Internet and Electronic Marketing - Book Report/Review Example

Internet and Electronic Marketing 1.0 Introduction The World Wide Web (also referred as W3, Internet, or simply as the Web) has been turning into indispensable global communication media over the last two decades. Nowadays, billions of people around the world are online for 24 hours a day. On one hand, the Internet users are constantly growing particularly in developing markets like China, India, Brasilia, and Eastern Europe. On another hand, the broadband Interment connections are getting wide spread in the developed countries in North America, Europe, and South-East Asia. These two major developments of the last several years make possible many new trends in Internet marketing strategies to occur (Buelte, Wuyts). This report analyses the target audience both in terms of demographics and psychographics, based on the users of the social network application, Facebook. The paper will provide a detailed explanation of the target audiences and the profiling of the audiences. A through web traffic plan will also be developed as well. 1.1 Background Market Net is a relatively new initiative to create a network of students and professionals related to the field of marketing and also to provide valuable resources and articles on marketing. Internet has profoundly changed the way we do business in many different areas and has created completely new business models. With its global reach Internet has turned electronic commerce (e-commerce) into the fastest growing tool for promoting, selling, and buying services and goods around the world, 24 hours a day. The e-commerce is a traditional and important part of Internet marketing. In addition, Internet marketing has currently expanded into many different business areas beyond e-commerce. For instance, online banking has been provided by growing number of banks that offer very useful services to their clients 24 hour a day not matter where they are. Selling products directly to consumers via Internet is known as B2C (business to consumers) while selling goods to businesses is known as B2B (business to businesses). Social network marketing is making headlines these days as the most noticeable social websites are Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. There are more than 40 different social networking sites on the web with Facebook in the lead by far It is a very fast growing new field of Internet marketing that may be very efficient in addressing specific groups of consumers. Facebook marketing is a very productive approach for relationships building marketing strategy and promoting new products and services among targeting groups of consumers (Buelte & Wuyts). 1.1.1 Web 2.0: It is important to notice that the advance of online marketing depends heavily on the new tools developed for web design on both server-side and client-side Internet programming. The modern Internet programming technologies based on free code programming languages like HTML/XHTML, XML, JavaScript, PHP, Java, Perl, mySQL, Java, and Ajax, or based on commercially available script programming languages like ASP of Microsoft Corporation and Action script of Adobe Corporation, empower the web developer to build easily complex interactive and user adoptive websites and Internet applications. The creation of such complex multi-media websites is becoming a wide-spread marketing approach not only because the advance of new technology for designing dynamic web pages but also because the spread of broadband Internet connections (Solomon and Schrum). The synergy between the broadband Internet connections and new powerful technologies for interactive and user adaptive web design, results in new trend in Web development and Internet marketing known as Web-2.0. The recent trend of Internet, referred as Web-2.0, is associated with the development of different Internet programming technologies that deliver dynamic content on the websites28. The term Web-2.0 originates from the O'Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004. It is in contrast with the term Web-1.0, which refers to static Websites that have a constant content and do not adapt to different users (Solomon and Schrum). The term Web 2.0 is referred not to a single technology but rather than to many new technology developments that make Internet content much more dynamic, interactive, and user adaptive. These new technologies allow Internet users to interact with dynamic Internet applications in real time making possible the social networking websites like Facebook, mobile phone marketing, using 3G-mobile connectivity, Video marketing and many other new Internet marketing strategies like behavioral and geo-targeting (Solomon and Schrum). 2.0 Target Audience Analysis: One of the main aspects of excellent marketing is the need to use the right techniques to reach out to the right set of people i.e. the target market. The target market is generally a set or group of people who have one or more common interests. In this case the target audiences have one thing in common ‘Marketing’. It is important to note that the main target market for Market Net is the Facebook users. The main groups that the company will be able to reach out to include the following as described below. It is important to note that these target audience groups will prove to be very vital in the marketing of Market Net. Together the target markets as discussed below can help the community with excellent content and can also help the participants to be a meeting place for people with the same interest and passion for marketing. Hence targeting these groups of people will prove to be very helpful for the community. 2.1 Current Marketing Students: The current marketing students form a major part of the target group as there is a major interest in gaining basic and latest information of the trends in marketing. It is also essential to note that this will help the students with the current course as well as help them in the exams as well. It is also important to note that this set of students can also be prospective graduate students as well where marketing can be a major course. Hence this also makes a major target market segment. The normal age group of this group can be classified between 20 -30 years. This site can prove to be beneficial to the group as it will provide them with a chance to discuss the subject, also to get in touch with marketing professionals who could provide them with tips and secrets of the trade (DeLegge). This will also appeal to the marketing students as it allows them to gain an insight into the possible future and also provides them with a chance to learn about the possible salaries, and life post the completion of the course. This can also be helpful for the students as it will permit a chance to pass on their learning and tricks for studies to the prospective students to help them succeed in the courses as well. This will also prove to be a good source of information and provide practical aspects of the subject to the students which can be used effectively to incorporate into the theory of study. This can prove to be a base for the students to discuss topics which they have difficulty understanding in class and use this to help them score better in the assessments at the universities (DeLegge). 2.2 Prospective Marketing Students Very beneficial groups that can be marketed are the prospective students. The main reason for this is that Facebook. Facebook has been able to capture a very large market. It was for a number of years in the second position however in the present time it has moved to the top position. This website has been able to create a completely different virtual world by itself and has been able to attract a number of users as well (AMA). The group will mostly include people from the age groups of 17 – 22 and these groups can prove to be a major information source for the site. Also this is an excellent chance for the prospective students to meet the older students, other prospective students, professionals, and also will permit them to gain an access to the various articles which will prove to be very helpful and a good source of information for the right decision to make. Also most prospective students tend to be a part of various different social networking sites which help in gaining information to various universities. Also the participation in various networking sites and also the various communities helps the individuals to gain advice from students who have already been a part of the university. This helps in providing the students with a brief overview of the possible choice that they can take up as specialization. Also this will help in improving the inclination of the students which in turn will be a strong source of information for the community and will help in the development of more content for all from current, as well as professionals working in the area. 2.3 Professionals A very big target also includes the marketing professionals like marketing managers, teachers and also others that have marketing focused communities on their profiles. These individuals can be chosen and invites can be sent out to them and they can help contribute to the community to a great extent. This can also help to be a community where the individuals contribute and help the current, prospective student as well as the job seekers in the area. This can also be used as a platform to reach out to many individuals seeking employment and help in recruitment opportunities as well (Dibb & Simkin). These individuals can also contribute to the students and can help them with details and tips on working in the field of marketing. This will help the students learn and improve their skills so that they are able to face the actual world of work more professionally and well equipped. It is important to also note that the normal age group of the professionals fall within the age of 28 – 55. This will be very helpful as they can socialize with others in the marketing field to share ideas as well as provide solutions for various issues. 2.4 Resources for marketing i.e. companies or websites An excellent target market for Market net will include the companies and websites that mainly deal with marketing resources and these companies and websites will help in publishing and providing different marketing material as well. Excellent examples of these websites include, Marketingabout .com, marketing today.com, Marketing Association of Australia and New Zealand and American Marketing Association (AMA). These websites provide the students, professionals with number of articles, and also latest development and a lot of information relating the field. Targeting them will allow the websites to share a lot of information and help the community with articles which will help in the development and improvement of the community as a whole. This will prove to be more like a chance for the community to build the content on the page and thereby lead to higher number of visits for Market Net. 3.0 Web Traffic Plan 3.1 Facebook Members Firstly, Facebook acts as a medium to search for both new as well as old friends. Also it provides a chance for the students within universities to use as a mode of communication. Facebook provides a chance to meet newer people and makes it easier to speak to people who are unknown or strangers. Facebook is also used by a number of people and the website is also used as a dating system in a number of cases. Facebook also provides a chance to create groups and communities with people who have similar tastes, likes and dislikes. This makes it easier for them to share information and any knowledge that they might have about the item of interest and build new friends as well. Facebook also has one very distinguishing feature, it provides the individuals to check for others taking the same class, coming from similar academies and also living in the same area. This to a great extent allows an expansion of friend network and provides for a chance to figure out people within the same areas of interest (Findlay). Market net has a high potential in this market as it can get direct interaction with the members on Facebook. This can be done in a very organized and manual method, where the people who fall into the target market can be handpicked on Facebook and the invites can be sent out individually. This can help in bringing up a number of members on the community and will also help in gaining more information for the company. Facebook marketing is a very productive approach for relationships building marketing strategy and promoting new products and services among targeting groups of consumers. This can prove to be very beneficial for companies. However, extreme care has to be taken in dealing with social networks, as it is very easy to create a negative image for the brand. If the users receive a lot of messages or consider the community to be sending spam, then it will create a negative attitude and will reduce the brand value in the minds of the users. Hence it is very crucial to keep the messages simple and lesser in number and actively responding to people who are genuinely interested in receiving messages and content. It is also important to note that inviting people can be simple on Facebook as there are a number of communities on marketing, and these can be used to meet and invite to Market Net as well. Also, it would be possible to gain a number of users, by visiting forums related to marketing and using these forums to pick and choose the prospective users for the group. Approaches need to be focused and not just an invite sent to all. As mentioned earlier, it is possible if overdone; it could lead to negative marketing and can also lead to failure of the community as well (Freiert). The social network marketing has much broader applications than just another approach for selling goods and services online. Social networking has become a way of life (some sort of lifestyle) for many young and well educated people around the world and particularly in countries like the Australia, USA and the UK. Social networking is accessible not only through personal computers but also via smart phones, which is very useful for staying in touch with people that are not in your neighborhood. The number of people that have iPhone or other similar type of mobile device is growing really fast. People can gain access to social network websites on their mobile devices as well (Holzner). Hence this can be easily used and applied for the community to a great extent. 3.2 Designing the Page It is also important to note that the entire website and the design of the website will play a very big role in the overall working as well as the overall popularity of the community as well. It is essential to note that the main focus is on marketing; hence the first important aspect to be concentrated on is that the design by itself should provide the viewers with an understanding of what the site is related too. Also it is important to note that the site needs to be user friendly, which is one of the most important aspects of the website and also plays a major role in the popularity of the website (O’Reilly). The website can also be improved and generate high amounts of traffic if the design is one which is relevant to the content of the site. An appealing website design can provide the user with a strong impression of the company or community. It is also important to ensure that the community is interactive and there is a high level of participation from all members. To gain the most out of the website, it is important that it is user friendly as well as has the appropriate design, easy navigations and yet simple and attractive design. If built so, there are high chances that the number of users will also increase and the number of hits per day will be high as well. The simpler the website, the easier the participation, hence this will lead to more interaction which in turn means higher levels of content on the site. Hence it is important to work on the overall design of the website and to ensure that the prospective visitors and members of the website have an excellent first impression, which in turn will lead to higher usage of the website, as well as the user friendliness will lead to higher levels of satisfaction (O’Reilly). This in turn will lead to more traffic generation and better ranking of the website as well. Therefore a lot of care, patience and a clear flow of thoughts need to be present in the design. 3.3 Marketing Tools and Techniques Internet marketing is a very powerful tool for approaching consumers around the world and around the clock. However, Internet marketing cannot reach out consumers that do not have any access to Internet. Therefore, it is an important to analyze the Internet penetration in order to deduce the actual potential of online marketing as a whole. According to a report by Nielsen/Net Ratings via Internet World Stats from April 2009, the total number of internet users worldwide is 1,596,270,108 (WebScoop). United States Census Bureau estimates the world human population to 6,815,654,406 persons as 2010 (U.S. Census Bureau). This means that circa 22% of the entire human population is online and can be approached by Internet marketing. There are 251,290,489 internet users in the USA along, who make 15% of the total internet users in the world according to com Score as May 2009 (WebScoop). According to data from Pew Internet & American Life Project, February 2009, 70% of people surveyed get most of the national and international news from television, 40% said they turned to the Internet, and only while only 35% got their news from newspapers. These data demonstrate that Internet has already overtaken the newspapers as a channel for national and international news. It is essential to note that Market Net can be very successful if a strategic option is taken and the steps taken involve a good understanding of the overall target markets. Some essential and simplest methods that can be adopted by Market net is the development of newer and simple quizzes which can be used to promote Marker Net and to gain the interest of the target markets. As explained earlier, the Facebook members can be sent this quiz and there can also be an option which can be included, where the results of the quiz are shared with the friends or even invites to the quiz can be sent out to friend lists. Use of graphical images and notations can be put into practice which in turn will lead to better customization of the quiz as well and can also lead to higher use of the application. Though this involves a small investment in terms of development costs, it will create more awareness and in turn, directly influence the web traffic to Market Net. Video Marketing and pod casting can also be included in the marketing strategies. These are latest new media marketing processes and it is a series of digital media files which normally include both audio and videos and these are normally provided for downloads (Ratcliffe & Mack). However the downloading in the case of pod cast is different from the normal downloads and this mainly done via web syndication. This is a part of the video marketing itself. The use of ‘YouTube’ and other similar sites has become a major mode of achieving newer customers. Email Marketing and E – Newsletters can also be used for Market Net. The email messages can be sent for various marketing purposes including for acquiring new customers, adding advertisements to e-mail for new products, encouraging current or former customer loyalty, or sending e-mails over the Internet to unknown recipients. There are many advantages of email-marketing like low cost, fast delivery, and others. There are many computer programs that can generate media reach emails and can send emails to many consumers simultaneously. At the same time email marketing is facing a real problem caused by the huge amount of unwonted (spam) email messages. Many companies have well realized the problems facing email marketing by the spam email and have tried to address it using Newsletters and other new forms of email marketing. According to a number of experts, it is said that email marketing will definitely become a part of the marketing mix for a number of industries however it is unlikely that it could replace direct marketing. The best strategy for Market Net would be to buy a targeted email list from an Email list vendor (Baggot & Sales). The list can be based on age group or interests and hobbies. A personalized mail campaign can be sent to the list and the response rate can be observed. The database need to be constantly cleaned – up and updated as required (Mullen, Daniels, & Gilmour). Email marketing is used primarily by 35% of companies compared to 25% that use direct mail and 21% who use package, statement stuffers (Econsultancy). For e-marketers, 61% said that email delivers ROI of 300% or more, while 30% confessed to ROI of more than 500%, an increase on last year's figure of 24%. E-mail marketing is a must for building a successful business (Econsultancy). There are two major approaches to do e-mail marketing. Any company with an Internet access and an email list of consumers can do direct email marketing. The other approach is to send marketing emails via a dedicated email services provider. This will prove to be a very effective method for Market Net as it will be able t reach out to a wide range of people across the world. 4.0 Website Selection The Internet is a treasure of information and there are a number of different websites which provide a wide range and collection of materials and resources which deal with marketing. It is however important to note the best and most useful resources and websites which can be sure to provide reliable and useful information and articles. A few websites have been identified as potentially useful for Market Net. These websites clearly provide a deep insight into the various marketing techniques and information as well. These websites will help provide excellent insight and will also permit the marketing students to gain an understanding of the best practices and also learn alongside for the advantages and disadvantages of the theories in practise. Also these sites will be most beneficial in providing best and updated information to the participants of Market Net. A few websites have been chosen and an explanation of the websites along with a justification to select them has been explained. 4.1 The Marketing Association of Australia and New Zealand URL: http://www.marketing.org.au/ The Marketing Association of Australia and New Zealand (MAANZ) is an online marketing database which is best recognized as MAANZ. The website provides a great deal of information not only about the field of marketing in Australia and New Zealand but also deals with all the latest developments and stories of the marketing field. Also this to a great extent is like a marketing hub for information. This will prove to be very helpful for both the under graduation as well as post graduation students and it helps provide a clear information for careers in Australia and New Zealand. The website also proves to be very helpful as it permits the customers to get emails and notifications for a number of different subjects and articles of interest. The main visitors of this website will be those interested in career prospects and marketing related information. Hence this website can be linked to Market Net which in turn will be able to gain all the information and articles on marketing. 4.2Marketing Today The website can be accessed at the following URL: http://www.marketingtoday.com/ Marketing Today website is an excellent guide to marketing in this present age of information. The website provides a wide range of marketing related articles and a number of other marketing related information like the salary trends, books, job openings and other marketing relevant data that can be used. This website will prove to be very helpful and a great source of information for the members of the community. This will prove to be very helpful as it can provide the current as well as prospective students with a good career knowledge and ca also provide an excellent insight into the various marketing tools that are available for good marketing decisions. 4.3 Journal of Internet Marketing This website can be retrieved from URL: http://www.arraydev.com/commerce/JIM/ This website is an excellent source of information to a very wide range of information ranging from current editions, email archives and also a forum. This is an excellent choice for website for Market Net as it provides a direct link to a major pot of information which can help the professionals and can be helpful for the overall development of the various target markets as well. This is an excellent and effective website which provides a wide range of articles, blogs as well as forums that relate to marketing. 4.4 The American Marketing Association: The website can be visited at: http://www.marketingpower.com/ This website is a professional association where people from different walks of life and different professions can come together to learn more details of marketing and marketing events. There are a number of different seminars and workshops that are also included which are completely focused on the needs of marketers worldwide. This is very helpful to be linked to Market Net as the website has a wide range of articles, case studies and also deals with the job listings. This website will be able to meet the needs of almost all the target market segments and will prove to be very helpful for the overall effectiveness of Market Net. 5.0 Survey Questionnaire and Justifications 5.1 Survey Questionnaire 1. I am a Marketing Professional Marketing Student Prospective Student Others 2. I am ___ years of age. 18 - 25 26 - 35 36 - 45 > 45 3. The best feature of MarketNet according to me is Podcasts and Quizzes Useful Content Networking Features Reference to External Sites 4. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest), how would you rate the usefulness of MarketNet 1 2 3 4 5 5.2 Justifications 1. Current Position: The current position of the user is an important aspect as it will reveal the differences in the requirements and the expectations of the users from MarketNet. The target market segments can be better understood by further segmenting them into smaller groups and their perspectives on MarketNet will shed light on any changes, if necessary. 2. Age: The demographics of the user play an important role in the analysis. Age of the user will help identify similar patterns (if any) in the usage and perspectives on MarketNet. Cross referencing of the responses to the other questions against age will provide valuable info on the common behavior observed across various age ranges. The analysis based on age will also help identify the changes to the website necessary to suit all age ranges of the users. 3. Best feature of Market Net: This is the most important survey question, as it reveals the main reason for the user to utilize the Market Net website. A more biased response towards one particular feature will indicate that all the users visit MarketNet to make use of that particular feature. However, wide spread responses require more deeper analysis to identify the usefulness of the features. Mapping the responses to the users’ age and current position will indicate the any pattern that cause the wide spread. The results can then be used as a feedback to improve the particular features to be more specific to the particular age range or current position. 4. Rating of Market Net: The overall rating of Market Net on the scale of 1 – 5 will indicate the level of importance of Market Net to the users, in other words, the value that is provided to the users by Market Net. When the total average falls below 3, it is an indication that the website is not actually creating value across the target segments and many improvements are required. A score of 3 or above will indicate that the site is creating value to the users. This figure can be benchmarked and the improvement process can be iterated till the benchmark value is attained. The improvement is a continuous process, i.e., the results of the analysis can be implemented and further feedback on the changes implemented can be collected to improve and so on. The process can be carried out till the optimum results are obtained. 6.0 Conclusions The paper has provided a deep insight into the main aspects of marketing for Market Net. A thorough analysis and detailed explanation of the target audiences as well as the traffic generation has been discussed for the case of Market Net. It is also important to note that the overall success of the website and the effectiveness of the website can be monitored using the survey questionnaire that has been discussed. It is important to note that when all the information that has been discussed and the processes are adopted, then Market Net will see a major improvement in the overall performance. 7.0 Recommendations: Market Net can be improved and improvised to a great extent. There are a number of options that are available for the marketing of Market Net. Hence it is essential that Market Net works on improvement of the overall look and feel of the website. Also it is essential to work towards proper use of marketing tools and techniques which will help in bringing in a higher number of visitors and help in the overall working of the website. 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