MARKETING ON THE INTERNET

Defining the Internet

The internet is basically the globalnetwork of computers storing and transporting information as well as presenting it generally on-screen for use when invoked.

Internet marketing may be defined as:

Using the world-wide web to perform marketing functions.

In the last three decades, the internet has perhaps been the most revolutionary addition to the traditional marketing communication tools like television, newspapers, magazines and radio.

Internet marketing occurs when digital media collaborates with conventional communication tools like radio, television and newspapers in marketing activities.

Benefits and weaknesses of Internet Marketing

What are some of the potential benefits the internet brings to the African global business player? Well, it brings a number of unique marketing possibilities which include:

·          Wider, versatile communication at relatively low cost.  

A small business with limited resources can reach the same global audience accessed by bigger, more financially capable firms.

A wide array of marketing communication is possible. It includes advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing relationship-building and product updates.

Advertising is non-personal, paid marketing communication by an identified promoter of goods, services or other types of product, normally using media like radio and newspaper that reach a wide audience.

Sales promotion is short-term marketing communication frequently aimed at immediately raising sales and rejuvenating interest in a product.

Direct marketing is communication in which a prospective buyer is reached with a taylor-made message and prompted to act in a certain way, such as placing an order.

Relationship-marketing is the cultivation of long-term partnerships with customers.

 The two-way communication capability of the internet (via email, for example) improves the pace of business and helps prevent or keep minimal cost-escalation caused by passage of time.

Older media like newspapers, billboards, television and radio do not give the combination of flexibilities and cost-savings available in internet marketing. 

·          Stock-ordering and selling. 

Businesses can use the internet to ‘window-shop’ and order inputs from their suppliers, and sell to their own customers.

In the case of products like books, newspapers, movies, news and music, the actual product can be sent to the client as a digital copy. This way, the internet serves as a global distribution medium. Distribution, as we saw earlier in this chapter, is one of the four key marketing mix variables.

·          Increasing sales volume. 

The wider exposure made possible by the internet means greater sales figures are also possible – from across the globe. Using traditional media, this level of exposure would have big cost implications, and be a real limitation for small businesses.

·          Holding onto mobile customers. 

The internet minimises distance-sensitivity of business. It creates greater capacity to maintain communication with customers who have moved farther away, and therefore increasing the possibility of continued loyalty.

·          Spreading information. 

Companies can use the internet to disseminate general information including staff movement, share value and policy changes.

·          Web analytics.  

 Web analytics enable instant collection of statistics on the market and market behaviour. The information enables (quicker) decision-making by business people.

·          ‘Beating night’. 

 Both ordering of production inputs and selling can take place round the clock, making it possible to accomplish more in a day than when human beings (who have to rest, for instance) are used. 

  

The internet as a marketing tool also has weaknesses. For example, some potential customers might still not be excited enough by an internet advertisement until they see the actual offering or get middleman assistance. Naturally, the fear is that a product may not live up to the hype on the internet.

Another challenge is that competition can increase, as the products of across-the-globe marketers who may otherwise prefer to concentrate on their local markets also have increased visibility: customers, understandably, normally go for the best package of offers. 

Despite challenges like the above, African entrepreneurships, many with not enough resources to reach the world using the customary (but indeed still very useful) communication means like television, newspaper and radio, or opening physical subsidiaries abroad, perhaps have an indispensable means of competing with gigantic firms on the world stage. Besides, even if the internet can increase competition, the larger exposure can also have the effect of bringing more potential buyers.

The challenge, quite clearly, is how to take advantage of the revolutionary capabilities of the internet.

General Marketing Strategy on the Internet

The internet is basically a communications channel. So, internet marketing must be seen as use of an additional communications tool to further promote business.

The fundamental aspirations of business people are the same irrespective of marketing instrument used. For example, profit remains the main focal point. The marketer only takes advantage of the possibilities and opportunities presented by the internet to do their job better.

The internet has to work in conjunction with other information channels like magazine, billboard, radio, mobile advertising, newspaper and television. What the internet must achieve, and how, (taking into account its capabilities like interactivity, wide reach, video, sound, general inexpensiveness, two-way communication, text and memory) must be clearly defined, just as with other communication media like television.  

Some Internet Marketing Tools

The internet offers numerous technical instruments for performing marketing functions. A few of the best known are listed and explained below.

Websites and blogs

A website is an address or location on the internet where information about a particular subject is found. Creating a website therefore means giving a globally visible and accessible ‘residence’ to any or all of the following:

·          The business.

·          The enterprise’s products.

·          Purchasing point.

·          Information exchange centre.

A good website needs to be user-friendly, so that visitors are able to easily get the services they require, such as placing an order or making clarifications they consider important to them.

Blogs, like websites, are internet ‘homes’, but are normally used as news update centres of individuals, groups or organisations, both commercial and non-commercial. Increasingly, businesses have placed their adverts on popular blogs (those that enjoy interesting content and frequent visits). Many blogs are maintain a single theme, such as gardening.

A blog is simply an internet information centre.

E-mail

Electronic mail (e-mail) enables sending and receiving of digital messages. 

Marketers are able to cost-effectively and quickly communicate with suppliers, customers and intermediaries such as insurers and bankers. They can, for instance, easily send customers a digital copy of the product with prices and specifications and prompt them to buy. They can also send regular news bulletins to keep customers up-to-date and loyal to their brands and company.       

Social and Professional Media

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are examples of internet platforms that provide marketers an opportunity to ‘meet’ customers, through advertisements.

Extranet

The extranet is a closed internet in which a marketer is able to share information with suppliers or other parties, usually in the same business environment, to improve collaboration.