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Abstract
The world we live in has truly changed, we are now accustomed to a web base society where our everyday life consist of using the internet. Due to this technological change, their has been several advances in marketing techniques to accommodate for this new audience. Traditional media marketing has always been the forefront in advertising efforts. However, one must wonder, is media marketing truly as effective as it used to be or has e-commerce marketing taken over? It is essential to understand how both eCommerce and media marketing affect the average consumer. In this study, we examine the most effective methods that captures the targeted audience and determine which generates
Introduction
Society as we may know it, is advancing every year, technology is being used to not only make our lives easier, but is also reshaping the way marketing is done for companies. In addition to the technology change, their has also been a change in consumer behavior. More specifically consumer buying behavior, this relation can be the result of this technology change. Freedman observes that the internet presents a genuine challenge to the business operations of traditional news organizations. (Bhagat & Klein, 2009) People are now intrigued by bulk sources, expert editorial judgment, and blogs.
Due to this change, it is understood that traditional marketing is no longer as effective as e-commerce marketing. apparent that we point out the pros and cons to both these strategies and discover the challenging windows that each must overcome or may come across. Also, more importantly find out which marketing strategies is the most affective in consumers buying behavior. We will be reviewing the case of Barnes & Nobles and Borders. We will point out both their marketing techniques and take notice to the ones that compelled the company to stardom.
E-Commerce Definition
The two main segments for marketing are better known as Media marketing and E-commerce marketing. Each play a significant role on the performance of a company, and are used interchangeably to reach all types of markets. E-commerce is another way of saying online buying, it is the means of selling products and/or services via the online web. Due to technology, the online world can now be accessed in many different ways, from cell phone devices, MP3 players, TVs, video game Consoles, and even your cars head unit (depending on the vehicle). Marketing within mobile devices is becoming a growing phenomenon, specific techniques like this promote brand asset objectives, like awareness, loyalty, association and convenience. (Flaherty, 2005) The start of this online world, has led major companies like Ebay, Amazon, Google, and Yahoo to create their own niche market and develop a specific marketing plan tailored to the online community. Aside from these heavy hitters online, there are thousands of smaller companies whom also utilize these online tools to enhance their businesss sales and exposure. Majority of these companies have store fronts, and only use the online services to add an additional marketing strategy. One of the companies that didnt utilize the internet properly was in fact Borders, they underwent several problems. Borders, sales channel or e-book was outsourced and cost them 20 million a year. The idea was thought to perhaps save the company money, however in the long term it would jeopardize Borders branding, multi-channel strategy, and the customer loyalty base. (Evans, 2011) The process behind outsourcing is very risky because it puts a threat of losing customers, with the importance of the internet this should have never been done by Borders. With intense competitors like Barnes and Nobles and Amazon the market for E-books is a tough market to get involved with. (Evans, 2011)
Methods/ Techniques
There are several different methods involved with marketing online that are currently being used. The most common method that is frequently used, is email databases. These emails are collected from a number of various sources, some are purchased from 3rd parties, others are collected from forums or surveys that were completed by the customer. Data could also be collected from the Internet and then included into organizational databases. This process involves several steps including but no limited to data warehousing, data content identification/understanding, and data integration/aggregation. This information is then interpreted into corporate marketing strategies specifically geared towards online eCommerce efforts. (Flaherty, 2005)
These emails are generated regularly by companies, usually when the store has a sale, upcoming event, new product launch, or just for public awareness. Another method of online marketing is what is commonly known as, “pop ups” these occur when a new screen has opened without the user doing so. They are not as frequent as other methods of marketing but they can be effective. These pop up window usually entails the product or service, in which the end user clicks on the window and is redirected to the official site of the product/service. While pop-ups and emails can be more of a directive marketing approach, their is another strategy that is used for more of a in-directive alternative. These are known as banners, and in the consumers eyes appear as ads, they are featured on almost all web pages in a designated area and contain multimedia content. As discussed earlier, larger companies like Google or Yahoo, sell this ad space to smaller companies whom would like to advertise on their page. Due to the size and amount of hits that the seller (Google or Yahoo) has usually dictates the asking price the seller can demand from these smaller companies. Nevertheless, these spaces are excellent exposure and help out businesses tremendously. Another method of marketing via the web is something that is offered by Google, known as Ad Words. Ad Words, is a service that allows you to input keywords, phrases, or sentences that correspond with your business into Googles search engines. When a user uses Google search engine to perform a search, the system will run it by your keywords, if there is a match then a link to your site will appear. Lastly, the newest common method used to market products/service has been through social media feeds. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, have all played an important role in todays society over the past five years. This new trend is reshaping the way young teens and early adults perceive the online community. A large market of online users are no longer