MARKETING ON THE WEB
Objectives
– When to use product-based and customer-based marketing strategies
– Communicating with different market segments
– Customer relationship intensity and the customer relationship life cycle
– Using advertising on the Web
– E-mail marketing
– Technology-enabled customer relationship management
– Creating and maintaining brands on the Web
– Search engine positioning and domain name selection
Web Marketing Strategy
Four Ps of marketing:
1. Product
– Physical item or service that the company is selling
2. Price
– Amount a customer pays for the product
3. Promotion
– Any means of spreading the word about the product
4. Place
– Need to have products or services available in different locations
Product-Based Marketing Strategies
*When creating a marketing strategy, managers must consider both the nature of their products and the nature of their potential customers
*Most office supply stores on the Web believe customers organize their needs into product categories
Customer-Based Marketing Strategies
*Good first step in building a customer-based marketing strategy (identify groups of customers who share common characteristics)
*B2B sellers are more aware of the need to customize product and service offerings to match their customers’ needs
Communicating with Different Market Segments
*Identify groups of potential customers
– The first step in selling to those customers
*Media selection
– Can be critical for an online firm
*Challenge for online businesses
– Convincing customers to trust them
Trust & Media Choice
*The Web is an intermediate step between mass media and personal contact
*Cost of mass media advertising can be spread over its audience
*Companies can use the Web to capturesome of the benefits of personal contact,yet avoid some of the costs inherent in that approach
Trust in Three Information Dissemination Models
Market Segmentation
*Market segmentation is dividing the pool of potential customers intosegments and targeting specific portions of the market with advertising messages
*Segments
– Usually defined in terms of demographic characteristics
*Micromarketing
– Targeting very small market segments
*Geographic segmentation
– Creating different combinations of marketing efforts for each geographical group of customers
*Demographic segmentation
– Uses age, gender, family size, income, education, religion, or ethnicity to group customers
*Psychographic segmentation
– Groups customers by variables such as social class, personality, or their approach to life
Television Advertising Messages Tailored to Program Audience
Customer Behavior & Relationship Intensity
*Behavioral segmentation
– Creation of separate experiences for customers based on their behavior
*Occasion segmentation
– When behavioral segmentation is based on things that happen at a specific time
*Usage-based market segmentation
– Customizing visitor experiences to match the site usage behavior patterns of each visitor
Behavior-based categories include:
– Simplifiers: like convenience
– Surfer: use the Web to find information and explore new ideas
– Bargainers: are in search of a good deal
– Connectors: use the Web to stay in touch with other people
– Routiners: return to the same sites over and over again
Customer Relationship Intensity & Life-Cycle Segmentation
*One goal of marketing is to create strong relationships between a company and its customers
*Good customer experiences can help create an intense feeling of loyalty
*Touchpoints
– Online and offline customer contact points
*Touchpoint consistency
– Goal of providing similar levels and quality of service at all touchpoints
Five Stages of Customer Loyalty
Acquisition, Conversion, & Retention of Customers
*Acquisition cost
– Money a site spends to draw one visitor to the site
*Conversion
– Converting a first-time visitor into a customer
*Conversion cost
– Cost of inducing one visitor to make a purchase, sign up for a subscription, or register
*Retained customers
– Customers who return to the site one or more times after making their first purchases
Customer Acquisition, Conversion, & Retention: The Funnel Model
*Marketing managers need to have a good sense of how their companies acquire and retain customers
*Funnel model
– Used as a conceptual tool to understand the overall nature of a marketing strategy
– Very similar to the customer life-cycle model
Funnel Model of Customer Acquisition, Conversion, & Retention
Advertising on the Web
*Banner ad
– Small rectangular object on a Web page
*Interactive marketing unit (IMU) ad formats
– Standard banner sizes that most Web sites have voluntarily agreed to use
*Banner exchange network
– Coordinates ad sharing
*Banner advertising network
– Acts as a broker between advertisers and Web sites that carry ads
*Cost per thousand (CPM)
– Pricing metric used when a company purchases mass media advertising
*Trial visit
– First time a visitor loads a Web site page
*Page view
– Each page loaded by a visitor
*Impression
– Each time the banner ad loads
CPM Rates for Advertising in Various Media
Disguised Banner Ads
Other Web Ad Formats
*Pop-up ad
– Appears in its own window when the user opens or closes a Web page
*Ad-blocking software
– Prevents banner ads and pop-up ads from loading
*Interstitial ad
– When a user clicks a link to load a page, the interstitial ad opens in its own browser window
Site Sponsorships
*Give advertisers a chance to promote products, services, or brands in a more subtle way
*Helps build brand images and develop reputation rather than generate immediate sales
E-Mail Marketing
*Sending one e-mail message to a customer can cost less than one cent if the company already has the customer’s e-mail address
*Conversion rate
– The percentage of recipients who respond to an ad or promotion
*Opt-in e-mail
– Practice of sending e-mail messages to people who request information on a particular topic
Technology-Enabled Customer Relationship Management
*Clickstream
– Information that a Web site can gather about its visitors
*Technology-enabled relationship management
– Firm obtains detailed information about a customer’s behavior, buying patterns, etc., and uses it to set prices and negotiate terms
Technology-Enabled Relationship Management &
Traditional Customer Relationships
Creating & Maintaining Brands on the Web
Elements of branding include:
1. Differentiation
– Company must clearly distinguish its product from all others
2. Relevance
– Degree to which a product offers utility to a potential customer
3. Perceived value
– Key element in creating a brand that has value
Elements of a Brand
Emotional Branding versus Rational Branding
*Emotional appeals are difficult to convey on the Web
*Rational branding relies on the cognitive appeal of the specific help offered, not on a broad emotional appeal
Affiliate Marketing Strategies
*Affiliate marketing
– One firm’s Web site includes descriptions, reviews, ratings, or other information about a product that is linked to another firm’s site
*Affiliate site
– Obtains the benefit of the selling site’s brand in exchange for the referral
*Cause marketing
– Affiliate marketing program that benefits a charitable organization
Viral Marketing Strategies
*Relies on existing customers to tell other people about products or services they have enjoyed using
Examples:
– Blue Mountain Arts
– Electronic greeting card company that urchases very little advertising, but grew
rapidly
Search Engine Positioning & Domain Names
*Search engine
– Is a Web site that helps people find things on the Web
Three major parts of Search Engine:
1. Spider, crawler, or robot
– Program that automatically searches the Web
2. Index or database
– Storage element of a search engine
3. Search utility
– Uses terms provided to find Web pages that match
*Nielsen//Net Ratings
– Frequently issues press releases that list the most frequently visited Web sites
*Search engine ranking
– Weighting factors used by search engines to decide which URLs appear first on searches
*Search engine positioning or search engine optimization
– Combined art and science of having a particular URL listed near the top of search engine results
Paid Search Engine Inclusion & Placement
*Paid placement
– Option of purchasing a top listing on results pages for a particular set of search terms
– Rates vary
*Search engine placement brokers
– Companies that aggregate inclusion and placement rights on multiple search engines
Web Site Naming Issues
*Domain names
– Companies often buy more than one
– Reason for additional domain names is to ensure that potential site visitors who misspell the URL will still be redirected to the intended site
Domain Name that Sold for More Than $1 Million
URL Brokers & Registrars
*URL brokers
– Sell, lease, or auction domain names
*ICANN
– Maintains a list of accredited registrars
*Domain name parking
– Permits the purchaser of a domain name to maintain a simple Web site so that the domain name remains in use
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