Internet marketing is the latest fad that is revolutionizing the world of B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer) merchandising. Internet marketing is simply the online version of the traditional advertising models that we are generally familiar with. The only difference is that, instead of billboards and hoardings this particular promotional method uses web space to exhibit and promote a product. The rest is almost the same. Internet marketing like conventional advertising methods blends technology and creativity to increase visibility of a particular commodity or service. However, Internet marketing makes a more cost effective solution than traditional advertising in the sense that, it can penetrate a wider customer base more easily and in a time and expense that is associated with the generic advertising models.
There are various mechanisms within which the process of Internet Marketing works and caters to diverse internet based business. The major among them are:
• E-commerce- In these kinds of business, where goods are bought and sold in the virtual stores, promotional methods are more direct and aggressive. In e-commerce the consumer or business units get to directly purchase goods from a company’s official website. The payment methods mostly include credit card payments.
• Publishing- This method is more like the traditional advertising methods known to us. This kind of internet marketing involves demonstration of a good’s attributes on the websites of the marketer. The consumers visit these websites while searching for something, and acquire knowledge about a particular product from the website. In this procedure, internet marketing takes the shape of word of mouth publicity.
• Affiliate marketing: This kind of internet marketing involves revenue sharing arrangements. The owner or the actual producer of a good employs the services of an affiliate or a hired vendor to raise the conspicuousness of his product in exchange for paying him a share of his profits.
There are challenges that popular internet marketing methods are still to overcome.
As for instance, many prospective consumers are not tech-savvy at all and are therefore not comfortable with buying things online; where it is difficult to understand the genuine quality of a product. Then there are security concerns, as many websites are known to divulge consumer data to unauthorized third parties, who may use it to spam the buyer.
New user friendly technologies are being developed to overcome these challenges. With this we can safely conclude, that Internet marketing is here to stay. It has changed the world of promotion and advertising in quite a number of ways; it is going to transform the world of trading in the upcoming days.
