Information and Communications technology in Marketing

The general objective of this report is to find out the use Information and Communications technology in Marketing. Other objectives are to identify the various way of Marketing and analysis current position of E Marketing. here also identify the internet marketing (website and email). Finally focus on consumer Internet marketing, although it is estimated that by  business-to-business will exceed consumer e-commerce and the percentage use of internet marketing to mobile phone marketing.

Introduction

There is a conundrum presented for marketing organizations that set out to use a global medium   to   communicate   primarily with   local   internet users   or prospective customers and clients, who may well click for global information search using two fingers,   but   who   in   reality   are   not   properly   communicated   to   or   over/under communicated to. Thus, an important issue this paper addresses is whether ICT use in marketing is carried out optimally for best results of desired revenue and profit. In the past years, business and government have been using the internet, they have struggled to accommodate this new interactive medium in their integrated marketing communications or broadly use the medium as a direct response tool and more particularly as a relationship   management   aide. Newer online business models have generated a great deal of news media attention, consulting firm input   government   endorsement Specific benefits are put forward for business use of the Web. These may be grouped as productivity based and revenue-growth based and include: global presence; establishing and maintaining a competitive edge; shortening or eradicating components   of   supply   chains   cost   savings;   and   a   research advantage. Particularly in the way the former authors suggest that Internet marketing organizations have failed to seek strategic advantage, and in the way they have encouraged their own judgment on spurious financial outcomes.  The conflicting views   put   forward   by   e-Commerce   aficionados   and   the   more   circumspect management strategists concerning the internet’s role in business further confirm the need for inter-country studies of the strategic use of the Internet. Beyond   business   use,   we   have   seen   recently a   U.S   election   campaign   by   now president Barack H. Obama (2009), focused on using the power of the internet to organize, reach-out and execute many agendas successfully. This is the marketing strength of ICT which should never be overlooked. In this study we are focusing on the use of ICT in some companies in terms of whether they use it basically/extensively or properly/improperly, which tool of ICT is used most (internet, or mobile phones) and why, and the positive impact it may have had on the value of the company in general. In looking at the usage and impact of ICT, we need to sub-divide ICT into two, namely: eICT and mICT- PC internet and mobile internet. For the purpose of this study, ICT will relate mainly to the use of internet via personal computer (PC) and mobile phones, where the central subject is “internet marketing”. Internet   marketing   may   be   defined   as   the   use   of  the   internet   for   marketing   of products, or services, sold either on the Internet or through traditional channels. The focus is on consumer Internet marketing, although it is estimated that by  business-to-business will exceed consumer e-commerce.

Significance of the Report:

ICT   (information   and   communications  technology)   in   their marketing. Brief discussion of the background to the research, problem discussion, overall purpose and justification of the study will be revisited. The outline of the study is also presented. This research focuses on the use of the internet and mobile phones in information and communications technology (ICT) marketing. As a developed market in Bangladesh, this will prove to be representative of other developed markets. This thesis investigates the use of ICT in marketing in companies, the variations and combination of their use of ICT tools like, internet, emails, SMS, MMS and other methods they may prefer. According to GourvennecYann A., (1996, p. 3), “Marketing is a very broad ranging discipline which is undergoing radical changes. The approach that should be adopted by marketing management in the 21 st century is conditioned by the deep social and cultural changes that we are going through at the end of this century. It is also greatly impacted by the significant alterations of today’s business practices”. In a world where change is constant and is also happening at a quickening pace, it seems fundamental to us that Marketing be placed within the big picture of strategic management.

Scope of the Study

• The study will give a clear idea about the use of ICT in marketing.
• New way of Marketing
• How is internet marketing (website and email) used?
• How is mobile phone marketing (SMS and MMS) used?

Objective of the Study

General Objectives:

The general objective of this report is to find out the use ICT in marketing.

Specific Objectives:

However the specific objectives of the study may be described as:

• To identify the various way of Marketing.
• Current position of E Marketing.
• Use of ICT in Marketing.
• To identify the internet marketing (website and email).
• Is ICT basically or maximally used?
• What is the percentage use of internet marketing to mobile phone marketing?
• What are the companies doing right or wrong in the use of ICT?

Research Methodology

Research type:

Basically it is a descriptive research.

Source of data:

All the relevant data regarding this study are collected from two sources. These are:

• Primary data: questionnaire survey on different Company.

• Secondary data: I need much information for the report, which we get from secondary data. These are:

• Report of Digital Network Communications.
• Annual report of Digital Network Communication sister concern.
• Different types of document of Digital Network Communication.
• Various published documents from various e commerce companies.
• World Wide Web

Data collection procedure:

Secondary: Company profile, Magazine, Newspaper add, Annual reports were used as secondary.

Primary: Employee observation and Marketing Manager of various companies were conducted to collect primary data.

Questionnaire:

Size: 3 page an A4 size paper.

Administer time: Average 15 minutes per questionnaire.

Sampling plan:

Population: marketing Manager of various companies those are marketed various product and service.

Sampling element/ units: Individual Marketing manager.

Sample frame: no well-structured sample frame was found.

Sampling procedure:  Non- probability judgmental sampling technique is used.

Sample size: 35 people.

Data Analysis & Interpretation

We analyzed the data by averaging the response of the sample. Most of the analysis and discussions of this study have been made on the basis of the information obtained from the interview with the questionnaires. Besides, observation of the interviewers has also been an important component of analysis and discussion.

ABOUT Digital Network Communications

Digital Network Communications (DigiNet) is Hong Kong based ICT Service and Solutions provider. DigiNet is the sister concern of Digital World Communications Ltd.

DigiNet is a leading software and solution provider which dedicated to delivering customer management and billing solutions and software server monitoring systems.

The DigiNet community nurtured in software excellence joined hands to render intelligent solutions to people at large and we are emerging fast as one of the leading solution providers in the software market. DigiNet aim at providing end to end solutions to all wholesalers to end users, big corporate and other software Provider. We are ideally a team of highly result-oriented and well-trained software Support professionals. We offer right solutions to support national and international carriers seeking predictable outsourced solutions on both traditional TDM and next generation VoIP technology platforms. DigiNet proven systems, processes and experience provide customers with a competitive advantage to manage Dedicated Solutions and the complexities of bridging the technologies to expand their business into new markets.

DigiNet Communications is a rapidly growing systems integrator and software applications service provider. DigiNet provides equipment leasing and VoipSwitch applications to carriers and enterprises who are implementing VoIP networks. By leasing equipment and taking advantage of VoIP Rental’s hosted solutions, customers are able to deploy VoIP networks without heavy upfront costs or extensive in-house expertise, thereby focusing their financial and human resources on growing their business, rather than managing their infrastructure. By partnering selectively with best of breed providers, DigiNet keeps its customers on the cutting edge of the rapidly evolving software technical landscape. The company has partner in Hong Kong, USA and UK and equipment placed at secure co-location facilities.

DigiNet is dedicated to providing our customers with the services, support and solutions that enable them to succeed. Several values are paramount to the daily operations and how we provide services. By renting equipment rather than buying it outright, our customers conserve capital and maintain the flexibility to upgrade their networks as their demand grows, as technology evolves and as their needs become more complex. Customers at large are using the software Rental service to build and deploy software networks.

Vision

Powered by innovation, guided by integrity, deliver quality solutions to build The Digital Delta.

Mission

• To maintain the leading software solution provider ensuring benefit of customers, shareholders and employees.

• Developing, disseminating and exploiting the remarkable experience, expertise and knowledge of all of our people.

• Developing a distinctive competence in process development and project management.

Quality Management Framework (QMF)

DigiNet Quality Management focuses on following process areas:

1. Requirement Development
2. Technical Solution
3. Product Integration
4. Verification
5. Validation
6. Organizational Process Focus
7. Organizational Process Definition
8. Organizational Training
9. Integrated Project Management
10. Risk Management
11. Decision Analysis and Resolution

Functional Domains

Banking Services

As the banking services industry grapples with the challenges of the economic boom in Bangladesh, companies need to reevaluate strategies and develop more efficient business models to be in the competition of both local and international competitors.

DigiNet is the Sales & Implementation Partner of (Hong Kong); World’s No. 01 Banking Solutions. With experience in serving some of the largest financial services companies, DigiNet Banking Team helps clients gain a competitive advantage.  Our domain expertise coupled with a willingness to take accountability for business results makes us a partner of choice for our clients.

DigiNet Banking Services offerings span the following core areas:

a) Local & International Implementation

• TEMENOS T24 (T24)
• TEMENOS COREBANKING (TCB)
• TEMENOS T-Risk (T-Risk)
• TEMENOS Financial Reporting (TFR)

b) Local Enhancement

c) Customized Banking Solution Development

Business Application

Competitiveness in the global marketplace requires speed and agility at every level. Businesses must respond quickly to meet customer demand, improve speed to market, react swiftly to changing market conditions and constantly seek gains in productivity and profitability. A sophisticated business application platform is critical to achieving these objectives. Business Application development software to real-world problems requires leading technology and an expert team. Our professional programmers are developing all sorts of application software may need including games, educational software, office applications, internet software, utilities, text and graphics editors, communication software.

E-commerce Solution

DigiNet provide customized E-Commerce solutions for local and international clients. Today e-commerce has revolutionized the system of communication and commerce. It has brought dramatic transformation in the way the consumers purchase and consume the goods and services at the online auction sites. DigiNet has earned the reputation of being the best provider of internet and e-commerce solutions to a wide range of industries. DigiNet designs, develops and manage its client’s website and all these are done in a productive environment to ensure its client’s success.

The client’s at DigiNet gets the personal attention they deserve and because of which the relationship with our clients are maintained even after the work is done. The customer’s at DigiNet gets immense satisfaction when they get the results that far exceed their expectations. DigiNetprovide a wide range of e-commerce solutions to our clients and the positive feedback which we receive from them is a vital ingredient for company success. On the other hand the positive feedback that our clients receive motivates them to establish stronger relationship with us. We make your business grow. Our team of professional designer, web developers and internet market has the capability to deliver easy to use and in expensive solutions that can help bring in excellent profits to our valuable clients company. Some of the services which we provide are:

• Net Banking
• Online Transactions
• Money transfer
• Online Payments

MIS Solution

Are you looking to make the most of your company’s technology investment?  Are you seeking progressive, profit-building ways to streamline your process?  MIS Solutions can guide you to choose and implement the right technology for your business.  DigiNet’s MIS solutions integrate disparate business processes and improve productivity and efficiency within enterprises. Customized MIS solutions may include HR & Payroll Management, Customer Relationship Management, Sales Tracking System, Operations Management, Accounting Management, Asset Management, Projects Management and Admin portal etc.  For many of our clients, selecting one of our MIS packages is becoming a ‘relationship for life’.

Web Development

In today’s market website development plays a vital role for an organization. It is a onetime investment with huge returns. Web development solutions find its way in the implementation of business policies on the web by the use of data services. If you are looking for software consultant to develop your web application or website then DigiNet is the stoppage for you as it provides practical and reliable advises for your business. DigiNet is an expert in web development solutions. It provides services across the globe which is within the budget and is customer centric.

DigiNet web development focusing areas are:

• Web Application Development
• Web and Enterprise Portal Development
• Web Design and Development

 Web Application Development

DigiNet’s expert team has taken part in hundreds of web application development projects. DigiNet is experienced in developing advanced systems with complex business logic dealing with large amounts of data and transactions. We are able to supply the clients with innovative, trustworthy web application solutions to complement your most complicated business ideas.

Web and Enterprise Portal Development

The ever-changing information technologies constantly bring new opportunities for businesses to streamline operations, improve inter-business interactions, optimize costs and thus get critical competitive advantages. In the knowledge-intensive economy of today, portals become integrated platforms for information delivery, communication, collaboration and automating business processes through interconnected applications and web services. Portals provide a way for enterprises to provide a consistent look and feel with access control and procedures for multiple applications, which otherwise would have been different entities altogether. DigiNet delivers end-to-end Portal solutions embracing the latest technologies and business trends:

• Application/Web Services Portals
• Social Networks and Communities
• B2C and B2B Ecommerce Portals
• Enterprise Information Portals
• Business Intelligence Portals
• Knowledge Management Portals

Web Design and Development

In this age of swift communication and online environment you are just provided with 15 seconds to grab the attention of the customers and provide them with the details of your products & services so that you can persuade the customers to your website. An interactive graphical design is the need of the hour as it forms the first impression in the mind of your customers giving them the conception of your website. DigiNet provides professional website design, development and maintenance services. Our skilled web designers and developers accomplish various website projects from brochure sites to multi-functional web portals. DigiNet has a large pool of resources and the required business and technical expertise to develop websites of any complexity. We provide complete front-end and back-end development based on the latest technologies  and industry trends.

Key Features of Website Development:

• Appealing and professional style
• Consistent overall layout
• Consistent corporate identity
• Colors compatibility
• Rational space usage
• User-friendly interface
• Intuitive navigational schemes
• AJAX-powered interactivity
• Task-oriented workflow
• Accessibility standards

IT Consultancy

DigiNet is a company designed to meet the needs of today’s fast growing business firms that require experienced IT consultancy support. DigiNet aims to provide companies with experienced and motivated IT consultants. They also provide support to the small to medium businesses that currently do not have support contracts. DigiNet can provide everything from initial design and draft requirements, help with the specifications needed to satisfy business needs, advice on testing, installation, and systems integration, right through to support of clients IT infrastructure. DigiNet holds the industry best IT consultant in distinctive field such as:

• Simulation
• Port & Logistics
• Software Technology Park (STP)
• Customs Operations etc.

You can utilize our expertise in the field of IT to bring added value to your business even if you do not require DigiNet to provide the overall solution. As a company DigiNet aim to deliver high quality services whilst offering maximum value to our customers.

Offshore Development

DigiNet is a fast growing Offshore Software Development Company in Bangladesh. Offshore software development lets you concentrate on your competencies rather than struggling to overcome the learning curve and manage the ever-increasing resource requirements. Being a talent mine, Bangladesh is a hot destination to outsource for many companies from all across globe. DigiNet helps client optimize resource utilization, minimize risks and enhance long term profitability.
DigiNet is a leading provider of Offshore Software Development services to Solutions Software Development services such as:

• Software development
• Application development
• Database integration
• System integration
• Client server technology
• QA / Testing

Branded SMS

In the modern era of communication, SMS (Short Message Service) has become an effective medium for communicating different information to clients and stakeholders alike. It is a useful medium where the clients can be informed in the shortest possible time and in the shortest possible way. Organizations can use this medium in an effective way if customers can recognize the source immediately upon receipt of the SMS. If they see the name of the organization in the sender’s list instead of a long unrecognizable number, it can serve for assurance, quality and trust of the reputed organization. Branded SMSs have now become an important tool for recognition and corporate image all around the world which ensures reliability and the right source of information.

DigiNet can facilitate an advanced SMS solution to enable the different organizations to send branded SMS to its consumers and stakeholders to serve the branding purpose and retain its image.

Branded SMS can greatly help in overcoming the anonymity and enumerate the organizations with several benefits:

• Raising brand awareness/recall (through masked, branded SMS campaigns)
• Brand interaction
• Customer satisfaction
• Increase image
• Security

ICT in marketing

Internet marketing

Internet marketing, also known as web marketing, online marketing, web advertising, or e-marketing, is referred to as the marketing (generally promotion) of products or services over the Internet. Internet marketing is considered to be broad in scope because it not only refers to marketing on the Internet, but also includes marketing done via e-mail and wireless media. Digital customer data and electronic customer relationship management (ECRM) systems are also often grouped together under internet marketing.

Internet marketing ties together the creative and technical aspects of the Internet, including design, development, advertising and sales. Internet marketing also refers to the placement of media along many different stages of the customer engagement cycle through search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), banner ads on specific websites, email marketing, content marketing, mobile advertising, and Web 2.0 strategies.

When Internet Marketing includes designing the company’s website, social media sites, mobile and other interactive media for specific [business] goals, the terms Digital Marketing is then used because it helps the company position itself not only on the Internet but on Digital Media or the Digital World.

Internet marketing initiatives for the same company are usually tied together in the company’s Internet (or Digital) Strategy, which is design specifically for each client based on its business needs and goals.

Search engine marketing

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a form of internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing their visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) through optimization (both on-page and off-page) as well as through advertising (paid placements, contextual advertising, and paid inclusions). Depending on the context, SEM can be an umbrella term for various means of marketing a website including search engine optimization (SEO), which adjusts or rewrites website content to achieve a higher ranking in search engine results pages, or it may contrast with pay per click (PPC), focusing on only paid components.

Search engine optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s “natural” or un-paid (“organic”) search results.[jargon] In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine’s users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search, news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content, HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Promoting a site to increase the number of back links, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic.

Web banner

A web banner or banner ad is a form of advertising on the World Wide Web delivered by an ad server. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to a website by linking to the website of the advertiser. The advertisement known as a “click through”. In many cases, banners are delivered by a central ad server.

When the advertiser scans their log files and detects that a web user has visited the advertiser’s site from the content site by clicking on the banner ad, the advertiser sends the content provider some small amount of money (usually around five to ten US cents). This payback system is often how the content provider is able to pay for the Internet access to supply the content in the first place. Usually though, advertisers use ad networks to serve their advertisements, resulting in a revs hare system and higher quality ad placement.

Web banners function the same way as traditional advertisements are intended to function: notifying consumers of the product or service and presenting reasons why the consumer should choose the product in question, a fact first documented on Hotwired in 1996 by researchers Rex Briggs and Nigel Hollis. Web banners differ in that the results for advertisement campaigns may be monitored real-time and may be targeted to the viewer’s interests. Behavior is often tracked through the use of a click tag.

Many web surfers regard these advertisements as highly annoying because they distract from a web page’s actual content or waste bandwidth. Newer web browsers often include options to disable pop-ups or block images from selected websites. Another way of avoiding banners is to use a proxy server that blocks them, such as Privoxy. Web browsers may also have extensions available which block banners, for example Adblock Plus for Mozilla Firefox, or AdThwart for Google Chrome and ie7pro for Internet Explorer.

Email marketing

Email marketing is directly marketing a commercial message to a group of people using email. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. It usually involves using email to send ads, request business, or solicit sales or donations, and is meant to build loyalty, trust, or brand awareness. Email marketing can be done to either cold lists or current customer database. Broadly, the term is usually used to refer to:

• Sending email messages with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or previous customers, to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business,
• Sending email messages with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately,
• Adding advertisements to email messages sent by other companies to their customers
• Researchers estimate that United States firms alone spent US $1.51 billion on email marketing in 2011 and will grow to $2.468 billion by 2016.

Content marketing

Content marketing is an umbrella term encompassing all marketing formats that involve the creation and sharing of content in order to attract, acquire and engage clearly defined and understood current and potential consumer bases with the objective of driving profitable customer action. Content marketing subscribes to the notion that delivering information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action. Content marketing has benefits in terms of retaining reader attention and improving brand loyalty.

The idea of sharing content as a means of persuading decision-making has driven content marketers to make their once-proprietary informational assets available to selected audiences. Alternatively, many content marketers choose to create new information and share it via any and all media. Content marketing products frequently take the form of custom magazines, print or online newsletters, digital content, websites or microsites, white papers, webcasts/webinars, podcasts, video portals or series, in-person roadshows, roundtables, interactive online, email, events. The purpose of this information is to inform target customers and prospects about key industry issues, sometimes involving the marketer’s products. The motivation behind content marketing is the belief that educating the customer results in the brand’s recognition.

Marketers may use content marketing as a means of achieving a variety of business goals. These may include: thought leadership, lead generation, increasing direct sales, introducing specific brand language and improving customer retention. The term “content engineer” is being used to describe a new breed of marketer who creates, optimizes, and distributes the different types of content required to engage customers on the social web, based on the data of many analysis tools.

Content marketing is the underlying philosophy driving techniques such as custom media, custom publishing, database marketing, brand marketing, branded entertainment and branded content.

Mobile advertising

Mobile advertising is a form of advertising via mobile (wireless) phones or other mobile devices. It is a subset of mobile marketing.

ECRM

The eCRM or electronic customer relationship marketing concept is derived from e-commerce. It also uses net environment i.e., intranet, extranet and internet. Electronic CRM concerns all forms of managing relationships with customers making use of information technology (IT). eCRM is enterprises using IT to integrate internal organization resources and external marketing strategies to understand and fulfill their customers needs. Comparing with traditional CRM, the integrated information for eCRMintraorganizational collaboration can be more efficient to communicate with customers.

Differences between CRM and eCRM

Major differences between CRM and eCRM:

Customer contacts

• CRM – Contact with customer made through the retail store, phone, and fax.
• eCRM – All of the traditional methods are used in addition to Internet, email, wireless, and PDA technologies.

System interface

• CRM – Implements the use of ERP systems, emphasis is on the back-end.
• eCRM – Geared more toward front end, which interacts with the back-end through use of ERP systems, data warehouses, and data marts.

System overhead (client computers)

• CRM – The client must download various applications to view the web-enabled applications. They would have to be rewritten for different platform.
• eCRM – Does not have these requirements because the client uses the browser.

Customization and personalization of information

• CRM – Views differ based on the audience, and personalized views are not available. Individual personalization requires program changes.
• eCRM – Personalized individual views based on purchase history and preferences. Individual has ability to customize view.

System focus

• CRM – System (created for internal use) designed based on job function and products. Web applications designed for a single department or business unit.
• eCRM – System (created for external use) designed based on customer needs. Web application designed for enterprise-wide use.

System maintenance and modification

• CRM – More time involved in implementation and maintenance is more expensive because the system exists at different locations and on various servers.
• eCRM – Reduction in time and cost. Implementation and maintenance can take place at one location and on one server.

eCRM strategy components

When enterprises integrate their customer information, there are three eCRM strategy component

1.Operational: Because of sharing information, the processes in business should make customer’s need as first and seamlessly implement. This avoids multiple times to bother customers and redundant process.

2.Analytical: Analysis helps company maintain a long-term relationship with customers.

3.Collaborative: Due to improved communication technology, different departments in company implement (intraorganizational) or work with business partners (interorganizational) more efficiently by sharing information.

Mobile CRM

One subset of Electronic CRM is Mobile CRM (mCRM). This is defined as “services that aim at nurturing customer relationships, acquiring or maintaining customers, support marketing, sales or services processes, and use wireless networks as the medium of delivery to the customers. However, since communications is the central aspect of customer relations activities, many opt for the following definition of mCRM: “communication, either one-way or interactive, which is related to sales, marketing and customer service activities conducted through mobile medium for the purpose of building and maintaining customer relationships between a company and its customer(s).

eCRM allows customers to access company services from more and more places, since the Internet access points are increasing by the day. mCRM however, takes this one step further and allows customers or managers to access the systems for instance from a mobile phone or PDA with internet access, resulting in high flexibility.

Since mCRM is not able to provide a complete range of customer relationship activities it should be integrated in the complete CRM system.

There are three main reasons that mobile CRM is becoming so popular. The first is that the devices consumers use are improving in multiple ways that allow for this advancement. Displays are larger and clearer and access times on networks are improving overall. Secondly, the users are also becoming more sophisticated. The technology to them is nothing new so it is easy to adapt. Lastly, the software being developed for these applications has become worthwhile and useful to end users.

There are four basic steps that a company should follow to implement a mobile CRM system. By following these and also keeping the IT department, the end users and management in agreement, the outcome can be beneficial for all.

Step 1 – Needs analysis phase: This is the point to take your times and understand all the technical needs and desires for each of the users and stakeholders. It also has to be kept in mind that the mobile CRM system must be able to grow and change with the business.

Step 2 – Mobile design phase: This is the next critical phase that will show all the technical concerns that need to be addressed. A few main things to consider are screen size, device storage and security.

Step 3 – Mobile application testing phase: This step is mostly to ensure that the users and stakeholders all approve of the new system.

Step 4 – Rollout phase: This is when the new system is implemented but also when training on the final product is done with all users.

Advantages of mobile CRM

1. The mobile channel creates a more personal direct connection with customers.
2. It is continuously active and allows necessary individuals to take action quickly using the information.
3. Typically it is an opt-in only channel which allows for high and quality responsiveness.
4. Overall it supports loyalty between the customer and company, which improves and strengthens relationships

Film and Television Marketing

Industries such as film and television were somewhat slow when it came to putting content on the Internet. Film trailers, television show schedules and “interactive” press kits came on the scene quite quickly as the content that promoted such products. This major media platform was developed with investments of millions by the film studios and television networks because it was a valuable marketing tool.

Article marketing

Article marketing is a type of advertising in which businesses write short articles about themselves, their company or their field of expertise as a marketing strategy. A primary style for the articles includes a bio box and byline (collectively known as the resource box) about the business.

Internet Article Marketing

Internet article marketing is used to promote the authors expertise of their market, products or services online via article directories. Article directories with good web page ranks receive a lot of site visitors and may be considered authority sites by search engines, leading to high traffic. These directories then give Page Rank to the author’s website and in addition send traffic from readers.

Business Owners, Marketers and Entrepreneurs attempt to maximize the results of an article advertising campaign by submitting their articles to a number of article directories. However, most of the major search engines filter duplicate content to stop the identical content material from being returned multiple times in a search engine results page. Some marketers attempt to circumvent this filter by creating a number of variations of an article, known as article spinning. By doing this, one article can theoretically acquire site visitors from a number of article directories.

Most forms of search engine optimization and internet marketing require a domain, internet hosting plan, and promoting budget. However, article marketing makes use of article directories as a free host and receives traffic by way of organic searches due to the listing’s search engine authority.

The primary goal behind article marketing is to get search engine traffic to the article so that the author can strengthen their authority and influence within their field, while also leveraging that traffic for their own site(s). The key to article marketing is that the author should be providing value with their articles, not just promoting their site, products or services.

Digital marketing

Digital marketing is the use of internet-connected devices such as computers, tablets, smart phones and game consoles to engage consumers with online advertising.

Pull versus Push

Two different forms of digital marketing exist:

In pull digital marketing, the consumer actively seeks the marketing content, often via web searches or opening an email, text message or web feed. Websites, blogs and streaming media (audio and video) are examples of pull digital marketing. In each of these, users have to navigate to the website to view the content. Only current web browser technology is required to maintain static content. Search engine optimization is one tactic used to increase activity.

Martin et al. (2003) found that consumers prefer special sales and new product information, whereas “interesting” content was not useful.

In push digital marketing the marketer sends a message without the consent of the recipients, such as display advertising on websites and news blogs. Email, text messaging and web feeds can also be classed as push digital marketing when the recipient has not given permission to receive the marketing message. Push marketing is also known as spam. Push technologies can deliver content as it becomes available and can be better targeted to consumer demographics, although audiences are often smaller, and creation and distribution costs are higher.

In-text advertising

In-text advertising is a form of contextual advertising where specific keywords within the text of a web-page are matched with advertising and/or related information units.

Inbound marketing

Hub Spot claims Inbound marketing is based on the concept of earning the attention of prospects, making yourself easy to be found and drawing customers to your website by producing content customers value. Blogs, podcasts, video, eBooks, newsletters, whitepapers, SEO, social media marketing, and other forms of content marketing are considered inbound marketing. In contrast, buying attention, cold-calling, direct paper mail, radio, TV advertisements, sales flyers, spam, telemarketing and traditional advertising are considered “outbound marketing.” David Merman Scott recommends that marketers “earn their way in” (via publishing helpful information on a blog etc.) in contrast to outbound marketing where they “buy, beg, or bug their way in” (via paid advertisements, issuing press releases, or paying commissioned sales people, respectively). The term is synonymous with the concept of permission marketing, which is the title of a book by Seth Godin. The inbound marketing term was coined by Hub Spot’s Brian Hooligan, in 2005. According to HubSpot, inbound marketing is especially effective for small businesses that deal with high dollar values, long research cycles and knowledge-based products. In these areas prospects are more likely to get informed and hire someone who demonstrates expertise.

In one case inbound marketing was defined by three phases: Get found, Convert and Analyze. A newer model illustrates the concept in five stages

1.Attract traffic

2.Convert visitors to leads

3.Convert leads to sales

4.Turn customers into repeat higher margin customers

5.Analyze for continuous improvement

Post-click marketing

Post-click marketing is emerging as a recognized practice that aims at improving sales and marketing results by focusing on website visitors when they respond to online marketing activities such as pay per click advertising, HTML e-mails, and paid searches with the objective on increasing conversion rates.

Post-click marketing relies on specific software and services that go beyond the information collected by popular web analytic tools such as Google Analytics. For example, they distinguish themselves in their ability to supplement IP addresses with data from third-party sources, enabling marketing managers to view the name of the company visiting their website, their location, and the industry they are in.

There are many ways in which this information gathered about website visitors can be used. Marketers might wish to use the information to detect if they are attracting their desired target audience to their landing pages, or to personalize the content based on the visitor’s language or location. Inside Sales tend to use it for lead generation purposes, writing emails to email contacts they can find for the visiting organization.

Real-time marketing

Real-time marketing is marketing performed “on-the-fly” to determine an appropriate or optimal approach to a particular customer at a particular time and place. It is a form of market research inbound marketing that seeks the most appropriate offer for a given customer sales opportunity, reversing the traditional outbound marketing (or interruption marketing) which aims to acquire appropriate customers for a given ‘pre-defined’ offer. The dynamic ‘just-in-time’ decision making behind a real-time offer aims to exploit a given customer interaction defined by web-site clicks or verbal contact centre conversation.

Social media optimization

Social media optimization (abbreviated as SMO) refers to the use of a number of social media outlets and communities to generate publicity to increase the awareness of a product, brand or event. Types of social media involved include RSS feeds, social news and bookmarking sites, as well as social networking sites, such as Twitter, and video and blogging sites. SMO is similar to search engine optimization in that the goal is to generate traffic and awareness for a website. In general, social media optimization refers to optimizing a website and its content in terms of sharing across social media and networking sites.

Social media optimization is becoming increasingly important for search engine optimization, as search engines are increasingly utilizing the recommendations of users of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ to rank pages in the search engine result pages. The implication is that when a webpage is shared or “liked” by a user on a social network, it counts as a “vote” for that webpage’s quality. Thus, search engines can use such votes accordingly to properly rank websites in search engine results pages. Furthermore, since it is more difficult to tip the scales or influence the search engines in this way, search engines are putting more stock into social search.

While social media optimization is related to search engine marketing, it differs in several ways. Primarily, SMO focuses on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though improved search ranking is also a benefit of successful social media optimization.

Social media optimization is in many ways connected to the technique of viral marketing or viral seeding where word of mouth is created through the use of networking in social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites. Furthermore, by following social trends and utilizing alternative social networks, websites can retain existing followers while also attracting new ones.[5] This allows businesses to build an online following and presence, all linking back to the company’s website for increased traffic. For example, with an effective social bookmarking campaign, not only can website traffic be increased, but a site’s rankings can also be increased. In a similar way, the engagement with blogs creates a similar result by sharing content through the use of RSS in the blogosphere and special blog search engines.

Social media optimization is considered an integral part of an online reputation management (ORM) or search engine reputation management (SERM) strategy for organizations or individuals who care about their online presence.

Social media optimization is not limited to marketing and brand building. Increasingly, smart businesses are integrating social media participation as part of their knowledge management strategy (i.e., product/service development, recruiting, employee engagement and turnover, brand building, customer satisfaction and relations, business development and more). Additionally, social media optimization can be implemented to foster a community of the associated site, allowing for a healthy business-to-consumer (B2C) relationship.

Viral marketing

Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks and other technologies to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses or computer viruses (cf. internet memes and memetics). It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet and mobile networks.[1] Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, averages, ebooks, brand able software, images, text messages, email messages, or web pages. The most common utilized transmission vehicles for viral messages include: pass-along based, incentive based, trendy based, and undercover based. However, the creative nature of viral marketing enables “endless amount of potential forms and vehicles the messages can utilize for transmission” including mobile devices.

The ultimate goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to create viral messages that appeal to individuals with high social networking potential (SNP) and that have a high probability of being presented and spread by these individuals and their competitors in their communications with others in a short period of time.

The term “VRL marketing” has also been used pejoratively to refer to stealth marketing campaigns—the unscrupulous use of astroturfing online combined with undermarket advertising in shopping centers to create the impression of spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm.

Semantic advertising

Semantic advertising applies semantic analysis techniques to web pages. The process is meant to accurately interpret and classify the meaning and/or main subject of the page and then populate it with targeted advertising spots. By closely linking content to advertising, it is assumed that the viewer will be more likely to show an interest (i.e., through engagement) in the advertised product or service.

Social network advertising

Social network advertising is a form of Online advertising that focuses on social networking sites. Advertising on social media networks can take the form of direct display ad buys at the social networks, self-serve advertising through internal ad networks, and ad serving on social network applications through special social network application advertising networks.

Blog

A blog (a portmanteau of the term web log) is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries (“posts”) typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first). Until 2009 blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often were themed on a single subject. More recently “multi-author blogs” (MABs) have developed, with posts written by large numbers of authors and professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, interest groups and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic. The rise of Twitter and other “micro blogging” systems helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into societal new streams. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

The emergence and growth of blogs in the late 1990s coincided with the advent of web publishing tools that facilitated the posting of content by non-technical users. (Previously, a knowledge of such technologies as HTML and FTP had been required to publish content on the Web.)

Although not a requirement, most good quality blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via GUI widgets on the blogs, and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites.[  In that sense, blogging can be seen as a form of social networking. Indeed, bloggers do not only produce content to post on their blogs, but also build social relations with their readers and other bloggers

Many blogs provide commentary on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries; others function more as online brand advertising of a particular individual or company. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important contribution to the popularity of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blogs), photographs (photo blogs), videos (video blogs or “logs”), music (MP3 blogs), and audio (podcasts). Micro blogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts. In education, blogs can be used as instructional resources. These blogs are referred to as edibles.

Advantages and limitations of Internet marketing

Advantages

Internet marketing is inexpensive when examining the ratio of cost to the reach of the target audience. Companies can reach a wide audience for a small fraction of traditional advertising budgets. The nature of the medium allows consumers to research and to purchase products and services conveniently therefore, businesses have the advantage of appealing to consumers in a medium that can bring results quickly. The strategy and overall effectiveness of marketing campaigns depend on business goals and cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis.

Internet marketers also have the advantage of measuring statistics easily and inexpensively; almost all aspects of an Internet marketing campaign can be traced, measured, and tested, in many cases through the use of an ad server. The advertisers can use a variety of methods, such as pay per impression, pay per click, pay per play, and pay per action. Therefore, marketers can determine which messages or offerings are more appealing to the audience. The results of campaigns can be measured and tracked immediately because online marketing initiatives usually require users to click on an advertisement, to visit a website, and to perform a targeted action.

Limitations

• One of the challenges that internet markets face (as does the general public) is that many internet products are outright scams or promoted with deception making it difficult to know what one is buying. This is especially the case with products that are supposed to train or aid internet marketers in making money. While the quality of products has improved in the past few years, ethics is still often missing in internet marketing. Many so-called money making products are “empty boxes” in which there is essentially nothing there yet a buyer is to make money by reselling this empty box to others. Pyramid schemes are also still prevalent.
• The consumer is unable to physically feel or try on the product which can be a limitation for certain goods. However a survey of consumers of cosmetics products shows that email marketing can be used to interest a consumer to visit a store to try a product or to speak with sales representatives.
• Marketer will not be able to use the x-factor/personal touch factor/human touch factor to influence the audience as the marketing is completely based on the advertisement and the information that the advertisement might lead to [websites, blogs and other channels.

Analysis & Findings:

Based on the findings in the analysis above, some implications will be discussed briefly. The research found that one of the five companies under study did not have a functioning website but ICT was used sparingly. The interview conducted revealed that this company referenced their company from another site while their site is presently under construction but has a working company email address. The impact this would have cannot be known within the scope of this research but a company without a functioning website and therefore no personal web presence is giving out a lot to competition. Such companies cannot tell the added value or how much market share is lost by not investing in that marketing channel. For example, if adverts   by such   companies were made basically via   flyers and newspapers the audience out-reaches is more limited than a company with a working website and can reach other targets outside its locality. People continually look for variety and low price. If in a locality you are marketing to 500,000 people, with a functioning web presence, email and SMS/MMS marketing channels, your reach go far beyond your locality and will definitely draw other prospective customers if your products and services are unique and price conscious.

Cost and benefits come to play when prospective customers go outside their locality to purchase goods and services but some people will get what they want and need weighing cost and benefit. The question is – how does a company not reaching out that far have a chance in that market share. The implication is losing it to your competition that is. Websites   like www.WebProNews.com and www.SiteProNews.com provide   quality and reliable resources on ICT in marketing on a daily bases and as trends change. All that is needed is to subscribe to their newsletter. The other companies   all   have   websites   and   use   ICT in   marketing   but   not maximally. Here the question of proper or better use comes to play. For example, out of the four companies, only the IT Company used a website design that is both static and flash combined. It is understandable that because Google doesn’t tend to index flash based sites properly, nowadays web designers tend to keep it static.

Both it is very important to balance the visual appeal and content of a website to both the audience and the search engine spiders (techniques companies like Google and Yahoo uses to index sites in their search engines). An audience that is not appealed to with the right content and design will probably not visit again and therefore you lose the chance of a sale, clientele or better still possibilities of collecting personal data for data mining and eCRM purposes. Navigation   friendliness   is   also   of   importance.   In   question   of   the questionnaire, 60% of the companies surveyed said their website were navigation friendly. This means visitors to their sites will find it easy to move around in a few clicks to find what they are looking for. In sites where the reverse is the case, visitors will come to a beautiful site with lots of content but spend ages to find exactly what they cam there for. If such a visitor visits another site with same appeal and content with a better navigation, the tendency is that he/she will not visit the other website again resulting in loss of potential customer.

Question of the survey indicated that 70% of the companies surveyed did not have   an   avenue   for   their   website   visitors   to   sign-up   for   their   newsletter   or correspondence.   The   implication   of   this   is   that   personal   data   of   prospective customers will not be easily collected for consented communications of marketing campaigns or correspondence. In a world where mobile devices are ubiquitous, businesses should take advantage of the mobile age. 30% of the companies surveyed said their website is moderately mobile   phone   friendly i.e.  It   renders   without   much   distortion   on   a   mobile   device screen. When a company embarks on creating a web presence the designer should bear in mind the small screens of mobile device and design a site that will have minimal distortion on such devices otherwise it’ll not appeal to people on the move and searching for products or services. Mobile versions of websites are sometimes designed to deal with this issue. Findings also show that 60% of the companies surveyed said they undertake web analytics. This topic is beyond the scope of this study but was highlighted in the literature review. While, the figure indicates costiveness towards web analytics, it must be said that, web analytics, has many parameters that must be investigated to understand visitor/customer behavior on a website. Only then will it lead to useful information   that   will   better   the   impact   the   website   is   supposed   to   have   on   the business. Although, the interview revealed generally that marketing with ICT has an impact on

The companies’ revenue and value, figures could not be discussed because of the short interview timing for the interviewee’s convenience and schedule.

Answer of the Questionear

1. Does your company have a website?

Answer: from our respondent 65% of respondent’s company have website, out 35% have no website.

2. What form of marketing does your organization undertake more?

Answer: Most of company depends on TV advertisement, 30% advertisement in TV, 10% on Newspaper/Magazine, 10% on mail, 25% on E-mail, and other 25% on mobile phone.

3. How often do you advertise with your website?

Answer: Most of the respondent say they advertisement frequent advertisement in their website. They give only various offers in their website. 60% of them say they are Very often, 20% of them are saying often and another 20% are never advertisement in the website.

4. How often do you advertise with email?

Answer: Most of the respondent say they advertisement more frequent advertisement by email. They give only various offers by email. 70% of them say they are Very often, 20% of them are saying often and another 10% are never advertisement in the website.

5. How often do you advertise with SMS/MMS?

Answer: Most of the respondent say they advertisement more frequent advertisement by SMS/MMS. They give only various offers by SMS/MMS. 80% of them say they are Very often, 20% of them are saying often advertisement by SMS/MMS.

6. What is the frequency of your email marketing to customers/clients per Month?

7. What is the frequency of your SMS/MMS marketing to customers/clients per month?

8. Why or why don’t you use internet marketing more?

Answer: Most of the respondent says that internet marketing is easy way to marketing but there have some limitation also. There have many customers who doesn’t use internet regular basis. Internet is not available in all sector of customer.

9. Why or why don’t you use mobile phone marketing more?

Answer: Mobile marketing is very important way of marketing. In this day mobile is the easy way to catch one customer easily. Most of the company uses mobile phone marketing very well.

10. How often is your website content updated?

Answer: Most of the respondent says their website is not frequent update. Only 30% of respondent says that their website is regularly updated but another 70% says they change infrequently.

1. Are your email marketing messages plain, html or both?

Answer: Most of the respondent email marketing by plain messages, but some use html message also.

12. Does your website have the ability for visitors/customers to sign-up for your newsletter by their names, email and gender?

Answer: Most of the website doesn’t have any sign-up option for newsletter by their names, email and gender. 70% of respondent website does not have any sign up option another 30% have just sign up option for contact.

13. Is your website mobile phone friendly? i.e. how does it render on a mobile phone Browser.

Answer: Only few website of respondent have mobile phone friendly website, but now they realize it is important.30% of respondents website have mobile phone option another have no mobile phone option.

14. How often are your staffs trained or updated about ICT use (internet and mobile phone)?

Answer: Most of organization doesn’t have nay training option about update technology.

Major Findings in this research:

• Most of the company has their own website.
• TV advertisement is main way for their advertisement. They also use E-mail and mobile phone for marketing.
• Most of the company uses their website as marketing tools.
• E-mail is the easy way to get one customer.
• Most of the company use SMS/MMS as mainway to reach customer.
• The use of Internet marketing is very important for everyone.
• Most of the organizations not regularly update their Website content.
• Most of the organization’s website doesn’t have any sign up opportunityof newsletter, email.
• Most of the organization’s website is not mobile friendly.
• Every organization has no train up option for new ICT use and regular update.

Conclusion:

The survey results and analysis show that the companies under study use ICT in their marketing but not maximized in terms of the use of emails and SMS/MMS. The study revealed that most of the companies have a working website but that a more advanced website use is yet to be achieved in terms of the website presentation and capabilities.   The   Internet   has   dynamic   capabilities   and   despite   ICT   diffusion   in organizations   it   is   yet   to   be   fully   exploited   to   create   value   for   money   and   a competitive advantage.A lot has to be done on the part of organizations to sensitize the public about the Advantage   of ICT use in   marketing   (in   terms   of email   and SMS/MMS)   to them, bearing in mind anti-spam laws. The public should be well informed about privacy issues to put their minds at rest when giving out their personal details to companies or businesses they deal with. The   power   of   information   and   communication   technology   should   not   be underestimated especially in marketing. ICT is generally used by companies; it is not maximally and effectively used as a major marketing strategy. It is obvious in the analyses that companies use websites and emailing more than SMS/MMS in their marketing approach and the reason for the predominant use of the latter   is   that   SMS/MMS   has   major   privacy   issues,   which   answers   the   question. In this study, it was found that most of the companies have websites which is a plus but the websites need to be more dynamic and interactive. They fairly use email and SMS/MMS   techniques   but   need   to   be   more   objective   and   carry   out   thorough performance   metrics   in   other   to   improve   their   ROI   (return   on   investment).

Recommendation

• Every organization must have their personal website for publish their own news and offers.
• Not only TV advertisement, company must try to email and SMS marketing more to reduce cost.
• Need real time update of every company websites.
• Need more advertisement with email.
• SMS/MMS will be the easy and cheapest way for marketing.
• More use of internet marketing may be important for future time.
• Organization must use mobile phone marketing to catch one customer in easy way.
• Every email must be in html and plain from.
• Every organizations website mu be mobile phone friendly.
• Organization’s responsibility is to train up their employee for update technology.
• Every website must ensure that they have sign up option for newsletter.