E-marketing Strategies That Could Be Applied to a Failing DVD & Rental Company - Literature review Example

? An investigation into e-marketing strategies that could be applied to a failing DVD & Rental company Contents Contents 2 Literature Review 3 References 8 Literature Review In the recent age of technology and automation a lot of research has been done on the ways in which the internet can be used a marketing tool for the companies and their products. This section of the literature review would look into the various tools that this modern age channel of marketing would provide to the companies for their products. The CMP framework is a popular form of e-marketing which the organisations that have complexities and multitude of processes can adopt. According to this framework there are basically four aspects of the e-marketing processes. The transactional marketing makes use of the conventional marketing mix of product, price, place and promotion in its ambit. The broad idea of marketing is incorporated in this particular case. By this strategy the DVD rental company can go for a general advertising in the popular pages of the internet in order to create awareness about the schemes and the offerings of the company (Dann and Dann, 2011, pp. 131-146). Database Marketing on the other hand would be a procedure in which the existing customer data base would be used in an effective manner to point of the target group of customers (Brodie, Winklhofer, Coviello and Johnston, 2007, pp. 3-5). The DVD rental company might find out that the major consumer base lie within the age bracket of 60-75, which means that the old retired people mostly, would avail of the services of the company. Therefore the collection of the company has to be restructures in a way that would satisfy the needs of the potential target customers. This database marketing would be internal to the organisation therefore every company has to find to connect with the marketing mix that would be externally undertaken. Interaction Marketing on the other hand is a method in which the personal interaction with the potential clients would take place between the marketing who are undertaking the job of promotion of the brand (Strauss and Frost, 2011, pp. 228-259). The scope of this would be less in case of the DVD rental service company because most of the interaction and communications with the clients would be through the audio as well as the visual media. However this could be done by the promotion of the company through e-mail messages. The company has to structure a proper opt-in list through e-mail and make awareness to receipt of the emails. Network marketing is the fourth form in which the relationship would develop only within a specific network of people, both individuals as well as the company people. There would be less scope for this in case of the DVD rentals. Blogs may also be written about the brand to make awareness about the products or the various kinds of services so that the people get necessary feedback about the brand (McQuail, 2005, pp. 45-67). E-marketing on the other hand would be the new entrant in the group in which the marketing would take place by means of the internet, through the social websites or the other popular websites that people access. There are several reasons are contributing to the success of e-marketing. The authors like Davis and Abhor have recognised the worldwide acceptance of the credibility of information technology. The firms that are operating on a large scale find it easier to integrate their processes with information technology (Davis and Arbor, 1989, pp. 318–340). Studies have proved that the companies that have that have taken the help of the Database Marketing and Network Marketing and have integrated it with the e-marketing strategies have performed in a much better manner. The e marketing strategies can be best implemented depending on the age group that would access a particular website. For example the social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter would have acceptability among the young as well as the old people and therefore particular advertisements should be on the specific pages to get the attention of the target customers. This can be done by an effective promotion as well as web development strategy. The branding of the company can also be enhanced through e-marketing (Simpson and Docherty, 2004, pp. 315–328). This is because internet at the present day has become the most appealing visual media. The promotion of the brand can also be done through the various contests and offers which may come up as cookies or pop ups when the customers log on to a particular website. Out of all the strategic options through this channel of communication, the best alternative would be the advertisement and promotion through the social networking media especially because of the wide access to customers. With the advent of information technology, many businesses have adopted it to increase their operational efficiency. It plays important role in not only in business but also in the daily life of an individual. Internet has changed the way individuals communicate and do their commercial activities. With the emergence of World Wide Web as a communication medium, it has become a marketing tool for companies to use. The consumer expectations keep on changing with change in the Internet environment. Hence the firms need to find ways to improve their online customer relationship so that they can generate better profits. One of the ways of achieving it is to design marketing programs which can increase the customer satisfaction. Hence it is important to the firms that they build Customer relationship management (CRM) programs which can assist companies in creating a stronger bong between business and their customers. But despite tis fact it is seen that the most loyal customers appear to switch their loyalty due to lower price or higher perceived value. The public has been able to access the Internet for more than 10 years and hence it is no longer a new technology. Nowadays business people are using Internet as primary marketing channel. A firm knows the level of service expectation of the customers from them due to increased Internet experience. Hence for firms, who target experienced internet users, needs to design their online services according to the expectations of savvy users and failing which may cause dissatisfaction to the users. In this context the DVD and Rental companies of the world has not be able to meet the expectation so of the consumers. They now have become savvy buy using the internet and as a result use Online Streaming instead of DVDs to view their favourite shows or movies. The types of activities conducted on the internet may reflect the risk tolerance level of the user (Chaffey, 2009, p. 321). Hence the users who merely seek information take less risk as compared to users who buy products online. This willingness and readiness on the part of the user indicates their comprehension of the level of risk they faces and how useful the product is to them to undertake such kind so risk. Similar thing happened with the DVD rental business. The Consumers knew the level of risk which they face by purchasing the product online. They compared it with watching the movie online. They understood that they face similar risk and achieved greater value by watching movies online at considerable reduced prices (Molenaar, 2012, p. 154). Hence firms need to identify the varying risk levels faced by the consumer in deciding which service or product to buy. Again experience level of the users affects the consumer behaviour. A Tech savvy user will find that it is easier for him to search something online using a search engine than a novice. Such users can search for more information to explore the capabilities of the Internet (Hamid 2008, pp. 195-199). The consumer’s level of experience with the Internet affects the perceived risk faced by him which in turn affects the adoption level. Hence consumers who are experience switched to Online Streaming for DVD rental service. Marketer’s around the world use a number of Technologies for their E-marketing strategies. Social Media is a powerful tool for E-marketing their products or services to specific groups. Business use different social media marketing platforms like Facebook, Twitter etc. to help their product reach the customers (Silverstein, 2001, p. 211). Nowadays most of the markets use Facebook online Marketing platform to target their customer segments. Facebook keeps updating their features year on year to improve their advertising portal, so that the business community adopts the platform for their marketing strategy. Over the year Facebook has been the most successful social media Technology. Pinterest is a content sharing service which allows their members to pin videos, images to their pin boards. It reminds us of the importance of such pictures and videos in reaching out to their customers. Text may convey a messed abut it is said that a picture has more impact as compared to text (Haegele, 2001, p. 21). E-mailing for E-marketing is not new in the Internet. Nowadays most of the companies try to avoid sending emails to their target customer because they don’t eventually grab attention of them (Clarke and Flaherty, 2005, p. 64). They either fall in the spam box or the customers delete them with a degree of annoyance. But using this company can gain information from them and do research on their part to know what works on their subscriber and what does not. References Brodie, R.J., Winklhofer, H., Coviello, N.E. and Johnston, W.J., 2007. “Is E-Marketing Coming of Age? An Examination of the Penetration Of E-Marketing And Firm Performance.” Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 21(1), pp. 3-5. Chaffey, D. 2009. Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. New York: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Clarke, I. and Flaherty, T. 2005. Advances in Electronic Marketing. London: Idea Group Inc (IGI). Dann, S. and Dann, S., 2011. E-Marketing: Theory and Application. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Davis, F. D., and Arbor, A., 1989. “Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology.” MIS Quarterly, Vol. 13(3), pp. 318–340. Haegele, K. 2001. E-advertising and E-marketing: Online Opportunities. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group. Hamid, N. 2008. Consumers’ behaviour towards Internet technology and Internet marketing tools. International Journal of Communications, Vol. 2(3). pp. 195-199. McQuail, D., 2005. Mass Communication Theory. London: Sage Publications Limited. Molenaar, C. 2012. E-Marketing: Applications of Information Technology and the Internet Within Marketing. New York: Routledge. Silverstein, B. 2001. Internet Marketing for Information Technology Companies: Proven Online Techniques to Increase Sales and Profits for Hardware, Software and Networking Companies. London: Maximum Press. Simpson, M., and Docherty, A. J., 2004. “E-commerce Adoption and Advice for UK SMEs.” Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Vol. 11(3), pp. 315–328. Strauss, J. and Frost, R., 2011. E-Marketing. London: Pearson Education. Read More