UNIT III

THE BASICS OF INTERNET MARKETING

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this unit, the students are expected to:
 Define Internet Marketing.
 Familiarize and understand with the different types of internet marketing

In a world where every business has to fight for a share of the customers’ attention, marketing plays a huge role in
boosting the number and interest of a company’s clientele. With the gradual increase in the number of small and large
businesses that have sprung up in the last two decades, domestic and international markets have become saturated with
suppliers, manufacturers and intermediaries, all striving to be the first ones to make it to the end of the chain.
Until only a few years ago, marketing itself was a highly criticized concept. For many, it was nothing more than a waste of
resources that could be spent better if they were invested in manufacturing and building of sales force. This sales-oriented
approach makes businesses push products and services into the market, rather than creating a pull that customers would
not be able to resist.
Marketing manages to do just that. With creatively designed strategies and concepts, the promotional campaigns of goods
and services slowly began to play an important role in the overall mission of a business, achieving sales targets as well as
creating much needed awareness. Thus, the role of physical marketing became clearer and more defined. Today, a
successful business cannot even think about producing goods and services without having an authentic marketing
strategy in place.
Therefore, marketing is a business’s ammunition in front of a market that is full of choosy, precise and curious customers. It
helps the business to answer questions, solve problems, present solutions and build long-term associations with the
customers. A similar concept that has surfaced in the 21st century is that of online marketing. The move to a virtual world
has been the result of the saturation of the market that has been mentioned here. With more and more businesses looking
to attract customers, the internet became an efficient way to reach a large audience and to market one product or service
on different vehicles and through different perspectives. Online marketing soon turned out to be a massive industry that
today deals in billions of dollars’ worth of advertisements. However, just like many struggled to understand the importance
and need for physical marketing strategies, adopting online marketing as a norm has not been easy for many old-school
businesses. Since they have been functioning just fine with a brick and mortar presence, for them, online marketing might
seem quite unnecessary. How can this perception be changed? What is it that marketers can do to create and increase
awareness about online marketing?
The answer is quite simple. Ask an average individual about online marketing; they may stop for a second or two to collect
their thoughts before giving an answer. The concept of online marketing is not quite clear to people yet. While millions of
businesses worldwide have jumped on the bandwagon of online marketing, not to mention the early adopters of this
practice, a million others are still contemplating whether it is worth adopting.
This e-book will prove how useful understanding what online marketing actually is, and it will look at how this modern
technique can help to spring a business up from being average to extraordinary.

WHAT IS INTERNET MARKETING?

Internet marketing, or online marketing, refers to the promotion of goods and services on the internet. The online world
acts as a medium to communicate messages that a business drafts for its audience. Online marketing is also synonymous
with online advertising.
It is essential to understand that online marketing is not second to traditional marketing. Nor is it a complimentary service
that you can use to boost your marketing efforts on other mediums. Instead, online marketing is a hardcore way to
promote a business and make it known to an audience that is bombarded with tons of similar stimuli every minute of the
day.
Perhaps the very foundation of online marketing lies in finding newer ways to reach customers and markets that would be
interested in what a business has to offer. Since traditional mediums like newspaper, prints and TVs have
been tried over and over again, a new and creative internet marketing idea seems to be the fresh start that modern
businesses so desperately need.
Another reason why internet marketing has gained so much momentum in the last few years is that, by using this method,
many companies and business owners aim to break the clutter that has piled up because of nonstop marketing efforts.
Every company and every business, in an attempt to attract customers, indulge in various marketing tactics, like an ad in
the local newspaper or a TVs campaign that can be viewed on various channels.
When combined, all these campaigns lead to an overload and customers usually become resistant to such attempts.
Internet marketing provides a different way to do the same activities, and cash in on high consumer interest as well.
Coupled with this, increased internet usage is another factor that has made this marketing alternative quite a hit.
According to statistics, 80% of the people in the United States use the internet regularly. Out of these, 97% use it to
search for products that they eventually end up buying. Google research reveals that 10.3 billion searches are conducted
online result in nine out of 10 product/business follow-ups. With such high rates of internet usage and the possibility of
customers getting back to you, wouldn’t you want your small business to have a face in the realm of the World Wide Web?
However, the dilemma comes in when owners of small business, who rightly play the part of marketer, administrator and
finance office as well, voice that they do not have time to keep their online presence updated. With such a bleak outlook of
even trying to take advantage of the internet, these companies often ignore one of the biggest consumer touch points of
the 21st century.
>Not only does such a business let go of an opportunity to grow and mature with the market, it also sets itself up to lose to
the competition. Businesses that compete with you, directly or indirectly, can make tremendous profits and convert
potential sales leads into loyal customers by taking advantage of being present on the internet.
Therefore, it is essential for a small business working in the global economy to make use of internet marketing. Even if
you do not have the resources to spend on an e-commerce website, at least make sure you are listed in the online yellow
pages directory. When customers conduct a quick search for the product they want, your company name will be
displayed.
Approximately 48% of all customers using the internet to search for businesses use the Yellow Pages Directory, which is
available online. As it will be discussed in later sections, there are many ways to market your business on the internet,
using either free or paid solutions depending on the budget you have to assign to internet marketing. Using these
methods is an excellent way to make sure you are heard and seen on the internet.

TYPES OF ONLINE MARKETING

Online marketing has become a mandatory part of a business’s promotional strategy. No campaign is complete without a
representation on the internet. Leaving out this medium means giving up your customers to the competitor! Being a
primary source of information for millions of people, the internet opens up avenues to look for products and businesses by
breaking geographic boundaries. No longer does a user have to be physically present in a locality to make use of the
products sold by a local business. Tapping into newer markets is one of the biggest advantages of internet marketing.
Therefore, making sure that an online promotional campaign is thorough and appealing is essential. Sending across the
same message via various techniques and channels on the internet is a must. There are many types of online marketing
that have evolved and developed over the years, keeping in mind the way this medium is used by consumers.
For instance, when the internet was a basic tool that was used by only a handful of people with access to it, online
marketing was one-dimensional, meaning, one long advertisement about a product would be put up on a single website or
search engine for visitors to see. As usage increased, so did the complexity associated with the internet marketing.
Today, a single advert hardly suffices for the many sub-mediums that have sprung up on the internet. Social media,
websites, search engines, yellow pages, and website directories are some of the many channels on which a business
needs to advertise in a creative manner, keeping in mind the kind of audience that visits them.
Hence, online marketing consists out of the following subtypes of online marketing:
 Email marketing
This refers to marketing that is done by sending advertisements and promotional content through emails. Businesses
usually maintain email directories for email marketing.
  Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

This refers to increasing the visibility of a website, its content or the words within the content so that they appear in search
results. This is done using on-page and off-page optimization.

 Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

This refers to the increasing website’s visibility in the search engines using paid reach (paid advertising) and organic
reach (SEO).
  Social Media Marketing

This refers to promoting a business on social media, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

 Affiliate Marketing

It refers to the hiring of third parties, also called affiliates, who market a business’s content online.

The details of these types of marketing will be discussed thoroughly in separate chapters of this book.
ONLINE MARKETING TRENDS
>One of the biggest advantages of online marketing is the flexibility it offers to businesses. Unlike the high cost and
complex process typical for traditional marketing efforts, internet marketing can be cheaper and easily accessible to most
web owners, who are skilled enough to take advantage of different techniques of online marketing. While TVs and outdoor
campaigns are somewhat standardized, online promotion strategies can be adjusted according to customers’ reactions
and responses.
Depending on what generates the best results, online advertising follows certain patterns. While these patterns may
remain the same for an indefinite period of time, usually they change and fluctuate based on how the market for particular
goods and services is performing and on the way consumers behave in general. For instance, if customers buying online
diet packages are satisfied with their purchases that they made after watching videos, the trend for visuals and
presentations will be at an all-time high.
Therefore, just like any other business, online marketing also experiences shifts in what is needed and what should be
antiquated. Some of the most popular online marketing trends at this point, that have been highlighted by experts, based
on the current developments in the online world, are the following:

 Mobile-friendly content will become a basic requirement

One of the most prominent shifts in online marketing has been from desktops and laptops to mobile devices. No longer do
people sit in front of computers all day long to search for products or read reviews about a business. In fact, the year 2016
brought a new milestone – the number of mobile users has finally surpassed the number of desktop users. Successful
online businesses have foreseen this trend and have launched websites that are compatible for mobile phones.
Similarly, customizing content for smartphones and tablets is also a new trend that has been initiated by the popularity
and preference for integrated device purchases in the last few years. Whatever content it may be, if it is available for your
customers to view and enjoy on the go, it will be enough to sustain their interest. If, on the other hand, your small business
is not on-board for this change, it is likely to lose key customers and markets. Additionally, Google now takes “mobile-
friendliness as a ranking signal on mobile searches”, which is yet another reason why mobile friendly website is a must in
online market nowadays.

 Less is more

Gone are the days when the quantity of advertisements and promotions signified strength and a solid market standing.
The same applies to in-depth and comprehensive advertisement campaigns that would just go on and on! Simplicity is the
key to make online marketing work for your brand. Customers are now looking for quick and short ads that are attractive
and alluring at the same time.
Look at some of the most famous everyday brands that advertise online. Do they have never-ending campaigns that bore
you so much that you feel like skipping the promotional message altogether?
Brands like Apple and Google create simple, straightforward ads. However, they are designed creatively, with an allure
that catches customer attention. The “more is less” slogan also works so well because customers are already
overwhelmed with a lot of promotional information day in and day out. If your message stands out with simplicity and
creativity, it will get the most attention.

 Integrated imaging and content publication

A combination of content and images is an important shift from content-only online advertising. Placing emphasis on
certain points within the content is intelligently done by breaking it up with images. Image marketing has always been a
useful way to attract attention from customers who do not like to read too much content. Using this strategy in a creative
manner will definitely optimize the promotional campaigns for success. In general, websites that have a blog and publish
content regularly receive more links, traffic and leads, which all together adds up to better performance.
  Evolution of video format

During the past couple of years, video as a format of content reached its peak, shifting
the focus of online marketers again. Development of technology and the need for
visualization, together with the evolution of social media platforms, and their live video
feature enabled this trend to become dominant trend in online marketing.
Online marketing is a necessity. In a world where e-commerce has become the single
biggest reason for businesses to build an online presence, the need to market products
and services online is paramount. However, it should be remembered at all times that the
internet is a product of modernization and change. For this reason, it does not take long
for new trends and shifts to materialize.
Being a business that markets online, you have to make sure that you innovate
constantly, without letting your online presence become outdated. Since millions of
businesses have made the move to the virtual world, internet marketing has started to
become cluttered, just like traditional marketing. Therefore, if you want your business to
stand out amongst a million others, you will have to be at the top of your game.
What businesses need to master to make sure their online marketing efforts reap results include:
 Creativity
 Out of the box ideas
 Constant planning
 High degree of flexibility
 Keeping up with the current trends
 Constant research and analysis

In the same breath, also keep in mind that using the many channels of online marketing
is not an option. In fact, cashing in on the different dynamics, workings, and
characteristics of each is essential to make sure you build an impressive reputation for
the business and loyalty amongst the customers.
Lastly, being educated about the latest trends of online marketing keeps a business up-
to-date with how its market thinks, reacts and responds to various campaigns. Online
marketing departs from traditional marketing in that the former is geared towards not only
creating hype, but also being available whenever and wherever customers need you.

Assessment of Learning 3.1

1. What are the type of Online Marketing?? Discuss each.