What is Marketing?In general, marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society. However, since in this web site we will cover topics about online marketing, it would be best to define marketing as the ability to connect a product with the customers or target audience. On the Internet, marketing is performed in many different ways and comes in different flavors, and covers at least two key points: 1) creating a product, and 2) delivering the product to the audiences. 1) Creating the Product Companies, organizations, and individuals who want to benefit from the reach power of the Internet will need to establish an online presense. This is accomplished by creating a web site, which will provide information about a product, images about a product, reviews, and ways to obtain said product, which can include online and / or offline ways to buy or obtain it. A good website should at least include product information and ways to contact the company or store by e-mail or telephone. Ideally, the website should also have some way to order the product online, which can be a simple form that is then processed offline, via an online service such as PayPal, or through a credit card selling point (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, etc). Each organization will use the system that best fits their situation. A good website should have an uniform design, in order to establish its branding. 2) Delivering the Product Creating a good website is a requirement to benefit from the reach of the Internet, however, it is often not enough by itself, In order to deliver the product, people need to know about the existence of the product and corresponding website, and this is where marketing comes into play. Marketing online involves many tactics, such as promoting the web site via banner ads, text ads, and audio ads in other websites and / or software. This service is provided by many well known online companies, such as Google AdWords / AdSense, AdBrite, Commission Junction, and many others. Most of these companies have two options: Join as advertiser, which is the person or organization who pays to have their product advertised around the web, and the option to join as a publisher, which is the person or organization who displays said ads in their sites and / or software, and gets paid for doing so. |