Web marketing
(also called cybermarketing, cyberspace marketing, interactive marketing, internet marketing, internet-centric marketing, new economy marketing, online marketing, Web-based marketing, Web-centric marketing, World Wide Web marketing, or WWW marketing)
(also called cybermarketing, cyberspace marketing, interactive marketing, internet marketing, internet-centric marketing, new economy marketing, online marketing, Web-based marketing, Web-centric marketing, World Wide Web marketing, or WWW marketing)
DESCRIPTION
Marketing focusing on the use of a large-scale, hypermedia-based computer network of internet sites enabling functionality including text, hypertext links, graphics, sound, and animation.
Marketing focusing on the use of a large-scale, hypermedia-based computer network of internet sites enabling functionality including text, hypertext links, graphics, sound, and animation.
KEY INSIGHTS
Developed in 1989 at the CERN research institute in Switzerland, the World Wide Web (or Web or WWW) is a hypertext-based distributed information system that has subsequently been widely adopted by countless marketers and consumers worldwide. As such, the World Wide Web is a vast collection of interconnected documents and other resources that is accessible via the internet, which is itself a collection of interconnected computer networks. Approaches to marketing via the web are wide-ranging and may consist of simple text-based informational advertising to highly sophisticated, interactive, multi-media marketing aimed at encouraging frequent and regular customer participation. Web-based marketing is characterized by its potential for considerable audience reach as well as richness of content.
Developed in 1989 at the CERN research institute in Switzerland, the World Wide Web (or Web or WWW) is a hypertext-based distributed information system that has subsequently been widely adopted by countless marketers and consumers worldwide. As such, the World Wide Web is a vast collection of interconnected documents and other resources that is accessible via the internet, which is itself a collection of interconnected computer networks. Approaches to marketing via the web are wide-ranging and may consist of simple text-based informational advertising to highly sophisticated, interactive, multi-media marketing aimed at encouraging frequent and regular customer participation. Web-based marketing is characterized by its potential for considerable audience reach as well as richness of content.
Marketing strategies and tactics for use of theWeb continue to develop at a rapid pace. For example, many firms find it highly beneficial for their business to be found readily when searched for using any number of online search engines. Such a concern has led to developments in search engine marketing, which is a marketing approach involving the use of search engine capabilities to reach prospective customers, where the aim is to appear as high as possible on the list of a search engine’s search results (e.g. on the first page) when consumers use any number of relevant key words related to the firm or its offerings. Search engine marketing may also involve initiatives by the firm to appear in ‘sponsored’ search results as a result of payment to search engine organizations.
While the terms internet marketing, online marketing, and Web marketing are often used interchangeably in marketing practice, online marketing may be viewed as the broadest term in terms of its scope, as it can be viewed as encompassing marketing via stand-alone computer connections to marketing via the internet to that which emphasizes the use of the many advanced features of theWorld Wide Web. As internet marketing as a term is used far more often in practice than Web marketing to convey any of a range of online marketing approaches, internet marketing has become synonymous with online marketing despite differences in any strict definitions. (See online Marketing.)
KEYWORDS Online marketing, hypermedia computer network
IMPLICATIONS
Increasingly, marketing via theWeb is an imperative for firms competing in most markets today. Such a strategic approach, whether used alone or in combination with other forms of marketing, can enable the firm to remain accessible to current and potential customers around the clock and to individuals and organizations increasingly independent of geography—assuming, of course, that such individuals and organizations have access to and are able to use it. Customers flying on EasyJet, for example, have to find a computer to access the company’s website in order to rebook an Easyjet flight that is cancelled—even though they are still at the airport and within easy reach of the company’s personnel.
Increasingly, marketing via theWeb is an imperative for firms competing in most markets today. Such a strategic approach, whether used alone or in combination with other forms of marketing, can enable the firm to remain accessible to current and potential customers around the clock and to individuals and organizations increasingly independent of geography—assuming, of course, that such individuals and organizations have access to and are able to use it. Customers flying on EasyJet, for example, have to find a computer to access the company’s website in order to rebook an Easyjet flight that is cancelled—even though they are still at the airport and within easy reach of the company’s personnel.
APPLICATION AREAS AND FURTHER READINGS
Marketing Strategy
Sharma, A., and Sheth, J. (2004). ‘Web-Based Marketing: The Coming Revolution in Marketing Thought and Strategy,’ Journal of Business Research, 57, 696–702.
Sharma, A., and Sheth, J. (2004). ‘Web-Based Marketing: The Coming Revolution in Marketing Thought and Strategy,’ Journal of Business Research, 57, 696–702.
Lederer, A. L., Mirchandani, D. A., and Sims, K. (2001). ‘The Search for Strategic Advantage from the World Wide Web,’ International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 5(4), 117–134.
Lynn, G. S., Lipp, S. M., Akgun, A. E., and Cortez, A. (2002). ‘Factors Impacting the Adoption and Effectiveness of the World Wide Web in Marketing,’ Industrial Marketing Management, 31(1), January, 35–49.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Shapiro, Carl, and Varian, Hal R. (1999). Information Rules. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Shapiro, Carl, and Varian, Hal R. (1999). Information Rules. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Turban, Ephraim (2006). Electronic Commerce: A Managerial Perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Web-based marketing see online marketing; Web marketing
Web-centric marketing see online marketing; Web marketing
Weber’s law see Weber–Fechner law
Web-centric marketing see online marketing; Web marketing
Weber’s law see Weber–Fechner law