Internet marketing
Encyclopedia
Internet marketing, also known as digital marketing
Digital marketing
Digital Marketing is the promoting of brands using all forms of digital advertising channels to reach consumers. Digital marketing extends beyond Internet Marketing to include channels that do not require the use of the Internet...

, web marketing, online marketing, search marketing or e-marketing, is referred to as the marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

 (generally promotion) of products or services over the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

. iMarketing is used as an abbreviated form for Internet Marketing

Internet marketing is considered to be broad in scope because it not only refers to marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

 on the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

, but also includes marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

 done via e-mail and wireless media. Digital customer data and electronic customer relationship management (ECRM) systems are also often grouped together under internet marketing.

Internet marketing ties together the creative and technical aspects of the Internet, including design, development, advertising, and sales. Internet marketing also refers to the placement of media along many different stages of the customer engagement
Customer engagement
Customer engagement refers to the engagement of customers with one another, with a company or a brand. The initiative for engagement can be either consumer- or company-led and the medium of engagement can be on or offline....

 cycle through search engine marketing
Search engine marketing
Search engine marketing, , is a form of Internet 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...

 (SEM), search engine optimization
Search engine optimization
Search engine optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid search results...

 (SEO), banner ads
Web banner
A web banner or banner ad is a form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking to the website of the advertiser...

 on specific websites, email marketing, mobile advertising
Mobile advertising
Mobile advertising is a form of advertising via mobile phones or other mobile devices. It is a subset of mobile marketing.- Overview :...

, and Web 2.0
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...

 strategies.

In 2008, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, working with comScore
ComScore
comScore is a Internet marketing research company providing marketing data and services to many of the Internet's largest businesses. comScore tracks all internet data on its surveyed computers in order to study online behavior....

, published an initial estimate to quantify the user data collected by large Internet-based companies. Counting four types of interactions with company websites in addition to the hits from advertisements served from advertising networks, the authors found that the potential for collecting data was up to 2,500 times per user per month.

Types of Internet Marketing

iMarketing is broadly divided in to the following three types,
  • PPC/I (Pay per click
    Pay per click
    Pay per click is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the publisher when the ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market...

    /impression): Advertisements for brands and products is done on pre-decided websites and helps in generating leads for companies.

  • SEO Search engine optimization
    Search engine optimization
    Search engine optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid search results...

     is the process of improving the visibility of a website
    Website
    A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

     or a web page
    Web page
    A web page or webpage is a document or information resource that is suitable for the World Wide Web and can be accessed through a web browser and displayed on a monitor or mobile device. This information is usually in HTML or XHTML format, and may provide navigation to other web pages via hypertext...

     in search engine
    Search engine
    A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...

    s via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic
    Organic search
    Organic search results are listings on search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to their being advertisements. In contrast, non-organic search results may include pay per click advertising....

    " or "algorithmic") search results
    Search engine results page
    A search engine results page , is the listing of web pages returned by a search engine in response to a keyword query. The results normally include a list of web pages with titles, a link to the page, and a short description showing where the Keywords have matched content within the page...

    .

  • Social media marketing
    Social media marketing
    Social media marketing is an addition to personal, small business, corporate, and non-profit organizations’ integrated marketing communications plans...

     (SMM)

Business models

Internet marketing is associated with several business models:
  • E-commerce: a model whereby goods are sold directly to consumers (B2C), businesses (B2B
    Business-to-business
    Business-to-business describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer...

    ), or from consumer to consumer (C2C
    Consumer-to-consumer
    Consumer-to-consumer electronic commerce involves the electronically facilitated transactions between consumers through some third party. A common example is the online auction, in which a consumer posts an item for sale and other consumers bid to purchase it; the third party generally charges a...

    ).
  • Lead
    Sales lead
    A sales lead, or Sales Lead, is the identification of a person or entity that has the interest and authority to purchase a product or service. This step represents the first stage of a sales process. The lead may have a corporation or business associated with the person. Sales leads are generic...

    -based websites: a strategy whereby an organization generates value by acquiring sales leads from its website. Similar to walk-in customers in retail world. These prospects are often referred to as organic leads.
  • Affiliate Marketing
    Affiliate marketing
    Affiliate marketing 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...

    : a process wherein a product or service developed by one entity is sold by other active sellers for a share of profits. The entity that owns the product may provide some marketing material (e.g., sales letters, affiliate links, tracking facilities, etc.); however, the vast majority of affiliate marketing relationships come from e-commerce businesses that offer affiliate programs.
  • Local Internet marketing: a strategy through which a small company utilizes the Internet to find and to nurture relationships that can be used for real-world advantages. Local Internet marketing uses tools such as social media marketing
    Social media marketing
    Social media marketing is an addition to personal, small business, corporate, and non-profit organizations’ integrated marketing communications plans...

    , local directory listing, and targeted online sales promotions.

One-to-one approaches

In a one-to-one approach, marketers target a user browsing the Internet alone and so that the marketers' messages reach the user personally. This approach is used in search marketing, for which the advertisements are based on search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...

 keywords
Keyword (Internet search)
An index term, subject term, subject heading, or descriptor, in information retrieval, is a term that captures the essence of the topic of a document. Index terms make up a controlled vocabulary for use in bibliographic records. They are an integral part of bibliographic control, which is the...

 entered by the users. This approach usually works under the pay per click
Pay per click
Pay per click is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the publisher when the ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market...

 (PPC) method.

Appeal to specific interests

When appealing to specific interests, marketers place an emphasis on appealing to a specific behavior or interest, rather than reaching out to a broadly defined demographic. These marketers typically segment their markets according to age group, gender, geography, and other general factors.

Niche marketing

Niche and hyper-niche internet marketing put further emphasis on creating destinations for web users and consumers on specific topics and products. Niche marketers differ from traditional Internet marketers as they have a more specialized topic knowledge. For example, whereas in traditional Internet marketing a website would be created and promoted on a high-level topic such as kitchen appliances, niche marketing would focus on more specific topics such as 4-slice toasters.

Niche marketing provides end users of such sites very targeted information, and allows the creators to establish themselves as authorities on the topic or product.

Geo-targeting

In Internet marketing, geo targeting
Geo targeting
Geo targeting in geomarketing and internet marketing is the method of determining the geolocation of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based on his or her location, such as country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code, organization, IP address, ISP or other...

 and geo marketing are the methods of determining the geolocation
Geolocation
Geolocation is the identification of the real-world geographic location of an object, such as a radar, mobile phone or an Internet-connected computer terminal...

 of a website visitor with geolocation software
Geolocation software
In computing, geolocation software is used to deduce the geolocation of another party. For example, on the Internet, one geolocation approach is to identify the subject party's IP address, then determine what country , organization, or user the IP address has been assigned to, and finally,...

, and delivering different content
Web content
Web content is the textual, visual or aural content that is encountered as part of the user experience on websites. It may include, among other things: text, images, sounds, videos and animations....

 to that visitor based on his or her location, such as latitude and longitude, country, region or state, city, metro code or zip code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

, organization, Internet Protocol
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...

 (IP) address, ISP, and other criteria.

6 key principles of persuasion by Robert Cialdini

One of the most famous guides to internet marketing is the book by Robert Cialdini
Robert Cialdini
Robert B. Cialdini is Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University.He is best known for his popular book on persuasion and marketing, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. Influence has sold over 2 million copies and has been translated into twenty-six...

 "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion."
According to Cialdini there are
6 key principles of persuasion: 1. Reciprocity, 2. Commitment and Consistency, 3. Social Proof/Consensus, 4. Authority, 5. Liking, 6. Scarcity.

Advantages

Internet marketing is inexpensive when examining the ratio of cost to the reach of the target audience. Companies can reach a wide audience for a small fraction of traditional advertising budgets. The nature of the medium allows consumers to research and to purchase products and services conveniently. Therefore, businesses have the advantage of appealing to consumers in a medium that can bring results quickly. The strategy and overall effectiveness of marketing campaigns depend on business goals and cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis.

Internet marketers also have the advantage of measuring statistics easily and inexpensively; almost all aspects of an Internet marketing campaign can be traced, measured, and tested, in many cases through the use of an ad server. The advertisers can use a variety of methods, such as pay per impression, pay per click
Pay per click
Pay per click is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the publisher when the ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market...

, pay per play
Pay per play
Pay per play , also known as Cash per play , is an online advertising method that plays an audio advertisement on websites. The term "pay per play" comes from advertisers paying for each audio ad played. Also, the web page playing the audio ad is normally paid for each ad they serve. Ads are...

, and pay per action. Therefore, marketers can determine which messages or offerings are more appealing to the audience. The results of campaigns can be measured and tracked immediately because online marketing initiatives usually require users to click on an advertisement, to visit a website, and to perform a targeted action.

Limitations

However, from the buyer's perspective, the inability of shoppers to touch, to smell, to taste, and "to try on" tangible goods before making an online purchase can be limiting. However, there is an industry standard for e-commerce vendors to reassure customers by having liberal return policies as well as providing in-store pick-up services.

Security concerns

Information security
Information security
Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction....

 is important both to companies and consumers that participate in online business. Many consumers are hesitant to purchase items over the Internet because they do not believe that their personal information will remain private. Some companies that purchase customer information offer the option for individuals to have their information removed from their promotional redistribution, also known as opting out
Opt-out
The term opt-out refers to several methods by which individuals can avoid receiving unsolicited product or service information. This ability is usually associated with direct marketing campaigns such as telemarketing, e-mail marketing, or direct mail. A list of those who have opted-out is called a...

. However, many customers are unaware if and when their information is being shared, and are unable to stop the transfer of their information between companies if such activity occurs. Additionally, companies holding private information are vulnerable to data attacks and leaks.

Internet browsing privacy is a related consumer concern. Web sites routinely capture browsing and search history which can be used to provide targeted advertising. Privacy policies can provide transparency to these practices. Spyware prevention software can also be used to shield the consumer.

Another consumer e-commerce concern is whether or not they will receive exactly what they purchase. Online merchants have attempted to address this concern by investing in and building strong consumer brands (e.g., Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...

, eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

, and Overstock.com
Overstock.com
Overstock.com , also known by its shortcut, O.co, is an online retailer headquartered in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, near Salt Lake City. Founded in 1997 by Robert Brazell, under the name D2: Discounts Direct, it was a pioneering online seller of surplus merchandise which, upon its failure in 1999,...

), and by leveraging merchant and feedback rating systems and e-commerce bonding
Bond (finance)
In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...

 solutions. All these solutions attempt to assure consumers that their transactions will be free of problems because the merchants can be trusted to provide reliable products and services. Additionally, several major online payment mechanisms (credit cards, PayPal
PayPal
PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....

, Google Checkout
Google Checkout
Google Checkout is an online payment processing service provided by Google aimed at simplifying the process of paying for online purchases. Users store their credit or debit card and shipping information in their Google Account, so that they can purchase at participating stores by clicking an...

, etc.) have provided back-end buyer protection systems to address problems if they occur.

Usage trends

Technological advancements in the telecommunications industry have dramatically affected online advertising
Online advertising
Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web to deliver marketing messages to attract customers. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, blogs, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, interstitial...

 techniques. Many firms are embracing a paradigm that is shifting the focus of advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

 methodology from traditional text and image advertisements to those containing more recent technologies like JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....

 and Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...

. As a result, advertisers can more effectively engage and connect their audience with their campaigns that seek to shape consumer attitudes and feelings towards specific products and services.

Effects on industries

The number of banks offering the ability to perform banking tasks over the internet has increased. Online banking
Online banking
Online banking allows customers to conduct financial transactions on a secure website operated by their retail or virtual bank, credit union or building society.-Features:...

 appeals to customers because it is often faster and considered more convenient than visiting bank branches.

Internet auctions

Internet auctions have become a multi-billion dollar business. Unique items that could only previously be found at flea markets are now being sold on Internet auction websites such as eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

. Specialized e-stores sell a vast amount of items like antiques, movie props, clothing, gadgets, and so on.

As the premier online reselling platform, eBay is often used as a price-basis for specialized items. Buyers and sellers often look at prices on the website before going to flea markets; the price shown on eBay often becomes the item's selling price.

Advertising industry

In addition to the major effect internet marketing has had on the technology industry, the effect on the advertising industry itself has been profound. In just a few years, online advertising
Online advertising
Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web to deliver marketing messages to attract customers. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, blogs, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, interstitial...

 has grown to be worth tens of billions of dollars annually. PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....

 reported that US$16.9 billion was spent on Online marketing in the U.S. in 2006.

This has caused a growing impact on the United States' electoral process. In 2008, candidates for President heavily utilized Internet marketing strategies to reach constituents. During the 2007 primaries candidates added, on average, over 500 social network supporters per day to help spread their message. President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

 raised over US$1 million in one day during his extensive Democratic candidacy campaign, largely due to online donors.

Several industries have heavily invested in and benefited from internet marketing and online advertising. Some of them were originally brick and mortar
Brick and mortar
Brick and mortar in its most simplest usage is used to describe the physical presence of a building or other structure...

 businesses such as publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

, music, automotive or gambling, while others have sprung up as purely online businesses, such as digital design and media, blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

ging, and internet service hosting.

See also

  • Digital marketing
    Digital marketing
    Digital Marketing is the promoting of brands using all forms of digital advertising channels to reach consumers. Digital marketing extends beyond Internet Marketing to include channels that do not require the use of the Internet...


-----
  • Ad server
  • Article marketing
    Article marketing
    Article marketing is a type of advertising in which businesses write short articles related to their respective industry. These articles are made available for distribution and publication in the marketplace. Each article has a bio box and byline that include references and contact information for...

  • Classified advertising
    Classified advertising
    Classified advertising is a form of advertising which is particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals which may be sold or distributed free of charge...

  • Conversion rate
    Conversion rate
    In internet marketing, conversion rate is the ratio of visitors who convert casual content views or website visits into desired actions based on subtle or direct requests from marketers, advertisers, and content creators...

  • Frequency capping
    Frequency capping
    Frequency capping is a term in advertising that means restricting the number of times a specific visitor to a website is shown a particular advertisement...

  • In-text advertising
    In-text advertising
    In-text advertising is a form of contextual advertising where specific keywords within the text of a web-page are matched with advertising and/or related information units.-Description:...

  • Inbound marketing
    Inbound marketing
    Note: The sole purpose of this article is to disambiguate two pairs of meanings of inbound and outbound marketing. Please see the linked articles for in-depth information on the respective meanings....

  • Lead scoring
    Lead scoring
    Lead scoring is a method of assigning points to each prospect you come across. Points are assigned based on specific criteria you set—those attributes you've identified as being most often associated with serious prospective customers...

  • Media transparency
    Media transparency
    Media transparency is the concept of determining how and why information is conveyed through various means.As used in the humanities,the topic of media transparency implies openness and accountability...

  • Netnography
    Netnography
    Netnography is the branch of ethnography that analyses the free behaviour of individuals on the Internet that uses online marketing research techniques to provide useful insights. The word “netnography” comes from “Inter[net]” and “eth[nography]” and was a process and term coined by Dr. Robert V....

  • Online identity management
    Online identity management
    Online identity management also known as online image management or online personal branding or personal reputation management is a set of methods for generating a distinguished Web presence of a person on the Internet...

  • Online lead generation
    Online lead generation
    Online Lead Generation is a marketing term that refers to the creation or generation of prospective consumer interest or inquiry into a business' products or services online...

  • Pay per click
    Pay per click
    Pay per click is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the publisher when the ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market...

  • Post-click marketing
    Post-click marketing
    Post-click marketing is emerging as a recognized practice that aims at improving sales and marketing results by focusing on website visitors when they respond to online marketing activities such as pay per click advertising, HTML e-mails, and paid searches with the objective on increasing...

  • Product feed
  • Real-time Marketing
    Real-time marketing
    Real-time marketing is marketing performed "on-the-fly" to determine an appropriate or optimal approach to a particular customer at a particular time and place...

  • Search Engine Marketing
    Search engine marketing
    Search engine marketing, , is a form of Internet 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...

  • Social media optimization
    Social Media Optimization
    Social media optimization is the methodization of social media activity with the intent of attracting unique visitors to website content. SMO is one of many online methods of website optimization...

  • Web banner
    Web banner
    A web banner or banner ad is a form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking to the website of the advertiser...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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