordially so that they support the marketing team by ensuring that the quality of production is high, and information is passed on effectively. Every organizations culture and attitude of its stakeholders should be quality oriented so that the customers are attracted to its products. Suppliers are a component of the internal environment since they are the people who determine the quality of output by controlling the quality of input. Positive or negative development of the suppliers directly affects the company and has a substantial impact on the marketing operations of the company. A company lowers or increases the cost of its products depending on the cost of inputs that are supplied to them. Every company should therefore monitor their supplies and should not over depend on the supplier. Market intermediates such as distributing agencies and middlemen also have an impact on the business since they add an additional cost on the product that may end up making a customer forego purchasing that commodity. Customers are classified as either, consumer market, reseller market, industrial market or either international market and they all have different requirements. The company should therefore study its customer markets closely to ensure that it understands their needs that often change and satisfy them accordingly. Constant communication with the customers builds positive relationships that boost the levels of sales and customer loyalty. No company stands alone in satisfying consumer needs, and they often face competition that influences marketing strategies and tactics. Every company therefore needs to adopt means of maneuvering through competition in order to come out successful. The best ways of dealing with competition is taking the view of the buyer and improving the price or performance of a commodity. Alternatively a company may also withdraw from the business with high competition and focus on the areas where it has a stronger competitive advantage. The general public, who are any group that has an interest in the company, also affects the marketing ability of a company. Financial public such as the bank could influence a company since they control its ability to get funds (Dillon 455). Media public influence a company since they carry out news and editorial opinions in newspapers and televisions and they may influence the public positively or negatively and hence affect the company. The local public who consist of the people in the location of the company could influence the company since any company is bound by law to benefit the people in its location (Kilbourne and Beckmann 692). The company should also be concerned about the general public attitude and opinion towards them since they form the majority of the customers. Internal public that consists of the members of a company ranging from its workers, managers and its directors, also affects the marketing ability of the company and their coordination is paramount. Societal factors such as demographics, the economy, technological levels, political environment and cultural forces affect business operations, and they are all categorized in the macro environment (Fitzen 75). They form factors that do not concern the immediate environment, but affect the business. The government and its agencies are responsible for the formulation of laws, and such laws can either affect a business positively or negatively. The government has the power to increase legislation or impose taxes, and such actions are beyond the control of the company. The success of an organization largely depends on the economy of the country, but they have minimal control over it. Factors of the economy such as income rates and income distribution influence a company’s marketing ability. The buying power of the customers s determined by the economy and hence it affects the purchase levels of a company’s products. A business is bound to follow the economy cycle of the country in which it exists such that in times of economic recession and depression their profits reduce and in times of recovery and boom they experience high profits (Kilbourne and Beckmann 692). Social-cultural forces determine the sales of a company since the cultures of a community may either promote the company’s sales or demote them. A company does not determine on the social and cultural acceptability of their products. The level of sales of a company also depends on demographic factors such as age and sex, but they have no control over them. Factors like an aging population or a change in family structure could determine the level of demand of a certain product. The marketing team should therefore consider these factors and device on ways make their products adaptable to the demographic situation at hand. Demographic factors influence the behavior of consumers and in turn directly create an impact on the market. Technology changes are inevitable, and people tend to follow new technologies that could either be a positive or negative influence to the products of a company (Dillon 455). Very company should therefore ensure that their products conform the new technology, and they should keep changing with improvements in technology. However, technological changes are expensive to implement and mostly are un-affordable to many companies. On the other hand, new technologies make production cost cheaper, and once implemented will lead to more profits in the future. The natural environment is the producer of natural resources that are needed by the manufacturers and is also a factor that affects marketing. Issues concerning the natural environment such as availability of natural resources, cost of energy and pollution directly affect marketing activities. The external macro environment factors can be evaluated using the PEST analysis which describes their framework. It is important for a business to perform the analysis so that they are informed on where the environment is heading to and have information on the current trends that are favorable to the business (Dillon 455). The analysis also shows the scope of opportunities and threats and hence enables the managers make important decisions. In conclusion, the marketing environment consists of factors that are controllable and others that cannot be controlled. Marketing officials should therefore capitalize on the factors that they can control and try to adapt to those they cannot control. Understanding the marketing environment is key to the success of an organization in the current unstable economic conditions that are normally accompanied by customer’s tightened budgets Works Cited Brown, J. R., & Goolsbee, A. Does the Internet Make Markets More Competitive? Evidence from the Life Insurance Industry. Journal of Political Economy, 1(2), (2011),97-143. doi:10.1086/339714 Dillon, William R. (2012) Marketing research in a marketing environment. Journal of Marketing , 7(12), 450-611) .doi:10.254/63161249247 Fitzen, Lena. Marketing Environment: What Factors "internal "to an Organisation Can Have an Influence on the Way It Perceives and Responds to Its External Environment?München: GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2011. Print Hamill, Jim, and Karl Gregory. "Internet marketing in the internationalisation of UK SMEs." Journal of Marketing Management 13.1-3 (2012): 9-28. Jones, Susan K, and Barry Silverstein. Business-to-business Internet Marketing: Seven Proven Strategies for Increasing Profits Through Internet Direct Marketing. Gulf Breeze, FL: Maximum Press, 2010. Print. Kilbourne, W., & Beckmann, S. (2013). Review and Critical Assessment of Research on Marketing and the Environment. Journal of Marketing Management, 5(11), 655-789. doi:10.1362/026725798784867716 Lee, Ook. Internet Marketing Research: Theory and Practice. Hershey, Pa: Idea Group Pub, 2014. Print. Read More