The term Marketing does not have a specific definition to it and different individuals interpret it differently. However, marketing can be defined as an activity or a management process identifying, anticipating as well as satisfying customer requirements in a profitable manner (Strauss & Frost 2008). In other words, marketing is a management process whereby products as well as services move from concept to the final consumer (Strauss & Frost 2008).
Shall We Integrate From Marketing to E-Marketing
Marketing usually incorporates four main elements know as the 4Ps and are the Product itself, Place, Price and Promotion of the final product (Strauss & Frost 2008). Marketing has its benefits and importance to consumers and manufacturers in that investing in marketing related activities guarantees profits. Since the main objective of marketing is to make a company’s product or service widely known and recognized to its target market it is important for marketers to be creative in their marketing activities and skills (Strauss & Frost 2008). Marketing is important in that it not only promotes product awareness to the public but also builds a company’s reputation.
How organizations market their products has evolved in the recent past with the onset of technological advancement where more and more companies are incorporating the use of e-marketing for cheaper, faster and more economical means of marketing. E-marketing refers to the process of applying marketing principles as well as techniques through electronic media especially through the internet (Strauss & Frost 2008).
While some may refer to e-marketing as online marketing, others may refer to the same as web marketing or internet marketing. E-marketing has a number of advantages which include the ability for marketers to find new and potential markets where they can be able to trade globally for only a small amount of investment (Strauss & Frost 2008). E-marketing also enables companies to establish just how effective their marketing campaigns have been through use of online metric tools and web analytics. Having a social media presence and knowing how to manage it well enables marketers to establish customer loyalty as well as develop a reputation for being easy to engage with (Strauss & Frost 2008). As it has been observed, the business world is rapidly changing and evolving forcing majority of businesses to adapt to these changes in order to suite the new consumer demands and preferences. Marketing efforts that drive this world are part of the most crucial changes that allow businesses and organizations to achieve their objectives if they are carried out in the proper manner (Strauss & Frost 2008).
E-marketing is quickly replacing the old traditional way of marketing organization’s products as its methods are considered critical in effectively reaching a target or potential market in addition to carrying out business overall. Internet marketing is vital to the success of an organization or company as it tends to cover quite a large span while upholding a mass appeal (Strauss & Frost 2008). Keeping in mind that modern day business environment continues to change it is important therefore that companies utilize comprehensive internet marketing in order for them to not only attain but also be able to maintain a competitive edge. It is thus important to integrate from marketing to e-marketing. Marketers not only have a wide range of options available to them by marketing online as a way of determining what is more effective and appealing to their company but also provide consumers with an opportunity of conducting research and purchasing products and/or services at their own convenience, enabling them generate even greater revenues (Strauss & Frost 2008).
It has long been observed that marketing and e-marketing share many similarities as well as implementations making the transformation of traditional marketing to e-marketing evolutionary. The only minor difference that exists between marketing and e-marketing is that of speed of communicating with consumers (Strauss & Frost 2008). It is rather unfortunate that marketing in its traditional form takes up a lot of time and one spends more funding as compared to utilizing e-marketing. Another reason as to why the business world ought to integrate from marketing to e-marketing is due to the brand’s positioning which needs to constantly be communicated to the target market or potential consumers (Strauss & Frost 2008). While it was traditional for marketing to carry out advertising through word of mouth, telephone interactions as well through personal interactions, e-marketing saves time and cost to include search engine marketing, email marketing, blog marketing as well as interactive marketing thus generating more advantages for the organizations as compared to traditional marketing (Strauss & Frost 2008). Majority of firms and organizations are well aware of the fact that in this day and age an estimated 1 billion individuals use the internet across the globe. With the current changing times businesses have come to expect the existence of this particular type of marketing where they have made it increasingly important to deliver on those needs so as to foster long term success (Strauss & Frost 2008).
As earlier mentioned use of internet marketing or e-marketing enable organizations to effectively reach out to their target consumers in addition to expanding their audience to an even higher level as compared to how it is with traditional marketing. Marketing is largely focused on getting a product’s message out to the target market whereas e-marketing is more focused on facilitation of conversations between organizations or companies and consumers (Strauss & Frost 2008). The numerous forms of e-marketing such as affiliate marketing and viral marketing assist marketers as well as other relevant decision makers in having more control over advertisements, development, design and other product traits in order to run a truly customer-based target market (Strauss & Frost 2008). This in turn makes it possible for businesses to refine and target specific audiences while making use of niche markets as a way of boosting sales to the maximum. As compared to traditional marketing, e-marketing opens up new avenues for businesses to have a genuine worldwide reach at little or no cost whatsoever. Given the range of new technologies being made available all the time the marketing scope can only increase with the internet access (Strauss & Frost 2008). That is why businesses must integrate from marketing or traditional marketing to e-marketing.
There is no doubt that the business world is drastically changing in the years forcing majority of companies to adapt to change and adhere to the new consumer demands and preferences created as a result. Marketers, businesses, consumers and almost every member of society have been affected in one way or another by this evolving method in fulfilling consumer needs. It is therefore vital for marketers and companies to remain flexible to never cease delivering on consumer demand while in the process producing innovative ideas in such times of constant transformations. E-marketing will eventually dominate the marketing world and make other forms of marketing become subordinate to it.