We are in the age and times of “here” and “now”; Individuals and organizations seem to be in a hurry and everyone wants to obtain quick and immediate results. There is also the issue of tight schedules and very busy lifestyles, so everyone is looking for the quickest and the most convenient medium through which to transact business, to share information,socialize etc., the internet is that medium. Internet marketing is the cheapest and the quickest way for companies to reach a wide target audience and it is also the most convenient way for consumers to purchase products and services.
This article introduces you to online marketing and the different types of online marketing, the different business models that internet marketing is associated with and then the benefits and limitations of internet marketing.
Online marketing, also known as internet marketing, web marketing or e-marketing is the marketing or promotion of products or services using the internet as a medium. In order to benefit from the new technologies in today’s global environments, marketers are developing strategies that suit the digital world.
Internet marketing is considered to be broad in scope because it not only refers to marketing on the internet, but also includes marketing done through e-mail and wireless media.
Customer relationship management system and digital customer data are considered to be sub divisions of internet marketing.
Internet Marketing ties together the creative and technical aspects of the internet including design, development, advertising and sales.
Internet marketing refers to the placement of media along many different stages of the customer engagement cycle through the following types of internet marketing;
i. Search engine optimization
This is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines through natural or unpaid search results.
ii. Search engine marketing
This is a form of marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages through the use of paid placement, contextual advertising and paid inclusion or through the use of free search engine optimization techniques.
iii. Display advertising
This is the use of web banners placed on a third-party website or blog to drive traffic to a company’s own website and increase product awareness.
iv. Social media marketing
This is the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
v. Email marketing
This involves directly marketing a commercial message to a group of people using electronic mail.
vi. Referral marketing
This is a method of promoting products or services to new customers through referrals, usually by word of mouth.
vii. Affiliate marketing
This is a marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts.
viii. Inbound marketing
This involves creating and freely sharing informative content as a means of converting prospects into customers and customers into repeat buyers.
ix. Video marketing
This type of marketing specializes in creating videos that engage the viewer into a buying state by presenting information in video form and guiding them to a product or service. Online video is gaining wide popularity among internet users and companies see it as a viable method of attracting customers.
Brick and Mortar Company
This operates in a real life only and uses internet to provide information. Organisations like universities are example of this.
Click and Mortar Company
This type provides both in real life and through internet. Vatan computer is an example of this.
Click-only Company
This operates only online and you cannot contact in real life with such a company, you can only buy those items online.
Online marketing or e-marketing has registered its presence in this contemporary society as it has proven to be an inexpensive, convenient and fast approach to exchanging goods and services. However, swindlers have taken advantage of its lack of personal touch or human touch factor to swindle unsuspecting customers of their money. This however has not hampered the widespread and the popularity of online marketing.
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