Lecture Mail: Week 1 Day 1
Good afternoon
Welcome to Marketing on the Internet. You will be receiving frequent “lecture mails” that discuss important concepts that you will encounter in each chapter of your book, Internet Marketing. Because your books are not yet available in the bookstore, we would like to spend some extra time outlining the content of chapter one so that you don’t fall too far behind. Later in the week we will also call your attention to important ideas that you will encounter in chapter one.
While chapter one is pretty typical in that it reviews basic marketing concepts, it also introduces the reader to several new issues that have evolved as a consequence of the emergence of the Internet. Let’s review the basics first and save the new material for later lecture-mails.
What is marketing? There are four
important things to remember about marketing:
(1) It is a process. That means it doesn’t occur at one point in time.
Instead it is the result of on-going activities of the firm that will be more
or less successful depending on how well it understands its customer segment.
(2) There are certain elements over which it has control: product, price, distribution
and promotion. Internet marketing has introduced two new tools, interactivity
and individualism. We’ll discuss these tomorrow in another mailing.
(3) The core concept on which marketing is based is “the exchange.”
Marketing requires two or more individuals or organizations all of whom are
willing and able to trade things of value. Typically, we exchange money for
goods and services, but we could offer more intangible items, such as love or
loyalty. Do you think it’s possible for e-marketers to elicit love or
loyalty from their consumers, or is that relevant only in face-to-face situations?
(4) Marketing has to keep the customer happy. Remember the marketing concept?
Successful companies will provide objects or services that consumers value.
Obviously, the firm also must be able to offer these goods and services profitably,
so it has to match its strengths or core competencies with consumer wants and
needs.
Seven steps in the marketing process.
Whether you are operating a traditional brick-and-mortar establishment or an
Internet firm, you will progress through a series of steps in your strategic
planning process. They are:
(1) Establish a corporate strategy. This includes the vision and mission of
the organization as well as the larger goals of the organization.
(2) Analyze market opportunities. Do the goals and objectives of the organization
fit with unmet or underserved needs of consumers? If so, who are these consumers?
Are they a sizable segment that is willing and able to respond to the firm’s
offer?
(3) Develop a strategy. How will you reach your target segment? What tools do
you need to accomplish your objectives?
(4) Design the customer experience. For example, are you providing a solution
to a tangible problem, providing entertainment or stimulation, or enhancing
self-image? The consumer experience will be different in each case. We’ll
talk more about this in a later chapter.
(5) Design the marketing program. Depending on what point in the decision process
most members of the target segment are (remember the AIDA model: awareness,
interest/knowledge, desire, and action
(6) Evaluate the marketing program/strategy. This should be an ongoing process
as competitive environments demand constant adjustments and fine-tuning.
(7) Internet environments require an additional step that can be inserted between
steps five and six. This is to design the customer interface. Because the Internet
introduces technology to the relationship with consumers, savvy marketers will
carefully consider which resource—PCs, PDAs, mobile phones, for example—best
fit with their offering.
For example, CDNow.com will remember that you bought a particular CD from a particular rock group several years ago. They have come out with a follow up record. CDNow will e-mail and remind you that you bought this group’s album before and that you might like the new one. Retail outlets simply were not able to provide this level of customer service and individual attention before the electronic age.
There are a number of other important ideas in chapter one that we’ll present during the week. Tomorrow we’ll discuss the scope and impact of Internet marketing. See you then!