E-marketing

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Course outline ...... 2 2. Introduction to e-Marketing ...... 3 2.1. Introduction to e-marketing ...... 3 2.2. Other types online businesses ...... 5 2.3. Benefits and objectives of e-marketing ...... 5 3. E-marketing concepts ...... 7 3.1. Application of Internet in business and exchanging marketing communication ...... 7 3.2. Forms of e-marketing (B2C, B2B, C2B, C2C) ...... 8 3.3. Success factors for e-marketing ...... 9 4. Fundamentals of e-Marketing ...... 9 4.1. Advertising in e-Marketing ...... 9 6.1. Communication on Internet ...... 16 6.2. e-business intelligence and internet marketing research ...... 17 6.3. pricing in online markets ...... 20 6.4. online product development ...... 22 7. E-Market Structures ...... 23 7.1. Impact of e-marketing on market structures ...... 24 7.2. Types of e-market places ...... 25 7.3. Architecture/modules of an e-marketplace ...... 26 8. Implementing e-marketing in the online marketplace (e-marketplace) ...... 27 8.1. E-marketing strategies ...... 27 8.2. Managing your online marketplace for success ...... 27 9. Developing and Advertising an E-shop ...... 28 9.1. Strategies for designing a web portal for e-shop ...... 28 9.2. Design tools and their applications ...... 29 9.3. Marketing your e-shop ...... 30 10. Glossary of terms ...... 35

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 1

Course outline KABARAK UNIVERSITY COURSE CODE: MKTG 323 COURSE NAME: e-MARKETING LECTURER: KAMAU GG Email: [email protected] Pre-requisite: Student must have covered introductory units to Management, ICT Applications and Introductory Units to Marketing .

COURSE OBJECTIVES The objectives of this course are to enable students to: 1. Understand concepts of e-marketing 2. Appreciate Internet as a tool for efficiency and effectiveness in exchanging marketing communication 3. Explain the concept of merger of marketing and ICT in the online space 4. Distinguish various forms of e-marketing (B2C, B2B, C2C, C2B) 5. Discuss fundamentals of e-marketing space (Advertising, Communication on Internet, e-business intelligence and internet marketing research, pricing in online markets, online product development) 6. Identify and explain e-marketplace structures (dis/re-intermediation of e- marketplaces, types of market places, vertical verus horizontal e-marketplaces, online catalogues, online exchanges, online auctions, architecture/modules of an e- marketplace) 7. Implement e-marketing in the online marketplace (e-marketplace): strategies - identifying opportunities, planning, execution, managing your online marketplace for success) 8. Design an e-shop: Strategies for designing a web portal for e-shop, design tools and their applications, going live on e-shop 9. Market an e-shop through online marketing search engines, viral marketing, database marketing, data mining, one-to-one marketing and customer, etc.

COURSE CONTENT 1. Week 1-2: Introduction to e-marketing (definitions, evolution of internet, evolution of e-marketing, evolution of ICT, media convergence in technologies); other types online businesses (e-businesses) – e-procurement, e-commerce, e-entrepreneurship, etc. 2. Week3: Application of Internet in business and exchanging marketing communication, 3. Week4: Merger of marketing and ICT in the online space 4. Week4: Forms of e-marketing (B2C, B2B, C2C, etc) 5. Week5: Fundamentals of e-marketing (Advertising, Communication on Internet, e- business intelligence and internet marketing research, pricing in online markets, online product development)

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6. Week6: E-marketplace structures (dis/re-intermediation of e-marketplaces, types of market places, vertical versus horizontal e-marketplaces, online catalogues, online exchanges, online auctions, architecture/modules of an e-marketplace) 7. Week7: Implementing e-marketing in the online marketplace (e-marketplace): strategies - identifying opportunities, planning, execution, managing your online marketplace for success) 8. Week8: CAT2 (Sit-in) 9. Week9-10: Practical on design of an e-shop: Strategies for designing a web portal for e- shop, design tools and their applications, going live on e-shop 10. Week11: Marketing your e-shop (online marketing search engines, viral marketing, database marketing, data mining, one-to-one marketing and customer, etc.) 11. Week12-13: E-shop project presentation (CAT 3)

ASSESSMENT CATS (Individual assignments/group assignment (CAT1), sit-in CAT2, Project CAT3) 30% FINAL EXAM 70% TOTAL 100%

REFERENCES (Recommended) Chen, S. (2005). Strategic Management of e-Business, 2 nd edn. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Kenneth C., Traver, C.G. (2009). E-commerce, business, technology, society; 4 th edn . New Delhi: Pearson Education.

And any other texts on the subject

1. Introduction to e-Marketing Introduction to e-marketing (definitions, evolution of internet, evolution of e-marketing, evolution of ICT, media convergence in technologies); other types online businesses (e- businesses) – e-procurement, e-commerce, e-entrepreneurship, etc. 1.1. Introduction to e-marketing Definitions Marketing refers to the activity for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that benefit the organization, consumers, and society at large. It involves product development, pricing, placement (or distribution) and promotion (selling activities).

eMarketing or electronic marketing refers to the application of marketing principles and techniques via electronic media and more specifically the Internet. The terms eMarketing, Internet marketing and online marketing, are frequently interchanged, and can often be considered synonymous.

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 3 eMarketing is the process of marketing a brand using the Internet. It includes both direct response marketing and indirect marketing elements and uses a range of technologies to help connect businesses to their customers. It includes all the activities a business conducts via the Internet with the aim of attracting new business, retaining current business and developing its brand identity.

Traditional Marketplaces versus e-Marketplaces A marketplace is the space, actual, virtual or metaphorical, in which a market exchanges (buying and selling) take place. A traditional marketplace is a marketplace in the 'real world' in which products and services are provided and consumed such as a market square in a city square or in a village where traders set up stalls and buyers browse the merchandise. This kind of market is very old, and countless such markets are still in operation around the whole world. It may also be a traditional physical shop in a street.

Online marketplaces (e-marketplace or e-marketspaces) are virtual markets in the Internet where remote sellers and buyers can transact, for example eBay, a globally available virtual auction house for products. The Internet has also enabled other marketplaces to thrive by connecting buyers and sellers without physical travelling. The formation of online marketplaces often occurs quickly in response to social or economic trends. Craigslist, Pricefalls, Amazon, among other websites, allow the public to trade goods and services over the Internet. Internet marketplaces can further be categorized as business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C) and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplaces (as we shall see later).

Evolution of Information Communication Technology (ICT) Evolution of the computers marks a progressive development of computer hardware and software to make it cheaper and increase its penetration, make it smaller and more portable, make it more powerful and versatile, and integrating computer with other related technologies. This has resulted in a media convergence of telecommunication technology and computer technology to create the field of Information Communication Technology (ICT).

Evolution of Internet Evolution of Internet on the other hand has been spearheaded by development in computing technology and developments in telecommunication sector. Internet relies on telecommunication infrastructure for its transmission of data. The cost per megabit transmitted has come down tremendously over the years while the cost of computer equipment has also become significantly low, not to mention the current portability of computer equipment and smart phones with increased penetration. This means Internet as tool of trade is at hand for both the sellers and buyers thus opening up new horizons in the virtual space for market interactions.

Evolution of e-marketing Bricks-and-mortar firms —those traditional companies that operate physically. This is that

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 4 they have physical stores in which they sell or provides services Bricks-and-clicks firms —operate both in physical stores and on the Internet. So the organization sells products and services online and also contains a physical store. Clicks-only firms —those that conduct business only via the Internet and are considered to be innovators in t he field, for example Internet companies like Amazon.com, the online bookstore without any physical shops for customers to visit and buy.

1.2. Other types online businesses

E-businesses in the wider sense refers to application of Internet as a strategy for improving business performance by deploying Internet technology in the business chain within the organization and to the customers and suppliers. This is a practice in a business strategy for obtaining competitive advantage, generating top -line growth and profits, leveraging on resources and opening new business channels.

E-commerce is narrower than e-business and refers to use of Internet platform for the purpose of selling and buying exchanges for products and services.

Other Internet enable e-business strategies include e -procurement, e-shop, e- entrepreneurship, etc. In small groups in class discuss and distinguish these e -business strategies and identify at least 3 more other strategies for applying Internet for business strategy.

1.3. Benefits and objectives of e -marketing

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There are many expectations from e -commerce, among which the most important ones are increase of business revenues and increase of product margins. Business expectations include also: Reducing the cost of sales Reducing inve ntory on hand Enhancing just-in-time manufacturing Bringing sellers closer to their customers Enhancing business partner & supplier relations Developing and managing new channels and new, less expensive, ways of doing business

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 6 2. E-marketing concepts

2.1. Application of Internet in business and exchanging marketing communication

Internet in an organization can be used for; - E-business integration (as explained earlier) - Management of data resources remotely (cloud computing and remote applications) - Providing online portals or websites - Gathering business intelligence - Email, social media and other communication - Backup (caching) data in the physical business space

In general there are a number of strategic uses of the Internet within business. These include: a. Corporate activities

Gathering corporate intelligence Enhancing corporate communications Improving public relations Providing new ways to recruit employees Developing electronic publishing and new information services Achieving cost savings and efficiencies Reducing distribution costs. b. Market intelligence

Monitoring customer discussions and attitudes Monitoring customer-developed web-sites

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Monitoring competitor activities Conducting market research. c. Customer relations

Providing product information repositories Providing customer support Obtaining customer feedback Providing directory services. d. Selling

Electronic stores or malls Order taking and providing information on order status Distribution of digital data. e. Marketing Finding new customers Educating customers Building credibility with potential customers Building goodwill Improving brand loyalty Encouraging brand trial Building customer loyalty: membership programs Building customer loyalty: ongoing communications Building a mailing list.

E-business benefits consumers by providing them convenience, speed, cost, customization, personalization and communities. E-business benefits organizations by expanding the marketplace, creating a cost savings, improving business processes and promoting interactivity. E-business benefits society by improving the standard of living and delivery of public services.

2.2. Forms of e-marketing (B2C, B2B, C2B, C2C) B2B (Business to Business) is a business to establish business relationships with businesses such as McDonald’s, we are only able to buy McDonald’s and Coca-Cola because of the business partners. Businessmen to establish business partnership is the hope that through the what is offered to form a complementary development opportunities, our business can be profitable. Example: maritime network, Directindustry (Finderwal), million net, Alibaba,Tradett,HC network, business network.

B2C (Business to Consumer) is that we often see vendors sell goods directly to the user, for example you go to McDonald’s to eat is B2C, because you just a customer. Example: Safaricom,

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Equity Bank Internet banking, etc.

C2C (Consumer to Consumer), similar to the retail market, the direct object is the end-user shopping from another consumer who is selling their wares online. Example; OLX, eBay, Craiglist, etc.

C2B (Consumer to Business), a relatively new concept, Consumer-to-business (C2B) is a business model in which consumers (individuals) create value, and firms consume this value. For example, when a consumer writes reviews, or when a consumers gives a useful idea for new product development, then this individual is creating value to the firm, if the firm adopts the input. Excepted concepts are crowd sourcing and co-creation.

C2B model, also called a reverse auction or demand collection model, enables buyers to name their own price often binding, for a specific good or service generating demand. The website collects the demand bids and then offers the bids to the participating sellers. Another form of C2B is the electronic commerce business model, in which consumers can offer products and services to companies and the companies pay them. This business model is a complete reversal of traditional business model where companies offer goods and services to consumers (business-to-consumer = B2C). We can see this example in blogs or internet forums where the author offers a link back to an online business facilitating the purchase of some product (like a book on Amazon.com), and the author might receive affiliate revenue from a successful sale

B2G (business-to-government) mode that is between business and government transactions conducted through the network mode of operation activities, such as electronic clearance, electronic filing and so on. 2.3. Success factors for e-marketing Five Critical Success Factors for e-markets: Business model, market size, industry expertise, branding and distribution, management execution hustle (not just the formulation of strategy)

3. Fundamentals of e-Marketing 3.1. Advertising in e-Marketing

Internet Marketing – What, How, When, Where? There are currently 2 billion users on the internet which is roughly 28% of the global human population. With the current world population is over 6.8 billion people, so on average every three people, a web surfer. 57% of Internet users in the developing countries.

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With the above statistics to facilitate business opportunities for companies, they can bring their products to customers faster without geographical limitations and a new form of advertising life is Internet marketing. The first, what is internet marketing? Internet marketing also known as digital marketing, web marketing, online marketing, search marketing or e-marketing, is 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, and Web 2.0 strategies.

What is the advantages of internet marketing? • The ability to target selected Advertisers on the network are more likely to choose a new target. They can target companies, countries or geographic areas as well as they can use the database as a basis for direct marketing. They can also be based on individual preferences and behavior of consumers to target the right audience. • The ability to track The online marketers can track user behavior for their brands and explore interests and concerns of the prospect. For example, a car manufacturer can track user behavior across their site and determine if there are more people interested in their ads or not? Advertisers can also determine the effectiveness of advertising (via the number of times the ad is clicked, the people who bought the product, and number of carry advertising, ...) but this is very difficult for the type of traditional advertising like television, newspapers and bulletin boards. • Flexibility and the ability to distribute An ad network is transmitted 24/24 hours a day, all week, all year. Moreover, the campaign may be starting to update or cancel at any time. Advertisers can track progress daily advertising, ad effectiveness reviewed in the first week and could replace the advertisement in the second week if necessary. This different type of advertising in the press, can only change the ads when a new round of publishing, or TV ad with a very high cost for changing the regular advertising. • Interactivity The goal of advertisers is associated prospects for brands or their products. This can be done effectively online, so customers can interact with products, product testing and, if satisfied, you can buy. For example, an ad for a computer software can send customers to place products on display to get information and check directly. If customers like the software, they

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 10 can buy directly. No type of media that could lead customers from finding out information when buying products without any trouble as the Internet.

Type of internet marketing Marketing through logo - header – banner: Place the logo or banner ad on the popular website, the website can access a large number of customers or the website is ranked high on Google is popular and how online advertising is effective today. It not only promote the brand but also targets the potential customers on the Internet.

What is a Logo? A logo is basically an image that used to identify your business or website. It is consists of colors , style , symbol and font that made up the image. By looking at the image, all your stakeholders like customers, competitors and suppliers will recognize your business or website immediately. Some good example of logos like MacDonald, Coca-cola, Pepsi, Facebook, Google and Tweeter, they can be recognized easily and instantly globally even without spelling their full names.

In summary, the logo is like the face to your business, it can also be used as an Avatar for all your online communication and social networks.

What is a Header? A header is an image that is placed on top of the website or blog. It is normally horizontal in size which consists mainly of logo, tagline or some other elements such as social media icons, advertisement banner or search bar. In addition, the header will usually contain the primary color so it also helps to set the look and feel of the website or blog. Here is a list of header example from some popular affiliate marketing sites, can you recognize who they are?

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What is a Banner? A banner, also known as web banner serves a different purpose than logo and header. It is normally used for informative or advertising purposes and come in different sizes, for example horizontal, vertical or square. The standard advertisement banner found on most blog is 125×125 pixels in width and height; the next popular one will be 250×250 pixels. Banner is generally used on the blog or website for monetization purpose . It was once a popular means of earning extra income when placed on one’s blog or website but it gradually lost its novelty and become less effective today. Nevertheless, it is still being favored by some advertisers and publishers as the banner now is more interactive and dynamic due to improved technology. Below is some example of banners, you should be able to identify them easily than the header.

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Listing on Directories: As word has placed advertisements or links to Web sites of your products or services, you must have a title for the ad, website addresses, information about website or advertise products and services so you can subscribe to any directory on the Internet for searching, searching for products and services of all search engines. Now to be registered in the system directory of Yahoo you have to pay $ 299 / year but only 200,000 in VietnamTradeFair.com / 1 was registered forever. The benefits of this form of advertising is often hundreds of thousands of robots and search engine spiders to access and automatically update your website on search engine within just 3 to 7 days.

Pay per Click: Pay per click (PPC) is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the hosting service when the ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system. Cost per click (CPC) is the sum paid by an advertiser to search engines and other Internet publishers for a single click on their advertisement, which directs one visitor to the advertiser's website. Cost-per-click (CPC), which is also known as pay-per-click (PPC), refers to sponsored ads sold directly by major search engines. These keyword-based ads are usually labeled as sponsored and appear in the first two or three positions of a search results page and/or in a column on the right side of the screen. PPC ad rankings are based on a formula that takes into account the highest bid amounts, the highest number of clicks and the keyword relevancy of the ad to the user’s query. A professionally managed PPC campaign will yield the best results and return on investment (ROI). Cost Per Action or CPA (sometimes known as Pay Per Action or PPA) is an online advertising pricing model, where the advertiser pays for each specified action (a purchase, a form submission, and so on) linked to the advertisement. Direct response advertisers consider CPA the optimal way to buy online advertising, as an advertiser only pays for the ad when the desired action has occurred. An action can be a product being purchased, a form being filled, etc. The desired action to be performed is determined by the advertiser. Radio and TV stations also sometimes offer unsold inventory on a cost per action basis, but this form of advertising is most often referred to as "per inquiry."

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Search Engine Optimization: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results. Other forms of search engine marketing (SEM) target paid listings. In general, the earlier (or higher on the 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. This gives a website web presence. As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content and 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 backlinks, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic.

Social media marketing: Social media marketing (SMM) is a addition to personal, small business, corporate, and non- profit organizations’ integrated marketing communications plans. Integrated marketing communications is a multifaceted, orchestrated marketing and advertising practice

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 14 organizations follow to connect with their target markets. Integrated marketing communications coordinates promotional elements: advertising, personal selling, public relations, publicity, direct marketing and sales promotion. Increasingly, viral marketing campaigns are also grouped into integrated marketing communications. In the traditional marketing communications model, the content, frequency, timing, and medium of communications by the organization is in collaboration with an external agent, i.e. advertising agencies, marketing research firms and public relations firms. However, the growth of social media has impacted the way organizations communicate. With the emergence of Web 2.0, the internet provides a set of tools that allow people to build social and business connections, share information and collaborate on projects online. Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. A corporate message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it is coming from a trusted, third-party source, as opposed to the brand or company itself. Social media has become a platform that is easily accessible to anyone with internet access. Increased communication for organizations fosters brand awareness and often, improved customer service. Additionally, social media serves as a relatively inexpensive platform for organizations to implement marketing campaigns. With emergence of channels like Twitter, the barrier to entry in social media is greatly reduced.

At the end of the day it’s important to remember that the internet is just one type of media, like TV or radio, which can be used to generate leads for a business. It cannot compensate for actual product/service quality and customer support. Thus it is essential to match the promises made through marketing activities with the actual product or service experience. E-Marketing tools and strategies include: Business websites; Search Engine; Email; Online newsletters/e-zines; Online catalogues; Online press releases;

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Online surveys; Online customer service; Banner advertising; Affiliate marketing. Mobile telephone marketing; Online Community (Friendster, YouTube) - new Web Log (Blog) - new Banner Exchange Newletters and newgroups Press releases Online auction, etc.

Explain each of the above, its use, advantages and disadvantages Explain types of market demographies Explain types of buyers on the Internet

3.2. Communication on Internet Communication on the Internet includes; A. Emails B. Blogs C. Social media, etc

Emails Emails are used to send social or official communication. They can be powerful tools for communicating marketing exchanges

Blogs A Blog, or web log, is an online journal that is created by an individual or team to communicate ideas to others with access to the site. In business, blogs are useful to build communities, express opinions or test ideas with team mates. Some organizations have chosen to extend their employee’s blogs to external Internet users to help teams get feedback on product ideas, generate a robust ‘power user’ community or to simply break down the barriers of communication between internal employees and external customers. Typically, a Blog site includes a number of posts by the site’s authors as well as a series of comments, which can be entered by authenticated visitors to the individual’s blog sites. Most Blog software,enables blog administrators to reject, publish or edit comments before they are made available to site visitors. However, as the power of Blogs is in their capability for candid feedback, most authors allow uncensored comments as long as established profanity or subject matter rules are followed. Social Media

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Social media refers to online tools and services that allow a user to create public content. It is a set of internet-based tools used for sharing and discussing information. It refers to user- generated information, opinion and other content shared and discussed over open digital networks. Social media may include but is not limited to: > social networking sites—Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ > video and photo sharing websites—Flickr, Pinterest, YouTube > blogs, including corporate, government and industry blogs > micro-blogging—Twitter (multiple accounts) > forums, discussion boards and groups—Google groups, Whirlpool, Reddit > wikis—Wikipedia > vod and podcasting > RSS feeds, etc. Social media also includes all other emerging electronic/digital communication applications.

3.3. e-business intelligence and internet marketing research Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The goal of marketing research is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix impacts customer behavior. The term is commonly interchanged with market research; however, expert practitioners may wish to draw a distinction, in that market research is concerned specifically with markets, while marketing research is concerned specifically about marketing processes.

Marketing research is often partitioned into two sets of categorical pairs, either by target market:

Consumer marketing research, and Business-to-business (B2B) marketing research

Or, alternatively, by methodological approach:

Qualitative marketing research, and Quantitative marketing research

Consumer marketing research is a form of applied sociology that concentrates on understanding the preferences, attitudes, and behaviors of consumers in a market-based economy, and it aims to understand the effects and comparative success of marketing campaigns.

E-business intelligence and Internet marketing research were born out of the need to track the behaviour of site visitors and, as the popularity of e-commerce and web advertising grew, businesses demanded details on the information created by new practices in web data

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 17 collection, such as click-through and exit rates. As the Internet boomed,websites became larger and more complex and the possibility of two-way communication between businesses and their consumers became a reality. Provided with the capacity to interact with online customers, Researchers were able to collect large amounts of data that were previously unavailable, further propelling the Marketing Research Industry.

In the new millennium, as the Internet continue to develop and websites became more interactive, data collection and analysis has became more commonplace for those Marketing Research Firms whose clients have a web presence. With the explosive growth of the online marketplace new competition for companies has come; no longer are businesses merely competing with the shop down the road — competition was now represented by a global force. Retail outlets were appearing online and the previous need for bricks-and-mortar stores but even with other e-businesses in the e-marketplaces.With so many online channels for consumers to make purchases, companies needed newer and more compelling methods, in combination with messages that resonated more effectively, to capture the attention of the average consumer.

Having access to web data does not automatically provide companies with the rationale behind the behaviour of users visiting their sites,which provokes the marketing research industry to develop new and better ways of tracking, collecting and interpreting information . This has led to the development of various tools like o nline focus groups and pop-up or website intercept surveys. These types of services allow companies to dig deeper into the motivations of consumers, augmenting their insights and utilizing this data to drive market share.

As information around the world become more accessible, increased competition leads companies to demand more of Market Researchers. It is no longer sufficient to follow trends in web behaviour or track sales data; companies now needed access to consumer behaviour throughout the entire purchase process.This means the Marketing Research Industry, again, needed to adapt to the rapidly changing needs of the marketplace, and to the demands of companies looking for a competitive edge.

Today, Marketing Research has adapted to innovations in technology and the corresponding ease with which information is available. B2B and B2C companies are working hard to stay competitive and they now demand both quantitative (“What?”) and qualitative (“Why?”) marketing research in order to better understand their target audience and the motivations behind customer behavior.

This demand is driving Marketing Researchers to develop new platforms for interactive, two- way communication between their firms and consumers. Mobile devices such as SmartPhones are the best example of an emerging platform that enables businesses to connect with their customers throughout the entire buying process. Innovative research firms, such as OnResearch with their OnMobile app, are now providing businesses with the means to reach

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 18 consumers from the point of initial investigation through to the decision and, ultimately, the purchase.

As personal mobile devices become more capable and widespread, the Marketing Research Industry will look to further capitalize on this trend. Mobile devices present the perfect channel for Research Firms to retrieve immediate impressions from buyers and to provide their clients with a holistic view of the consumers within their target markets, and beyond. Now, more than ever,innovation is the key to success for Marketing Researchers. Marketing Research Clients are beginning to demand highly personalized and specifically-focused products from the MR firms; big data is great for identifying general market segments, but is less capable of identifying key factors of niche markets, which now defines the competitive edge companies are looking for in this mobile-digital age.

How to Conduct Market Research Online

The Internet can be an effective tool in conducting market research; especially since the Internet is used by both consumers and businesses. Market research can be conducted by performing keyword searches for a particular product, publishing surveys or questionnaires for consumers, and even by reading trade journals and research performed by other companies and businesses. Although the methods of market research you use may vary depending on the nature of the topic you are researching, you can use this article to learn about the most effective ways to conduct market research online.

Steps

1 Perform a keyword search on the product you are researching. This will allow you to determine who your competitors are. Keyword searches can be performed in any Internet search engine or in major social networking applications. Go to an Internet search engine such as Google or Bing and enter keywords related to the product you are researching. For example, if you are conducting market research to gain strategies for selling refurbished computers, enter keywords that consumers would use, such as "best deals on refurbished computers" to review the results that appear in the search engine. Use social networking applications such as Twitter or Facebook to see what users are discussing in regards to specific keywords. For example, if you want to review what users are saying in regards to online coupons, go to the search field in Twitter and enter a phrase such as "best online coupons" and review the search results. 2 Search the names of your competitors online. This will allow you to determine how your competitors are marketing themselves and who is mentioning your competitors on their own websites or blogs. Type the name of a competitor into any search engine and examine the search results. If a

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 19 particular website or blog is posting content about your competitor, the link to their content will be displayed in the search results. 3 Create an online survey and display it on your company's website. Consumers and other participants can provide you with free feedback through an online survey. A variety of websites exist that allow you to create surveys, such as Survey Monkey, KeySurvey, and more. Type a keyword phrase into any search engine such as "develop an online survey" to review a list of websites that offer this service. Place close-ended questions into the survey or questionnaire and limit the amount of questions to no more than 25, which will allow participants to complete the survey in 7 minutes or less. 4 Use web tools to assist you with market research. A variety of tools exist on the Internet that allow you to track market research metrics; such as Google Analytics and the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. Use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to measure keyword usage on your website, and use Google Analytics to review website metrics such as visits, page views, and more. 5 Review data about your company that has been published by other organizations. Depending on the market in which you reside, you may be able to find consumer feedback and marketing data about your company on government websites or in online trade journals. Visit websites such as that of your local Chamber of Commerce, your country's Department of Labor Statistics Bureau, the websites for organizations such as the National Business Association, and more. Go to the "Fast up Front" website featured in the Sources section of this article, then click on the link within the body of that article entitled "post on free government resources," which will redirect you to a complete list of websites with free market research resources. 3.4. pricing in online markets Pricing items in online retail store can be a pain. It can take hours of tedious manual work, and it's always a trial and error experiment as you never know which price is just the right one for your products.

You know that you need to have some sort of pricing strategy in place for you online store and we know that you do, but is that strategy costing you?

Here is an outline of a few different points that often play a part in pricing strategies to illustrate the how they affect your business. Anchor Pricing

Some might say that Anchor Pricing is "the" key to developing your successful pricing strategy. We say, keep your eye on the big picture and be aware of how people shop. Anchor pricing refers to establishing a price point that your customers then use as a reference point for all future purchases.

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As an example, when sales prices are listed, the original price is also always listed to give customers a reference point for how much they are saving. This establishes that reference point as an anchor price for that product, and customers see that point as the "normal" price. If you can set the anchor price "high," your sales benefit since customer see the high price as normal and your "sale" price as a great deal. Sounds like a good pricing strategy so far, right?

The problem is that anchor pricing does not necessarily factor in how people shop today. More and more customers are taking to the internet and utilizing a wide variety of tools to compare prices before purchasing - and not just on "big ticket" items. By the time a customer gets to your store, they already have a good idea of what the "real" anchor price is for the product they are looking to buy. If your anchor price does not match their expectation - they leave.

That is not to say that there is no place for anchor pricing. You still need to set an anchor price, but you need accurate pricing data for the market to allow you to establish an anchor price that customers will "agree" with. Your data source is the actual "key" to enable the development of an effective pricing strategy. Beat them all!

With the ever-growing trend of price comparison website and applications, it may seem that the only way to entice customers is to beat everyone's prices. After all, if everyone is comparing prices and yours are the lowest that should equal more sales, right? We can comfortably answer that question with a very positive "maybe."

Having the lowest price may bring you some additional business, but it also drags you into a downward price spiral and puts your business in a position you may not want to be. Having said that, being the cheapest can be a useful strategy to help meet some short-term needs your business may have such as boosting a slow sales cycle, or emptying out inventory.

The lower prices drive more traffic that makes up for the decreased profit margins. However, you still need to ensure that you can afford to sell at the cheapest price without taking a loss, and more importantly, you need to be aware of what that cheapest point is in the market at any given moment.

This is where accurate market data is essential. Your data needs to be up to the minute, and allow you to respond dynamically to any changes, allowing you to maintain your pricing position. Dynamic Pricing

No, we do not mean your online store should become like the airlines, where on any given flight most of the passengers have paid different amounts. We are referring to the ability of you to adapt to changes in pricing in the market.

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As mentioned previously, by the time the customer has arrived at your product, they already have a good idea of what it should cost. Your pricing needs to reflect real time market conditions so that when these customers arrive, their expectations on cost are met. In the ever-changing world of online shopping, the "expected" price for a given product can be very dynamic and if your pricing cannot adapt, you will cut your profits on both ends.

By not adjusting your prices to reflect lower market pricing, customers will go elsewhere. By not adjusting your prices to reflect higher market pricing, you will be selling items at a lower price than necessary to maintain customer satisfaction. The key to maintain a dynamic pricing solution is good data.

You need to monitor market conditions in real time and be able to implement changes as needed, whenever and wherever you are. 3.5. online product development A Six Step Plan to be Profitable in Internet Retail By Greg Howlett 1) Build a content-rich site. In this respect, I agree with the consultants. I just think they tend to underestimate the quality and quantity of the content you will need. Having a content-rich site does not mean copying articles from some free article directory or even writing a dozen articles yourself. In my industry, we have WebMD. If I think I am going to steal visitors from WebMD with some limited low-grade content, I am out of my mind. Likewise, the only way you can hope to compete in your industry is to dedicate the needed resources to build a base of content that has real value. The information has to be substantial and hopefully unique in some way. Perhaps you can develop a tool to share data that is useful and unique. Be prepared to spend some serious time and/or money to get the content you will need. 2) Have a long-term strategy. Few internet retailers will like this, but it is good advice. Don’t even try to make money for a while–up to a few years if necessary. If you keep the ecommerce off the site initially, you will have a shot at getting inbound links that you will never get otherwise. 3) Invest in getting quality inbound links. Everyone in the world says this, and everyone is right. Read their tips and then get to work. Make this one of the most important things you do. However, understand that you cannot get links without being linkworthy. This step comes after you have step #1 done. If you are trying to get links to a ecommerce site, you are really trying to swim upstream. 4) Develop your own brand. It may sound easy to sell other brands because they already may be in demand. But even though it takes longer to do, building your own brand will pay off big in the long run. You will enjoy higher margins and less competition. Also, your company will be worth far more when you are ready to sell. 5) Do no skimp on design. Many people responded to my last post by saying that you could have a website designed for a few hundred dollars. Yes you can, but you will be hurting yourself. You need to look current and relevant–gone are the days when trashy sites could sell merchandise. Your site design should be scalable and flexible. You will want a way to add new

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 22 products and information quickly. You will also want to make changes quickly to increase conversion. The easiest (and cheapest) way I know to impleme nt this kind of site is by paying to have a high quality template designed and then implementing it with a CMS (content management system) solution. 6) Track metrics and focus on improving them. Test PPC, conversion, customer loyalty programs, email, and every other important factor and make the micro -improvements you need to see big results. For example, contrary to what many online experts say, adding a privacy policy is not going to make much of a difference to your revenue. However, it may make a micro-difference. If you can make a lot of micro -differences, you will eventually start seeing growth. 4. E-Market Structures Tr aditional versus online marketing channels

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 23 4.1. Impact of e-marketing on market structures Traditional market places versus e-market places As earlier mentioned traditional market places refer to physical market locations such as a shop down the street. E-market places on the other hand are characterized by:

• Virtual transaction space (new channels to initiate and execute transactions) • Virtual distribution space (new channels to distribute products and services) • Virtual information space (new channels to access company information) • Virtual communications (new channels for customer relationship management

Disintermediation and re-intermediation In the traditional distribution channel, intermediating layers exist between the manufacturer and consumer, such as wholesalers, distributers and retailers. In some countries such as Japan, one may find inefficient distribution networks with as many as 10 layers of intermediaries. These extra layers can add as much as a 500 percent markup to a manufacturer’s prices.

Intermediaries traditionally have provided trading infrastructure (such as sale network), and they manage the complexity of matching buyers’ and sellers need. However, the introduction of EC has resulted in the automation of many task provided by intermediaries. Does this mean that travel agents , real estate agents, job agency employees, insurance agents, and other such jobs and business will disappear?

Manufacturers can use the Internet to sell directly to customers and provide customer support online. In this sense, the traditional intermediaries are eliminated, or disintermediated. Disintermediation refers to the removal of organizations or business process layers responsible for certain intermediaries. In such cases, the traditional intermediaries fill new roles, providing added value and assistance. This process is referred to as reintermediation. Thus, for the intermediary, the Internet new ways to reach new customers, new ways to bring value to customers, and perhaps new ways to generate revenues. Examples of reintermediation, include comparison shopping sites, and the like, all provide additional services to the consumer to try to build trust, confidence, and facilitate online transaction.

The intermediary's role in shifting to one that emphasizes value-added services, such as assisting customers in comparison shopping from multiple source, providing total solutions by combining services from several vendors, and providing certifications and trusted third- party control and evaluation systems. For instances, in the world of online new and used car sales, electronic intermediaries assist buyers and/or sellers. These are new reintermediaries, intermediaries that have restructured their role in the purchase process.

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An example of the new roles of intermediaries are Edmunds (edmunds.com), which gives consumers a vast amount of information about cars, including price comparisons , ratings, location of cars for sale, and the dealer’s true cost; CARFAX (carfx.com), which can research a specific used car and tell the consumer if it has ever been in an accident or had an odometer rollback; and iMotors (imotors.com), which offers members discounts on insurance, gas, and repairs. Additionally, “lead services” direct buyers to member dealers and, in some cases, also offer direct sales of new cars. The leading site in this category is autobytel.com. Others include Amazon.com’s partner CarsDirect (carsdirect.com), Autoweb (autoweb.com), and Cars.com (cars.com).

Some reintermediaries are newcomers, rivaling the traditional retail scores (e.g., Blue Nile), whereas others are additional operations established by the traditional retailers or intermediaries, such as Edmunds, that use both the old and the new intermediation methods (like click-and-mortar). Some reintermediaries cooperate with manufacturers or retailers to provide a needed service to the seller or distributor in the online environment. Other reintermediaries are virtual e-tailers that fill the unique niche. Intermediaries such as online retailers and shopping portals can also act as reintermediaries. The evolution and operation of these companies is critical to the success of e-commerce.

Dis-aggregation and re-aggregation An aggregator enables buyers within a market to select among various competitors by aggregating information about the market and its suppliers and providing this information via a Web site. Aggregators may provide decision-support applications that integrate supplier information with third-party information and with user requirements or preferences to allow users to differentiate services and features of the various competitors. Content aggregators aggregate information and match it to user preferences. These preferences may be declared actively (user explicitly specifies) or passively (software discerns preferences from user behavior or interest) and are used to filter aggregated content and deliver only what matches user preferences.

Disaggregation is the process whereby a value chain is reorganized because various functions no longer provide value to the end consumer or customer. Re-aggregation on the other hand is the process whereby a value chain is reorganized to include various functions that were previously thought to provide no value to the end consumer or customer.

4.2. Types of e-market places online catalogues, online exchanges, online auctions E-marketplaces, online auctions and exchanges Types of e-marketplace

There are many different types of e-marketplace based on a range of business models. They can be broadly divided into categories based on the way in which they are operated. Independent e-marketplace

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An independent e-marketplace is usually a business-to-business online platform operated by a third party which is open to buyers or sellers in a particular industry. By registering on an independent e-marketplace, you can access classified ads or requests for quotations or bids in your industry sector. There will typically be some form of payment required to participate. Buyer-oriented e-marketplace

A buyer-oriented e-marketplace is normally run by a consortium of buyers in order to establish an efficient purchasing environment. If you are looking to purchase, participating in this sort of e-marketplace can help you lower your administrative costs and achieve the best price from suppliers. As a supplier you can use a buyer-oriented e-marketplace to advertise your catalogue to a pool of relevant customers who are looking to buy. Supplier-oriented e-marketplace

Also known as a supplier directory, this marketplace is set up and operated by a number of suppliers who are seeking to establish an efficient sales channel via the internet to a large number of buyers. They are usually searchable by the product or service being offered.

Supplier directories benefit buyers by providing information about suppliers for markets and regions they may not be familiar with. Sellers can use these types of marketplace to increase their visibility to potential buyers and to get leads. Vertical and horizontal e-marketplaces

Vertical e-marketplaces provide online access to businesses vertically up and down every segment of a particular industry sector such as automotive, chemical, construction or textiles. Buying or selling using a vertical e-marketplace for your industry sector can increase your operating efficiency and help to decrease supply chain costs, inventories and procurement- cycle time.

A horizontal e-marketplace connects buyers and sellers across different industries or regions. You can use a horizontal e-marketplace to purchase indirect products such as office equipment or stationery 4.3. Architecture/modules of an e-marketplace Electronic Marketplace Architecture Today, it’s necessary to have at least one more side in B2B – electronic marketplace. In order to use e-marketplace, an interface is required both on the side of buyers and the side of sellers. This interface is not complicated to use and it usually consists of different browsers, applications, and some integration tools. The most complicated part of each marketplace is the central part connected with the exchange. The central part may be separated in four basic parts connected with different parts of the exchange. These four parts are: Transaction Support Content Management Supply Chain Management

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Value Added Service

5. Implementing e-marketing in the online marketplace (e-marketplace) 5.1. E-marketing strategies In order to implement e-market it is necessary to perform the following; - Environmental Analysis: This involves evaluating the readiness of the existing environment including the users, culture and the organization capacity to implement e-marketing - Assessment Current Infrastructure: The underlying infrastructure such as Internet connectivity should be adequate to support e-marketing channels - Establishing a Vision for E-Marketing: Clear long term goals for the e- marketing to be implemented should be articulated - Specifying E-Marketing Strategy: The purpose of the e-marketing should be stated in measurable terms as aligned to the overall objective of the firm, its products and services. - Implementing E-Marketing Strategy: The new e-marketing strategy can be rolled out and evaluated from time to time to ensure its successful implentation - Evaluating E-Marketing Contribution: Upon implementation, the outcome of the e-marketing can be measured to ensure it has brought about some strategic advantage and better firm performance.

5.2. Managing your online marketplace for success An e-market place just like a traditional physical market place requires to be managed. E- marketplaces can be structured in several different ways. One way to structure a marketplace is similiar to eBay, where the market maker is neither a buyer or seller, but is a neutral third party. Other e-marketplaces are set up be a consortium of sellers that leverage their combined power to efficiently sell their products to buyers. Buyers can also set up a marketplace to reduce their costs and obtain better purchasing terms. An example of this type of marketplace is Covisant, a marketplace run by the automobile industry. Moreover, large buyers can set up another type of marketplace, a private marketplace, for their supplier networks.

In order for a site to fall into the category of an e-marketplace, the site needs be open to multiple buyers and sellers and needs to provide one or more commerce related functions. These functions include: forward or reverse auctions, vendor catalogues, fixed price ordering, trading exchange functionality, bulliten boards / wanted ads, and RFQ, RFI, or RFP capability. Successful e-marketplaces can deliver significant value to their users or members and are profitable.

If you are looking at joining an e-marketplace, there are several things that you need to consider when you are examining your options. The next sections describe key considerations when looking at e-marketplaces:

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Ownership of the E-marketplace: This is crucial. Successful e-marketplaces are usually backed by good capital and this helps to ensure their success and longevity. You also do not want to be involved in a marketplace if your competitor is the major owner.

Costs: This is also important. You should compare the costs of joining the marketplace with the projected savings and efficieny gains from joining the marketplace. Look for hidden costs. Possible things that e-marketplace charge for are commissions for completed transactions, membership fees, listing fees, value added services (inspection, escrow, delivery, etc).

Ease of Use / Support: An e-marketplace should be easy to use and should not require a lot of training for your staff. Check to make sure that the marketplace does not require special equipment and has a straight-forward transaction process.

Industry Fit: Many e-marketplaces are targeted toward one or two industries. Consequently the processes and structure of the marketplace are designed to maximize efficiency gains and transaction costs for that industry. Be sure your company is a good fit.

Marketplace Participation: If there are no buyers and sellers listed on the marketplace, it is unlikely that you will gain anything from joining the marketplace. A viable marketplace will have a lot of buyers and sellers - this is the only way that an e-marketplace can work.

Security / Privacy: Be sure that the transaction information is not published or available for a third party or a competitor. You do not want a competitor getting hold of your key supplier data or pricing information. Moreover, you would only want to do business with reputable buyers. An e-marketplace should have systems in place to prevent or reduce fraud.

Other Services: Depending on your industry, you may want to check that other services the marketplace offers. some marketplaces offer delivery or escrow services. Other marketplace pre-qualify vendors. These may provide value for your organization.

Process Integration: An efficient marketplace should be designed so that it integrates with existing buyer and seller ways of doing business. This may means conducting transaction in an industry standard format or offering ways to "plug into" the system. 6. Developing and Advertising an E-shop 6.1. Strategies for designing a web portal for e-shop Clarity of site’s mission Download time Speed of site comprehension Informational value Ease of navigability Use of graphics/multimedia Interactivity Security

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Simplicity of purchasing Printability of site pages Creativity

6.2. Design tools and their applications There are three basic parts that make up any current day web site:

The domain name The web-hosting, or server The site files themselves

The domain name is much like an entry in a phone book. Computers communicate by using numbers, called IP addresses, to contact each other, much like you use a phone number to dial a specific person's phone. If you want people to find your business's phone number, you want to be listed in a phone book. The phone book tells people looking for your phone number “Company A's Phone number is xxx-xxx-xxxx” just as a domain tells people (i.e. their computers) “domainA.com is hosted on the server xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx” Without the domain, you would have to tell your customers “Hey my site is located at 123.456.789.123/~mysite/” instead of “mysite.com” You can see how, without a domain, having a site or hosting is impractical.

The web-hosting or server portion is much like the space that you rent out to have your business in. It's merely the space itself. It does not include furnishings like shelves for your products, just as the web-hosting account doesn't include a site for you to sell your products. Luckily, in the web-hosting world, it's very easy to furnish the space provided by your host, because you can install many framework applications through the Fantastico icon within your cPanel. Without the hosting services, you won't have a place for your files to reside, so your domain would then become like a disconnected phone number in the phone directory, and your site files would have nowhere to stay.

The site files are what your visitors and potential customers actually see - your products and services. The site files are the same as any other file you normally use, like a .jpg photograph, or .mp3 music file. Though, website files are also .php files or .html files, which are PHP scripts or html pages respectively. The web host (server) knows how to read these files, which explain how the webpage looks or instruct it to do a series of computations. These computations are things like figuring out what blog article it's supposed to send back to the viewer, or what forum post it's supposed to send back.

In summary, you have a site visitor, who goes to your domain name, which translates into your server IP address, then the server sends that user your site files, which their browser represents to them as a typical “web-page.” You can see that, without each of these 3 elements, you won't really have a “web-site.

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Google sites Download or access online http://edutraining.googleapps.com/Training-Home/module-5- sites to learn how to create your e-shop using google sites

Wordpress To build a site like this, you need to download WordPress from WordPress.org. The software is free because it's open source. Even better, many WordPress themes (design templates) and plug-ins are free. The only thing you may need to pay for is Web hosting, which can be as low as $5 a month. (Alternatively, you can host your WordPress site on your own server.)

Download a how-to guide for building a small business website or blog using free WordPress.org software. 6.3. Marketing your e-shop online marketing search engines, viral marketing, database marketing, data mining, one-to- one marketing and customer Set up your own website. You can either set up your own website or you can pay someone to set it up for you. You can usually have a nice website designed by yourself for as little as $5.00 per month plus yearly registration of your domain name, the website address. Most importantly, your website needs to have easily navigated layouts, be filled with useful and interesting information and be free of junk or unhelpful things. Avoid using anything that will discourage a customer from lingering; this is one time when some upfront paid advice from a web designer can be well worth it and will pay itself back in no time.

Besides just information about your business and your sales basket, what else can you offer? Think of adding articles, individual stories about staff and company events, how-to information using your products or services, lessons learned anecdotes, freebies such as downloadable craft tutorials or a free ebook, etc. Be generous and your customers will be impressed, checking back regularly for more. Submit your website name to many website directories. You can search the Internet for free website directories and you will find quite a few links to places where you can advertise. 2 Use pay per click advertising. Advertising online has a large reach and is the way many sites thrive or even survive online. You can set a price that you would be willing to pay every time someone clicks on an ad that you write. You only have to pay this when someone clicks on your ad. If no one clicks on your ad, you do not have to pay. These ad formats allow you to set up a daily advertising budget and you have the freedom to cancel and restart your ads any time you want.

Use 'sidebar ads'. These display ads while people are playing games. Consider also expanding into ads on apps for smartphones and electronic tablets. Use Google ads on the side of your Google bar. If you type in something, then it will come up on the right side of your search results as small ads. Be considerate about placement of ads on your website and be careful about the types of

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 30 ads you're willing to have shown on your website. Do you really want your competitor's ads showing up? 3 Use YouTube to promote your business. Perhaps one of the most popular and creative way to show more information about your business is to use videos. Some examples of how to do this include:

Upload a video of your company, and put on as many links as you can from all sorts of topics so as many people as possible see it. Videotape launches and other public events promoted by your business so that clients who couldn't make these events are still able to catch up on what happened. Video how-to information related to your business, so that when someone is looking how to solve a problem your business has knowledge of, they find your video answer and learn more about you. Self-help videos on common, basic problems can be a great way to show your business's sharing side and to garner interest from potential new customers. Create an ongoing storyline showing customers using and enjoying your products or services. This may require a little more work but stories rope people in and they're far more likely to remember your business if there's a regular mini soap opera to tune into! 4 Participate in forums and blogs. This is one way to help promote your product or services, showing yourself as an expert and as someone who genuinely wants to help resolve people's problems. Often you can do this for free. However, this option has one huge caveat––be sure to post in forums that are website promotion friendly if you intend on using your URL or emblazoning the post with your business details. Not all blog sites or forums allow promotion blog or forum posts and breaching this could see your business blocked and even badmouthed. In some cases you may have to pay a fee to advertise on their sites but usually you do not. In many cases, simply stating that you're the founder/owner/director/community manager, etc. of a certain site can be sufficient to alert people to the good your company is doing online. Let them do the rest of the adding up and finding of you––consumers are intelligent.

Make use of user pages on sites that allow this. It can be a great way to promote your business, especially if you contribute information to the website that in turn leads readers back to your user page for more details. 5 Use email marketing. You can create lists of customers, or potential customers that you can keep in touch with on a regular basis. However, be aware that many recipients regard this as spamming and may complain. Always seek to get the agreement of customers to be emailed first, and always take into account spamming laws, which detail that you're not allowed to send people information they do not want. It makes good business sense to only send information to people who want to hear about your products or services and not to those who do not. These e-mailings can all be sent out in bulk, as if you were sending them through postal mail.

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Spend a lot of time making emailed information worth the recipient's time. Prepare a newsletter filled with useful information about living life in general, or with humorous anecdotes, etc.; don't just email updates about your business and marketing pitches. Be subtle! 6 Get on Facebook if you're not already there. Even if your business does have a Facebook account, make sure it is optimized to get the most from it. Use Facebook ads, updates and Fan pages to keep fans posted on your business happenings.

As a business, just be careful to get your business a Facebook Page and not a Profile; profiles are for individual people only and they are limited in what you can do as a business. Moreover, if Facebook discovers you using a profile as a business, you stand to lose the whole profile and all the friends your business has accrued. Keep updates relevant and interesting. Don't just talk about your business though; share anecdotes, news items, comments about things seen on fan's pages, images, etc. Hold little competitions for customers to win small prizes. For example, if your business makes eco-friendly items, have fans answer a quiz or send in photos of themselves doing something sustainable in order to win one of your eco-products. Follow up with a photo of the winner holding your product; make use of every opportunity to interact with fans online. Do not involve Facebook buttons such as "Like", "Share", and "Tag" as part of any contest though; this is against Facebook terms of service. For more ways to make the most of a Facebook page as a business, see How to leverage your Facebook business page to boost profits and brand awareness. 7 Take your business to Twitter. Get a good Twitter handle for your business and start tweeting updates. However, remember that Twitter is a conversation, not just a place to push your products or services. Be sure to instruct employees to interact with online fans.

For a small business, the best policy is to cover what's expected of online interaction, then ask your employees to use their best judgment when using an aggregated Twitter account. This builds trust and self-monitoring and will help to keep the flow of conversation going well for your business. The only exception to an aggregate Twitter account is for an employee you don't trust. In which case, why don't you trust this person? Does this person really belong on your team or is it simply a case that they've a lot to learn yet? Be honest with yourself. Seek insight from those following you. Ask them questions to find out what they want from your business, whether it's more, something different or for your business to stop doing something. These insights are invaluable information and are part of the conversation flow. Encourage sharing of your Twitter information by making it interesting and worth people's while. As well as business information, share a few random fun things too, like photos, inspirational messages and charity efforts your business is involved in. Add tweets to your website so that customers can see real time what is getting tweeted about your business.

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You don't need to be sitting around tweeting all day. Use a tweet schedule service like TweetLater or Hootsuite to schedule your tweets to appear when you'd like them to, all while you're doing other things. This lets you take advantage of different time zones around the world too. If you ask for email digests, you can check these in good time and respond to someone who has tweeted, sooner rather than later, if needed. Moreover, email digests allow you to track trends and topics on Twitter that are of importance to your business. 8 Become a part of Pinterest. Pinterest has created an platform for visual social media input and your company can make the most of this by feeding in well taken photos of your business products and other relevant images. Make them interesting, compelling and shareable though; some creative effort will need to be put into the photos to make Pinterest users want to share the photos around. As with any advertising, focus on what makes your products interesting and desirable and try to capture that in photographs.

Crowdsource using Pinterest. A creative way to get the crowd to promote your products for you is to ask your Pinterest followers to pin pictures of themselves holding, using or standing near a product of yours. Repin these onto your "beloved customers" (or some such) board. This gives your customers the chance to feel that they've been noticed and cared about and it also tells future customers that people use your products––and love them! Encourage your employees to pin pictures from your website or of official events to spread among their friends. Ask that they include a socially relevant comment to help engage others looking at the pinned photo or image but don't direct them; they're more likely to know what to do innately than any directives could ever establish! 9 Go on Google+ Business Pages. A more recent stream of consciousness in the world of social media, your business really should be here as well as on Twitter and Facebook. It's still unfolding and this is a niche time to establish your business' presence. Join groups, share photos and information and link up with your customers in Google Hangouts.

10 Use surveymonkey to get much needed insights for your business. You can link to surveymonkey surveys using your website, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ accounts. And get this––almost every person loves a survey. Ask people directly what they want and you'll find out in no time.

Ask for feedback on products, services and promotions. Be prepared for honesty! Keep the survey short and interesting. 11 Keep social media interactions meaningful and considerate. Social media is a great tool for businesses but it can also be misused and create follower fatigue, unlikes and unfollows and general annoyance if misused. As part of this:

See your fans and followers as people first, customers second. Make that vital connection

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 33 as human-to-human because this is what online social media acolytes expect and they're far from impressed from a business that assumes superiority. Befriend people, follow them and take an interest in them as much as you expect the same back. Interact and talk the talk with them; don't simply assume that because you're selling something that they want that that is all you need to do online. Provide meaningful content that matters. What you share, say and produce online must have resonance for your followers and not be a slavish reproduction of "buy our product". Link with people and organizations that your brand should be linked with and share their content around too, and converse with them openly online. Be knowledgeable rather than jumping on bandwagons. Hashtags on Twitter and Facebook campaigns can be compelling. But do they match what your brand is trying to say? Often it's better to wait until all the facts are out before throwing your weight behind a cause that simply springs up online overnight. While it is important to trust those of your employees who are representing you on social media, be sure that they "get" what it means to connect and interact with others online. Don't force employees to do it if they're uncomfortable or show any signs of irritability or cynicism. Your business cannot afford rudeness or faux pas caused by lack of motivation. Learn from errors made using social media and online resources. Mistakes will happen and your business will recover from them. Learn the lessons these incidents teach you and don't repeat them.

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Another way to advertise to visit workshops associated with your business. There you can network with others in your business and get ideas on what works and what doesn’t. Studying your competition is a great way to see what you are up against, and even learn from their mistakes! Create an email account, wiki or Facebook group to stay in touch with the people you've met on these occasions. Be creative with your marketing, and you will save time and money. To keep an eye on your tweets if you're using Firefox, use the TwitterFox extension to save you having to open Twitter all of the time. Do not neglect the webinar as a valuable way to promote your company. People love webinars; they feel a part of something bigger and they're learning something for nothing. There are some great webinar programs online that don't take long to learn; all you need to do is decide some decent topics to hold a webinar on. Usually in order to set up your own website for your business you need to purchase both a web hosting program, which, as mentioned above, can be purchased for as cheap as USD$5.00 a month. Usually a great package deal for a website can be purchased for about USD$10.00- 15.00 a month. Also, you can purchase online store sites, also called e-commerce sites, which usually average in price of about USD$60.00 a month. Even though advertising on the Internet can still cost money, the beauty of advertising and have your store stationed on the Internet is that you do not have to spend large amounts of money on paper advertising. Furthermore, you do not waste as much natural resources such

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 34 as trees and plastic when you promote over the Internet. And you can advertise more in- house than having to use more expensive advertising agencies to do the work for you. Remember your business basics. The best form of advertising is free––that's word of mouth. If you're an excellent business with superior customer service, your customers will tell everyone they know about their experience. That makes their friends and family remember your business name when they are in need of your products and/or services. You can also keep business cards in local stores, mail out flyers to residents when you're having a sale, get listed in a business directory if your town has one, pin up posters, and more. In each case of print advertising, add your website, Twitter and Facebook addresses so that people can find out more online.

7. Glossary of terms – other important terminologies Affiliate Companies that sell other manufacturers or retailers' (sponsoring merchants) products on their Web sites. Users select a product at the affiliate Web site, but the sale is actually transacted at the sponsoring merchant's Web site. Affiliates are similar in concept to industry- based manufacturer representatives that sell multiple manufacturers' product lines. Auction The sale of goods or services by bids (to buy) from potential buyers. In the internet world eBay offers the opportunity for private sellers to set up auctions for bidders. Other goods may be auctioned to a limited market, as for instance in the case of eCement which sells raw materials to buyers who are given access to that market. This dynamic pricing mechanism may take a variety of forms including:

Banner An advertisement that appears on a Web site. The ad format is a "banner", a combination of graphic and textual content entreating the Web site user to "click through" for further information on the advertised product or service.

Browser A software program used to locate and display information on an intranet, extranet or the Internet. Browsers are most often used to access Web pages. Most browsers can display graphics, photographs, and text; multimedia information such as sound and video may require additional software called "plug-ins".

Commerce Service Provider Service providers that specialize in Web-enabled e-commerce services, as well as those offering specific software or outsourcing support for these services.

Community A constantly changing group of people collaborating and sharing their ideas over an electronic network (e.g., the Internet). Communities optimize their collective power by affiliation around a common interest, by the compression of the time between member interactions (i.e.,

E-marketing , Geoffrey G. Kamau 35 communicating in real time), and by asynchronous "postings" which potentially reach more participants and allow for more reflection time than real-time interactions.

Competitive Advantage The market or structural advantage that a company generates to through its strategy to sustain revenue and profit, on a long term basis.

Contact Centers Traditional call centers handle voice-only customer contact, whereas contact centers include all types of channels of customer contact, including voice (e.g., telephone, IVR, speech recognition and voice verification), the Internet (e.g., e-mail), the Web, fax, video kiosks and mail. This is an inbound and outbound service-based environment in which agents handle all types of contacts regarding sales, customer service, marketing, telemarketing, collections, and other functions. A contact center is logically consolidated, but can have a physically decentralized environment.

Data Mining This functionality involves the process of discovering meaningful correlations, patterns and trends by sifting through large amounts of data stored in repositories. Data mining employs pattern recognition technologies, as well as statistical and mathematical techniques.

Digital Economy The set of interlinked, interconnected, and networked business models.

Domain Name A unique identifier for an Internet site which consists of at least two (but sometimes more) parts separated by periods (e.g., http://www.info-edge.com). Enterprises must register top- level domains with the Web Internet Registry and pay a yearly fee to maintain the registry. eBusiness Strategy A plan for using various digital technologies to redefine business models to achieve success, especially in relation to competitors. eCommunity A constantly changing group of people collaborating and doing eBusiness over an electronic network (e.g., the Internet). Communities optimize their collective power by affiliation around a common interest. eCustomer Portal A website that acts as an entry point to the entire web and provides a variety of services including web searching, news, white and yellow pages, free email, discussion groups, online shopping and links to other sites.

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Electronic Catalog (eCatalog) An aggregation mechanism that presents goods or services for sale and enables users to buy goods or services in electronic marketplaces.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) The electronic exchange of trading documents (e.g., invoices and orders) to enable e- commerce. Originally conducted only through value-added networks, EDI is gradually moving to the Internet.

Electronic Software Distribution (ESD) ESD enables software to be installed by transmitting it over a network. It is designed to help users distribute programs and files in their environments. The development of client/server and mobile client/server applications has made ESD a critical requirement. Without an effective means of automating the distribution and installation of software, most applications of client/server and mobile client/server technology will not be viable. eMall A Web site that maintains catalogs from multiple suppliers. Buyers enter the site, view many suppliers at once and purchase products or services. E-malls often charge a fee for tenancy or membership, may take title to the goods themselves, and are selling environments based on traditional notions of print and broadcast advertising that entice visitors to buy. eMarket Maker Intermediaries that develop a B2B e-marketplace of buyers and sellers within an industry, geographic region, or affinity group. They enter supply chains introducing new efficiencies and new ways of selling and purchasing products and services by providing content, value- added services, and often e-commerce capabilities. They are generally managed by a third party within a trading community. ePartner Also known as extended selling enterprise (ESE), this includes applications and technologies provided by the enterprise to assist third-party selling channel partners (e.g., brokers, agents, distributors and value-added resellers) in achieving selling objectives. epartner is a component of partner relationship management. eProcurement The procurement process when it has been automated via Internet technology. Logically then, this includes the work flow from selecting the item required by the user, creating the requisition, obtaining approval to purchase, then communicating the Purchase order to the supplier. eSales

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Also known as technology-enabled buying (TEB), unassisted selling or Web selling, this component of TES involves customer-direct, business or consumer Web-selling applications. These are customer-facing technologies and applications that allow consumers and businesses to "sell themselves" and conduct transactions without the assistance of a salesperson. E-sales are considered to be a part of e-CRM, and e-CRM is a part of e-business.

Extranet A collaborative, Internet-based network to link an enterprise with its suppliers, customers, or other external business partners and to facilitate intercompany relationships. Extranets use Internet-derived applications and technology to become the secured extensions of internal business processes to external business partners.

Internet Sales Outlet (ISO) A third-party Web site that attracts visitors looking to buy goods or services. ISOs make money by selling links or ads that lead directly to the merchant Web sites, or by selling products or services on behalf of Web merchants.

Portal A high-traffic, broadly appealing Web site with a wide range of content, services, and vendor links. It acts as a value-added middleman by selecting the content sources and assembling them together in a simple-to-navigate (and customize) interface for presentation to the end user. Portals typically include services such as e-mail, community, and chat.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL) The character string or Web address that identifies an Internet document's exact name and location.

Virtual Company A company integrating several ideals: outsourced noncore competencies; a focus on core strength/business; little or no physical presence or infrastructure; a network of business alliances; the exploitation of intellectual capital; and a heavy reliance on telecommunications. Virtual companies have outsourced the physical processes and administrative attributes of traditional business, and expanded and combined intellectual activities (e.g., problem solving) with standard business processes such as marketing.

Web Site A collection of files accessed through a Web address, covering a particular theme or subject, and managed by a particular person or organization. Its opening page is called a home page. A Web site resides on servers connected to the Web network and is able to format and send information requested by worldwide users 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Web sites typically use the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to format and present information and to provide navigational facilities that make it easy for the user to move within the site and around the Web.

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