Technologies in Business and Marketing

¶ … Technologies in Business and Marketing

Marketing Communications in the Information Age

The information age has already revolutionized modern business, particularly in the area of communications technology and applications. In barely more than half a decade since the introduction of the Internet, which debuted publicly in 1996 as the "World Wide Web," e-mail went from being a novelty to the principal means of business communications on a global scale. Business marketing functions were quick to tap into the many advantages offered by e-mail communications and devised sophisticated marketing initiatives around mass e-mail "blasts."

In comparison to traditional means of publicizing marketing information and contacts, e-mail offered an efficient, cutting-edge, and economical method of advertisement and promotion. However, before the so-called "Information Age" was a decade old, unsolicited email evolved into the modern version of junk mail, in addition to the element of online criminal enterprises and malicious hackers exploiting the new communications media in ways that further reduced the effectiveness of relying on email as heavily for marketing as had become popular a few years earlier (Locker, 2006: 19).

The historic 2008 U.S. Presidential Election campaigns illustrated very dramatically the growing importance of newer communications media such as Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and other Internet and cell-phone-based social media that have emerged into widespread national and international popularity within the last several years. In that regard, many political and social analysts have credited the effective management of social networking-based political campaigning on the part of (then) Senator Barack Obama's election team as having been instrumental in their success (Hempel, 2009: 93).

The Changing Role of Email in Modern Business

Initially, email provided improved communications capabilities without significant liabilities beyond the initial expense of establishing Internet connections troubleshooting them, and except to the extent that online communications could not reach the many businesses and consumers who had not joined the computer revolution. Even before the turn of the century, online marketing had already experienced its first major successes in Japan and American businesses began establishing a presence online as well (Craig, 2007: 131).

For several years, email use (and other online applications) in business steadily increased both in general as well as in marketing in particular. However, in some respects, the email medium became a victim of its own success and of its ease of use and ubiquitous availability (Craig, 2007: 136). The sheer volume of unsolicited emails began to overwhelm recipients, with empirical studies documenting that American professionals typically devote so much time to responding to emails (and to refocusing on their substantive work after the distraction of reading an email) as to begin adversely affecting productivity (Hemp, 2009: 83).

Today, email is still used very heavily in business and personal communications and related applications. However, the additional convenience and immediacy of new technology (especially cell phones) combined with the networking potential of the newest social media Internet networks and applications have already begun to revolutionize business marketing communications (again), as exemplified by the Obama election team's effective use of Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter throughout the 2008 presidential campaign (Hempel, 2009: 93).

Social Networking as the New Marketing Media

Social networking is a significantly more effective communications media for the future of business marketing than email, although it is expected that email will continue to provide extensive business communications support and personal communications for years to come. Whereas email communications require users be at their computer terminals or relay messages to mobile devices, media such as Twitter offer an immediate text-based connection virtually anywhere. Real-time texting allows the advantage of instantaneous connection while at the same time giving the recipient the same ability to delay a response if desired, even if only momentarily. This is important because it provides the same reach as telephonic communications without requiring either a spontaneous and unprepared response or denial of the attempt at communication (i.e. either answering the phone or ignoring the caller).