Swathi D.
III B.com(MM)
EMarketing is not just about technology. EMarketing is like most marketing - you have to understand your mission and engage your customer or potential customer positively in the experience.
EMarketing gets you closer to customers by creating a dialogue, asking questions and learning about customers' preferences. In all aspects of internet and online marketing we must always remember that it is not about the technology - that merely 'enables'.
EMarketing is about people and making sure that the process, like all marketing, is people orientated - far too many times it is producer or technology orientated and businesses wonder why it doesn't work.
Before the internet, consumer purchases were restricted by time, geography, location, and physical store space. In the digital economy, buying is unlimited by these constrictions. The internet allows near-instant gratification and any internet marketer has to realize this and ensure that the internet marketing programs they create take account of this consumer behaviour.
But remember what we said right at the beginning? EMarketing is about people and making sure that the process, like all marketing, is people orientated - far too many times it is producer or technology orientated and businesses wonder why it doesn't work. Basically, being interactive means that you give people choices that they act upon. People like to be involved. But what does EMarketing technology give you. That's it! The chance to give people what they want: to become involved.
As an example e-mail marketers sometimes offer a choice between HTML and plain text messages, but that's where interactivity usually stops. Some companies let users make further decisions about frequency and format of the messages their recipients get. This usually increases ROI quite significantly. So something as simple as the format in which an Email is sent or requested or wanted can dramatically affect the success of your EMarketing campaign.
But why not go further? Let people decide when and what they want to receive. This is a great idea for online stores and catalogues. Simply add a small box "Notify me when this item goes on sale." Allow a person to select whether he or she wants to receive an offer about this particular item only or other special deals as well. "OK", the classic marketer would say, "but that means I am losing high margin sales." But is this true? Too often things like this are not measured but an internet marketing campaign can be constructed - just like any direct marketing campaign - to give you the answers to thsi sort of question.
Here is another EMarketing idea - the human being is a strange creature that does not trust sales people (well, maybe they have a reason for that). However, people do trust others who are just like them. Plus, people like talking to each other and exchanging ideas. So, create a community. Frequently, people lack enough information to make a decision, but they are afraid to ask.
Why not add an option "Put me in touch with other people who bought this product." You have to be careful here and create a forum that allows them to interact in a chat room like way.
Or how about a discount? Simply offer people a choice, what discount they'd like to get - 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, etc. Let a website visitor make his or her selection. Most people opt for the biggest discount first. After they made their selection, you explain how they can get that discount - for example, order 100 copies, or spend £10,000. Now that's interactive and gives you the chance for larger orders. EMarketing allows you to do this in a more interactive and interesting way than classic marketing.
Most people aren't going to spend that much money or order so much stuff. But they will explore other discount options if you set the thing up to be database driven and may find a deal they are looking for. Your EMarketing objective is to inform people about discounts available. The usual discount table is not nearly as effective. Also, remember one very important thing - always offer the smallest discount (5% in this case) for just participating as the way of thanking the customers.
So, we repeat that in all aspects of interactive marketing we must always remember that it is not about the technology - that merely 'enables'.
Interactive marketing is about people and making sure that the process, like all marketing, is people orientated - far too many times it is producer or technology orientated and businesses wonder why it doesn't work.
Jupiter Research has identified seven trends that affect EMarketing:
Individuals' interconnectivity is increasing. The adoption of digital technology enables business people and consumers to more easily and rapidly connect with each other, wherever and whenever, through e-mail, mobile messaging, Friends Reunited, LinkedIn, Ecademy etc.. The spread of peer-to-peer communications and content extends and reinforces social networks and builds new virtual "communities" and 'viral' communications. EMarketers have to recognize the power and influence of networks and communities.
The information playing field is being levelled. Digital technology has increased the ease and speed of content creation, access, and consumption. EMarketing has therefore to take account of the effect this has on search engines and consider SEO and PPC.
As a result of a more level playing field, information is 'democratized'. With more information comes more knowledge, and with more knowledge comes more.... and more... If, as an internet marketer you do not take this into account you will be left behind.
Relevance is growing. Digital content's abundance creates a growing need for information management and relevance filtering as consumer struggle to find exactly what they want, when they want it. Consumers are spending more time searching for relevant information (a boon to search providers) and increasingly seek to have information aggregated and delivered. Consumers need help managing digital information to avoid digital obesity. So, as an internet marketer how can you help consumers. If the EMarketing that you do does not deliver relevant pages you will be "clicked away".
Niche aggregation is growing. Online content's abundance and diversity enables consumers to more easily participate and indulge in specialist interests and hobbies. They gather in niche communities of like minded individuals, which results in homogeneous mass consumers fragmenting into an increasingly complex individuality. This is happening with all marketing but is a particular issue for EMarketing as niches are pretty much what the web is about.
Micropublished self-expression is blossoming. Digital media's open-source, interactive, interconnected nature enables discussion forums, message boards, feedback forms, voting platforms, personal photo galleries and blogs. As an EMarketer how can you use this?
The "prosumer" is rising. Online media's unique characteristics enable consumers to become increasingly involved in the creation of the products and services they purchase, shifting the balance of power from producer to consumer. Individuals are more involved in specifying, creating, and customizing their purchases to their requirements, as well as shaping their experiences and the communications they receive. Traditional mass-production and mass-marketing concepts are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. It's on-demand everything, everywhere. Growing digital technology ubiquity and the corresponding acceleration of business practices allow consumers to satisfy their needs faster, more easily, and with fewer barriers. Marketing has always been about satisfying consumers but in EMarketing consumer involvement really can create a new level of complixation or a unique opportunity.
USING INTERNET MARKETING, IT IS POSSIBLE TO DO THINGS THAT WERE ONLY DREAMED ABOUT BEFORE INTERNET MARKETING
Direct marketing has been around almost forever – well since postal delivery was possible, though if you look at the way commerce worked during the Roman Empire there are some similarities to direct marketing. Does ordering something from someone 2,000 miles away via your local merchant count?
Database marketing, on the other hand, got started in the mid 1980s as computers and software became sophisticated and widespread.
It is now possible to store information about customers, and use the information to build lasting relationships with them. As a result, it is possible to increase sales and profits by:
Changing customer buying behaviour
Cross sales, repeat sales and upgrades
Working out what's profitable and what's not
Creating referrals and customer loyalty
Models can be used to create customer profiles, segmenting customers into profitability or preference groups, and organisations can develop a different strategy for each group. But, until recently, to devise a different strategy for each person was really beyond the capability of any but the most sophisticated marketers.
Then along came the Internet. It took some time before marketers realized the potential of the web for business, but when they did they saw that Internet Marketing is the greatest direct and database marketing vehicle ever invented, perhaps even the greatest marketing solution ever invented.
Using Internet Marketing, it is possible to do things that were only dreamed about before. For example, with cookies, you can recognize a customer whenever she returns to your web site, and greet her by name: “Welcome back, Margaret”.
Local shops used to do this whenever a customer walked in and customers love personal recognition opening up a whole new world of relationship-building possibilities. The response to any ad or offer should include both a free phone number and a web response option. There are several important reasons for this:
The costs of web direct marketing are very low
Customers grow to prefer this sort of response as they never get put on hold and can contact you 24/7.
Customers enter their data directly into the web which can be (and should be) directly connected to the customer database. That means that your reaction to their response can be instant: an Email thank you, and a shipment within a few hours.
That cannot happen with any of the other response mechanisms. Now you can customize or personalize your web site for each customer.
Since you know what customer has bought, even what she/he is interested in (as a result of an on-line survey) you can deliver an entry page for customer with items of specific interest to the customer.
Then you can truly personalise your Internet Marketing communications with customer. It the old days, the best you could do was to send out an occasional “Thank you” letter or birthday card if you were reasonably switched on. Today you can:
Say “Thank you for your order” and describe what that order is when the submit button is pressed,
Send customer an Email thanking for the order and telling what to do if he/she wants to change or cancel it
Send customer relevant additional Emails such as: Your order will be sent on ; Your order was sent using … and here is the tracking number; Did your order arrive satisfactorily? What was your opinion of the product and the ordering process?
What’s more, all these communications are free. If you are not already doing this then you should at the very least be thinking about it - if you don't someone else will and where will the customer go then?
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