Effectiveness is the adequate to accomplish a purpose; producing the intended or expected result. There are different channels for communication which may be effective to consumers as Television; Magazines, Radio and more, but nowadays internet is becoming the most important and effective tool. Belch (2009) Television Advertising and other tools are paid, expensive tools form of non-personal communication which means that there is no opportunity for immediate feedback, therefore before the message is sent, and the advertiser must consider how the audience will respond to it. As Blackeman (2007) believe that Television advertising can bring the product or service’s story to life, set a mood, demonstrate a use, create a memory, initiate a trend or define a style. As for the Magazine advertising concentrates on the creation of an image or mood through visual and verbal relationships. However, Radio advertising we are exposed to it everywhere because radio had the distinction of being one of the few media vehicles that can be used to reach the targeted audience close to the time of purchase.
Traditional off-line marketing similar to the promotional mix tools that is used to accomplish an organization communication objectives which comprise advertising, direct marketing, sales promotional, Publicity and public relations, personal selling and all these tools costly as compared to Internet marketing or e-marketing which already exist in the promotional mix tool . With traditional off-line marketing the company can only reach a small chunk with each campaign, and may target its buyers in a specific town or city through newspapers, local TV channels, local trade magazines, Banner ads on the streets, etc. Each time it runs a new campaign, it ends up spending more money. With most large or even small businesses, money is tight, and spent with the highest thought and care. Marketing can either swallow up hard earned resources with little effect or can drive a business farther than imagined, depending on the execution. Marketing business on the internet is in many ways simpler and arguably much less expensive than more traditional marketing media, but has its own set of considerations.
Source: Internet World Stats – www.internerworldstats.com; September 30, 2009.
Moreover, using different marketing channels featuring E-marketing will demand more evaluation for the whole marketing communication campaign and highlighting the importance of e-marketing.
Marketing can be considered as one of the most important element foundation successful business creation. Perhaps because of its complex applications, marketing has been defined in a variety of ways. The marketing concept was first promulgated in the late 1950's. The importance of marketing concept incorporates oft-repeated elements such as: customer orientation; integrated marketing efforts; and consequential profitability. In terms of managerial perspective in marketing, Kotler (1972) is the only pioneer as he adopted the concept, when he proposed a generic concept of marketing concerned with how transactions are created, stimulated, facilitated, and valued. Sheth, Gardner and Garrett (1988) on the other hand, believe that the main purpose of marketing is to create and distribute values among the market parties through the process of transactions and market relationships.
Furthermore, the American Marketing Association has defined marketing as the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives (Hills, 1994).
However, with the introduction of new technologies especially the Internet, marketing ways have been changed greatly. Its impact cannot be denied and can be said to have revolutionized business. The Internet provides an effective interactive on-line tool that allows business processes to be aligned with growing demands for increased speed and efficiency at lower cost.
The aim of this paper is to define e-Marketing and to review certain factors associated with it including e-marketing strategies, identify the advantages and disadvantages of marketing through the internet, give suggestions on how on-line marketing communications can be most effective to certain types of industries (if any), particular cultural considerations and assess the difficulties faced by e-marketing, etc.
The development of the Internet gave rise to a more recent marketing strategy known as on-line or electronic marketing. E-marketing is a powerful tool used by different business organizations around the world. It is defined as the process of achieving marketing objectives through the use of electronic communications technology. Smith and Chaffey (2001) suggest there are five broad benefits, reasons or objectives of e-marketing. This framework of 5 Ss is useful since it presents a comprehensive range of objectives. Marketers will decide whether all or only some will drive e-marketing:
Sell – Grow sales (through wider distribution to customers company can’t service off-line or perhaps through a wider product range than in-store, or better prices)
Serve – Add value (give customers extra benefits on-line: or inform product development through on-line dialogue and feedback)
Speak – Get closer to customers by tracking them, asking them questions, conducting on-line interviews, creating a dialogue, monitoring chat rooms, learning about them
Save – Save costs - of service, sales transactions and administration, print and post. Can the company reduce transaction costs and therefore either make on-line sales more profitable? Or use cost-savings to enable the company to cut prices, which in turn could enable to generate greater market share?
Sizzle – Extend the brand on-line. Reinforce brand values in a totally new medium. The Web scores very highly as a medium for creating brand awareness, recognition and involvement.
E-marketing is also known to be the on-line marketing strategy utilized by different company whose objective is to be the best company in their field. In different countries worldwide, more and more business firms have been using e-marketing strategy in order to be competitive. From books, foods and beverages, automobiles and other products and services, various companies, irregardless of their company sizes, are trying to survive by means of e-marketing strategy. Aside from being a promotional medium, the internet is a tool for marketing communications promotional mix as well. Due to its interactive nature, the internet marketing is an efficient method used in communicating with the consumers nowadays more than other promotional traditional tools compared to the Belch (2009) Advertising as it is a valuable tool for building company or brand equity as it is a powerful way to provide consumers with information and influence perception, Direct marketing it is a way in which organization communicate directly with target consumers to generate a response and a transaction, Sales Promotion are marketing activities that provide extra values to the sales force and can stimulate immediate sales, Publicity/Public Relations as for publicity it refers to non-personal communications regarding an organization, product, service or idea not directly paid for in addition to the Public Relations purpose is to establish and maintain a positive image of the company among its publics. Finally, with the Personal selling it’s a form of person to person communication in which a seller attempts to assist or persuade prospective buyers to purchase the company’s product or service or to act on an idea. As for the interactive/internet marketing it allows for a back and forth flow of information whereby users can participate in and modify the form and content of the information they receive in real time, as it allows users to perform a variety of functions such as receive and alter information and image plus making purchase besides through the internet marketing companies can advertise online, have a direct marketing with customers through mails or online communication, offer sales promotion on web sites and can have a PR which evaluates a public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an organization or individual through the internet in order to earn public understanding and acceptance and in conclusion, Personal selling which involves direct contact between buyer and seller as this interaction gives the marketer communication flexibility . Belch (2009) Companies afterward started to concentrate on designing web-related strategies and employing interactive agencies that will facilitate their development of specific company web sites as part of their integrated marketing communication strategy. All there can have a great different impact and value to the advertising campaigns using E-marketing as their main tool of communication.
On-line marketing is considered to be the most comprehensive marketing communication strategy that every company wants to implement and apply. At present, people, particularly those in the business field, is likely to engage them within the trend of rapidly growing technology so as to stay competitive.
Also, online branding or E-branding, Chernatony and Christoudoulides (2004) said that mainly the frequency with which an ad is served impacts brand awareness. Regularity also impacts whether or not an association between a message and a brand is made by a consumer. Thus, aspects of company brands should be emphasized in online branding.
Moreover, it is only recently that the term “corporate brand” has appeared and has captured many academics attention, as it is claimed that research is now shifting from product to company branding, Hatch and Schultz, (2001) The Company and its corporate and product brands can help to substantiate the credibility of the firm’s corporate image Dowling, (1986). Corporate brand differs from product branding as it stresses the importance of brand values.
Upon surfing the internet, various companies have put up their official sites on-line for customers and potential consumers to view. On-line or e-marketing is the latest marketing approach for any company who wants to effectively market its products and services. In addition, e-marketing enables the company to be known worldwide since more and more people are able to access information resulting from the internet. Within the business world, where competition is strict, internet marketing is one essential marketing strategy applied by most companies.
While e-marketing had been applied in order marketing goods local and internationally, this strategic option has also been used effectively by business operators in order to communicate with their customers. One common technique based on e-marketing is electronic mailing; through this tool, companies can send in letters to the clients in order to obtain useful information in line with their specific product needs or preferences. This techniques has in fact been realized an effective instrument for driving revenues as well as obtaining customer retention and loyalty. While direct mailing techniques use the telephone, fax or send posts to gain information, e-mails offer lower contact costs.
However, without the provision of customer control, direct and e-marketing approaches can affect customer relations. For instance, direct e-mailing can be considered by other consumers as unwanted communication; as users do not have the control as to how this unwanted communication can stop, customers are often left motivated. Moreover, this issue often delayed others from filling up on-line forms or replying to company e-mails. Hence, it has been suggested that marketers should provide sufficient information about themselves; users should also be informed of the purpose for the data collection, how the information will be used and in what ways they could control the use of their personal information.
Fortunately, measuring marketing effectiveness is very easy to begin in the internet space. Site statistics reports are readily available on-line and virtually real-time, providing information such as: actual number of mouse clicks, unique visitors, and/or repeat visitors, geographic location, time of day, etc. all naturally collected, compiled and presented so that you can know exactly who/where/when/how often, and even how long the potential customers are visiting each portion of your site. Such site statistics packages are available through the Web-site developers or can be found by on-line search and usually a small subscription fee.
The development of the Internet gave rise to a more recent marketing strategy known as on-line or electronic marketing. E-marketing is a powerful tool used by different business organizations around the world. It is defined as the process of achieving marketing objectives through the use of electronic communications technology. Smith and Chaffey (2001) suggest there are five broad benefits, reasons or objectives of e-marketing. This framework of 5 Ss is useful since it presents a comprehensive range of objectives. Marketers will decide whether all or only some will drive e-marketing:
Sell – Grow sales (through wider distribution to customers company can’t service off-line or perhaps through a wider product range than in-store, or better prices)
Serve – Add value (give customers extra benefits on-line: or inform product development through on-line dialogue and feedback)
Speak – Get closer to customers by tracking them, asking them questions, conducting on-line interviews, creating a dialogue, monitoring chat rooms, learning about them
Save – Save costs - of service, sales transactions and administration, print and post. Can the company reduce transaction costs and therefore either make on-line sales more profitable? Or use cost-savings to enable the company to cut prices, which in turn could enable to generate greater market share?
Sizzle – Extend the brand on-line. Reinforce brand values in a totally new medium. The Web scores very highly as a medium for creating brand awareness, recognition and involvement.
E-marketing is also known to be the on-line marketing strategy utilized by different company whose objective is to be the best company in their field. In different countries worldwide, more and more business firms have been using e-marketing strategy in order to be competitive. From books, foods and beverages, automobiles and other products and services, various companies, regardless of their company sizes, are trying to survive by means of e-marketing strategy. Aside from being a promotional medium, the internet is a tool for marketing communications as well. Due to its interactive nature, the internet is an efficient method used in communicating with the consumers. Companies then started to concentrate on designing web-related strategies and employing interactive agencies that will facilitate their development of specific company web sites as part of their integrated marketing communication strategy.
The aim of this paper is to define e-Marketing and to review certain factors associated with it including e-marketing strategies, identify the advantages and disadvantages of marketing through the internet, give suggestions on how on-line marketing communications can be most effective to certain types of industries (if any), particular cultural considerations and assess the difficulties faced by e-marketing, etc.
For the experimental research, around three to four Web sites or Companies will be selected, to assess more fully practices and policies in accessibility support within different e-marketing, with practical study (e.g. via system testing using industry normal specifications) and research activities to gain user perspectives on system usability (e.g. via questionnaires or interviews); universities will be chosen to reflect leading facilities (e-learning and blackboard). Oracle Company that enables technology services for marketing, Human Resource, sales and all business activities will be used in our research to demonstrate the effectiveness, activities of using e-marketing or internet marketing for example one of the systems we will cover in our thesis paper is the Oracle’s Siebel Email marketing enables organizations to take advantage of the superior economics of e-mail, while building customer trust, respecting their preferences, and creating profitable relationships trust, respecting their preferences, and creating profitable relationships. Besides, we will use another multinational company Vodafone which perform several e-marketing activities in order to construct superior online channels for higher customer satisfaction and stronger customer loyalty. As they delivered new interactive online tools, comparison tools and micro sites leveraging Vodafone brand, duties, product and services for excising customers. All these activities will be mentioned into great extent details and information in the final thesis paper, which will facilitate in establishing the importance of E-marketing nowadays.
The main purpose of this thesis is to find out the effectiveness of Internet marketing or e-marketing as one of the marketing mix where we will try to answer the questions such as:
What makes the e-marketing communication strategies different from traditional methods?
Are companies using e-marketing more direct to customers?
What are the communication tools or mediums that companies use?
Is marketing through the internet an effective means of building a brand or getting new customers?
Is on-line marketing less costly than off-line marketing?
Is on-line marketing faster to implement than off-line marketing?
March to April Design Research Surveys Questionnaires approved with the Supervisor
April to June Collect Data (Start SPSS) Preparation Framework
Analysis& Interpretation of the Data to come up with the proposed suggestions
The importance of developing an effective e-marketing strategy is indicated by Michael Porter (2001) who has said: ‘The key question is not whether to deploy Internet technology – companies have no choice if they want to stay competitive – but how to organize it.’
An e-marketing strategy is needed to provide consistent direction for an organization’s e-marketing activities that integrates with its other marketing activities and supports the overall objectives of the business.
For many companies, the first ventures into e-marketing or Internet marketing are not the result of a well-defined, integrated Internet strategy; rather, they are a response to competitors activities or customers demand.
After a site has been in existence for a year or so, marketing staff and senior managers in a company will naturally question its effectiveness. This is often the point at which the need for a logical Internet marketing strategy becomes apparent. As a result, the starting point to e-marketing strategy is when a company that has an existing site and it is reviewing the current site and its effectiveness with a view to future improvements. And as a motivated tool for the thesis that the in Internet revolution has changed the way companies do their business and communicate to their customers. As Internet penetration rates continue to increase world-wide and Egypt is not an exception, therefore, e-marketing as a new innovative marketing approach will benefit.
Source: Internet World Stats – www.internerworldstats.com; September 30, 2009.
Literature Review (References)
Chaffey, D. (2002). E-business and e-commerce management. Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Harlow, UK.
Dave Chaffey, Fiona Ellis-Chadwick, Richard Mayer and Kevin Johnston
(2006). Internet Marketing: Strategy Implementation and Practice – Third Edition. FT Prentice Hall.
Hills, G.E. (1994). Marketing and Entrepreneurship: Research Ideas and Opportunities. Quorum Books, Westport, CT.
Kotler P. (1972). "A Generic Concept of Marketing." Journal of Marketing
Michael J. Baker (2003). The marketing Book Fifth Edition. Butterworth Heinemann.
Porter, M. (2001). Strategy and the Internet - Harvard Business Review. March 2001, 62-78.
Sheth J. N., Gardner, D.M. and Garrett, D.E. (1988). Marketing Theory: Evolution and Evaluation. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Christodoulides, G. and de Chernatony, L. (2004), “Dimensionalising on-and offline brands composite equity”, Journal of Product and Brand Management
Smith, P.R. and Chaffey, D. (2001). eMarketing eXcellence: at the heart of e-Business. Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, UK.
Hatch, M.J. and Schultz, M. (2001), “Are the strategic stars aligned for your corporate brand?”, Harvard Business Review,
Dowling, G.R. (1986), “Managing your corporate images”, Industrial Marketing Management,
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/effectiveness
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