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Marketing Society of KenyaICT Applications in Marketing

Practitioners Diploma in marketingJune 2012

Introduction

Technology has evolved from the Telegraph to Fax Machine, the Pager, Internet/ Emailand today we have the mobile technology.

The growth of the Internet has opened new marketing opportunities that are more costeffective, faster and have a wider reach.

The Internet

The Internet refers to the physical network that links computers across the globe.It consists of the infrastructure of network servers and wide-area communicationlinks between them that are used to hold and transport the vast amount ofinformation on the Internet.

Web browsers

Browsers such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer provide an easymethod of accessing and viewing information stored as web documents ondifferent servers.

World Wide Web

The World Wide Web is a medium for publishing information on the Internet. It isaccessed through web browsers, which display web pages and can now be used torun business applications. Company information is stored on web servers, whichare usually referred to as web sites.

Intranet

A network within a single company which enables access to company informationusing the familiar tools of the Internet such as web browsers. Only staff within thecompany can access the intranet, which will be password protected.

Extranet

Formed by extending the intranet beyond a company to customers, suppliers,collaborators or even competitors. This is again password protected to preventaccess by all Internet users.

ICT Applications in Marketing - PDM by Sam Nguru

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Internet Marketing

The following can act as baseline definitions of Internet Marketing.

Defn: The process of growing and promoting an organization using online media. ItDoes not simply mean building a website or promoting a website.Somewhere behind that website is a real organization with real goals.

Defn:Internet marketing or Internet-based marketing can also be defined as theuse of the Internet and related digital technologies to achieve marketingobjectives and support the modern marketing concept. These technologiesinclude the Internet media and other digital media such as wireless mobilemedia, cable and satellite.

In practice, Internet marketing will include the use of a company web site inconjunction with online promotional techniques such as search engines,banner advertising, direct e-mail and links or services from other web sitesto acquire new customers and provide services to existing customers thathelp develop the customer relationship. However, for Internet marketing tobe successful there is a necessity of integration with traditional media suchas Print and TV,

The Internet can be applied by companies as an integral part of the modernmarketing concept since:

It can be used to support the full range of organizational functions andprocesses that deliver products and services to customers and other key

stakeholders.

It is a powerful communications medium that can act as a corporate gluethat integrates the different functional parts of the organization.

It facilitates information management, which is now increasingly recognizedas a critical marketing support tool to strategy formulation andimplementation.

The future role of the Internet should form part of the vision of a companysince its future impact will be significant to most businesses.

Without adequate information, organisations are at a disadvantage with respect tocompetitors and the external environment. Up-to-date, timely and accessibleinformation about the industry, markets, new technology, competitors andcustomers is a critical factor in an organisation s ability to plan and compete in anincreasingly competitive marketplace.


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Why Internet Marketing?

Benefits of Internet Marketing

The availability of informationConsumers can access the Internet and learn about products, as well aspurchase them, at any hour, any day

Smaller sales forceCompanies that use internet marketing can save money through a reducedneed for a sales force.

Faster geographical ExpansionInternet marketing has a wider coverage. It can help expand from a localmarket to national and international market places.

Low Cost

The costs are low compared with traditional media, such as print, radio andTV.

AccountableIt is easy to track and measure efficiency. Using counters on the site, youcan tell how many people accessed the website, the geographical locations aneven particular pages visited. It is also possible to tell how they got to thesite whether it was a referral from another site.

Global visibilityResearch results have shown that internet technology is Growing faster than

any other type of media

SpeedCommunication on the net is much faster than the traditional methods ofpostal mail and couriers

Limitations of Internet Marketing

1. Internet marketing requires customers to use newer technologies rather thantraditional media.

2. Low-speed Internet connections are another barrier: If companies build large oroverly-complicated websites, individuals connected to the Internet via dial-upconnections or mobile devices experience significant delays in content delivery.

3. From the buyer's perspective, the inability of shoppers to touch, smell, taste or"try on" tangible goods before making an online purchase can be limiting. Manyconsumers are hesitant to purchase items over the Internet because they do nottrust that their personal information will remain private. Encryption is the primarymethod for implementing privacy policies.


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4. Another major security concern that consumers have with e-commercemerchants is whether or not they will receive exactly what they purchase. d buyerprotection systems to address problems if they actually do occur.

Search engine marketing (SEM)

SEM, is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasingtheir visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs).

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume orquality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or"algorithmic") search results. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the searchresults list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO maytarget different kinds of search, including image search, local search, andindustry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a web site web presence.

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work andwhat people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its contentand HTML coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to removebarriers to the indexing activities of search engines.

SEO may employ several techniques which includes but not limited to:

Using the right key words in page titles and body content

Including the key words in Meta data

Inherited importance referrals from other highly ranked sites e.gthrough inline ads

Blog marketing

Blog, short for weblog, is the term used to describe internet marketing via webblogs. These blogs differ from corporate websites because they feature daily orweekly posts, often around a single topic. Typically, corporations use blogs tocreate a dialog with customers and explain features of their products and services.

Many organizations use blogs with their user community. This allows them to shareand preview product features, functions, and benefits before the products arereleased. Blogs are an excellent way to gather feedback and to make sure productsmeet the needs of users. Blogs have become the next generation marketing tool tocorporate websites which merely post collateral and do not provide any interactivefeedback.


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Viral Marketing

viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieveother marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viralprocesses, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be

word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.

Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games,advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages. Thebasic form of viral marketing is not infinitely sustainable.

Email Marketing

E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as ameans of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience. In itsbroadest sense, every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could beconsidered e-mail marketing. However, the term is usually used to refer to:

sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of amerchant with its current or previous customers and to encourage customerloyalty and repeat business,

sending e-mails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincingcurrent customers to purchase something immediately,

adding advertisements to e-mails sent by other companies to their

customers

E-mail marketing (on the Internet) is popular with companies for several reasons:

A mailing list provides the ability to distribute information to a wide rangeof specific, potential customers at a relatively low cost.

Compared to other media investments such as direct mail or printednewsletters, e-mail is less expensive.

The delivery time for an e-mail message is short (i.e., seconds or minutes)as compared to a mailed advertisement (i.e., one or more days).

An advertiser is able to "push" the message to its audience, as opposed to

website-based advertising, which relies on a customer to visit that website. Over half of Internet users check or send e-mail on a typical day.

Mobile marketing

Mobile marketing refers to marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a mobilephone. Marketing on a mobile phone has become increasingly popular ever sincethe rise of SMS (Short Message Service) in the early 2000s.

SMS has become a legitimate advertising channel in some parts of the world. This

is because unlike email over the public internet, the carriers who police their own


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networks have set guidelines and best practices for the mobile media industry(including mobile advertising).

Over the past few years mobile short codes have been increasingly popular as anew channel to communicate to the mobile consumer. Brands have begun to treatthe mobile shortcode as a mobile domain name allowing the consumer to textmessage the brand at an event, in store and off any traditional media.

Short codes can also be used to run raffles and other market campaigns.

Mobile marketing via MMS

MMS mobile marketing can contain a timed slideshow of images, text, audio andvideo. This mobile content is delivered via MMS (Multimedia Message Service).

Mobile marketing via Bluetooth

Most of these businesses offer "hotspot" systems which consist of some kind ofcontent-management system with a Bluetooth distribution function. Thistechnology has the advantages that it is permission-based, has higher transferspeeds and is also a radio-based technology and can therefore not be billed (i.e. isfree of charge).

Location-based services

Location-based services (LBS) are offered by some cell phone networks as a way tosend custom advertising and other information to cell-phone subscribers based ontheir current location.

Telemarketing

Telemarketing is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits toprospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone orthrough a subsequent face to face or Web conferencing appointment scheduledduring the call.

Telemarketing can also include recorded sales pitches programmed to be playedover the phone via automatic dialing.

Telemarketing may be done from a company office, from a call centre, or fromhome. It may involve either a live operator or a recorded message, in which case itis known as "automated telemarketing" using voice broadcasting. "Robocalling" is aform of voice broadcasting which is most frequently associated with politicalmessages.

An effective telemarketing process often involves two or more calls. The first call(or series of calls) determines the customers needs. The final call (or series ofcalls) motivates the customer to make a purchase.


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Discussion Questions

1 The Internet is primarily thought of as a means of advertising and selling

products. What are the opportunities for use of the Internet in other marketing

functions?

2 The World Wide Web represents apull medium for marketing rather than a

push-medium. Discuss.

3 Explain the main benefits that a company selling fast-moving consumer goods

could derive by creating a web site.

4 Internet technology is used by companies in three main contexts. Distinguish

between the following types and explain their significance to marketers.

(a) intranet

(b) extranet

(c) Internet

5 Imagine you are explaining the difference between the World Wide Web and theInternet to a marketing manager. How would you explain these two terms?

6 Distinguish between Internet Marketing and e-marketing.


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