Internet Marketing?

Taking Management of Information System subject this semester, has triggering me to explore the benefits of utilizing internet as a modern marketing channel or platform. Honestly, i did not bother to find out the pro and cons of internet marketing, until my lecturer share her knowledge on the information technology, in which she was telling a lot of facts, business strategy and not forgotten, internet marketing.

Internet Marketing?

I am pretty sure, at one glance, everybody would image what is Internet marketing, also referred to as i-marketing, web-marketing, online-marketing, and search engine marketing or e-Marketing. It is the marketing of products or services over the Internet.

Basically, Internet has brought media to a global audience. The interactive nature of Internet marketing in terms of providing instant response and eliciting responses is a unique quality of the medium. Internet marketing is sometimes considered to have a broader scope because it not only refers to the Internet, e-mail, and wireless media, but it includes management of digital customer data and electronic customer relationship management systems.

Internet marketing combines together creative and technical aspects of the Internet, including design, development, advertising, and sales.

Internet marketing also refers to the usage of media on many different stages of customer relation cycle through search engine marketing (SEM), banner ads on specific websites, email, and many more.

Business Model

• E-commerce - this is where goods are sold directly to consumers (B2C) or businesses (B2B)
• Publishing - this is the sale of advertising
• Lead based websites - this is an organization that generates value by acquiring sales leads from its website
• Affiliate Marketing - this is the process in which a product or service developed by one person is sold by other active sellers for a share of profits. The owners of the product normally provide some marketing material (sales letter, affiliate link, tracking facility).
• Local Internet Marketing - this is the process of a locally based company traditionally selling belly to belly and utilizing the Internet to find and nurture relationships, later to take those relationships offline.
• Black-hat Marketing - this is a form of internet marketing which employs deceptive, abusive, or less than truthful methods to drive web traffic to a website or affiliate marketing offer. This method sometimes includes spam, cloaking within search engine result pages, or routing users to pages they didn't initially request.

There are many other business models based on the specific needs of each person or the business that launches an Internet marketing campaign.

Good things of Internet marketing (advantage)

Internet marketing normally is cost efficient if compared to the cost study against the reach of the target audience. Companies can reach a wide audience of traditional advertising budgets. The basic nature of this medium allows consumers to study, explore, and do some research and purchase products and services at their own preference.

Therefore, businesses have the advantage of appealing to consumers in a platform that can bring results quickly. The strategy and overall effectiveness of marketing campaigns depend on business goals and cost volume profit analysis.

Internet marketers also have the advantage of measuring statistics easily and cheaply. Nearly all aspects of an Internet marketing campaign can be traced, measured, and tested. Besides, marketers can determine which messages or offerings are more appealing to the audience.

The results of campaigns can be measured and tracked immediately because online marketing initiatives usually require users to click on an advertisement, visit a website, and perform a targeted action. Such measurement cannot be achieved through billboard advertising, where an individual will at best be interested, then decide to obtain more information at a later time..

Because awareness, response, and efficiency of Internet media are easier to track than traditional offline media, through the use of web analytic, for example Internet marketing can offer a greater sense of responsibility for advertisers. Marketers and their clients are becoming aware of the need to measure the effects of marketing rather than blindly use any advertising medium. The effects of multi channel marketing can be difficult to determine, but it is the important part of determining the value of media campaigns.

Good things always have bad things (disadvantage)

Internet marketing requires customers to use latest technology rather than traditional media. Low-speed Internet connections will become a constraint. If companies build a large or complicated websites, individuals connected to the Internet via dial up connection may experience significant delays in content delivery.

From the customer perspective, when shoppers not able to touch, smell, taste physically the tangible goods before making an online purchase can be difficult in making purchase decision. However, there is an industry standard for e-commerce vendors to protect customers by having after sales return policies as well as providing in store pick-up services.

In addition, companies who wishes in looking to market online, there are few areas to overcome which are insufficient ability to measure impact, lack of internal capability, and difficulty convincing senior management.

So, Internet Marketing or not?

As a conclusion, most company nowadays at least must have a basic knowledge about Internet Marketing. Small Medium Industry (SMe) enterpreneur may be able to apply economic of scale, should they familiar with Internet Marketing function, and further expand their business.

Besides, it is good for those who is new in business, may try to use this channel, but kindly be reminded, please gain your knowledge on what Internet can serve you for your marketing.

Thank you.

Hafiz Jamel

Does new technology make us anti-social?

I personally think technology has let us take the easy way out. For example emailing a teacher is much easier then going to visit them during office hours and texting is much easier then actually calling someone and talking to them on the phone. There is not nearly as much personal confrontation as there used to be say 10 years ago because there are so many ways to get around it.

Another example is Walkman, MP3 player or whatever device that people use to listen to music. What the Walkman and MP3 player did was to create a personal zone around the individual in a public space. It was more anti-social than chewing gum, more provocative than wearing mascara to tutorials. Think about it. We don’t share music by hanging out and listening to records anymore; we just swap music files on a pendrive or MP3.

The Walkman allowed us to tune out the surroundings we didn’t like. Great for long commutes or jogging. But think where it’s got us. Pocket sized devices we wear like shields to protect us from interacting with the strange, the new, the different, the unexpected. Earphones that block out all but the sound of the familiar and make us think we’re in a movie.

We’re not. We’re in the here and now, with people and things, and sights and smells that we may never experience because we’re too absorbed by our personal devices. Life’s there to be taken personally, but not from behind a device.

But, if we think again, sometimes technology will improve social life. One one side you have the people who spend all of their time on their computers playing alone, and on the other you have the people playing with each other. There's also a ton of technology that I would say improves social habits. Things like cell phones and webcams make it easier to talk to people that you may not otherwise get the chance to talk to.

However new technology is not all that bad and it actually has several pros. Social media activities have given people the opportunity to have discussion networks with people from different backgrounds. The study also said internet and cell phone users are as likely as anyone else to visit with their neighbors in person and belong to local organizations.

So apparently technology really doesn’t have a negative affect on people in today’s world. However if anything I am convinced people today do not have as good of face-to-face people skills one may have had 10 years ago due to texting and emailing.

Hybrid marketing-where internet marketing meets real world marketing

hybrid-something having two kins of components that produce the same or similar results, such as vehicle powered by both an electric motor and internal combustion engine as sources of power for the drive train. That is what had been taught by william one of the intenet marketeer in the market right now.

In my head right now, I am thinking of the picture of Toyota Prius?The real thing happened out there was not about eco-frienly cars but more so of what happens when your marketing, mix it up and go both offline and online. Wiiliam said that that is not the only option left.

So next.......

FOCUS YOUR OFFLINE MARKETING ON YOUR ONLINE PRESENCE

This is what we have learned in class friends. Having an oline presence for our business is the advantage for business owner and the main focus shoul be....company's website. The main reason is that with a website, we can tell a lot of story. The story might covered :

• The benefits of the The cost


• The product's story


• The costs of the poducts/services

And a host of others bits of juicy information at a much lower cost than doing this solely in a magazine or newspaper. So this is what we are going to do :

• Possibly the best is just by asking the journalists in your local Newspaper/Magazine if they could feature your new product or services. By specically telling them anout your spanking new, well designed and useable website that showcases all your products benefits and abilities. Becase the press are always lookout for new and fresh contents and they'll be glad for a lead and any lead. Secondly, they are more likely to drop by your company's website instead of offices,

However William said that this method works better for some businesses or any intersting products-tech?health/lifestyle/products seem to generate the most buzz and interest when it comes to media. But we never know, so open up local newspapers and find the section which suits the business the most. So with those reporters email adresses and names, go ahead, shoot them and email, it doesnt's hurt to ask.

REMIND PEOPLE ONLINE THAT YOU ARE FAMOUS

It is time for people that we are celebrity...Getting featured in the news which give something that is sometimes quite hard to come by credibility. Credibility is hard to gain from a stranger who is just stubled onto your site for the first time. Sure, you may have a great product and so much that your previous clients find your business tha mest credible in their minds. But what about the first timers to encounter?

.........Imaging seeing "As seen in Times Magazine"......................

So, as a conclusion, when we are planning the next advertising compaign, remember to hit multiple bases at once. And always always always ask people to take the call action of heading over to your website, for that is the palce where you can persuade, nudge, impress, and ultimately make the brand impression on to them.

Facebook Usage

Warning against posting publicly on Facebook or Social Networking site. As a supplement to my post below.

Putri Nadeeya

Social Networking: The good, the bad... my personal experience and that of those around me.

Yes, that’s it there... the whole title could probably explain it well... the effects social networking has on us.

I have to admit, I am a social networking addict... should probably call myself a ‘social-networking-aholic’ and signed myself up for a SNA Anonymous group (imagine that...me in the middle of a group of people: Hi, my name is Nadeeya and I’m a social-networking-aholic. :P). I have been using social networking sites ever since my Diploma years, which comes to about 6 years of social networking experience. From Friendster to BlogSpot to Fotopages to MySpace and now on to the most talked about Facebook. A couple of days ago, I got myself into Twitter... so I’ll be tweeting soon, like a bunch of chirpy happy birds! I spend up to 7 hours a day on days where I feel like staying at home. I sometimes check my sites through my phone and even when I travel on a holiday. It is THAT extreme, though I am lucky to be able to balance the real world and the virtual world. But what about others and what affect it has on them? Let us look through experiences of myself and people around me and how we should handle social networking sites to our own advantage.

As we know, there are lot of consequences of social networking to us, either on a positive or negative impact. It could give us our 15 minutes of fame one day and it could even give us the worst case scenario that could destroy us within a minute. It is all in the eye (or mind) of the beholder and how we manage ourselves in using these social networking sites.

I found both ends to the impact of social networking. On the positive side, it is a great way to catch up with my friends and families... sometimes re-connecting with friends from primary school or kindergarten to some extent. (Even to childhood sweethearts, as my friend recently discovered... not good when you’re married by that time and the ex comes out from nowhere) My mom recently got in touch with family members she lost contact with for years and they decided to make a special page to reconnect with the whole ‘Kuala Kangsar’ family clan from generations to generations, even pulling me into the picture, which is good because in some ways we finally get to learn our family background and get to know who’s who and what not.

Planning events have not been easier with the applications social networking sites have. We could invite people to weddings, birthdays, alumni events, almost anything! And there’s buttons for us to click on which lets us RSVP on the events, which makes the task of the event planning much easier than before, since before the invention of these sites, we’d have to go through snail mail which takes days to send, and weeks to get replies back to. And the great thing is that it’s free! You do not need to spend 30-60 cents per invitation card like you used to. Though some people still like to go traditional, especially in important occasions such as weddings, since it involves a lot of err... elder people.

And talk about being so occupied with work and studies that you don’t have the time to catch up with friends and family. By having a social networking site, we could get an update on our loved ones (or enemies) at the click of a mouse. At least we know what’s happening to those around us, at the comfort of our office or home without even needing to call each and everyone for updates.

HOWEVER (I just had to emphasize on this. Ngee~) there are consequences to social networking as we know it.

A recent article by http://amandaa87.wordpress.com mentioned that social networking is not bad at all, because the reality now, is that people are becoming much more smarter in handling their own page (or their own cyber life, in other words). People are becoming more aware of the predators lurking around the web, let it be sexual predators, hackers or so forth and most are also aware that the government, as we know it are watching our every step we take online, let it be our transactions, what we post on our page, our pictures... almost anything and everything to be at that.

Yes, it some context, I do have to agree with what amandaa87 has to say: that we human beings are becoming smarter in handling the web then we were before. But it sometimes takes a few hurdles down the hill for us to finally realize what we’ve done wrong. I remember having a friend whose ex-boyfriends new girlfriend hired a hacker to hack down her Facebook and actually use it to destroy my friend’s image. Luckily my friend was smart enough to report it to the Facebook management, and the hacking stopped. I also had a friend who found out her husband was cheating on her when she saw a picture of her husband and another woman from a friends’ friends-friend (plus minus), and they ended up getting a divorce soon after.

On a contrary, for me personally, I made friends with total strangers over social networking sites, which some people think I was insane in doing, but in the end these strangers are now whom I call my best friends. We got to know each other, meet up in a group, got to know our other friends and families and soon become close till this day. Though I did come across those not-so-nice people whom wanted things that are out of the question, however I did manage to shove them and block them away from my site.

I even had friends who had a big family fight because of some pictures that were posted on the social networking site, that apparently almost each member of the family had... and it caused them not to talk to each other for over 4 months now, up to this day. I almost had the same problem when I invited some friends over for a dinner at my house, and because it was a ‘small’ gathering, I invited only those specific to that group and didn’t invite the rest. Though I did not post the pictures of those gatherings on my profile, my other friends who were there, did, and tagged my profile to those pictures. Within a few days, I had quite some damage control to deal with in explaining why I didn’t invite everyone for the gathering and why it was a small occasion comprising of a small number of people. It’s exhausting really... but that is the price you have to pay.

Take another issue that balances between good and bad of social networking. Imagine this situation: You often see this person’s picture that you don’t know in your friend’s page. You only know that person’s name and how that person looks like, vice versa to that person at your picture. Then one day as you are walking around the Mall, someone comes up to you and says “Assallamualaikum... you Nadeeya kan? (You’re Nadeeya, right?) and you’ll be like “Oh heyyy Amat, right?... you’re Intan’s friend, right??” If things go right, you’d make yourself a new friend. If things go wrong... you’d probably have a personal stalker, especially if he/she knows so much about you, vice versa you are that persons stalker and now too much about that person without even knowing that person personally.

Social networking sites can’t always be called ‘social sites’ because at some extremes, it does not even enhance our social capabilities. This is the case whereby we have people whom refuse to go out of the house because they are stuck on the sites and refuse human contacts, most probably because they’d rather not move from their couch or they have an ‘online game tournament’ to attend to. Some even spend hours and hours a day on the computer that they fail to connect with the real world, and this sometimes prove negativity when it affects your relationship with your family as well as your ‘real’ friends.

As I mentioned earlier, it is all in the eyes (or mind) of the beholder. If you know how to handle

your sites well, and use it in a proper way, rather than a destructive way. Everything will be fine. So to be on the safe side, set your privacy settings at a maximum on your social networking page, so that those that can view you are only your friends and add and approve friends of those that are really your friends, and not some kind of stranger unless you get to know that stranger online on a good start and only meet that person face to face after a few months and bringing a group of friends along with you.

I agree that social networking sites leads to uncomfortable situations, but if you know how to balance your real life and your cyber life or virtual life, then you will be fine. Never let social networking control your life. It will destroy you in the long run, whether you want it or not. Yes, there are lots of good things that come out of it, but there are also the bad things. Balance yourself and social networking sites will actually prove to be good for you to some extent or bad... if you still don’t or refuse to know how to work your way up on the ethics of using social networking sites. It all depends on YOU.

Putri Nadeeya Zahari
2009228552

princessdee2.blogspot.com <--- for the whole class to see!!! Ignore the personal stuff, sometimes i just get carried away...

How is chocolate made?

The beauty of technologies and innovations...

Learn from "Sensei" of Technology & Innovation

WRAPPING SUSHI ROBOT SWR-2002
It is amazing how Japanese can came out with the sushi wrapping innovation...