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Marketing
Competitive Advantage through Online promotion
The online environment provides a rich environment for marketing. Marketing is likely to be seen whenever someone goes online; search engines operate with sponsored results at the top, and/or advertisements at the side of the page and many web cites will have advertisements embedded in their pages. Online marketing can also be seen in some less obvious formats such as marketing though maintaining a presence on the social networking mediums and use advergaming. With the high presence of online marketing it may be unsurprising to discover that in 2013 the global spend on internet advertising was estimated to be U.S. $503 billion (Linden, 2013). In the U.S. alone the online advertising spending amounts to U.S. $109.7 billion, accounting for 21.8% of advertising budgets (Linden, 2013). If this amount of money is being spent on internet advertising,...
There is evidence that appears to support this assertion; with many cases demonstrating not only the online marketing can be highly effective, but that it can also be a source of competitive advantage.
The first advantage of the internet is its ability to provide a cost effective medium, which helps to level the playing field between the large and the smaller firms. The use of creative thinking by marketers has been seen to develop some very compelling marketing campaigns. A good example was the West Jet 'Christmas Miracle' public relations stunt, which was filmed and released as a video on You Tube
. In December 2013 passengers on two flights were asked what they wanted for Christmas by Santa, while they were in the air West Jet purchased and wrapped the presents asked for, delivering them to the…
The first advantage of the internet is its ability to provide a cost effective medium, which helps to level the playing field between the large and the smaller firms. The use of creative thinking by marketers has been seen to develop some very compelling marketing campaigns. A good example was the West Jet 'Christmas Miracle' public relations stunt, which was filmed and released as a video on You Tube
. In December 2013 passengers on two flights were asked what they wanted for Christmas by Santa, while they were in the air West Jet purchased and wrapped the presents asked for, delivering them to the passengers when they landed by placing them on the luggage collection carousel, labeled with the passengers names. The exercise must have been costly, arranging all of the recourses needed, as well as purchasing the gifts. The video went viral, to date more than 35 million people have seen the video, and the attention received by the firm went beyond the internet, attracting the attention of the mass media, even getting airline on new programs. The airline has received a high level of attention, which is likely to have made the exercise extremely cost effective; the firm has also marketed itself as a caring and giving airline, helping to differentiate itself from other airlines. As the message did not come through the usual advertising channels where consumers may display resistance, it is also possible that this also increased the credibility of the marketing message and that it reached parts of the target market that may otherwise have been inaccessible. This aspect of image promotion is a potential source of competitive advantage.
While West jet improved their image, the real purpose of marketing is to support, and usually to increase the bottom line. IKEA is a good example of the way that this can be archived. This well-known home furnishing company sells through shops as well as from a catalogue. In 2012 the firm realized they needed to adopt a new approach to marketing for the catalogue, as the sales were flat (Econsultancy, 2013). The strategy adopted was the development of an app that would complement the content of the printed catalogue. The app allowed users to scan a page, and it would then give more information on the products, supplying customers with more knowledge (Econsultancy, 2013). The
Internet Marketing Strategy of Argos The purpose of this essay is to examine the Internet marketing strategy of Argos. Argos is a home retail group and market leader in retail sales of home and general merchandise. Argos reports that it is a "unique multi-channel retailer recognized for choice, value, and convenience." (Argos Website, 2011) Argos and the Online Market: Size and Growth Argos customer base is approximately 130 million and reports state that
University bulletin boards -- particularly those in the business building -- and offices would be my first target. Then I would meet with the on campus television professionals. Every school has closed circuit televisions that run looped information from slides. Who among us hasn't sat in front of one of these sets mindlessly watching the words and pictures go by? Someone would need to take responsibility for maintaining the
This is because it is quite difficult to gain a customer but extremely easy to lose one, and when the marketer has made a customer, then he must ensure that he maintains a minimum of contact with him so that he may be able to pitch his sales again to an individual who is already a customer better than he would be able to a new customer. The third
Internet Marketing Customers prefer Internet marketing because Internet provides the ability to easily custom tailor specifications, such as in the case of buying a computer online from Dell. In addition, Internet search engine offers consumers to find the best bargain price of a product and service. In some cases, electronic brokers facilitate shopping by presenting the offerings in order of some important characteristic, as in the case of travel services arrayed
' Purchasing agents can place orders, gather information, and communicate with different organizations from any place at any time" (Martin & Hafer, p. 41). Following the introduction of the Internet, many purchasing departments and purchasing representatives were better able to engage in direct communications, order taking and fulfillment as well as the provision of technical support with their business counterparts abroad (Martin & Hafer, 2002). These authors add that, "The
Columbus (3) found that within the customer service arena, one CRM capability in particular demonstrated the greatest impact on profit improvement -- customer service execution. Integration into Overall Marketing Strategy SAP seeks to improve global campaigns' effectiveness at generating qualified sales leads, and to do so at lower cost per lead and greater speed over the Internet. To accomplish this SAP conducts an internal evaluation of its Marketing practices and uncovers the