Effects of Online Marketing

Published Date: 03 Oct 2016 Last Modified: 18 Apr 2017

Effects of Online Marketing

Index

• Introduction
• History
• Merits/Demerits
• Statement of Problem
• Review of Literature
• Methodology
• Findings
• Introduction

Ever since people have something to sell, they have used various methods and techniques to market their products in order to increase their sales.

Various methods to market products have been developed over the centuries. Advancement in technology, especially the introduction of internet has allowed the common man to access information easily within the comfort of their homes at very low costs and minimum efforts.

This has been identified as a brilliant opportunity by various multinationals as well as domestic organisations to make people aware about their services and products and to find potential consumers at a very efficient and cost effective method known as Online Marketing.

History

The process of online marketing started in the early 1990’s since the introduction of internet. Bristol-Myers, a U.S. based drug company was the first to company to advertise on the internet. The company used the internet to advertised for a drug called “Excedrin” to develop public awareness.

According to a famous business newspaper the use of World Wide Web (WWW) in promoting Excedrin resulted in a very good response from the consumers. The company Bristol-Myers had registered 30,000 consumers in their online consumers list.

Seeing the response given by the consumers to the advertisement given by Bristol-Myers, major software companies of that time like Microsoft and IBM started to invest millions of dollars on online marketing.

The website called Yahoo was the first to acquire high amounts of profits from online marketing. It was one of the first websites to show never before seen online advertisements.

The expenses incurred by various corporations in the U.S., Canada and other neighbouring countries totalled to approximately 300 billion dollars by 1996.

The online marketing started to grow when the number of internet users and home based businessmen or entrepreneurs continued to increase in America during the mid 1990's.

In 1997, the online marketing industry’s budget had already rose 1 billion dollars.

With the increasing use and accessibility of internet in cities and rural areas alike, the importance of online marketing is gradually increasing and it is now considered by many corporates as the main source of advertisement and companies have started to invest most of their funds into online marketing and e-commerce selling of products.

Statement of problem-

Why are people not attracted to online marketing?

Future of online marketing

Misuse of online marketing

Reasons-

Irritating and wastage of people’s time

False advertisements

Fear of hackers on the internet

Bad quality of products with misleading information

No one is accountable as there is no sense of personal involvement by the companies

Merits –

Reduction in costs and easy to place

Easy accessibility to full line of products

More data can be measured and collected

Faster response to the marketer by the end user

Universal accessibility through global website

Demerits-

Security and privacy problems exist

Poor reach in rural areas

Inability to identify the customer’s characteristics

Maintenance costs due to rapidly changing technology

Review of Literature

Prior work

The paper is based on the current body of knowledge in the field of Online marketing by analysing the history and scope of the subject.

Keywords

Online Marketing, Organisations, Internet Marketing, E-Mail Marketing, Social Media, Mobile Marketing, E-Commerce, Literature Review

Value

This paper will add to the body of knowledge by investigating the published work in the field of Online Marketing. Depending on this review, researchers and scholars in the field of Online Marketing can have a clearer prospective while studying this subject and contribute to the ongoing research going on this topic

Implications

This study will help the policy makers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and educators by providing a clearer view and deeper understanding for all the issues related to the field of Online Marketing

Results

It covers many areas such as E-business, E-Commerce websites, Electronic Commerce, Electronic platforms, Mobile marketing.

Methodology

The data will be collected and analysed through questionnaires which will consist of 10 questions each.

The current market situations and viewpoints of major companies which have invested in the field of Online Marketing will be taken into consideration.

Further the future prospects and innovations in the field of online marketing will be considered.

Growth and Development

In the past days, when constant content was used over the internet, any hyperlink from one website to other could be considered as a promotion for the other website. Formally, Internet promotion started in 1994, when the first economically available web browser, Netscape Navigator 1.0, was open to the public the first ever banner advertisements were sold. Since then, the Online Marketing industry has faced many problems in securing a strong hold in today’s market. The expansion in marketing expenditure was led by a growing number of corporation’s raging growth of advertising imitations. Search engine skills created the highest level of buzz.

Online promoters are beginning to request more powerful promotion models that better capture and withstand user care, like the appearance of real digital audio/visual future the standard-setting fluency of TV commercials. With online demographics becoming more varied and targeting becoming more detailed, advertiser expenditure on the Web moved out of its new stage through the past years.

3-RULES TO APPEAL NEW CONSUMERS:

•Let public know they exist:

Advertise if people don't know where they are and what they do, they can't buy from them. Advertising significantly increases their odds of accomplishment.

•Don't shock the client:

Make the client feel contented with their merchandise or provision. Provide an atmosphere that they will feel secure in. Make them feel good about spending their money. Don't scare the consumer.

•Look the portion:

They should successfully display their ability to appeal new consumers. They can do the same when they look the fragment.

Promotion Cost

Getting their message out costs cash, they have to spend cash to make cash. But if they plan to promote their business online, it also pays to know their choices before they spend money to make money online. This is a basic fact of business. Online Marketing is the one tool that they can practice to attract new consumers with a tight budget. Targeted e-mail operations, banner advertising and newsletters can all be extremely effective ways to attract fresh consumers. The key though is not in using them, but in using them correctly.

Give people reasons to buy online:

Good advertising techniques are useless without an effective message. An effective message gives people reasons to spend their money with their business. An effective message attracts new consumers.

Strategies to Enhance Online Marketing

To help him start selling online, and to help him obtain the most from their advertising dollar, I researched some of the more popular ways to advertise by soliciting the advice of advertising experts. Here's what we found out about the following advertising options.

1) Directories & Search Engines

If they own a gas station, or restaurant near an famous tourist place, they would probably advertise on a billboard along the highway to alert motorists that their business is ahead and ready to take care of their requirements. In the same way, if they plan to advertise on the information superhighway, an obvious place to do so is at high-traffic areas where they'll have the largest possible audience. The main search engines are google and bing and provide services of online advertisement. This will help to provide more hits or clicks and attract more and more consumers.

Organisation such as google has created adwords which is an inexpensive service which suggests the customer to click on the paid link as advertised by the company. The company can choose to advertise their product globally or locally and google helps companies which have recently joined online marketing to set up and attract potential consumers.

Companies only have to pay for number of clicks on the website.

2) Web Sites

As we already mentioned, it's not imperative that they have a Web site if they advertise on the Internet. If they are interested in their product or services, many consumers will be satisfied reaching them over the phone. But if they choose to have a site, they must have the power to handle questions and orders that will come to online.

An advertising expert can help they decide which parts of the site need to be updated, and how frequently, and which can remain static. An agency also can write press releases, News articles, and new product announcements that should appear on their site.

A website is also important because it helps a company to establish credibility as a business.

Easy access to information, with a website, consumers can easily access information about your business. They can see what products or services you sell, your prices, your location and much more. Whatever you decide to tell them, they can find it with a few clicks of a mouse.

Once a website is designed, you can keep it up-to-date to be relevant to your business and encourage more visitors (and potential sales).

Having a website for your business is not just an advantage; it’s an essential way to protect your business brand online. Stake your business claim on the internet or someone else will! There is a risk that if you don’t have a business website and secure a domain name relevant to your business then someone else will do it for you. The act of Cybersquatting is now less prevalent since the introduction new laws to combat it, but there is still a risk of someone innocently taking your preferred domain name. Others with a gripe against your business might use a website or social media accounts to damage your business reputation. Getting there first will allow you to protect and secure your business brand online.

Demerits-

Reliability-The information on your website might be unreliable if not updated on a regular basis. You need to ensure that changes are made when necessary and have a disclaimer with regards to the reliability of the information contained within.

Crashes & Uptime- A website that crashes is no good to anyone. This is a serious disadvantage for a business. If your website is constantly crashing or unavailable then people will not be able to find information about your business and you could miss out on potential sales. An unreliable connection could also mean a plummet in a websites search engine ranking.

Difficultly Reaching the right people- Because of the nature of the internet and the sheer number of businesses already on the World Wide Web, you may find it difficult to reach the right target audience with your website. Competition within your market may be strong and the battle for the illusive No.1 spot on Google maybe a difficult one, against a wealth of other businesses in your sector. This is not always the case and there are ways around it such as using our Competitor Insight service to learn the competitions secrets and targeting “long-tail” keyword. While Search Engine Essentials can help improve your ranking and put your business on the right footing.

Bad Publicity- Having a website risks attracting bad publicity. If a customer is unhappy with your service or products, then they may feel the need to vent their frustrations online and reference your website in their review/comments. This could be potentially damaging, hurting both your reputation and your search engine ranking. Of course, not having a website won’t prevent such things happening but it might allow you to monitor and be aware of it. Providing the best possible customer care and learning from your clients feedback is the best possible course of action to combat this problem.

Customer Service-Businesses should remember that a website should provide information to their clients, but it should not be the only resource to go to if their are problems. Google relies on its online help center and support forums to handle problems. Facebook users who have issues with the service have to contact the company by email. The inability to talk to a person directly can frustrate users. It can also leave them feeling the company has no interest in helping them, and this may cause a business to lose clients.

3) Other Options

Some businesses like to use micro sites to do special, one-time promotions that they don't want to tie in to their main site. A micro site is a Web page used for a specific, limited purpose, such as announcing a special event or offer. There are various ways available to host a micro site, whether it is done by their business or by an advertising firm. Another option is simply to link their Web site to any number of national online malls. If they don't have an online store, they can set up one through a number of services. If they want to take their business directly to their consumers, try advertising with push technology. Using push technology, programs such as PointCast deliver information automatically to a Web user's hard drive, where he or she can call it up at his or her convenience. Another minor option is interstitials, or advertisements that "pop up" on a user's screen. They appear between Web pages so they are not as intrusive as, say, a television commercial. Some of the other options available to a business are-

Blogs: A Weblog, or blog, is a collection of short articles, essays, or loosely-formatted thoughts, usually written by one individual. Since the 2004 U.S. presidential election, blogs have become extremely popular as both a medium to get your message out and a vehicle for paid advertising. Blogs also encourage reader comments, making them a valuable tool for gathering customer feedback. Companies such as Blogger (www.blogger.com) will host the companies’ blog for free.

Podcasting: Podcasts are audio files recorded in a radio talk show format. By posting podcasts on your Web site and other sites like Apple’s iTunes (www.itunes.com), consumers can subscribe to your podcasts, download them as soon as they are available, and then listen to them on their computers or portable MP3 devices.

Email Newsletters: Subscription rates to email newsletters that people actually care about reading can still be high, and unlike other types of banners that may be actively overlooked. If you can have the right contextual ad in an email newsletter, not only may people keep it, but they may also pass it along to others potential customers as well. Opposing popular belief, email marketing is far from over

Facebook Ads: These advertisements the ability target people within Facebook based on affinity, area, network and stated interest can easily compete with the best keyword marketing campaigns when it comes to application and reaching those most likely to actually act on the ad. It allows to connect the user’s account to market products of his/her interest.

Current trend in Online Marketing

Online advertising expenses are growing rapidly and are expected to reach $37 billion in the U.S. by 2011. Mobile advertising or advertising delivered through mobile devices or media is also growing substantially. Advertisers need to better comprehend the different forms, formats, and media associated with online and mobile advertising, how such advertising influences consumer behaviour, the different pricing models for such advertising, and how to frame a plan for efficiently allocating their marketing dollars to different online advertising forms, formats and media. In this article, we address these issues. We provide an overview of the current situation with regard to online and mobile advertising. We discuss the emerging trends in these areas and offer our view of the future directions.

Online advertising in India

Presently finance sector is most leading sector in online marketing and accounted about 40% of total online advertising in India

The survey estimated that the value of Internet Publicity has been double to Rs 450 crore in2007, and will valued at Rs 2,250 crore by the end of 2010, and thus increasing 10 times from 2006. This means it will overtake spends on radio, cinema and outdoor advertising in two years.

The report adds that of the Rs 210 crore was spent on Internet Publicity in 2006, display advertising contributed Rs 117.6 crore, classified was Rs 50.4 crore and search was Rs 42 crore. It estimates classified advertising to be the key driver of growth with a Rs 900 crore contribution (out of the total Rs 2,250 crore) by 2009, followed by search’s Rs 742.5 crore, and display advertising bringing in Rs 607.5 crore.

This is by far the most optimistic estimate of online advertising in India made by any research agency. The IAMAI estimated in 2006 that Internet Publicity would grow at 40 per cent and reach a value of Rs 750 crore by 2010. The FICCI-PWC reported in March 2007 that puts the figure at Rs 950 crore. Internet penetration in India is estimated to have grown at an average of 60 per cent between 2000 and 2006.

Yet, it is difficult to believe that online advertisers, a unwilling lot, will change their mind enough in two years to multiply their spend by 10.