MK0008 - E-Marketing

Assignment Set- 1

1 a. What is e-marketing? What are its benefits?

Ans: E-marketing, also referred to as online marketing or internet marketing, is
marketing that uses the Internet. The Internet has brought many unique benefits
to marketing, including low costs in distributing information and media to a
global audience. E-Marketing can also be defined as a subset of e-Business that
utilizes electronic medium to perform marketing activities and achieve desired
marketing objectives for an organisation. E-marketing strategy includes all
aspects of online advertising products, services, and websites, including search
engine marketing, public relations, social media, market research, email
marketing, and direct sales. E marketing is the product of the meeting
between modern communication technologies and the age-old marketing
principles that humans have always applied.

The interactive nature of Internet media, both in terms of instant response, and
in eliciting response at all, are both unique qualities of Internet marketing. E-
marketing ties together creative and technical aspects of the internet, including
design, development, advertising and sales. E-marketing methods include search
engine marketing, display advertising, e-mail marketing, affiliate marketing,
interactive advertising and viral marketing. E-marketing is the process of
growing and promoting an organization using online media. E-marketing does
not simply mean ‘building a website’ or ‘promoting a website’. Somewhere
behind that website is a real organization with real goals. The E-marketer selects
the best of these vehicles, given the organization’s goals and audience.

Interactive Marketing and Mobile Marketing for example, are all a form of e-
Marketing.

Benefits of e-marketing

E-marketing gives businesses of any size access to the mass market at an

affordable price and, unlike TV or print advertising, it allows truly personalised
marketing. Specific benefits of e-marketing include:

• Global reach - a website can reach anyone in the world who has internet
access. This allows you to find new markets and compete globally for only a
small investment.
• Lower cost - a properly planned and effectively targeted e-marketing
campaign can reach the right customers at a much lower cost than traditional
marketing methods.
• Trackable, measurable results - marketing by email or banner
advertising makes it easier to establish how effective your campaign has
been. You can obtain detailed information about customers' responses to your
advertising.
• 24-hour marketing - with a website your customers can find out about
your products even if your office is closed.
• Personalisation - if your customer database is linked to your website,
then whenever someone visits the site, you can greet them with targeted

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 offers. The more they buy from you, the more you can refine your customer
profile and market effectively to them.
• One-to-one marketing - e-marketing lets you reach people who want to
know about your products and services instantly. For example, many people
take mobile phones and PDAs wherever they go. Combine this with the
personalised aspect of e-marketing, and you can create very powerful,
targeted campaigns.
• More interesting campaigns - e-marketing lets you create interactive
campaigns using music, graphics and videos. You could send your customers
a game or a quiz - whatever you think will interest them.
• Better conversion rate - if you have a website, then your customers are
only ever a few clicks away from completing a purchase. Unlike other media
which require people to get up and make a phone call, post a letter or go to a
shop, e-marketing is seamless.

b. List the key features of the web.

Ans: The web leverages the key features of the Internet and makes them
widely accessible to the public. Key features of the web in particular are
its ease of use, universal accessibility, and ability to be quickly searched:

• Ease of use. The web can be immediately used by anyone already

familiar with a computer window. The only special features are links,
which are as natural and intuitive to use as pressing a button. This ease of
use enabled the rapid adoption of the web in the 1990's, and led to the
establishment of the Internet around the world.

• Universal access. The open design of the web makes it easy to build
web browsers for a wide range of devices. Web browsers have been
deployed on cell phones and personal organizers, and the web is now the
standard interface for providing access to information.

• Search capabilities. The development of search sites greatly multiplied

the power and usefulness of the web by providing the capability to
effectively search the content of millions of web pages in seconds. Search
sites significantly enabled the web to realize an automated library system.

2 a. Give a note on internet privacy.

Ans: The concern about privacy on the Internet is increasingly becoming an
issue of international dispute. Citizens are becoming concerned that the most
intimate details of their daily lives are being monitored, searched and recorded.
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica 81 percent of internet users are
concerned about threats to their privacy while online. With today’s growing use
of computers and the internet a whole new world know has cyberspace has
taken shape. This electronic environment does not obey the same rules as the
physical environment within which we live. People now have the opportunity to
access an infinite array of information or to communicate with people on earth or
in outer space. The technology for this world is progressing at a profound pace
and it seems as if something revolutionary is being implemented all the time. But
along with this innovative technology, in a world of few regulations, come many

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opportunities for infringement upon user’s rights that were implemented in the
real world. Computers and the internet are merely tools to access this median
between users and the massive amounts of information available.

b. Discuss the challenges of e-marketing in future?

Ans: Challenges of e-marketing in future:

• Underhanded marketing may get worse. The Internet has plenty of both
cooperation and cutthroat competition. Because humans tend to be short-
term thinkers, many e-marketers will choose highly competitive strategies
over cooperative ones.
• Governments will get more involved. The initial high ethical standards on
the Web have not held firm. A growing epidemic of fraudulent sales
practices online will increase the concern for consumer protection, raising
calls for more government oversight.
• "Branding" will rival price. Building consumer trust relationships will drive
many e-businesses. Trust comes from positive media exposure,
connection to other trusted institutions through marketing alliances, and
having a good reputation before marketing online.
• Basic marketing principles will hold true. Successful e-marketers will
continue to offer the classic elements of a quality sales pitch: something
new and surprising, something useful or essential, or something that
touches the emotions.

3. Explain the following terms used in e-marketing: Intellectual

property, Safe Harbor principles and Click-wrap agreement.

Ans: Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind: inventions,

literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in
commerce.

Intellectual property is divided into two categories: Industrial property, which

includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic
indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works
such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as
drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs.
Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their
performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of
broadcasters in their radio and television programs. For an introduction to IP for
non-specialists, refer to:

A safe harbor is a provision of a statute or a regulation that reduces or

eliminates a party's liability under the law, on the condition that the party
performed its actions in good faith. Legislators include safe-harbor provisions to
protect legitimate or excusable violations. An example of safe harbor is
performance of a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment by a property
purchaser: thus effecting due diligence and a "safe harbor" outcome if future
contamination is found caused by a prior owner.
These principles must provide:

 Notice - Individuals must be informed that their data is being collected

and about how it will be used.

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  Choice - Individuals must have the ability to opt out of the collection and
forward transfer of the data to third parties.
 Onward Transfer - Transfers of data to third parties may only occur to
other organizations that follow adequate data protection principles.
 Security - Reasonable efforts must be made to prevent loss of collected
information.
 Data Integrity - Data must be relevant and reliable for the purpose it was
collected for.
 Access - Individuals must be able to access information held about them,
and correct or delete it if it is inaccurate.
 Enforcement - There must be effective means of enforcing these rules.

Click Wrap definition : Web version of the shrink wrap licensing

agreement that comes into force when an online buyer or user clicks on the 'I
Agree' button on the webpage to purchase or download a program. The concept
of traditional contract law understands that for a party to be bound by the terms
of the contract, a party must have first agreed to it’s terms and consequently
signed it. Since the 1980’s PC use has continued to grow by phenomenal
amounts in both business and residential environments. It’s hardly surprising
that software has been released at a similar pace to run on all these PC’s, more
recently with the advent of the Internet software is easily available for direct
download to the end-users machine. Software companies need to protect
themselves from damages claims stemming from damage caused by improper
and proper use of their software by end users and profits lost by users making
illegal copies of their software among other things. This is done through a
contract. It would be virtually impossible and very impractical to have the buyer
of a software package to sign a traditional paper based contract relating to the
software prior to purchasing it as in the IT industry software is rarely sold directly
in person by the publishing company to the end-users.

Thus there needed to be some mechanism whereby the purchaser agrees to the
terms of the license without actually signing on the dotted line. Enter shrink-
wrap and click-wrap contracts.

Shrink-wrap contracts, the earlier of the two are the terms and conditions that
accompany software distributed in a retail computer store. Shrink-wrap contracts
usually read something like “By opening the packaging on this box you agree to
the terms and conditions of the license.” The terms and conditions of the license
are more often than not located inside the box.

Click-wrap contracts were developed in response to the massive growth of the

Internet and Internet technology. A party enters into a click-wrap contract when
they click the “I agree” or “I accept” button which are preceded by terms and
conditions. Examples of where click-wrap contracts can be regularly seen include
before you download software, before you book an airline ticket online, before
you download music and many more.

Both shrink-wrap and click-wrap contracts have their advantages and

disadvantages for the consumer and the company offering the terms and
conditions themselves. This report focuses however on the advantages of click-

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wrap contracts over shrink-wrap contracts and hence I will now continue to
discuss this.

The main advantage of click-wrap contracts over shrink-wrap contracts to me

seems to be the fact that with click-wrap contracts you’re given a clear
opportunity to read through the terms and conditions of the contract before you
agree to them.

MK0008 – E-Marketing
Assignment Set- 2

1. Give an account of customer behaviour in a B2B e-marketing.

Ans: Internet-based business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce is conducted

through industry-sponsored marketplaces and through private exchanges set up

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by large companies for their suppliers and customers. Of course, companies also
sell to business customers through their own Web sites.

Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce is significantly different from business-

to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce. While B2C merchants sell on a first-come, first-
served basis, most B2B commerce is done through negotiated contracts that
allow the seller to anticipate and plan for how much the buyer will purchase. In
some cases B2B is not so much a matter of generating revenue as it is a matter
of making connections with business partners.

B2B is far and away the largest sector of e-commerce. Comparing B2B with B2C
e-commerce, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that B2B online sales
accounted for 90 percent of all online transactions. It attributed the high
percentage of B2B e-commerce sales to the longstanding use of proprietary
networks, such as EDI, in the B2B sector. The manufacturing industry was the
leader in e-commerce.

The internet B2B transactions in industrial inputs such as steel, chemicals,

automobile components, etc. have been most successful. These businesses have
been benefited in the following ways by such internet transactions:

· Reduced procurement costs by resorting to e-tendering, reverse auction, etc.

· Online ordering resulting in substantial order cycle time reduction & increased
customer satisfaction.
· Tighter inventory control & fewer out of stock situations due to rapid inventory
adjustments.

2 a. What are the targeting strategies involved for e-marketing?

Ans: Target internet marketing is accomplished using a variety of media types

and each needs different strategies. Today's internet is so full of product eBooks,
coaches, and video courses that you really need to have some effective
marketing knowledge and to develop a slight edge. Putting these pieces of you
marketing plan together will not only help build your list, but be a great benefit
to grow your internet business.

To achieve this goal, you'll need to know where you want to go, and how to get
there. So unless you are an advertising professional, targeted internet marketing
may be a new skill you will need to learn. And especially if you are completely
new to internet marketing, you must understand that each type of media will
require a willingness to learn, applying the new skills, and testing the market
repeatedly.

By doing some research you can learn what your targeted market wants to know
or needs. Do some Market research on couple of forums, ask some questions,
and gather information. When you keep these answers in mind you will
undoubtedly come up with an effective internet marketing plan. You may have
the best product available, but if you can't get the word out, you simply don't
stand a chance making an online income.

Few marketing techniques:

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CLASSIFIED AD MARKETING: Marketing with online classified ads is very popular
because it is cost effective (many offer free ad placement) and it does work.
They work as long as they have all the correct, informative parts, and are placed
where your prospective customers search for the specific items they are looking
for, which is what you have to offer. Before you get started with classified ad
marketing, you want to make sure you get it right the first time. Nobody, not
even ad writing professionals, can put together a money making classified ad in
minutes and nobody gets it perfect on their first try. Keep in mind that you will
want to create several variations of each ad that are well written, full of valuable
content, attract attention, and give them a desire to click through.

ARTICLE MARKETING: Article marketing is also a good source to use for your
targeted niche. Writing articles is actually easier than you think. Generally they
need to be at least 400 words, and by doing some targeted research it is easy to
come up with ideas. And each time you learn something new, whether it is a
review of a product or a new found area of your market, you can write an article
on what you learned. As for articles, you might not see an immediate market
reaction, but think about it. Every article submitted and accepted will be
available for many years, and every article has a specific topic that will be
viewed by someone somewhere that is looking for what you have to offer.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: Social media marketing is a more broad type of

marketing than searching for the specific customers that want your product.
Because of the "social" aspect of sites, such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkdIn,
you will start out with your specific niche market, but in a more relaxed back
yard barbeque atmosphere. However, remember your followers will have
followers, and any one of them may be looking for the same thing. Don't forget,
word of mouth or even word of website, is the best form of advertising, period.

Target Market: When we analyzed the environment, we saw that there were
existing and emerging market segments. When we identified opportunities

b. What do you mean by e-CRM?

Ans: e-CRM: e-CRM as activities to manage customer relationships by using

the Internet, web browsers or other electronic touch points. The challenge
hereby is to offer communication and information on the right topic, in the right
amount, and at the right time that fits the customer’s specific needs.

Channels through which companies can communicate with its customers, are
growing by the day, and as a result, getting their time and attention has turned
into a major challenge. One of the reasons eCRM is so popular nowadays is that
digital channels can create unique and positive experiences – not just
transactions – for customers. [9] An extreme, but ever growing in popularity,
example of the creation of experiences in order to establish customer service is
the use of Virtual Worlds, such as Second Life. Through this so-called v-CRM,
companies are able to create synergies between virtual and physical channels
and reaching a very wide consumer base. However, given the newness of the
technology, most companies are still struggling to identify effective entries in

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Virtual Worlds. Its highly interactive character, which allows companies to
respond directly to any customer’s requests or problems, is another feature of e-
CRM that helps companies establish and sustain long-term customer
relationships.

Furthermore, Information Technology has helped companies to even further

differentiate between customers and address a personal message or service.
Some examples of tools used in e-CRM:

 Personalized Web Pages where customers are recognized and their

preferences are shown.
 Customized products or services (Dell).

CRM programs should be directed towards customer value that competitors

cannot match. However, in a world where almost every company is connected to
the Internet, e-CRM has become a requirement for survival, not just
a competitive advantage.

3. Analyse the distribution function in e-marketing.

Ans: Distribution determines how the customer receives a product or service,

which determines brand image. Marketers set strategies for availability, access,
and distribution service. Distribution channel is a group of interdependent firms
that work together to transfer product and information from the supplier to the
consumer. This is composed of:

· Producers, manufacturers, or originators of the product or service,

· Intermediaries- firms that match buyers and sellers and mediate the
transactions among them,

· Consumers, customers, or buyers who consume or use the product or service.

The structure of the distribution channel makes or impedes possible

opportunities for marketing on the Internet. When a consumer purchases online,
he must perform the search function himself & with an automated transaction,
he could save money by performing some distribution functions himself.

There are four elements of a company’s channel structure: 1) Types of channel

intermediaries,2) Length of the channel,3) Functions performed by members of
the channel & 4)Physical and informational systems that link the channel
members and provide for coordination and management of their collective effort
to deliver the product or service.

Types of channel intermediaries:

Channel intermediaries include:

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· Wholesalers: who buy products from the manufacturer & resell them to
retailers.

· Retailers (brick-and-mortar & online): who buy products from wholesalers & sell
them to consumers.

· Brokers: facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers without representing

either party. They are also called market makers.

· Agents: represent the buyer/seller & facilitate transactions between buyers and
sellers but do not take title to the goods. Manufacturer’s agents represent the
seller & purchasing agents represent the buyer.

· For digital products (software), the entire distribution channel may be Internet
based & the supplier can deliver it over the Internet to the buyer’s computer.

· Non-digital products (flowers/wine) may be purchased online but must be

delivered physically. The exact location of that shipment can be tracked using a
Web-based interface.

Length of the channel

The length of the channel represents the number of intermediaries between

supplier and consumer. In a direct distribution channel,

Online intermediaries are often more efficient than their brick-and-mortar

counterparts since online storefront has no rent, maintenance, and staff for retail
space. Such marketing needs an inexpensive warehouse which is an acceptable
storage location for goods sold online. However, online stores involve costs of
setting up & maintaining their sites. These charges can be significant, but they
do not outweigh the savings realized by eliminating the physical store.

Distributors perform many value-added functions. Some of them are:

Transactional Functions which include:

·Making contact with buyers and using marketing communication strategies to

make them aware of products.

· Matching product to buyer needs, negotiating price, and processing

transactions.
· Logistical Functions which include:
· Physical distribution activities viz. transportation or inventory storage &
· Product aggregation.
· Logistical functions are often outsourced to third-party logistics specialists.
· Market Research: This is a major function of the distribution channel. This
results in an accurate assessment of the size & characteristics of the target
audience
1. Information available for free.
2. Research conducted from the office (limits travel expenses).
3. Information is timelier.
4. Information in digital form which e-marketers can easily load it into a
spreadsheet or other software.
5. Because so much consumer behavior data can be captured online, e-
marketers can receive detailed reports.

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Scope of the Distribution System
Classifying Online Channel Members: Online intermediaries can be classified
according to their business model- 1) Content sponsorship, 2) Direct selling, 3)
Infomediary and 4) Intermediaries in the distribution channel.

Content sponsorship: In this model, firms create web sites, attract traffic and
sell advertising. All the major portals like AOL, Yahoo! & MSN utilize this model.
Content sponsorship is often used in combination with other models. For
example, newspapers charge fees for archived articles.

Direct selling: In this model the manufacturer sells directly to the consumer or
business customer. This has been successful in B2B and B2C markets. Examples
are- Digital products & Perishable products such as flowers and fresh food. Dell is
the best example of direct selling on the internet.

Infomediary: The infomediary aggregates and distributes information. Market

research firms are examples of infomediaries. Some infomediaries compensate
consumers for sharing demographic and psychographic information and
receiving ads targeted to their interests.

Intermediaries in the distribution channel: Three intermediary models are

in common use on the Internet: 1) Brokerage models, 2) Agent models & 3)
Online retailing models.

Brokerage models: The Broker creates a market in which buyers and sellers
negotiate and complete transactions. E*Trade and Ameritrade allow customers
to place trades online. The B2B market has spawned brokerages. Converge is the
leading exchange for global electronics. Online auctions are available in the B2B,
B2C and C2C markets.

Agent models: May represent sellers or buyers.

Agents that represent sellers are:

· Selling agents
· Manufacturers’ agents
· Metamediaries
· Virtual malls

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