E-Marketing Concepts and Elements - Essay Example

INTERNET MARKETING Location Internet Marketing 0 E-Marketing Concepts and Elements 0 Introduction Since the advent of the Internet age marketing has transformed drastically. The Internet has emerged as a force in the marketing sector and has become an important marketing tool for any business that aims at reaching the masses. It can be by organizations as an importance of the modern marketing concept because; it can support a broad range of processes and functions that take services and products to customers and other relevant stakeholders. Therefore, a powerful medium integrates and maintains the different parts of an organisation. It also facilitates management of information, which is an important support tool for strategy formulation and implementation. The Internet should play an integral part in the vision and mission of any company. 1.1 Elements of Internet marketing Internet marketing or internet-based marketing, online marketing, E-marketing can refer to the utilization of the Internet and other related digital technologies to meet marketing goals and support modern concepts of marketing. It utilizes technologies cable, satellite, mobile wireless media and other forms of digital media. Internet marketing operates on the following elements depending on the type and business nature; email marketing, which includes the design and development of the Email, the display, measure and list of the emails. Social media marketing, which includes blogging, shared content on the Internet and social networks. Directories and listings that include free listings paid listings and rating and reviews (Laudon & Traver 2002). Search engine marketing, which include: SED and PPC. Online advertising that include Ad networks, Blogs and affiliates. Public relations include articles, press release, and white papers. These elements are the most important aspects, and play a big role in the strategies that companies use to choose the marketing plan that they will deploy in their business. E-commerce is the inter-organizational business activates that are technologically and electronically mediated while E- business refers to the application of information technology in internal companies process and actives during business and commercials tasks. The benefits of Internet marketing are; it enables marketing and communication to be faster and cheaper, it enables business to communicate with its customers who may be near or far. Similarly, it can be used by business to collect information on customer, and that can be used to improve the future products. It also enables business to communicate with their customers directly and faster compared to other types of marketing, and it can also improve the quality and scope of their Internet research (Ilves 2011). 1.2 Internet marketing mix The marketing mix mostly referred to, as the 4Ps are the method of changing marketing plans into practice. Entrepreneurs possess four variables; promotion, product, price and place, which are adjustable to attract customers and increase their market share. The marketing mix is a powerful concept because; it simplifies marketing by separating the marketing activates of the one of the companies and assigns them to marketing experts. The implementation of various elements of the mix can improve a companies competitiveness. The 4Ps that constitute a marketing mix are as below. Place-It refers to all the mechanisms that are involved in coordinating the product from the production point to the consumption point. EBay has an international website that allows products to be listed on other international sites. Accordingly, the users of this site see the listing of products the same way as the user in the U.S (Forbes 2000). Promotion-It refers to all the ways in which deliberate communication can occur between a business organisation, its consumers, partners or the general pubic, with an array of promotional methods and techniques. EBay has many promotional programs like the Bucks Rewards Program, which gives pay pal customer on EBay two percent back on qualifying purchases (Schumann & Thorson 2007). Price-It can be described as the total cost that the client has to bear so that they can be able to obtain, access or use the product, which include both the financial and non-financial factors. EBay with its new pricing policies has removed upfront listing fees (for auctions). Product-It refers services or goods that a business can offer to the market, and that can be used to provide a solution for the need. Similarly, the are applicable as a way of meeting a need or employed in the process of making another thing. EBay offers a platform where buying and selling of goods can take place. It also provides a web-based communication and payment services (Alsmadi & Saeed 2013). 1.3 Internet marketing tools They are the materials and techniques used by relevant individuals in the promotion of good and services. The internet marketing platform comes diverse with many tools that facilitate the process in a digital marketing environment. EBay, for instance, incorporates numerous tools into its marketing strategy, which range from online websites software to desktop applications. The following are examples of the tools used by eBay to manage their e-commerce business. Auction sound is software used by eBay to maintain the auctioning of their products in the online inventory. Cosmos central enables the users to upload their products online from their stores to the eBay account- this facilitates the use of eBay as a global leader in marketing and sales. Hence, the company can better make sales and profit. From the exposure, eBay provides; the robust commerce is a multichannel platform that allows us to sell and have their businesses list on more than one store or platform. It includes the eBay shop, Amazon, and many others (Meeker 1997). 1.4 Interactive order processing The target and objectives of Internet marketing are directly focusing on developing the Internet as a means of interaction without necessitating the physical presence of the parties (Scn Education 2000). The Internet provides a better platform for a variety of Internet tools that help the users to advertise their products on a similar platform. The social sites used are usually very interactive. EBay, for example, uses the concept of the Internet platform where customers interact in real time with the marketers and negotiate to sell or buy a given product at a particular prize. This interaction helps them agree beforehand without demanding the physical presence of the two parties involved (Zeff & Aronson 1999). 2.0 Website Promotion Proposal 2.1 Search engine marketing Search engine marketing is a type of Internet marketing, which promotes Internet websites by increasing their visibility on pages that result from search engines through advertising and optimization. Search engine optimization is the rewriting or adjusting of the content that is contained in search engine results so that one can achieve a higher ranking of the search engine results. Pay per click listings can also be a viable option that can improve the results (Korper & Ellis 2001). There are quite a number of methods that can be used for website optimization. Back-end tools-It can be described as the use of HTML validators and web analysis tools, to provide data on the website and to its visitors and that can allow the measurement of website success. Keyword research and analysis; it usually involves the use of three steps to ensure that websites are indexed in the search engines. The other two optimization methods are site saturation and popularity, which is simply the presence of a given website on different search engines. Similarly, the use tools to reveal the website owners and this can be used to provide valuable information on copyright and trademark matters (Rosen 2000). 2.2 Opt-in email marketing Opt-email marketing, opt-in email advertising or permission marketing is a way of conducting advertising through email, but where the recipient of the advert has allowed receiving it. This service requires the recipient of the email and who is a future potential contact to respond the confirmation request that is contained in the first email. If he or she does not respond to the request, it means they are not interested, and they will not receive any further emails Communication from the advertising company. They are three types of Opt-in email advertising namely; single opt-in, double opt-in, and the confirmed opt-in email (Caves 2000). This kind of marketing is exquisite for both the potential customer and the advertising company. Therefore, it is an industry best practice. Some of these benefits include; It reduces the chances receiving spam complaints with your mailing address, by ensuring that the readers receive the emails. An example of an Opt-in email is as below: Dear John The editor and the entire staff of the Holy Ghost newsletter would like to take this opportunity to thank you for interest that you have shown to our newsletter. In an effort to keep the mailing list up to date and ensuring that there is no receiving wrong mails, we are asking you for permission to continue sending our monthly newsletter to you. If you still want to continue receiving our newsletter, please click on the link below. We assure you that this is the best and the safest way to continue with your subscription. Confirm your subscription by clicking below Confirm Subscription The confirmation is to protect you fro spam mail; if you do not respond will no longer include you in our mailing address. Thanks once more for your continued loyalty through the years. France Smith The Holy Ghost Newsletter 2.3 online public relations It is a discipline concerned with information exchange. It usually involves institution management that pass out or convey the information to either an external or an internal audience. Similarly, to some degree trying to also receive information from a wide ranch of stakeholder. With the advent of the Internet, a new age of communication and a public relation has come. The Internet has affected both the way and nature people and organizations communicate with each other (Westland & Clark 1999). 2.3.1 Best practices The first thing for an organization is to organize a message that will be compliment its communication plan. The next thing is to come up with a guide for the organizations online presence. Identify channels that can be to reach out to the target demography or audience. From the time to time, the company should share important and newsworthy content. As your online presence increases, you should engage and react with the public and give responses. Make sure that all the online communication objectives and goals are achievable as the presence increases (Egendorf 2006). The tools, channels and outlets used include; Social Media, which engages and encourages interactions and conversations. It also increases the organizations visibility and transparency and to reply quickly to both negative and positive criticism of the organization. Newsletters, which expand the communication audience, have easy access to the target market. Blogging, which can be a space for a more in-depth and specific conversation (Rajput 2000). 2.4 New digital media communities Utilization of new media communities such as social media has become a crucial part of online advertising for many business companies. The new media community example that we are going to examine is the social media (Minnesota Continuing Legal Education 2000). An organization can use the social media to promote their business and brand. Similarly, the social platform can inform customers about the services and goods. Accordinlgy, the organization can inquire about the customers opinion regarding their services and products to attract new customers and build stronger ties with the existing customers. Social media has a broad reach, ability to target particular groups or demography, its very cheap or even free, allows for personal interaction and communication with customers, its fast and easy to use (Janoschka 2004). 3.0 E-Marketing Plan 3.1 Secondary market research Secondary market research can be described market research basing on the use of secondary resources that are already in existence. These resources include both an organizations internal information and data and externally sourced information or data, and, which explore the market and address marketing problems that organizations face. The data and information obtained can be use as a reference point to measure the accuracy of the primary data and information. Secondary information provides enough information and which can solve existing problems. The companies can also get valuable information that may be relevant to use in the primary, and it be obtained by sifting through the secondary data (Cohan 2000). 3.2 Online surveys Online or electronic survey has become more widely used since it emerged about fifteen years ago. There are two types of electronic surveys namely; email survey and web-based survey. Electronic surveys provide both small and big organizations with a platform to collect data in large scale. The following are the items considered when designing online surveys; whether it will support multiple platforms and browsers, the different control of the browser settings, ensure that it will be able to prevent multiple submissions automatically. Similarly, it should present the questions in an adaptive and logical manner, should allow ways to save before completion, provide alterations of the surveys and many more other considerations (Goldstein & Oconnor 2002). 3.3 Electronic customer relationship marketing It is a concept that comes from e-commerce. Initially, organizations could build market relations using the traditional ways but with the advent of the Internet, they can be able to interact electronically. Most organizations have databases that store customer information and this information is crucial because the company to produces better goods, and services can use it. Customer relationship marketing is about relationship between individual using electronic customer relationship management. Customer relationship management (E-CRM) is an intergraded marketing, online sales, and service strategy that identify, attract, and retain consumers. E-CRM provides historical and profile information of each interaction the company has with the consumers, and hence it is crucial tool for both small and medium-sized businesses (Lowe & Henderson-Sellers 2003). 4.2 Pay per click advertising Internet advertising directs traffic to a particular websites. Similarly, advertisers pay the publishers each time the advert is click on by the Internet user. It is money spent to ensure that users click on the advertisement. Most advertisers pay for keywords or phrases relevant in their area of specialization that are frequently applicable to the search engines (Korper & Ellis 2001). The content sites typically charge a fixed price for each click rather allowing the advertisers to bid or suggest a price. Banner ads or PPC adverts shown on search engines or websites results with related information that have accepted to display the ads. Therefore, they are different in the portal that seeks to drive and generate a high volume of to an individual site (Hasting 2008). References Alsmadi, I., & Saeed, S. (2013). Toward Agile Interactive Software Development Process Models for Crowd Source Projects. Caves, R. E. (2000). Creative industries: contracts between art and commerce. Cambridge, Mass, Harvard University Press. Cohan, P. S. (2000). E-profit high payoff strategies for capturing the e-commerce edge. New York, AMACOM. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=17102. Egendorf, L. K. (2006). Advertising. Farmington Hills, MI, Greenhaven Press. Forbes, T. (2000). Advertising. Gloucester, Mass, Rockport Publishers. Goldstein, A. E., & Oconnor, D. C. (2002). Electronic commerce for development. Paris, OECD, Development Centre of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Hasting (2008). Improve your Marketting to grow your Business. Wharton School Publishing http://lib.myilibrary.com?id=262846. Ilves, L. S. (2011). Internet advertising and sales. Hauppauge, N.Y., Nova Science Publishers. Janoschka, A. (2004). Web advertising new forms of communication on the Internet. Amsterdam, John Benjamins Pub. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=148669. Korper, S., & Ellis, J. (2001). The e-commerce book building the e-empire. San Diego, CA, Academic Press. http://www.engineeringvillage.com/controller/servlet/OpenURL?genre=book&isbn=9780124211612. Korper, S., & Ellis, J. (2001). The e-commerce book building the e-empire. San Diego, CA, Academic Press. http://www.engineeringvillage.com/controller/servlet/OpenURL?genre=book&isbn=9780124211612. Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. G. (2002). E-commerce: business, technology, society. Boston, Addison Wesley. Lowe, D., & Henderson-Sellers, B. (January 01, 2003). Characterizing Web Systems. Meeker, M. (1997). The internet advertising report. New York, N.Y., HarperBusiness. Minnesota Continuing Legal Education. (2000). E Commerce. St. Paul, MN, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education. Rajput, W. E. (2000). E-Commerce systems architecture and applications. Boston, Mass, Artech House. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=1081. Rosen, A. (2000). The E-commerce question and answer book a survival guide for business managers. New York, N.Y., AMACOM. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=8545. Schumann, D. W., & Thorson, E. (2007). Internet advertising: theory and research. Mahwah, N.J., Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Scn Education B.V. (2000). Webvertising: the ultimate Internet advertising guide. Braunschweig, Vieweg. Westland, J. C., & Clark, T. H. K. (1999). Global electronic commerce theory and case studies. Cambridge, Mass, MIT Press. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=1134. Zeff, R. L., & Aronson, B. (1999). Advertising on the Internet. New York, Wiley. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=26108. Read More