FOUR I’S OF INTERNET MARKETING
FOUR I’S OF INTERNET MARKETING
Internet marketing is a lot like standard print and TV marketing in so many ways. It is so different in so many others also. Internet marketing also has a lot of advantages over those other forms of advertising when they are done right. Internet marketing can be more personal and more involved. Its effectiveness can also be measured greater and easier. In the following you will learn about the four I’s of internet marketing, how they are used, the advantages that they provide, and how they can be measured.
The first I is Interactive. So much of what is online is interactive. What I mean is that the consumer is involved in the advertisement. They need to do something in order to make the experience/advertising work. This can be as simple as a chat room, survey, a game, etc.
If you advertisement is interactive you are making the consumer a part of the process and drawing them in. This is a great way to gather information from you customer. You are getting direct information from the consumer without confrontation. It’s a great way to measure their satisfaction and ways that you can improve to ensure they will continue to be a happy customer. Walmart has been known to send an email after your online purchase asking you questions about your experience. If you answer the questions you are entered for a chance to win a $1,000 gift card.
The second I is Information-driven (gathering of information). Companies can track the actions of their consumer’s clicks on their websites. The information can then be compiled and used to help predicted movements of consumers based on what others have done. It can also be used to help track how consumers are getting to their websites. If one website is bringing them more traffic they can put more effort into the advertisements on that website. It essentially allows for their money to be spent more intelligently.
If they use the information to track their consumer’s actions it can be beneficial to the consumer. It could save them time and/or find things they didn’t know that they wanted/needed if site is able to predict what you are looking for based on previous consumer’s searches and clicks. Best Buy is one company that uses this. When you click to look at an item it shows items along the bottom that they feel you may be interested in based on your search and previous consumers interests and purchases. It’s also a great way to make an “up sale” that you might not make if it had not been right in front of the consumer. Much like the candy and gum racks at checkout lines. This will become more and more important as the competition grows on the internet. Companies will need to stay one click ahead of their consumer.
The third I is Immediate; essentially an answer/satisfaction right away. One of the struggles that on-line companies have had to compete with is immediate satisfaction. You are not going to get product in your hands at the end of the purchase when you are buying things from Target.com. A lot of companies have had to slash prices and offered on-line discounts to help counter act this. However, some companies have been able to corner this, buy offering more information instantly (at just a click) about their products. An example is using interactive chat rooms. These also allow the company to respond immediately to a customer’s questions and concerns. Having an immediate response (no waiting in line, no waiting on the hold) to a concern or a question you can keep from what may have become an unhappy customer to a happy customer.
There are a few companies that use all of these above examples and have also been able to get your purchase in your hand instantly at the time of purchase. That is ticket sale companies (i.e. stub hub). In minutes you can find the event you want, see the tickets that are still available, purchase those tickets, and print off your tickets in the comfort of their own home.
The fourth and final I is Involving. This I brings all of the previous I’s full circle. All of them have the same purpose and that is making the consumer more involved. The purpose of making them more involved is to force them to take an action and making them involved in the purchase. It is a fine line though and depending on how you use it. It could become annoying and back fire on you. One of the things I find most annoying is when you go to website and have something pop up and block everything on the screen that you are trying to look at. It has made me so frustrated to not be able to close some out without clicking to the website that I have gone to other on-line stores for my purchase.
One website that has made the experience involving but yet affective is FANDANGO.com. It has advertisements that run across the top and sides of the website (most of the time movie trailers and/or banners). If it catches your eye and you want to learn more about it you can click on it.
Any advertising/marketing regardless of the venue needs to follow the standard guidelines/rules to be successful. However, if a company can find a way to use all of these (or at least some of them) and use them successfully they can have a largely successful campaign internet marketing campaign. Internet marketing is growing exponentially and grow more and more important as technology increases and the demand for instantaneousness increases. Companies can increase their awareness and remain to be adaptable and reactive with their actions and advertisements.
REFERENCES
Roberts, M. L. (2008). Internet Marketing: Integrating Online and Offline Strategies (2nd ed.). Mason, OH: Atomic Dog, a part of Cengage Learning.
Pinto, J. B. (2012). Internet marketing: Then, now and in the future. Ocular Surgery News, 30(1), 20-20. http://search.proquest.com/docview/921332580?accountid=41205
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