Online Marketing Trends in 2014 - Essay Example

? Online Marketing Trends in Online Marketing Trends in Jayson Demers is the of the article, “The top seven online marketing trends that will dominate 2014.” The article was published on 17th September 2013. The editorial discusses the new online tools and strategies of marketing that firms are adopting that could dominate the approach to marketing next year. The author describes the techniques such as social media, and online advertising as the marketing strategies that may gain popularity among marketers by the year 2014 as indicated in Appendix 1. Demer (2013) argues that effective marketing techniques enhance the communication between sellers and consumers concerning products features and quality dimensions of their merchandise at the right place and time. This means that in 2014, organizations that do not employ effective marketing techniques may fail to sell their goods because of inefficient communication. According to Demers (2013), social media and mobile usage has increased in the society, signalling that customers are developing preferences for goods that are advertised on these devices. Kurtz (2013) also argues that the high usage of social media is influencing purchase patterns meaning that the assumption may be applicable; although there is need for further research to test whether this tenet is applicable in real life. Consumer behaviour is also monitored through online techniques such as advertisement tracking, which traces sites that are preferred by numerous internet users. The author has analyzed each online marketing technique while stating how it is perceived and preferred, and the value it creates to consumers and marketers. Consumer Behavior and Corporate Communication Demers (2013) analysed the increase in the usage of the World Wide Web and found out that it may guarantee large market shares for products that are advertised through the internet. Consumers use the Internet, primarily to access social media sites such as Face book, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These sites enable consumers to share ideas with friends and businesses. This implies that information reaches large numbers of customers within short periods of time through informal communication. The author also notes that consumers prefer using social media to other media because it displays wide ranges of images and videos, which appeal to consumers (Kurtz, 2013). Images are used widely on the Internet because they are attractive and catch the attention of both current and prospective product users; scientists have proven this assumption, meaning that it is applicable to more than fifty percent of the members of the society (Doster, 2013). The author also argues that users prefer simple images with short descriptions. Table 1: showing the trends in the usage of the internet from 2008 to 2012 (http://www.kpcb.com/insights/2013-internet-trends) The trend in the table indicates that consumers in the United States are the most frequent users of the Internet while India has the least number of internet users compared to other countries. This means that organisations should shift their marketing techniques from outbound to online as indicated in Appendix 2. The author advises organisations to penetrate more than one social media platform meaning, advertising goods on these platforms appeals to consumers and captures large markets for different firms (Heaton, 2012). Essentially, marketers should adopt the integrated communication methods in order to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage. Demer (2013) also argues that consumers are shifting their preference to goods that are advertised by the sales persons of the selling companies. This is because customers believe that the selling companies convey true information about goods more than television and radio (Doster, 2013). This is additional evidence that stresses the significance of online marketing, which is conducted directly by the selling company. Companies that use the radio and television may not reap high benefits in 2014 because this media does not have the desired convincing power to persuade consumers to adopt a commodity. The author, however, failed to mention the fact that an increase in usage of the Internet is mainly personal, and some consumers may fail to trust social media marketing for fear of being conned (Bajde, 2009). In order to build customer trust, firms should use their sales people in advertising their products rather than focusing on media such as televisions and radio. Promotion and Advertising The author argues that organisations are shifting their advertisements from the use of lengthy and complex texts to use of illustrations. This is because the changes in consumer behaviour indicate preference for images more than prose. The images used to market goods should be simple and contain short messages that convince customers to try the good (Safko, 2010). Companies take images of their products and advertise them on social media and mobile devices. This is because mobile usage has increased in the last decade, especially with the introduction of smart phones. Smart phones are capable of performing numerous tasks such as reading content on the Internet, and receiving and sending messages (Coetzee, 2013). Consumers also use these devices to purchase goods on company and multipurpose websites such as eBay and Amazon. Mobile advertising may be in form of sending messages and creating applications that create awareness of goods and how they function (Slimani, 2013). Organizations are also adopting the use of advertisement retargeting to promote their goods online. Ad retargeting is a technique of monitoring the goods that consumers search on the Internet and re-advertising the goods to them in other sites (Tuten, & Solomon, 2013). This means that companies monitor the location and search engines that consumers use to explore their goods. The company then places ads on the other websites that consumers use to access different information. This form of advertisement creates long lasting appeals to consumers, and according to research, it increases sales and profits in the long-run (Bly, 2013). Mobile phone organizations such as Apple and Samsung use this technique, and they make high profits and sales as indicated in Appendix 3. Demer has failed to discuss the costs associated with the Internet and mobile marketing, which may limit firms from using these techniques. There are high costs associated with placing advertisements on the Internet and monitoring search engines. The high costs arise because organisations have to hire workers with technical skills and experience to carry out the complex promotions (Heaton, 2012). Ethics The author addresses the issue of ethics in the article by arguing that social media, content, and mobile advertising give true information about a good. Jayson argues that content marketing will be bigger than ever, and since this is concerned with conveying true information to customers, it means that ethical concern is rising in the society (Demers, 2013). Organisations, therefore, need to adopt the culture of providing accurate information to consumers through mobile and Internet advertising. The increase in the concern for ethics is brought about by the rise in the need for content from consumers (Lieb, 2012). Users of goods no longer embrace advertisements on radio and television because these media often exaggerate the attributes of products. The change in consumer preference indicates that awareness of ethics such as quality and quantity of goods has increased in the society. Organisations that ignore the increase in consumer awareness, and the change in preferences may fail to achieve high benefits. Demer’s argument has failed to address the increase in malpractices such as hacking and piracy that are common in the Internet business environment (Saidi, & Al-Khalifa, 2012). The article by Demers about the trends in Internet marketing has succeeded in analysing consumer behaviour, ethics, and advertising techniques that are prevalent in online marketing. The author’s arguments indicate that the increase in use of the Internet and mobile phones has led to the rise in online marketing. Demer acts as an advisor to organisations by showing them the direction that consumers are taking so that they can follow. The overall limitation of the article is that it has failed to address the rise in unethical conducts such as piracy and hacking, which are common cyberspace crimes in the Internet world. Organisations may limit their Internet marketing for fear of incurring losses arising from widespread unethical conducts. References Bajde, D. (2009). Online consumer piracy: A critical discourse analysis of a YouTube web storm. Consumer Culture Theory Conference, Ann Arbor 11 (14).1-27 Bly, R. W. (2010). Marketing plan handbook: Develop big picture marketing plans for pennies on the dollar. Irvine: Entrepreneur Media. Coetzee, K. (2013). Take advantage of market growth : trends. The Dairy Mail, 20 (7). 7. Demers, J. (2013). The top 7 online marketing trends that will dominate 2014. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/09/17/the-top-7-online-marketing-trends-that-will-dominate-2014/ Doster, L. ( 2013). Millennial teens design and redesign themselves in online social networks. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 12 (2). 267-279. Heaton, M. (2012). Internet marketing. Delhi: Research World. Kurtz, D. L. (2014). Contemporary marketing. Mason: South-Western. Lieb, R. (2012). Content marketing: Think like a publisher-- how to use content to market online and in social media. Indianapolis: Que. Sadi, M. A., & Al-Khalifah, A. M. (2012). Factors influencing trust in on-line shopping : a case of Saudi Arabian consumer behavior. Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences, 3 (4). 517-522. Safko, L. (2010). The social media bible: Tactics, tools, and strategies for business success. Hoboken: Wiley. Slimani, T. (2013). Concepts and Tools for Marketing Intelligence Development. International Journal of Innovation in the Digital Economy (ijide), 4 (3). 15-34. Tuten, T. L., & Solomon, M. R. (2013). Social media marketing. Boston: Pearson. Appendices Appendix 1 Internet Marketing Trends Source: www.toprankblog.com Appendix 2 Inbound Marketing Levels Source: colincronin.com Appendix 3 Online Money Making Trends Source: munchweb.com Read More