Online Marketing By Jennifer Davies Com 538 Instructor: Kathy Gill

History of the project Started as online merchandising Realized that didn’t really exist Online merchandising is part of marketing (in the eyes of the research world) Merchandising in the academic world seems to be exclusive to retail/clothing industries where merchandising concerns in-store displays and pricing new lines. My conclusion? The history of online merchandising is marketing.

Ancient History of Marketing Started with the Greeks In order to need marketing you have to have a surplus and a market. Selling when everyone has the same items doesn’t require marketing. The Greeks were the first to segment their customers, providing lower quality goods to those customers who wouldn’t notice the difference – those further away who didn’t have the same goods. Long distance trade was one of the primary motivators of marketing Too expensive to move goods over long distances for most merchants, marketing rudimentary

Late 1800s forward Industrial Revolution opened new markets, lowered cost of accessing them. Dispersed markets and increased competition created a need for a way to communicate a value proposition to customers. The idea that “advertising is salesmanship-on- paper, and its theory and technique, began to be studied” around At the same time, marketing as a business tool gained acceptance and definition, initially in agriculture, as part of distribution. Companies first turned to marketing/advertising as a way to remove the middle-man and keep more of the profits for themselves.

Moving to Present Day However, increasing consumer awareness of advertisements meant ads were less trusted as a means of obtaining product information. Around the 1920s, PR is “created”. With Edward Bernays (self-described Father of Public Relations) PR becomes one more tool in a company’s repertoire to persuade customers without them realizing. Store-front displays became common as companies looked for economical ways in which to entice customers From the 1920s on, marketing theories proliferate. Academics are teaching marketing at business schools and marketing is respected as a full- fledged section of business knowledge.

Present Day Marketing strategies proliferated between the 1930s and today. –Radio/TV program sponsorship –Miss “Wonder Bread”-type programs –Teaser advertisements With the advent of the internet comes the advent of online marketing Easy way to monetize online sites is marketing, whether for a product on the site or for other sites looking to drive users to them.

Online marketing strategies Box & Banner Ads (etc) –Low success metrics –Unproven –As we discussed in class, users often tune them out. –Moving to more intrusive format, more interesting content, teaser or just entertaining. Online Sponsorship –Many more things to “sponsor” in the online space –Easy was for sites to monetize content – MSN Lexus Luxury page, etc –More positive spin (paying money towards the common good)

Strategies continued… Discounts and Coupons –Function much the same as in the offline space only much more segmentable –Can choose which customers receive coupon or use discount –Catch customers when they are on the edge about buying or leaving the site via pop-unders or cross-sell efforts Affiliate Programs & Search Engine Placement –Affiliate programs benefit non-commerce-focused sites by allowing them to gain a profit for their customer referrals. They benefit the selling company by giving them access to very specific, targeted groups of customers. –Search Engine Placement does almost the exact opposite. The seller comes to the search engine company and pays up front for a top spot. –These two techniques can dovetail when an aggregator of referrals buys placement at the same time as the seller – the seller suddenly has 2 of the top spots instead of just one.

Strategies continued… Marketing as Content –Viral marketing, where users of a product knowingly or unknowingly become company spokespersons by talking to friends about the product. Gmail – exclusive access means users talk about it and willingly spread it to friends Revlon ad Tina pointed out. –Selling content, where content is created for the sole purpose of selling a product. Amazon Theater Travel content on travel websites In-depth product content on furniture/clothing websites where you can design your own pieces to buy.

Strategies continued… Offline marketing –I know, I know, a little counter-intuitive –To drive users to major sites, some of the best online marketing techniques include offline portions like catalogs, billboards, teaser magazine ads, etc. –For an online-only company, offline presence can be key to accessing new users and new sources of growth. –Content sites with a strong offline or online presence can use one to drive the other, for example, CNN during the elections required advertisers to buy on both the website and the television.

Future opportunities for online marketing include: –Online communities –Chat support –Virtual viewers –Increased content, planning tools –Intrusive ads, Salon.com advertising model –Stronger affiliate program models where any website can make incremental amounts of money referring users to commercial sites Where is marketing going?