Internet Marketing

Internet marketing

On this 21^st century the impact of computer and its use in all the fields of work is quite visible. And it is more dominant in the world of commerce where the word Internet Marketing has become the modern buzz. Internet marketing is a major part of the electronic commerce. It includes information management, public relation, sales and customer services. Electronic commerce and internet marketing has grown up as the favorite marketplace for computer savvy generation. The reasons behind this upsurge are easy availability of low cost computer and high speed internet connection with the steady rise of plastic money. People, who have internet connections at their home, feel happy to use internet to make purchase at their own convenience and in their favorite comfort zone. It is a marketing which is done on the web or through e-mail and is completely different from regular marketing. It includes various marketing strategies to support a company's online marketing. In this field internet is used as medium of communicating company's messages, attracting prospective customers and conducting market survey as well as research. It also includes advertising, selling products and services through websites or e-mail to the customers. It is used to meet with the customer's queries and to receive their orders through internet.

Internet marketing was evolved in 1990s as a simple text-based websites. Then it only offered information about products to the customers. But over the time, there came a sea change in its work. Now internet marketing is used not only to provide information about the products but also for selling spaces, software programs, business models and many other products and services.

This kind of marketing is the backbone of modern capitalism. This allows a company with an idea, program or service to reach to the maximum number of customers possible. But there lies a challenge .To win a customer it is important to entice him with catchy websites. The content and presentation of the website also plays a very significant role in it. It should produce a long-lasting impact on the minds of the customers.

When internet marketing first emerged, very few persons were indulged in this business but with the span of time more and more people have joined the business, seeing its benefit. In the beginning of internet marketing, it had only B2B or Business 2 Business model. Over the period of time, B2C (Business to Customer) and P2P (Peer to Peer), model was developed. But the current use of the word 'internet marketing' refers to direct response business strategies.

There are number of benefits associated with internet marketing. In this type of marketing information about a product is always within the customer reach. Customer can log onto the internet and learn more about the products. They can make their purchase at any hour. This marketing procedure is also less expensive than other marketing media, and helps companies to reap the benefit. They do not have to bear any additional sales forces. Moreover, internet marketing expands the business frontiers from the local markets to the national and international market.

But there are also limitations associated with internet marketing. An online purchase does not allow the customer to feel, taste or touch the product. So to keep up constant flow of customers, originality and authenticity of the product is must. And the crux of this entire effort is the slow internet connection which drives away the probable buyers from venturing and exploring the web market. And last but not the least, the onslaught of hackers and crackers brings in the point of vulnerability and fear of possible fraud.