Marketing on the Internet

 

Chapter 6.

Marketing on the Internet

 

6.1. Internet marketing techniques and cycles

6.2. Attracting and Tracking customers

6.3. Pros and cons of online marketing

6.4. Disadvantages of Online Marketing

 

6.1. Marketing on the Internet

Digital marketing is the marketing of products or services using digital platforms mainly on the social media, World Wide Web (WWW) and search engine but also including mobile phones, SMS, Miss Call Number and display advertising etc. As digital platforms are increasingly used by people instead of visiting physical shops, digital marketing campaigns are becoming more effective and efficient. Digital marketing methods such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing, data-driven marketing, e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, Social Media Optimization (SMO), e-mail direct marketing, display advertising, e–books and games are becoming more popular. Digital marketing now extends to non-Internet channels that provide digital media, such as mobile phone services such as bulk sms, callback, QR Code, Miss call number and on-hold mobile ring tones etc.

Traditional   v/s Digital Marketing

Traditional	Digital Marketing
Promote Product, Service or Business offline through Banners, Newspapers, Advertisement TV & radios, Pamphlets, Hoardings etc.	Promote Product, Service or Business Online through Digital Channels Laptops, Mobiles, Tabs etc.
Limited Audience	Reach out to maximum people
Global Marketing	Targeted or client specific Marketing
Non-versatile (cannot be altered after publishing)	Versatile  (can make changes in the advertisings)
Delayed Communication	Immediate Communication
Traditional Marketing methods are expensive.	Methods of Digital Marketing is Less expensive

 

Strategy of Digital Marketing

Digital marketing strategy is a term used in marketing management. It describes the six stages named as increasing visibility, customer engagement, target traffic, conversion leads, retention and performance evaluation.

Increasing Visibility

Getting found in a crowded market is a challenge for many small businesses. By selecting and implementing a few, focused marketing channels that del         nm  iver results like website, bulk email, bulk sms, google and facebook engagement ads, listing on local directories like Yellow pages, Sulekha.com, India Mart, Justdial you can increase online visibility and be found by your ideal customers. Remember that marketing is an investment, not an expense, there for you must invest wisely to achieve the greatest ROI (Return on Investment).

Customer Engagement

Customer Engagement is diversified by different perspectives and contexts of the engagement process.

These can be performed by:

·       Quality of Content

·       Website Designs

·       Visual Representation should be attractive

 

Targeted traffic

Targeted traffic is “qualified” or “quality” traffic. It means site visitors coming through to your website or landing pages from are most likely actively looking for the products, services and other information that you already have in your site. This should be the goal of your website and your overall digital marketing efforts.

The objectives must be targeted at a specific audience. The more you know the organisation knows its target audience, the more possibilities it has of fostering efficient communication and forging a significant relationship.

It could be from any type:

Inbound

Outbound

 

Conversion Leads

Conversion Lead is the point at which a recipient of a marketing message performs a desired action. In other words, conversion is simply getting someone to respond to your call-to-action.

Customer retention

Customer retention refers to the activities and actions companies and organizations take to reduce the number of customer defections. The goal of customer retention programs is to help companies retains many customers as possible, often through customer loyalty and brand loyalty initiatives.

Performance Evaluation:  A digital marketing performance evaluation is a means of measuring the success of marketing campaign or marketing activity to check whether they can be improved upon in the future. There are a few different ways like Google analytical, Cost Per Click, Search console etc. to measure the best conversion keywords, click, impression, shares, pageview and bounce rate of website etc.

Types of Digital Marketing Media

The investment in digital marketing is divided into three different types of media such as paid, own and earned. The selection of right media is depend on Digital Marketing strategy. The number of likes, favourite, comments, shares, repins, retweets are counted on social media post for the branding of the social media post.

Paid Media

Paid media refers to external marketing efforts that involve a paid placement. Paid media includes Pay Per Click advertising and display ads. Paid media is an essential component of revenue growth and brand awareness for online businesses. There is a investment to pay for visitors, reach, lead, conversion via search ad display and affiliated marketing via Google Adwords and Facebook/Instagram Ad Manager etc. tools. The benefits of paid media arein demand, immediate and at large scale.

Owned Media

Digital Marketing activites related to a company or brand that is owned by the company. It includes company own websites, blogs, mobile apps and also their presence on Social Media Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkdin etc. It is the need for all organisations to increase the digital visibility. The benefits of owned media is cost efficiency and content versatility. Some of the major challenges are take time to scale and no guarantee to reach at target audience etc.

 

Earned Media

Media activity related to a company or brand that is not directly generated by the company but rather by other entities such as customers, word of mouth, social networks or journalists. Here, customers become the channel for digital marketing via own social media channels like viral of some video or content. Earned media is the result of well organised owned and earned media. The benefits of earned media is most credible, key role in sale and without any cost. Some issues are hard to measure, no control and it can be negative etc.

6.2. Attracting and Tracking customers

 

1. Leverage the Power of Social Media

Facebook – 2.740 Billion monthly active users

YouTube’s potential advertising reach – 2.291 Billion

WhatsApp – 2 Billion monthly active users

Instagram’s potential advertising reach – 1.221 Billion

 That’s a humongous number of users.

To leverage this digital marketing technique, you need to understand where your target audience is: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or YouTube?. You’ll have to carry out campaigns over multiple channels but be careful not to push yourself too hard in the places where your audience is not.

2. Video Marketing

Did you know that more than 40% of people prefer to consume their content in a video format?

That’s why channels like YouTube and IGTV have witnessed a dramatic surge in traffic in recent years and are being leveraged by thousands of organisations globally. The truth is that when you create video content, you transmit valuable information easily to your audience.

Ask anyone, would you prefer to a read 500 words blog or watch a 3-minute engaging video to retain the same content?

 So why not leverage engaging videos to advertise your products and services and attract more customers?

6.3. Advantages of Internet Marketing

·       Low-cost promotion strategy. There’s no doubt that Internet marketing requires no large capital investment and there is no physical capital to worry about, as everything is online.

·       Reach a global market. Online marketing also lets your business reach customers around the world. Because your business isn’t limited to a particular geographic location, you can reach a much wider target audience and have a higher chance of success.

·       Reach your target market easily. Online marketing can also help you reach your target market immediately and potential customers will be able to find you with a quick search.

·       Convenient payment collections. With e-commerce enabled on your website, you’ll also be able to collect payment easily and conveniently.

·       24/7 advertising. Your online marketing will be available and visible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

·       Affiliate marketing. You can earn passive income from affiliate marketing combined with your Internet marketing.

·       Customer Relationship. It helps in building strong relationship with customers in real time. You can maintain on-going relationship with customers by sending follow-up emails about offers, new products and services.

 

 

6.4. Disadvantages of Online Marketing

·       No instant trust. Because online advertising is everywhere, there is no way for potential customers to tell if the marketing is good or bad. It can take some time for a business marketing online to gain the trust of users.

·       Competition. One of the biggest downsides to online marketing is the stiff competition. It can be very difficult to make your business and information stand out with companies around the world competing.

·       Skill and knowledge required. Online marketing today also requires a great deal of knowledge and skill to be successful.

·       Negative feedbacks about Products. They can turn your business down drastically.

·       Ads Placement. It may clutter on a web page and this may turn the customer down.

·       Requires Special Expertise. Along with the fundamental marketing, it needs understanding of search engine technology, advertising techniques, content creation, and logics to master the internet marketing.