The basic key to any marketing strategy has always been to get the name of the marketed good or service out into society, establish a brand name, and then build on the reputation of this brand name once it begins to get attention. The idea of course is to acquire as many customers as possible.
Classic marketing strategies have been employed for years and hold steady to this day. The construct of marketing ideas is based on a principle commonly referred to as the “4 Ps”: product, place, price, and promotion.
A product must present some sort of value to a potential consumer. The knowledge of the product must be placed in an area or a medium in which the consumer will be able to find out about it. The product’s price must complement the value and usefulness of the product to the consumer. Finally, promotion is necessary to further the name and knowledge of your product out in the market. (http://www.marketingprinciples.com/principles-of-marketing/). A good marketer achieves this by allowing exposure with the availability to information about the product that the consumer would potentially be interested in finding out.
It is fair to assume then that the more exposure potential consumers have to a product, the greater the chance that more consumers will find interest in said product, if it meets their criteria for value and fits what the consumer considers to be a fair price. Therefore, tremendous power lies in any medium which would allow maximum exposure of the product. And it is hard to find a medium that extends further than the internet.
There are many tremendous advantages which can be attributed to internet marketing. With its vast reaches, promoting one’s product or service on the internet opens doors to previously untapped markets. These may be places which previous consideration for marketing may not have existed in, whether it is due to geography or financial hardships. Suddenly the limits which may have previously encapsulated the marketing of a product expand greatly, allowing for a product to reach the potential consumer population globally.
A product generally greatly benefits from not being marketed to everyone, but with a geared focus on a specific target market. After all, these are the products’ most likely consumers. A product which finds its niche in the marketplace and builds on its brand typically is a product that gets to be the most successful in terms of marketing. With many internet sites dedicated to specific topics, the promotion of a product can be focused into specific advertising areas, while still reaching the consumer population on a global scale.
Furthermore, if a consumer is introduced to a product, and happens to have an interest in it, the internet is extremely convenient in allowing the consumer to quickly link to more information about the product. With a couple of mouse clicks, the potential consumer has further information at their fingertips.
From a purely business standpoint, there is one key factor that rules any business: money. After all, the goal of any business is increasing profits, and as a marketer, one aims to maximize their intake of profits while providing the consumer base with a product which serves their desired purpose. However, the purchasing of advertising space, time and locations can be extremely pricey. While the ability to promote one’s product on the internet is not free, it is much more cost effective, and the burdens of advertising outside of the online world mostly no longer apply. (http://www.npresence.net/Pros-and-Cons-of-Internet-Marketing.html)
In the past, word of mouth was an immensely helpful aspect of a marketing scheme. A consumer likes a product, and tells his or her acquaintances about it. Any of those parties who are interested in the product may choose to pursue it further, having the product popularity grow. The same concept applies to marketing on the internet, except that the word of mouth is now electronic, and can now reach hundreds if not thousands of potentially interested customers at a time. So less money is spent on advertising, yet the potential of growing the consumer base rapidly is clear.
It is also important to remember that the internet is a place of constant innovation. The availability of new tools for multiple uses is able to assist a marketer in their strategy. The access to helpful information is also available as a resource to help determine how to structure one’s marketing approach in the best way possible.
Internet marketing is undoubtedly filled with benefits. Of course there are some drawbacks as well. Brand promotion for example, is a little more difficult. The consumer is usually very wary of the product they are buying, especially when the consumer comes from the niche market and is typically knowledgeable about the product. Its human nature to believe in and rely on something tangible, whereas promotion on the internet does not provide any physical baring, and therefore little evidence to the consumer of the products viability.
The other clear obstacle is that as the internet, as widely as it is already used, constantly continues to gain more popularity, and more people are turning to it for information about and exposure to potentially interesting products. Many marketers have begun using the internet to their full potential, but that in itself presents a difficulty for each individual marketer: heavier competition. While on a local level a product may hold dominance for a variety of reasons, when the ability to explore many options and order them from across the world exists, it makes it tougher for one’s product to stand out from the rest. And this is where solid classic marketing strategies kick in. With a healthy combination of classic marketing principles and the ever expanding innovation and distribution of the internet, a product’s marketability can be maximized exponentially. (http://www.npresence.net/Pros-and-Cons-of-Internet-Marketing.html)
While many heads of companies who market products may be apprehensive about internet marketing, they should consider that the benefits tend to outweigh the downsides. Greater exposure to the product opens the possibility of a greater consumer numbers and a quickly growing reputation. Therefore the profits stand to increase as less money would need to flow into marketing with a greater output in the end result.
Comments on this entry are closed.