Internet marketing is the marketing of products and services using the Internet as its medium. Lower costs of dissemination of information and a global audience are its main advantages.
Internet marketing also encompasses digital customer data management and electronic customer relationship management (ECRM), which are widely used in businesses today.
Internet marketing also refers to the placement of media along different stages of the customer engagement cycle through
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search engine marketing (SEM),
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search engine optimization (SEO),
• banner ads on specific websites,
• e-mail marketing,
• social media optimization.
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pay per click (PPC)
• link building
• Directory Submissions
Advantages:
Internet advertising has emerged as legitimate option for marketers - and not just because the web represents a new and technological option. There are several unique advantages to Internet advertising over traditional forms.
Target Market Selectivity
The web offers marketers a new and precise way to target market segments. Marketers can focus on specific interest areas, but they can also target bassed on geographic regions, time of day, computer platform or browser.
Tracking
The internet allows marketers to track how users interact with their brands and to learn what interests current and potential customers. Banner ads and web sites also provide the opportunity to measure the response to an ad a feature that is unattainable in traditional media.
Deliverability and Flexibility
Online advertising is delivered twenty - four hours a day seven days a week for the convenience of the receiver. Whenever the receiver is logged one and active, advertising is there and ready to greet them. As importantly a campaign can be tracked on a daily basis and be updated, changed, or replaced almost immediately
Interactivity
A lofty and often unattainable goal for a marketer is to engage a prospective customer with the brand and the firm. This can be done with internet advertising in a way that just cannot be accomplished in traditional media.
Integration
Web advertising is easily integrated with other forms of promotion. In the most basic sense, all traditional media advertising being used by a marketer can carry the website URL. Web banner ads can highlight themes and images from television or print campaigns. Special events or contests can be feature din banner ads and on websites. This is due to the flexibility and deliverability of web advertising.
Limitations:
• Requires customers to use newer technologies
• Low-speed Internet connections are another barrier
• From the buyer perspective, the inability of shoppers to touch, smell, taste or try on tangible goods before making an online purchase can be limiting.
