It may seem surprising but many companies, big and small, have yet to develop a rational Internet marketing strategy. Considering the Internet has now been used effectively by marketers since 1994, any organization without a strategy to utilize the Internet for marketing is probably making a big mistake. For any organization that still does not have a meaningful Internet marketing effort we offer 10 Reasons why you should.
1. The Go-To Place for Information
Possibly the most important reason why companies need to have an active Internet marketing strategy is because of the transformation that has occurred in how customers seek information. While customers still visit stores, talk to sales representatives, look through magazines, and talk to friends to gather product information, an ever-increasing number of customers turn to the Internet as their primary knowledge source. In particular, they use search engines as their principle portal of knowledge as search sites have become the leading destination sites for most Internet users. Marketers must recognize that the Internet is where customers are heading and, if the marketer wants to stay visible and viable, they must follow.
2. What Customers Expect
The Internet is not only becoming the resource of choice for finding information, in the next few years it is also likely to be the expected location where customers can learn about products and make purchases. This is especially the case for customers below the age of 25. In many countries, nearly all children and young adults have been raised knowing how to use the Internet. Once members of this group dominate home and business purchases they will clearly expect companies to have a strong Internet presence.
3. Captures a Wide Range of Customer Information
As a data collection tool the Internet is unmatched when it comes to providing information on customer activity. Each time a visitor accesses a website they leave an information trail that includes how they got to the site, how they navigated through the site, what they clicked on, what was purchased, and loads of other information. When matched to a method for customer identification, such as login information, the marketer has the ability to track a customer’s activity over repeated visits to the site. Knowing a customer’s behavior and preferences opens up tremendous opportunities to cater to customer’s needs and, if done correctly, the customer will respond with a long-lasting loyalty.
4. Extreme Target Marketing
The most efficient way for marketers to spend money is to direct spending to those who are most likely to be interested in what the marketer is offering. Unfortunately, efforts to target only customers who have the highest probably of buying has not been easy. For instance, consider how much money is wasted on television advertisements to people who probably will not buy. Yet the Internet’s unrivaled ability to identify and track customers has greatly improved marketer’s ability to target customers who exhibit the highest potential for purchasing products.
5. Stimulate Impulse Purchases
Whether customers like it or not, the Internet is proving to be the ultimate venue for inducing impulse purchases. Much of this can be attributed to marketers taking advantage of improvements in technologies that: 1) allow a website to offer product suggestions based on customer’s online buying behavior, and 2) streamline the online purchasing process. But online impulse purchasing also takes advantage of the “purchase now, pay later” attitude common in an overspending credit card society. How this plays out over time as many customers become overwhelmed with debt will need to be watched and could impact online marketer’s activities.
6. Customized Product and Service Offerings
Companies know they can develop loyal customers when product and service offerings are designed to satisfy individual needs. This has led many online marketers to implement a mass customization strategy offering customers online options for configuring products or services. The interactive nature of the Internet makes “build-your-own” a relatively easy to implement purchasing option. An empowered customer base that feels a company will deliver exactly what they want is primed to remain loyal for long period of time.
7. Takes Prospects Right to the Sale
No other form of communication comes close to turning exposure to promotion into immediate customer action as the Internet, which allows customers to make purchases immediately after experiencing a promotion. Prior to the Internet, the most productive call-to-action was through television informercials that encourage viewers to call toll-free phone numbers. However, moving customers from a non-active state (i.e., watching television) to an active state (i.e., picking up the phone to call the number) is not nearly as effective as getting people to click on an Internet ad while they are actively using the Internet.
8. Conveys Perception of Being a Full-Service Provider
For distributors and retailers the Internet makes it easy to be a comprehensive supplier. Unlike brick-and-mortar suppliers who are often judged by the inventory that is actually on hand or services provided at a store, e-commerce sites can give the illusion of having depth and breadth of inventory and service offerings. This can be accomplished by placing product and service information on the company’s website but behind the scenes having certain orders fulfilled by outside suppliers via shipping and service agreements. With such arrangements customers may feel they are dealing with providers that offer full-service when in reality a certain percentage of the products and service are obtained from other sources.
9. Lower Overhead, Lower Costs, Better Service
Internet technologies are replacing more expensive methods for delivering products and services, and for handling customer information needs. Cost savings can certainly be seen with products and services deliverable in digital form (e.g., music, publications, graphic design, etc.) where production and shipping expenses are essentially removed from the cost equation. Cost savings may also be seen in other marketing areas including customer service where the volume of customer phone calls may be reduced as companies provide online access to product information through such services as Knowledge Bases and answers to Frequently Asked Questions. Field salespeople may also see benefits by encouraging prospects to obtain product information online prior to a face-to-face meeting. This may help reduce the time devoted to explaining basic company and product information and leave more time for understanding and offering solutions to customer’s problems. As these examples suggest, the Internet may lower administrative and operational costs while offering greater value to customers.
10. Create Worldwide Presence
The Internet is a communication and distribution channel that offers global accessibility to a company’s product and service offerings. Through a website a local marketer can quickly become a global marketer and, by doing so, expand their potential target market to many times it current size. Unlike the days before e-commerce when marketing internationally was a time-consuming and expensive undertaking, the uploading of files to establish a website is all that is needed to create a worldwide presence. While establishing a website does not guarantee international sales (there is a lot more marketing work needed for the site to be viable internationally), the Internet provides a gigantic leap into global business compared to pre-Internet days.
The above article appreared in www.knowthis.com
Kamis, 20 Oktober 2005
10 Reasons Marketing Strategy should include the Internet
It may seem surprising but many companies, big and small, have yet to develop a rational Internet marketing strategy. Considering the Internet has now been used effectively by marketers since 1994, any organization without a strategy to utilize the Internet for marketing is probably making a big mistake. For any organization that still does not have a meaningful Internet marketing effort we offer 10 Reasons why you should.
1. The Go-To Place for Information
Possibly the most important reason why companies need to have an active Internet marketing strategy is because of the transformation that has occurred in how customers seek information. While customers still visit stores, talk to sales representatives, look through magazines, and talk to friends to gather product information, an ever-increasing number of customers turn to the Internet as their primary knowledge source. In particular, they use search engines as their principle portal of knowledge as search sites have become the leading destination sites for most Internet users. Marketers must recognize that the Internet is where customers are heading and, if the marketer wants to stay visible and viable, they must follow.
2. What Customers Expect
The Internet is not only becoming the resource of choice for finding information, in the next few years it is also likely to be the expected location where customers can learn about products and make purchases. This is especially the case for customers below the age of 25. In many countries, nearly all children and young adults have been raised knowing how to use the Internet. Once members of this group dominate home and business purchases they will clearly expect companies to have a strong Internet presence.
3. Captures a Wide Range of Customer Information
As a data collection tool the Internet is unmatched when it comes to providing information on customer activity. Each time a visitor accesses a website they leave an information trail that includes how they got to the site, how they navigated through the site, what they clicked on, what was purchased, and loads of other information. When matched to a method for customer identification, such as login information, the marketer has the ability to track a customer’s activity over repeated visits to the site. Knowing a customer’s behavior and preferences opens up tremendous opportunities to cater to customer’s needs and, if done correctly, the customer will respond with a long-lasting loyalty.
4. Extreme Target Marketing
The most efficient way for marketers to spend money is to direct spending to those who are most likely to be interested in what the marketer is offering. Unfortunately, efforts to target only customers who have the highest probably of buying has not been easy. For instance, consider how much money is wasted on television advertisements to people who probably will not buy. Yet the Internet’s unrivaled ability to identify and track customers has greatly improved marketer’s ability to target customers who exhibit the highest potential for purchasing products.
5. Stimulate Impulse Purchases
Whether customers like it or not, the Internet is proving to be the ultimate venue for inducing impulse purchases. Much of this can be attributed to marketers taking advantage of improvements in technologies that: 1) allow a website to offer product suggestions based on customer’s online buying behavior, and 2) streamline the online purchasing process. But online impulse purchasing also takes advantage of the “purchase now, pay later” attitude common in an overspending credit card society. How this plays out over time as many customers become overwhelmed with debt will need to be watched and could impact online marketer’s activities.
6. Customized Product and Service Offerings
Companies know they can develop loyal customers when product and service offerings are designed to satisfy individual needs. This has led many online marketers to implement a mass customization strategy offering customers online options for configuring products or services. The interactive nature of the Internet makes “build-your-own” a relatively easy to implement purchasing option. An empowered customer base that feels a company will deliver exactly what they want is primed to remain loyal for long period of time.
7. Takes Prospects Right to the Sale
No other form of communication comes close to turning exposure to promotion into immediate customer action as the Internet, which allows customers to make purchases immediately after experiencing a promotion. Prior to the Internet, the most productive call-to-action was through television informercials that encourage viewers to call toll-free phone numbers. However, moving customers from a non-active state (i.e., watching television) to an active state (i.e., picking up the phone to call the number) is not nearly as effective as getting people to click on an Internet ad while they are actively using the Internet.
8. Conveys Perception of Being a Full-Service Provider
For distributors and retailers the Internet makes it easy to be a comprehensive supplier. Unlike brick-and-mortar suppliers who are often judged by the inventory that is actually on hand or services provided at a store, e-commerce sites can give the illusion of having depth and breadth of inventory and service offerings. This can be accomplished by placing product and service information on the company’s website but behind the scenes having certain orders fulfilled by outside suppliers via shipping and service agreements. With such arrangements customers may feel they are dealing with providers that offer full-service when in reality a certain percentage of the products and service are obtained from other sources.
9. Lower Overhead, Lower Costs, Better Service
Internet technologies are replacing more expensive methods for delivering products and services, and for handling customer information needs. Cost savings can certainly be seen with products and services deliverable in digital form (e.g., music, publications, graphic design, etc.) where production and shipping expenses are essentially removed from the cost equation. Cost savings may also be seen in other marketing areas including customer service where the volume of customer phone calls may be reduced as companies provide online access to product information through such services as Knowledge Bases and answers to Frequently Asked Questions. Field salespeople may also see benefits by encouraging prospects to obtain product information online prior to a face-to-face meeting. This may help reduce the time devoted to explaining basic company and product information and leave more time for understanding and offering solutions to customer’s problems. As these examples suggest, the Internet may lower administrative and operational costs while offering greater value to customers.
10. Create Worldwide Presence
The Internet is a communication and distribution channel that offers global accessibility to a company’s product and service offerings. Through a website a local marketer can quickly become a global marketer and, by doing so, expand their potential target market to many times it current size. Unlike the days before e-commerce when marketing internationally was a time-consuming and expensive undertaking, the uploading of files to establish a website is all that is needed to create a worldwide presence. While establishing a website does not guarantee international sales (there is a lot more marketing work needed for the site to be viable internationally), the Internet provides a gigantic leap into global business compared to pre-Internet days.
The above article appreared in www.knowthis.com
1. The Go-To Place for Information
Possibly the most important reason why companies need to have an active Internet marketing strategy is because of the transformation that has occurred in how customers seek information. While customers still visit stores, talk to sales representatives, look through magazines, and talk to friends to gather product information, an ever-increasing number of customers turn to the Internet as their primary knowledge source. In particular, they use search engines as their principle portal of knowledge as search sites have become the leading destination sites for most Internet users. Marketers must recognize that the Internet is where customers are heading and, if the marketer wants to stay visible and viable, they must follow.
2. What Customers Expect
The Internet is not only becoming the resource of choice for finding information, in the next few years it is also likely to be the expected location where customers can learn about products and make purchases. This is especially the case for customers below the age of 25. In many countries, nearly all children and young adults have been raised knowing how to use the Internet. Once members of this group dominate home and business purchases they will clearly expect companies to have a strong Internet presence.
3. Captures a Wide Range of Customer Information
As a data collection tool the Internet is unmatched when it comes to providing information on customer activity. Each time a visitor accesses a website they leave an information trail that includes how they got to the site, how they navigated through the site, what they clicked on, what was purchased, and loads of other information. When matched to a method for customer identification, such as login information, the marketer has the ability to track a customer’s activity over repeated visits to the site. Knowing a customer’s behavior and preferences opens up tremendous opportunities to cater to customer’s needs and, if done correctly, the customer will respond with a long-lasting loyalty.
4. Extreme Target Marketing
The most efficient way for marketers to spend money is to direct spending to those who are most likely to be interested in what the marketer is offering. Unfortunately, efforts to target only customers who have the highest probably of buying has not been easy. For instance, consider how much money is wasted on television advertisements to people who probably will not buy. Yet the Internet’s unrivaled ability to identify and track customers has greatly improved marketer’s ability to target customers who exhibit the highest potential for purchasing products.
5. Stimulate Impulse Purchases
Whether customers like it or not, the Internet is proving to be the ultimate venue for inducing impulse purchases. Much of this can be attributed to marketers taking advantage of improvements in technologies that: 1) allow a website to offer product suggestions based on customer’s online buying behavior, and 2) streamline the online purchasing process. But online impulse purchasing also takes advantage of the “purchase now, pay later” attitude common in an overspending credit card society. How this plays out over time as many customers become overwhelmed with debt will need to be watched and could impact online marketer’s activities.
6. Customized Product and Service Offerings
Companies know they can develop loyal customers when product and service offerings are designed to satisfy individual needs. This has led many online marketers to implement a mass customization strategy offering customers online options for configuring products or services. The interactive nature of the Internet makes “build-your-own” a relatively easy to implement purchasing option. An empowered customer base that feels a company will deliver exactly what they want is primed to remain loyal for long period of time.
7. Takes Prospects Right to the Sale
No other form of communication comes close to turning exposure to promotion into immediate customer action as the Internet, which allows customers to make purchases immediately after experiencing a promotion. Prior to the Internet, the most productive call-to-action was through television informercials that encourage viewers to call toll-free phone numbers. However, moving customers from a non-active state (i.e., watching television) to an active state (i.e., picking up the phone to call the number) is not nearly as effective as getting people to click on an Internet ad while they are actively using the Internet.
8. Conveys Perception of Being a Full-Service Provider
For distributors and retailers the Internet makes it easy to be a comprehensive supplier. Unlike brick-and-mortar suppliers who are often judged by the inventory that is actually on hand or services provided at a store, e-commerce sites can give the illusion of having depth and breadth of inventory and service offerings. This can be accomplished by placing product and service information on the company’s website but behind the scenes having certain orders fulfilled by outside suppliers via shipping and service agreements. With such arrangements customers may feel they are dealing with providers that offer full-service when in reality a certain percentage of the products and service are obtained from other sources.
9. Lower Overhead, Lower Costs, Better Service
Internet technologies are replacing more expensive methods for delivering products and services, and for handling customer information needs. Cost savings can certainly be seen with products and services deliverable in digital form (e.g., music, publications, graphic design, etc.) where production and shipping expenses are essentially removed from the cost equation. Cost savings may also be seen in other marketing areas including customer service where the volume of customer phone calls may be reduced as companies provide online access to product information through such services as Knowledge Bases and answers to Frequently Asked Questions. Field salespeople may also see benefits by encouraging prospects to obtain product information online prior to a face-to-face meeting. This may help reduce the time devoted to explaining basic company and product information and leave more time for understanding and offering solutions to customer’s problems. As these examples suggest, the Internet may lower administrative and operational costs while offering greater value to customers.
10. Create Worldwide Presence
The Internet is a communication and distribution channel that offers global accessibility to a company’s product and service offerings. Through a website a local marketer can quickly become a global marketer and, by doing so, expand their potential target market to many times it current size. Unlike the days before e-commerce when marketing internationally was a time-consuming and expensive undertaking, the uploading of files to establish a website is all that is needed to create a worldwide presence. While establishing a website does not guarantee international sales (there is a lot more marketing work needed for the site to be viable internationally), the Internet provides a gigantic leap into global business compared to pre-Internet days.
The above article appreared in www.knowthis.com
10 Reasons Marketing Strategy should include the Internet
It may seem surprising but many companies, big and small, have yet to develop a rational Internet marketing strategy. Considering the Internet has now been used effectively by marketers since 1994, any organization without a strategy to utilize the Internet for marketing is probably making a big mistake. For any organization that still does not have a meaningful Internet marketing effort we offer 10 Reasons why you should.
1. The Go-To Place for Information
Possibly the most important reason why companies need to have an active Internet marketing strategy is because of the transformation that has occurred in how customers seek information. While customers still visit stores, talk to sales representatives, look through magazines, and talk to friends to gather product information, an ever-increasing number of customers turn to the Internet as their primary knowledge source. In particular, they use search engines as their principle portal of knowledge as search sites have become the leading destination sites for most Internet users. Marketers must recognize that the Internet is where customers are heading and, if the marketer wants to stay visible and viable, they must follow.
2. What Customers Expect
The Internet is not only becoming the resource of choice for finding information, in the next few years it is also likely to be the expected location where customers can learn about products and make purchases. This is especially the case for customers below the age of 25. In many countries, nearly all children and young adults have been raised knowing how to use the Internet. Once members of this group dominate home and business purchases they will clearly expect companies to have a strong Internet presence.
3. Captures a Wide Range of Customer Information
As a data collection tool the Internet is unmatched when it comes to providing information on customer activity. Each time a visitor accesses a website they leave an information trail that includes how they got to the site, how they navigated through the site, what they clicked on, what was purchased, and loads of other information. When matched to a method for customer identification, such as login information, the marketer has the ability to track a customer’s activity over repeated visits to the site. Knowing a customer’s behavior and preferences opens up tremendous opportunities to cater to customer’s needs and, if done correctly, the customer will respond with a long-lasting loyalty.
4. Extreme Target Marketing
The most efficient way for marketers to spend money is to direct spending to those who are most likely to be interested in what the marketer is offering. Unfortunately, efforts to target only customers who have the highest probably of buying has not been easy. For instance, consider how much money is wasted on television advertisements to people who probably will not buy. Yet the Internet’s unrivaled ability to identify and track customers has greatly improved marketer’s ability to target customers who exhibit the highest potential for purchasing products.
5. Stimulate Impulse Purchases
Whether customers like it or not, the Internet is proving to be the ultimate venue for inducing impulse purchases. Much of this can be attributed to marketers taking advantage of improvements in technologies that: 1) allow a website to offer product suggestions based on customer’s online buying behavior, and 2) streamline the online purchasing process. But online impulse purchasing also takes advantage of the “purchase now, pay later” attitude common in an overspending credit card society. How this plays out over time as many customers become overwhelmed with debt will need to be watched and could impact online marketer’s activities.
6. Customized Product and Service Offerings
Companies know they can develop loyal customers when product and service offerings are designed to satisfy individual needs. This has led many online marketers to implement a mass customization strategy offering customers online options for configuring products or services. The interactive nature of the Internet makes “build-your-own” a relatively easy to implement purchasing option. An empowered customer base that feels a company will deliver exactly what they want is primed to remain loyal for long period of time.
7. Takes Prospects Right to the Sale
No other form of communication comes close to turning exposure to promotion into immediate customer action as the Internet, which allows customers to make purchases immediately after experiencing a promotion. Prior to the Internet, the most productive call-to-action was through television informercials that encourage viewers to call toll-free phone numbers. However, moving customers from a non-active state (i.e., watching television) to an active state (i.e., picking up the phone to call the number) is not nearly as effective as getting people to click on an Internet ad while they are actively using the Internet.
8. Conveys Perception of Being a Full-Service Provider
For distributors and retailers the Internet makes it easy to be a comprehensive supplier. Unlike brick-and-mortar suppliers who are often judged by the inventory that is actually on hand or services provided at a store, e-commerce sites can give the illusion of having depth and breadth of inventory and service offerings. This can be accomplished by placing product and service information on the company’s website but behind the scenes having certain orders fulfilled by outside suppliers via shipping and service agreements. With such arrangements customers may feel they are dealing with providers that offer full-service when in reality a certain percentage of the products and service are obtained from other sources.
9. Lower Overhead, Lower Costs, Better Service
Internet technologies are replacing more expensive methods for delivering products and services, and for handling customer information needs. Cost savings can certainly be seen with products and services deliverable in digital form (e.g., music, publications, graphic design, etc.) where production and shipping expenses are essentially removed from the cost equation. Cost savings may also be seen in other marketing areas including customer service where the volume of customer phone calls may be reduced as companies provide online access to product information through such services as Knowledge Bases and answers to Frequently Asked Questions. Field salespeople may also see benefits by encouraging prospects to obtain product information online prior to a face-to-face meeting. This may help reduce the time devoted to explaining basic company and product information and leave more time for understanding and offering solutions to customer’s problems. As these examples suggest, the Internet may lower administrative and operational costs while offering greater value to customers.
10. Create Worldwide Presence
The Internet is a communication and distribution channel that offers global accessibility to a company’s product and service offerings. Through a website a local marketer can quickly become a global marketer and, by doing so, expand their potential target market to many times it current size. Unlike the days before e-commerce when marketing internationally was a time-consuming and expensive undertaking, the uploading of files to establish a website is all that is needed to create a worldwide presence. While establishing a website does not guarantee international sales (there is a lot more marketing work needed for the site to be viable internationally), the Internet provides a gigantic leap into global business compared to pre-Internet days.
The above article appreared in www.knowthis.com
1. The Go-To Place for Information
Possibly the most important reason why companies need to have an active Internet marketing strategy is because of the transformation that has occurred in how customers seek information. While customers still visit stores, talk to sales representatives, look through magazines, and talk to friends to gather product information, an ever-increasing number of customers turn to the Internet as their primary knowledge source. In particular, they use search engines as their principle portal of knowledge as search sites have become the leading destination sites for most Internet users. Marketers must recognize that the Internet is where customers are heading and, if the marketer wants to stay visible and viable, they must follow.
2. What Customers Expect
The Internet is not only becoming the resource of choice for finding information, in the next few years it is also likely to be the expected location where customers can learn about products and make purchases. This is especially the case for customers below the age of 25. In many countries, nearly all children and young adults have been raised knowing how to use the Internet. Once members of this group dominate home and business purchases they will clearly expect companies to have a strong Internet presence.
3. Captures a Wide Range of Customer Information
As a data collection tool the Internet is unmatched when it comes to providing information on customer activity. Each time a visitor accesses a website they leave an information trail that includes how they got to the site, how they navigated through the site, what they clicked on, what was purchased, and loads of other information. When matched to a method for customer identification, such as login information, the marketer has the ability to track a customer’s activity over repeated visits to the site. Knowing a customer’s behavior and preferences opens up tremendous opportunities to cater to customer’s needs and, if done correctly, the customer will respond with a long-lasting loyalty.
4. Extreme Target Marketing
The most efficient way for marketers to spend money is to direct spending to those who are most likely to be interested in what the marketer is offering. Unfortunately, efforts to target only customers who have the highest probably of buying has not been easy. For instance, consider how much money is wasted on television advertisements to people who probably will not buy. Yet the Internet’s unrivaled ability to identify and track customers has greatly improved marketer’s ability to target customers who exhibit the highest potential for purchasing products.
5. Stimulate Impulse Purchases
Whether customers like it or not, the Internet is proving to be the ultimate venue for inducing impulse purchases. Much of this can be attributed to marketers taking advantage of improvements in technologies that: 1) allow a website to offer product suggestions based on customer’s online buying behavior, and 2) streamline the online purchasing process. But online impulse purchasing also takes advantage of the “purchase now, pay later” attitude common in an overspending credit card society. How this plays out over time as many customers become overwhelmed with debt will need to be watched and could impact online marketer’s activities.
6. Customized Product and Service Offerings
Companies know they can develop loyal customers when product and service offerings are designed to satisfy individual needs. This has led many online marketers to implement a mass customization strategy offering customers online options for configuring products or services. The interactive nature of the Internet makes “build-your-own” a relatively easy to implement purchasing option. An empowered customer base that feels a company will deliver exactly what they want is primed to remain loyal for long period of time.
7. Takes Prospects Right to the Sale
No other form of communication comes close to turning exposure to promotion into immediate customer action as the Internet, which allows customers to make purchases immediately after experiencing a promotion. Prior to the Internet, the most productive call-to-action was through television informercials that encourage viewers to call toll-free phone numbers. However, moving customers from a non-active state (i.e., watching television) to an active state (i.e., picking up the phone to call the number) is not nearly as effective as getting people to click on an Internet ad while they are actively using the Internet.
8. Conveys Perception of Being a Full-Service Provider
For distributors and retailers the Internet makes it easy to be a comprehensive supplier. Unlike brick-and-mortar suppliers who are often judged by the inventory that is actually on hand or services provided at a store, e-commerce sites can give the illusion of having depth and breadth of inventory and service offerings. This can be accomplished by placing product and service information on the company’s website but behind the scenes having certain orders fulfilled by outside suppliers via shipping and service agreements. With such arrangements customers may feel they are dealing with providers that offer full-service when in reality a certain percentage of the products and service are obtained from other sources.
9. Lower Overhead, Lower Costs, Better Service
Internet technologies are replacing more expensive methods for delivering products and services, and for handling customer information needs. Cost savings can certainly be seen with products and services deliverable in digital form (e.g., music, publications, graphic design, etc.) where production and shipping expenses are essentially removed from the cost equation. Cost savings may also be seen in other marketing areas including customer service where the volume of customer phone calls may be reduced as companies provide online access to product information through such services as Knowledge Bases and answers to Frequently Asked Questions. Field salespeople may also see benefits by encouraging prospects to obtain product information online prior to a face-to-face meeting. This may help reduce the time devoted to explaining basic company and product information and leave more time for understanding and offering solutions to customer’s problems. As these examples suggest, the Internet may lower administrative and operational costs while offering greater value to customers.
10. Create Worldwide Presence
The Internet is a communication and distribution channel that offers global accessibility to a company’s product and service offerings. Through a website a local marketer can quickly become a global marketer and, by doing so, expand their potential target market to many times it current size. Unlike the days before e-commerce when marketing internationally was a time-consuming and expensive undertaking, the uploading of files to establish a website is all that is needed to create a worldwide presence. While establishing a website does not guarantee international sales (there is a lot more marketing work needed for the site to be viable internationally), the Internet provides a gigantic leap into global business compared to pre-Internet days.
The above article appreared in www.knowthis.com
Jumat, 16 September 2005
Internet eating up TV viewership
The Internet portal Yahoo! recently hired one of the world's best known war correspondents, Kevin Sites, to report solo from every 'hot zone' in the world over the coming years. The American cameraman became famous for filming the shooting by a US soldier of an apparently unarmed civilian in a Falluja mosque. This move by Yahoo! is seen as an attempt to widen its horizons and challenge traditional media companies.
In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 13, 2005, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, News Corporation, said, "Scarcely a day goes by without some claim that new technologies are fast writing newsprint's obituary. Yet, as an industry, many of us have been remarkably, unaccountably complacent. Certainly, I didn't do as much as I should have after all the excitement of the late 1990s. I suspect many of you in this room did the same, quietly hoping that this thing called the digital revolution would just limp along."
Last week, Murdoch had gathered his top editors for two days of discussions on what he has described as the company's highest priority: how to grapple with the threat and opportunity of the internet to the media empire he has spent a lifetime building. On the agenda was how to turn News Corp's web properties into a hub for entertainment-related content. The strategy can be viewed as an attempt to create a one-stop shop for all those looking for computer games, movies, music or chat online.
News Corp owns a clutch of media assets - including The Times, Sun, New York Post, Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Broadcasting - that are the envy of his peers. Now, Murdoch wants replicate his success in cyberspace.
In July, the company formed an internet unit, Fox Interactive Media, run by a former Foxsports.com executive, Ross Levinsohn, to oversee its website interests. Days later, the firm agreed to pay $580 mn for Intermix Media, a company with more than 30 websites led by MySpace.com, the fifth most popular site on the internet. Then, last week, News Corp reached a $650 mn deal to buy IGN Entertainment, which runs sites such as GameSpy.com for video game fans. It also bought Scout.com, which owns about 200 niche sports websites. Murdoch has said publicly that the company is in talks to acquire a search engine, thought to be Blinkx.
Murdoch has often been regarded as a giant in the world of media. He is one among those who could foresee the future media. So, does his enthusiasm for cyber media indicate that the future of media belongs to the internet?
Statistics on advertising moolah strongly supports Murdoch's obsession with the internet. Advertising revenue is rapidly migrating online. Jupiter Research recently forecast that the online advertising market would reach $18.9 bn by 2010, compared with $9.3 bn at the end of 2004, at the expense of traditional media.
Television's share of global advertising spending is expected to slip by 2007 as more money is diverted to internet. Television's share is expected to peak in 2006 at 37.9 per cent of global ad spending, before slipping to 37.8 per cent by 2007, according to ZenithOptimedia. Newspapers are expected to end 2005 with a 29.8 per cent global ad spend share, and see their market share fall to 29.3 per cent in 2007. Internet's share of ad spending is projected to be about 3.8 per cent in 2005 and rise to 4.4 per cent by 2007. Net ad spending on the internet grew 21 per cent in 2004.
It is estimated that in 2005, there are 26 mn internet users in India, largely in the age group of 20-40. India's advertising industry generates about $2.2 bn annually, according to industry sources. Currently, online advertising comprises less than 1 per cent of the pie.
The total spending for 2004-2005 was about $18 mn, but the Indian Online Association (IOA), predicts this will touch $34 mn in the next financial year and will cross $57 mn in 2006-2007. Print and television still hog a major share of Indian advertising at $700 mn- $920 mn annually.
The many advantages of the medium include the fact that it is a two-way communication. Unlike print and TV, the consumer can decide when and how he wants to be exposed to a campaign, and the advertiser too can zero in on targets more specifically. Internet combines the audio-visual effect of the TV and the detailing capabilities of the print medium and makes the entire customer interface interactive.
Internet is far more cost effective compared to traditional media. "The Net reaches out to the affluent and Net savvy. This is a dream audience which brand managers spend mega bucks to address. Internet delivers them with very little wastage. Internet allows the message to be targeted by various parameters like timeband targeting, daypart targeting, geographic targeting and even interest-based targeting or contextual targeting. Targeting reduces the wastage and the overall effectiveness of the advertising spend," says an industry expert.
Leading portals in India are relishing this attention. Rediff saw an increase of over 70 per cent in online revenue on its India operations in 2004. Yahoo! India saw a 100 per cent growth in advertising in 2004. Indiatimes.com, the online operations of one of India's leading media groups, estimated total advertising on its site to be around $3.5 mn-$4.6 mn in 2004.
On the other hand, younger viewers are drifting away from TV, spending more time online. They're using the Web to socialise and communicate, downloading songs, listening to radio and podcasts, and playing online games. It won't be long before they turn to the Web for longer-form video and TV, thanks to the rise of broadband. In the US, among 25-34-year-olds, almost a third of viewing now takes place away from the TV set, according to a survey by branded content specialist Contentworx. Instead they are using PCs, mobile phones and handheld computers, the survey found, with results that will make interesting reading for broadcasters and advertisers.
The same trend has been catching up fast in Indian. The restless Gen Y prefers internet to TV. “TV viewing in India is still a family affair. You have to fight for the remote with your family members. Besides, my favourite programmes are broadcast at fixed timing. Surfing the net is more personalised. I can view whatever I want at my own convenient time,” says Rajeev Malhotra, student of Delhi University.
Traditional media, however, is still not ready to accept the challenge thrown by internet. In fact, barring a few many of them hardly take it as a challenge.
“I do not think internet can match the popularity of television or print media. Go to the interiors of India and you will hardly find anyone surfing,” says Sameep Rajguru of Aaj Tak.
Rezaul Lashkar of Indo-Asian News Service does not see the Net as a threat to traditional media. “Every form of media has its own advantages and disadvantages. They all can co-exist or rather they complement each other,” he says.
Despite these sceptical views emanating from traditional media workers, the success of www.indiatimes.com, which is one of its kind website in the world, forces everyone to cast aside apprehensions about the future of internet as a new age media. In fact, Indiatimes is the most diversified internet company in the world, a model, which even Murdoch is trying to follow.
“When it comes to getting the latest news, I prefer logging on to a website than to switch on my TV. I can at least log on to the news that interests me instead of being forced to watch Karishma's spat with husband as breaking news,” says Manoj Das, AGM, Nedfi.
“The most visible advantage of internet is its accessibility. Whenever I go abroad, the only media, which keeps me abreast of Indian political scenario is the internet,” says Sandeep Phukan of NDTV.
Copyright © 2005, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Source: The Economic Times (www.economictimes.com)
In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 13, 2005, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, News Corporation, said, "Scarcely a day goes by without some claim that new technologies are fast writing newsprint's obituary. Yet, as an industry, many of us have been remarkably, unaccountably complacent. Certainly, I didn't do as much as I should have after all the excitement of the late 1990s. I suspect many of you in this room did the same, quietly hoping that this thing called the digital revolution would just limp along."
Last week, Murdoch had gathered his top editors for two days of discussions on what he has described as the company's highest priority: how to grapple with the threat and opportunity of the internet to the media empire he has spent a lifetime building. On the agenda was how to turn News Corp's web properties into a hub for entertainment-related content. The strategy can be viewed as an attempt to create a one-stop shop for all those looking for computer games, movies, music or chat online.
News Corp owns a clutch of media assets - including The Times, Sun, New York Post, Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Broadcasting - that are the envy of his peers. Now, Murdoch wants replicate his success in cyberspace.
In July, the company formed an internet unit, Fox Interactive Media, run by a former Foxsports.com executive, Ross Levinsohn, to oversee its website interests. Days later, the firm agreed to pay $580 mn for Intermix Media, a company with more than 30 websites led by MySpace.com, the fifth most popular site on the internet. Then, last week, News Corp reached a $650 mn deal to buy IGN Entertainment, which runs sites such as GameSpy.com for video game fans. It also bought Scout.com, which owns about 200 niche sports websites. Murdoch has said publicly that the company is in talks to acquire a search engine, thought to be Blinkx.
Murdoch has often been regarded as a giant in the world of media. He is one among those who could foresee the future media. So, does his enthusiasm for cyber media indicate that the future of media belongs to the internet?
Statistics on advertising moolah strongly supports Murdoch's obsession with the internet. Advertising revenue is rapidly migrating online. Jupiter Research recently forecast that the online advertising market would reach $18.9 bn by 2010, compared with $9.3 bn at the end of 2004, at the expense of traditional media.
Television's share of global advertising spending is expected to slip by 2007 as more money is diverted to internet. Television's share is expected to peak in 2006 at 37.9 per cent of global ad spending, before slipping to 37.8 per cent by 2007, according to ZenithOptimedia. Newspapers are expected to end 2005 with a 29.8 per cent global ad spend share, and see their market share fall to 29.3 per cent in 2007. Internet's share of ad spending is projected to be about 3.8 per cent in 2005 and rise to 4.4 per cent by 2007. Net ad spending on the internet grew 21 per cent in 2004.
It is estimated that in 2005, there are 26 mn internet users in India, largely in the age group of 20-40. India's advertising industry generates about $2.2 bn annually, according to industry sources. Currently, online advertising comprises less than 1 per cent of the pie.
The total spending for 2004-2005 was about $18 mn, but the Indian Online Association (IOA), predicts this will touch $34 mn in the next financial year and will cross $57 mn in 2006-2007. Print and television still hog a major share of Indian advertising at $700 mn- $920 mn annually.
The many advantages of the medium include the fact that it is a two-way communication. Unlike print and TV, the consumer can decide when and how he wants to be exposed to a campaign, and the advertiser too can zero in on targets more specifically. Internet combines the audio-visual effect of the TV and the detailing capabilities of the print medium and makes the entire customer interface interactive.
Internet is far more cost effective compared to traditional media. "The Net reaches out to the affluent and Net savvy. This is a dream audience which brand managers spend mega bucks to address. Internet delivers them with very little wastage. Internet allows the message to be targeted by various parameters like timeband targeting, daypart targeting, geographic targeting and even interest-based targeting or contextual targeting. Targeting reduces the wastage and the overall effectiveness of the advertising spend," says an industry expert.
Leading portals in India are relishing this attention. Rediff saw an increase of over 70 per cent in online revenue on its India operations in 2004. Yahoo! India saw a 100 per cent growth in advertising in 2004. Indiatimes.com, the online operations of one of India's leading media groups, estimated total advertising on its site to be around $3.5 mn-$4.6 mn in 2004.
On the other hand, younger viewers are drifting away from TV, spending more time online. They're using the Web to socialise and communicate, downloading songs, listening to radio and podcasts, and playing online games. It won't be long before they turn to the Web for longer-form video and TV, thanks to the rise of broadband. In the US, among 25-34-year-olds, almost a third of viewing now takes place away from the TV set, according to a survey by branded content specialist Contentworx. Instead they are using PCs, mobile phones and handheld computers, the survey found, with results that will make interesting reading for broadcasters and advertisers.
The same trend has been catching up fast in Indian. The restless Gen Y prefers internet to TV. “TV viewing in India is still a family affair. You have to fight for the remote with your family members. Besides, my favourite programmes are broadcast at fixed timing. Surfing the net is more personalised. I can view whatever I want at my own convenient time,” says Rajeev Malhotra, student of Delhi University.
Traditional media, however, is still not ready to accept the challenge thrown by internet. In fact, barring a few many of them hardly take it as a challenge.
“I do not think internet can match the popularity of television or print media. Go to the interiors of India and you will hardly find anyone surfing,” says Sameep Rajguru of Aaj Tak.
Rezaul Lashkar of Indo-Asian News Service does not see the Net as a threat to traditional media. “Every form of media has its own advantages and disadvantages. They all can co-exist or rather they complement each other,” he says.
Despite these sceptical views emanating from traditional media workers, the success of www.indiatimes.com, which is one of its kind website in the world, forces everyone to cast aside apprehensions about the future of internet as a new age media. In fact, Indiatimes is the most diversified internet company in the world, a model, which even Murdoch is trying to follow.
“When it comes to getting the latest news, I prefer logging on to a website than to switch on my TV. I can at least log on to the news that interests me instead of being forced to watch Karishma's spat with husband as breaking news,” says Manoj Das, AGM, Nedfi.
“The most visible advantage of internet is its accessibility. Whenever I go abroad, the only media, which keeps me abreast of Indian political scenario is the internet,” says Sandeep Phukan of NDTV.
Copyright © 2005, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Source: The Economic Times (www.economictimes.com)
Internet eating up TV viewership
The Internet portal Yahoo! recently hired one of the world's best known war correspondents, Kevin Sites, to report solo from every 'hot zone' in the world over the coming years. The American cameraman became famous for filming the shooting by a US soldier of an apparently unarmed civilian in a Falluja mosque. This move by Yahoo! is seen as an attempt to widen its horizons and challenge traditional media companies.
In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 13, 2005, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, News Corporation, said, "Scarcely a day goes by without some claim that new technologies are fast writing newsprint's obituary. Yet, as an industry, many of us have been remarkably, unaccountably complacent. Certainly, I didn't do as much as I should have after all the excitement of the late 1990s. I suspect many of you in this room did the same, quietly hoping that this thing called the digital revolution would just limp along."
Last week, Murdoch had gathered his top editors for two days of discussions on what he has described as the company's highest priority: how to grapple with the threat and opportunity of the internet to the media empire he has spent a lifetime building. On the agenda was how to turn News Corp's web properties into a hub for entertainment-related content. The strategy can be viewed as an attempt to create a one-stop shop for all those looking for computer games, movies, music or chat online.
News Corp owns a clutch of media assets - including The Times, Sun, New York Post, Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Broadcasting - that are the envy of his peers. Now, Murdoch wants replicate his success in cyberspace.
In July, the company formed an internet unit, Fox Interactive Media, run by a former Foxsports.com executive, Ross Levinsohn, to oversee its website interests. Days later, the firm agreed to pay $580 mn for Intermix Media, a company with more than 30 websites led by MySpace.com, the fifth most popular site on the internet. Then, last week, News Corp reached a $650 mn deal to buy IGN Entertainment, which runs sites such as GameSpy.com for video game fans. It also bought Scout.com, which owns about 200 niche sports websites. Murdoch has said publicly that the company is in talks to acquire a search engine, thought to be Blinkx.
Murdoch has often been regarded as a giant in the world of media. He is one among those who could foresee the future media. So, does his enthusiasm for cyber media indicate that the future of media belongs to the internet?
Statistics on advertising moolah strongly supports Murdoch's obsession with the internet. Advertising revenue is rapidly migrating online. Jupiter Research recently forecast that the online advertising market would reach $18.9 bn by 2010, compared with $9.3 bn at the end of 2004, at the expense of traditional media.
Television's share of global advertising spending is expected to slip by 2007 as more money is diverted to internet. Television's share is expected to peak in 2006 at 37.9 per cent of global ad spending, before slipping to 37.8 per cent by 2007, according to ZenithOptimedia. Newspapers are expected to end 2005 with a 29.8 per cent global ad spend share, and see their market share fall to 29.3 per cent in 2007. Internet's share of ad spending is projected to be about 3.8 per cent in 2005 and rise to 4.4 per cent by 2007. Net ad spending on the internet grew 21 per cent in 2004.
It is estimated that in 2005, there are 26 mn internet users in India, largely in the age group of 20-40. India's advertising industry generates about $2.2 bn annually, according to industry sources. Currently, online advertising comprises less than 1 per cent of the pie.
The total spending for 2004-2005 was about $18 mn, but the Indian Online Association (IOA), predicts this will touch $34 mn in the next financial year and will cross $57 mn in 2006-2007. Print and television still hog a major share of Indian advertising at $700 mn- $920 mn annually.
The many advantages of the medium include the fact that it is a two-way communication. Unlike print and TV, the consumer can decide when and how he wants to be exposed to a campaign, and the advertiser too can zero in on targets more specifically. Internet combines the audio-visual effect of the TV and the detailing capabilities of the print medium and makes the entire customer interface interactive.
Internet is far more cost effective compared to traditional media. "The Net reaches out to the affluent and Net savvy. This is a dream audience which brand managers spend mega bucks to address. Internet delivers them with very little wastage. Internet allows the message to be targeted by various parameters like timeband targeting, daypart targeting, geographic targeting and even interest-based targeting or contextual targeting. Targeting reduces the wastage and the overall effectiveness of the advertising spend," says an industry expert.
Leading portals in India are relishing this attention. Rediff saw an increase of over 70 per cent in online revenue on its India operations in 2004. Yahoo! India saw a 100 per cent growth in advertising in 2004. Indiatimes.com, the online operations of one of India's leading media groups, estimated total advertising on its site to be around $3.5 mn-$4.6 mn in 2004.
On the other hand, younger viewers are drifting away from TV, spending more time online. They're using the Web to socialise and communicate, downloading songs, listening to radio and podcasts, and playing online games. It won't be long before they turn to the Web for longer-form video and TV, thanks to the rise of broadband. In the US, among 25-34-year-olds, almost a third of viewing now takes place away from the TV set, according to a survey by branded content specialist Contentworx. Instead they are using PCs, mobile phones and handheld computers, the survey found, with results that will make interesting reading for broadcasters and advertisers.
The same trend has been catching up fast in Indian. The restless Gen Y prefers internet to TV. “TV viewing in India is still a family affair. You have to fight for the remote with your family members. Besides, my favourite programmes are broadcast at fixed timing. Surfing the net is more personalised. I can view whatever I want at my own convenient time,” says Rajeev Malhotra, student of Delhi University.
Traditional media, however, is still not ready to accept the challenge thrown by internet. In fact, barring a few many of them hardly take it as a challenge.
“I do not think internet can match the popularity of television or print media. Go to the interiors of India and you will hardly find anyone surfing,” says Sameep Rajguru of Aaj Tak.
Rezaul Lashkar of Indo-Asian News Service does not see the Net as a threat to traditional media. “Every form of media has its own advantages and disadvantages. They all can co-exist or rather they complement each other,” he says.
Despite these sceptical views emanating from traditional media workers, the success of www.indiatimes.com, which is one of its kind website in the world, forces everyone to cast aside apprehensions about the future of internet as a new age media. In fact, Indiatimes is the most diversified internet company in the world, a model, which even Murdoch is trying to follow.
“When it comes to getting the latest news, I prefer logging on to a website than to switch on my TV. I can at least log on to the news that interests me instead of being forced to watch Karishma's spat with husband as breaking news,” says Manoj Das, AGM, Nedfi.
“The most visible advantage of internet is its accessibility. Whenever I go abroad, the only media, which keeps me abreast of Indian political scenario is the internet,” says Sandeep Phukan of NDTV.
Copyright © 2005, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Source: The Economic Times (www.economictimes.com)
In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 13, 2005, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, News Corporation, said, "Scarcely a day goes by without some claim that new technologies are fast writing newsprint's obituary. Yet, as an industry, many of us have been remarkably, unaccountably complacent. Certainly, I didn't do as much as I should have after all the excitement of the late 1990s. I suspect many of you in this room did the same, quietly hoping that this thing called the digital revolution would just limp along."
Last week, Murdoch had gathered his top editors for two days of discussions on what he has described as the company's highest priority: how to grapple with the threat and opportunity of the internet to the media empire he has spent a lifetime building. On the agenda was how to turn News Corp's web properties into a hub for entertainment-related content. The strategy can be viewed as an attempt to create a one-stop shop for all those looking for computer games, movies, music or chat online.
News Corp owns a clutch of media assets - including The Times, Sun, New York Post, Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Broadcasting - that are the envy of his peers. Now, Murdoch wants replicate his success in cyberspace.
In July, the company formed an internet unit, Fox Interactive Media, run by a former Foxsports.com executive, Ross Levinsohn, to oversee its website interests. Days later, the firm agreed to pay $580 mn for Intermix Media, a company with more than 30 websites led by MySpace.com, the fifth most popular site on the internet. Then, last week, News Corp reached a $650 mn deal to buy IGN Entertainment, which runs sites such as GameSpy.com for video game fans. It also bought Scout.com, which owns about 200 niche sports websites. Murdoch has said publicly that the company is in talks to acquire a search engine, thought to be Blinkx.
Murdoch has often been regarded as a giant in the world of media. He is one among those who could foresee the future media. So, does his enthusiasm for cyber media indicate that the future of media belongs to the internet?
Statistics on advertising moolah strongly supports Murdoch's obsession with the internet. Advertising revenue is rapidly migrating online. Jupiter Research recently forecast that the online advertising market would reach $18.9 bn by 2010, compared with $9.3 bn at the end of 2004, at the expense of traditional media.
Television's share of global advertising spending is expected to slip by 2007 as more money is diverted to internet. Television's share is expected to peak in 2006 at 37.9 per cent of global ad spending, before slipping to 37.8 per cent by 2007, according to ZenithOptimedia. Newspapers are expected to end 2005 with a 29.8 per cent global ad spend share, and see their market share fall to 29.3 per cent in 2007. Internet's share of ad spending is projected to be about 3.8 per cent in 2005 and rise to 4.4 per cent by 2007. Net ad spending on the internet grew 21 per cent in 2004.
It is estimated that in 2005, there are 26 mn internet users in India, largely in the age group of 20-40. India's advertising industry generates about $2.2 bn annually, according to industry sources. Currently, online advertising comprises less than 1 per cent of the pie.
The total spending for 2004-2005 was about $18 mn, but the Indian Online Association (IOA), predicts this will touch $34 mn in the next financial year and will cross $57 mn in 2006-2007. Print and television still hog a major share of Indian advertising at $700 mn- $920 mn annually.
The many advantages of the medium include the fact that it is a two-way communication. Unlike print and TV, the consumer can decide when and how he wants to be exposed to a campaign, and the advertiser too can zero in on targets more specifically. Internet combines the audio-visual effect of the TV and the detailing capabilities of the print medium and makes the entire customer interface interactive.
Internet is far more cost effective compared to traditional media. "The Net reaches out to the affluent and Net savvy. This is a dream audience which brand managers spend mega bucks to address. Internet delivers them with very little wastage. Internet allows the message to be targeted by various parameters like timeband targeting, daypart targeting, geographic targeting and even interest-based targeting or contextual targeting. Targeting reduces the wastage and the overall effectiveness of the advertising spend," says an industry expert.
Leading portals in India are relishing this attention. Rediff saw an increase of over 70 per cent in online revenue on its India operations in 2004. Yahoo! India saw a 100 per cent growth in advertising in 2004. Indiatimes.com, the online operations of one of India's leading media groups, estimated total advertising on its site to be around $3.5 mn-$4.6 mn in 2004.
On the other hand, younger viewers are drifting away from TV, spending more time online. They're using the Web to socialise and communicate, downloading songs, listening to radio and podcasts, and playing online games. It won't be long before they turn to the Web for longer-form video and TV, thanks to the rise of broadband. In the US, among 25-34-year-olds, almost a third of viewing now takes place away from the TV set, according to a survey by branded content specialist Contentworx. Instead they are using PCs, mobile phones and handheld computers, the survey found, with results that will make interesting reading for broadcasters and advertisers.
The same trend has been catching up fast in Indian. The restless Gen Y prefers internet to TV. “TV viewing in India is still a family affair. You have to fight for the remote with your family members. Besides, my favourite programmes are broadcast at fixed timing. Surfing the net is more personalised. I can view whatever I want at my own convenient time,” says Rajeev Malhotra, student of Delhi University.
Traditional media, however, is still not ready to accept the challenge thrown by internet. In fact, barring a few many of them hardly take it as a challenge.
“I do not think internet can match the popularity of television or print media. Go to the interiors of India and you will hardly find anyone surfing,” says Sameep Rajguru of Aaj Tak.
Rezaul Lashkar of Indo-Asian News Service does not see the Net as a threat to traditional media. “Every form of media has its own advantages and disadvantages. They all can co-exist or rather they complement each other,” he says.
Despite these sceptical views emanating from traditional media workers, the success of www.indiatimes.com, which is one of its kind website in the world, forces everyone to cast aside apprehensions about the future of internet as a new age media. In fact, Indiatimes is the most diversified internet company in the world, a model, which even Murdoch is trying to follow.
“When it comes to getting the latest news, I prefer logging on to a website than to switch on my TV. I can at least log on to the news that interests me instead of being forced to watch Karishma's spat with husband as breaking news,” says Manoj Das, AGM, Nedfi.
“The most visible advantage of internet is its accessibility. Whenever I go abroad, the only media, which keeps me abreast of Indian political scenario is the internet,” says Sandeep Phukan of NDTV.
Copyright © 2005, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Source: The Economic Times (www.economictimes.com)
Internet eating up TV viewership
The Internet portal Yahoo! recently hired one of the world's best known war correspondents, Kevin Sites, to report solo from every 'hot zone' in the world over the coming years. The American cameraman became famous for filming the shooting by a US soldier of an apparently unarmed civilian in a Falluja mosque. This move by Yahoo! is seen as an attempt to widen its horizons and challenge traditional media companies.
In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 13, 2005, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, News Corporation, said, "Scarcely a day goes by without some claim that new technologies are fast writing newsprint's obituary. Yet, as an industry, many of us have been remarkably, unaccountably complacent. Certainly, I didn't do as much as I should have after all the excitement of the late 1990s. I suspect many of you in this room did the same, quietly hoping that this thing called the digital revolution would just limp along."
Last week, Murdoch had gathered his top editors for two days of discussions on what he has described as the company's highest priority: how to grapple with the threat and opportunity of the internet to the media empire he has spent a lifetime building. On the agenda was how to turn News Corp's web properties into a hub for entertainment-related content. The strategy can be viewed as an attempt to create a one-stop shop for all those looking for computer games, movies, music or chat online.
News Corp owns a clutch of media assets - including The Times, Sun, New York Post, Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Broadcasting - that are the envy of his peers. Now, Murdoch wants replicate his success in cyberspace.
In July, the company formed an internet unit, Fox Interactive Media, run by a former Foxsports.com executive, Ross Levinsohn, to oversee its website interests. Days later, the firm agreed to pay $580 mn for Intermix Media, a company with more than 30 websites led by MySpace.com, the fifth most popular site on the internet. Then, last week, News Corp reached a $650 mn deal to buy IGN Entertainment, which runs sites such as GameSpy.com for video game fans. It also bought Scout.com, which owns about 200 niche sports websites. Murdoch has said publicly that the company is in talks to acquire a search engine, thought to be Blinkx.
Murdoch has often been regarded as a giant in the world of media. He is one among those who could foresee the future media. So, does his enthusiasm for cyber media indicate that the future of media belongs to the internet?
Statistics on advertising moolah strongly supports Murdoch's obsession with the internet. Advertising revenue is rapidly migrating online. Jupiter Research recently forecast that the online advertising market would reach $18.9 bn by 2010, compared with $9.3 bn at the end of 2004, at the expense of traditional media.
Television's share of global advertising spending is expected to slip by 2007 as more money is diverted to internet. Television's share is expected to peak in 2006 at 37.9 per cent of global ad spending, before slipping to 37.8 per cent by 2007, according to ZenithOptimedia. Newspapers are expected to end 2005 with a 29.8 per cent global ad spend share, and see their market share fall to 29.3 per cent in 2007. Internet's share of ad spending is projected to be about 3.8 per cent in 2005 and rise to 4.4 per cent by 2007. Net ad spending on the internet grew 21 per cent in 2004.
It is estimated that in 2005, there are 26 mn internet users in India, largely in the age group of 20-40. India's advertising industry generates about $2.2 bn annually, according to industry sources. Currently, online advertising comprises less than 1 per cent of the pie.
The total spending for 2004-2005 was about $18 mn, but the Indian Online Association (IOA), predicts this will touch $34 mn in the next financial year and will cross $57 mn in 2006-2007. Print and television still hog a major share of Indian advertising at $700 mn- $920 mn annually.
The many advantages of the medium include the fact that it is a two-way communication. Unlike print and TV, the consumer can decide when and how he wants to be exposed to a campaign, and the advertiser too can zero in on targets more specifically. Internet combines the audio-visual effect of the TV and the detailing capabilities of the print medium and makes the entire customer interface interactive.
Internet is far more cost effective compared to traditional media. "The Net reaches out to the affluent and Net savvy. This is a dream audience which brand managers spend mega bucks to address. Internet delivers them with very little wastage. Internet allows the message to be targeted by various parameters like timeband targeting, daypart targeting, geographic targeting and even interest-based targeting or contextual targeting. Targeting reduces the wastage and the overall effectiveness of the advertising spend," says an industry expert.
Leading portals in India are relishing this attention. Rediff saw an increase of over 70 per cent in online revenue on its India operations in 2004. Yahoo! India saw a 100 per cent growth in advertising in 2004. Indiatimes.com, the online operations of one of India's leading media groups, estimated total advertising on its site to be around $3.5 mn-$4.6 mn in 2004.
On the other hand, younger viewers are drifting away from TV, spending more time online. They're using the Web to socialise and communicate, downloading songs, listening to radio and podcasts, and playing online games. It won't be long before they turn to the Web for longer-form video and TV, thanks to the rise of broadband. In the US, among 25-34-year-olds, almost a third of viewing now takes place away from the TV set, according to a survey by branded content specialist Contentworx. Instead they are using PCs, mobile phones and handheld computers, the survey found, with results that will make interesting reading for broadcasters and advertisers.
The same trend has been catching up fast in Indian. The restless Gen Y prefers internet to TV. “TV viewing in India is still a family affair. You have to fight for the remote with your family members. Besides, my favourite programmes are broadcast at fixed timing. Surfing the net is more personalised. I can view whatever I want at my own convenient time,” says Rajeev Malhotra, student of Delhi University.
Traditional media, however, is still not ready to accept the challenge thrown by internet. In fact, barring a few many of them hardly take it as a challenge.
“I do not think internet can match the popularity of television or print media. Go to the interiors of India and you will hardly find anyone surfing,” says Sameep Rajguru of Aaj Tak.
Rezaul Lashkar of Indo-Asian News Service does not see the Net as a threat to traditional media. “Every form of media has its own advantages and disadvantages. They all can co-exist or rather they complement each other,” he says.
Despite these sceptical views emanating from traditional media workers, the success of www.indiatimes.com, which is one of its kind website in the world, forces everyone to cast aside apprehensions about the future of internet as a new age media. In fact, Indiatimes is the most diversified internet company in the world, a model, which even Murdoch is trying to follow.
“When it comes to getting the latest news, I prefer logging on to a website than to switch on my TV. I can at least log on to the news that interests me instead of being forced to watch Karishma's spat with husband as breaking news,” says Manoj Das, AGM, Nedfi.
“The most visible advantage of internet is its accessibility. Whenever I go abroad, the only media, which keeps me abreast of Indian political scenario is the internet,” says Sandeep Phukan of NDTV.
Copyright © 2005, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Source: The Economic Times (www.economictimes.com)
In a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 13, 2005, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, News Corporation, said, "Scarcely a day goes by without some claim that new technologies are fast writing newsprint's obituary. Yet, as an industry, many of us have been remarkably, unaccountably complacent. Certainly, I didn't do as much as I should have after all the excitement of the late 1990s. I suspect many of you in this room did the same, quietly hoping that this thing called the digital revolution would just limp along."
Last week, Murdoch had gathered his top editors for two days of discussions on what he has described as the company's highest priority: how to grapple with the threat and opportunity of the internet to the media empire he has spent a lifetime building. On the agenda was how to turn News Corp's web properties into a hub for entertainment-related content. The strategy can be viewed as an attempt to create a one-stop shop for all those looking for computer games, movies, music or chat online.
News Corp owns a clutch of media assets - including The Times, Sun, New York Post, Twentieth Century Fox and Fox Broadcasting - that are the envy of his peers. Now, Murdoch wants replicate his success in cyberspace.
In July, the company formed an internet unit, Fox Interactive Media, run by a former Foxsports.com executive, Ross Levinsohn, to oversee its website interests. Days later, the firm agreed to pay $580 mn for Intermix Media, a company with more than 30 websites led by MySpace.com, the fifth most popular site on the internet. Then, last week, News Corp reached a $650 mn deal to buy IGN Entertainment, which runs sites such as GameSpy.com for video game fans. It also bought Scout.com, which owns about 200 niche sports websites. Murdoch has said publicly that the company is in talks to acquire a search engine, thought to be Blinkx.
Murdoch has often been regarded as a giant in the world of media. He is one among those who could foresee the future media. So, does his enthusiasm for cyber media indicate that the future of media belongs to the internet?
Statistics on advertising moolah strongly supports Murdoch's obsession with the internet. Advertising revenue is rapidly migrating online. Jupiter Research recently forecast that the online advertising market would reach $18.9 bn by 2010, compared with $9.3 bn at the end of 2004, at the expense of traditional media.
Television's share of global advertising spending is expected to slip by 2007 as more money is diverted to internet. Television's share is expected to peak in 2006 at 37.9 per cent of global ad spending, before slipping to 37.8 per cent by 2007, according to ZenithOptimedia. Newspapers are expected to end 2005 with a 29.8 per cent global ad spend share, and see their market share fall to 29.3 per cent in 2007. Internet's share of ad spending is projected to be about 3.8 per cent in 2005 and rise to 4.4 per cent by 2007. Net ad spending on the internet grew 21 per cent in 2004.
It is estimated that in 2005, there are 26 mn internet users in India, largely in the age group of 20-40. India's advertising industry generates about $2.2 bn annually, according to industry sources. Currently, online advertising comprises less than 1 per cent of the pie.
The total spending for 2004-2005 was about $18 mn, but the Indian Online Association (IOA), predicts this will touch $34 mn in the next financial year and will cross $57 mn in 2006-2007. Print and television still hog a major share of Indian advertising at $700 mn- $920 mn annually.
The many advantages of the medium include the fact that it is a two-way communication. Unlike print and TV, the consumer can decide when and how he wants to be exposed to a campaign, and the advertiser too can zero in on targets more specifically. Internet combines the audio-visual effect of the TV and the detailing capabilities of the print medium and makes the entire customer interface interactive.
Internet is far more cost effective compared to traditional media. "The Net reaches out to the affluent and Net savvy. This is a dream audience which brand managers spend mega bucks to address. Internet delivers them with very little wastage. Internet allows the message to be targeted by various parameters like timeband targeting, daypart targeting, geographic targeting and even interest-based targeting or contextual targeting. Targeting reduces the wastage and the overall effectiveness of the advertising spend," says an industry expert.
Leading portals in India are relishing this attention. Rediff saw an increase of over 70 per cent in online revenue on its India operations in 2004. Yahoo! India saw a 100 per cent growth in advertising in 2004. Indiatimes.com, the online operations of one of India's leading media groups, estimated total advertising on its site to be around $3.5 mn-$4.6 mn in 2004.
On the other hand, younger viewers are drifting away from TV, spending more time online. They're using the Web to socialise and communicate, downloading songs, listening to radio and podcasts, and playing online games. It won't be long before they turn to the Web for longer-form video and TV, thanks to the rise of broadband. In the US, among 25-34-year-olds, almost a third of viewing now takes place away from the TV set, according to a survey by branded content specialist Contentworx. Instead they are using PCs, mobile phones and handheld computers, the survey found, with results that will make interesting reading for broadcasters and advertisers.
The same trend has been catching up fast in Indian. The restless Gen Y prefers internet to TV. “TV viewing in India is still a family affair. You have to fight for the remote with your family members. Besides, my favourite programmes are broadcast at fixed timing. Surfing the net is more personalised. I can view whatever I want at my own convenient time,” says Rajeev Malhotra, student of Delhi University.
Traditional media, however, is still not ready to accept the challenge thrown by internet. In fact, barring a few many of them hardly take it as a challenge.
“I do not think internet can match the popularity of television or print media. Go to the interiors of India and you will hardly find anyone surfing,” says Sameep Rajguru of Aaj Tak.
Rezaul Lashkar of Indo-Asian News Service does not see the Net as a threat to traditional media. “Every form of media has its own advantages and disadvantages. They all can co-exist or rather they complement each other,” he says.
Despite these sceptical views emanating from traditional media workers, the success of www.indiatimes.com, which is one of its kind website in the world, forces everyone to cast aside apprehensions about the future of internet as a new age media. In fact, Indiatimes is the most diversified internet company in the world, a model, which even Murdoch is trying to follow.
“When it comes to getting the latest news, I prefer logging on to a website than to switch on my TV. I can at least log on to the news that interests me instead of being forced to watch Karishma's spat with husband as breaking news,” says Manoj Das, AGM, Nedfi.
“The most visible advantage of internet is its accessibility. Whenever I go abroad, the only media, which keeps me abreast of Indian political scenario is the internet,” says Sandeep Phukan of NDTV.
Copyright © 2005, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Source: The Economic Times (www.economictimes.com)
Jumat, 01 Juli 2005
Paying bloggers to advertise
For a fee, some blogs boost firms
Concerns raised on disclosure
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | June 26, 2005
Jeff Cutler has never purchased anything from Dot Flowers, but you might think otherwise, reading the Hingham resident's blog.
''No more driving to the corner to buy flowers and hand-deliver them," he wrote on his Web page. ''Nope. Now I go online to places like Dot Flowers.com and 1-800-Flowers. I like Dot a little better just because of the personal touch."
Dot Flowers's ad agency paid Cutler $5 this spring to promote the florist and put a link to its website on his blog, or online journal, short for web log. Cutler, who does not disclose the payment on his blog, is one of more than 2,000 bloggers whom marketer USWeb enlisted to hawk products and services. That helped the nascent florist double its sales in the first three months and shoot up near the top of Google's search list, according to USWeb.
Yes, corporate America has discovered the blog and found that the grass-roots medium for supposedly unadulterated opinions is also a powerful marketing tool in a country where about 37 million Americans read these online journals. Even the state of Pennsylvania has joined in, offering free vacations to people who blog on its tourism site.
The blog, in many ways, is the perfect marketing tool: original, personal, and cheap. It has grown popular as advertisers find it harder to capture consumers' attention in a fragmented media market that is making traditional television and newspaper advertising less effective. But despite their foray into advertising, blogs remain an unregulated forum.
With a growing number of businesses using blogs to help promote their products, sometimes in ways that are not very transparent, it is increasingly difficult to discern who or what is behind a blogger's pitch, be it for a museum exhibit or flower company.
Concerns about disclosure have even reached the Federal Election Commission, which is holding hearings this week, in part, to discuss whether to require bloggers to disclose funds they receive from political campaigns. Disclosure became an issue in South Dakota's US Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune last year, when the Thune campaign paid two political bloggers to scrutinize Daschle, who was defeated. The compensation did not come to light until campaign finance reports were filed.
''People should be trained to take what they read with a grain of salt," said Cutler, 40, who also was paid to promote credit cards and car insurance on his blog, www.jeffcutler.com. ''A person is not spending their time to throw something up on the Internet unless they have an objective or an ulterior motive. For me, it was making a few bucks and disciplining my writing."
For other bloggers, the compensation can be a windfall. Somerville resident Susan Kaup received $2,100 this winter for writing a dozen times about Marqui -- a Portland, Ore., marketing software company -- and linking to its website on her blog, www.sooz.com. Though Marqui disclosed it was paying bloggers, Kaup did not always mention the compensation on her site
Blogger Linnea Sheldon, 26, of Worcester, has scored nearly $200 in complimentary tickets to events around Massachusetts in exchange for writing about them on her blog, www.linneadates.com, which details her dating life.
''There are freebies everywhere that all different people take advantage of," said Sheldon, who usually discloses that she receives free tickets. ''It is simply a way of getting the word out."
A growing number of companies are also setting up their own online journals and giving bloggers full-time jobs. Earlier this month, Country Music Television disclosed that had it signed a $100,000 contract with a fan of ''The Dukes of Hazzard" to blog daily about the show.
Though many companies involved in blogging spend a fraction of their budgets on these promotions, Forrester Research Inc. reported last month that 64 percent of marketers surveyed are interested in advertising in blogs, the highest percentage compared with other emerging interactive channels, such as instant messaging or video on demand.
Marketers say that bloggers are viewed as opinion influencers and trendsetters and that getting them to write about a product or service is an effective way to spread the word. The blogosphere also offers access to a key demographic: young people. According to Forrester, young adults between ages 18 and 24 make up one-quarter of all adult bloggers.
''Blogs are the hottest area online," said John Cate, vice president of national media for Carat Interactive, a marketing firm that recently launched a blogging division in San Francisco. ''There's real power to be able to speak to and listen to influencers like bloggers."
The more companies can get bloggers to link to their websites, the higher their sites will appear on Google's search list. Google ranks its listings, in part, on how many Web pages link to a website. So paying $5 to a few thousand bloggers is a small price for companies such as Dot Flowers to move up closer to the first page of results in a Google search.
For that reason, some advertisers joke that blog actually is an acronym for ''better listing on Google."
Two weeks after Marqui launched its program to pay bloggers in November, the company's Google results skyrocketed to 278,000 from 2,040, said spokeswoman Tara Smith.
While Marqui remains open about paying bloggers, not all companies are so forthcoming. Though laws exist to protect consumers from deceptive practices and false advertising in other media outlets, there is no formal oversight in the blogosphere.
For now, self-regulation rules. ''We try to be as ethical as possible," said Ed Shull, chief executive at USWeb, the ad agency that pays bloggers to post about Dot Flowers and other companies.
''In our opinion, paying bloggers is no different than Tiger Woods getting money to wear the Nike logo."
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
This news article is taken from www.boston.com
Concerns raised on disclosure
By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | June 26, 2005
Jeff Cutler has never purchased anything from Dot Flowers, but you might think otherwise, reading the Hingham resident's blog.
''No more driving to the corner to buy flowers and hand-deliver them," he wrote on his Web page. ''Nope. Now I go online to places like Dot Flowers.com and 1-800-Flowers. I like Dot a little better just because of the personal touch."
Dot Flowers's ad agency paid Cutler $5 this spring to promote the florist and put a link to its website on his blog, or online journal, short for web log. Cutler, who does not disclose the payment on his blog, is one of more than 2,000 bloggers whom marketer USWeb enlisted to hawk products and services. That helped the nascent florist double its sales in the first three months and shoot up near the top of Google's search list, according to USWeb.
Yes, corporate America has discovered the blog and found that the grass-roots medium for supposedly unadulterated opinions is also a powerful marketing tool in a country where about 37 million Americans read these online journals. Even the state of Pennsylvania has joined in, offering free vacations to people who blog on its tourism site.
The blog, in many ways, is the perfect marketing tool: original, personal, and cheap. It has grown popular as advertisers find it harder to capture consumers' attention in a fragmented media market that is making traditional television and newspaper advertising less effective. But despite their foray into advertising, blogs remain an unregulated forum.
With a growing number of businesses using blogs to help promote their products, sometimes in ways that are not very transparent, it is increasingly difficult to discern who or what is behind a blogger's pitch, be it for a museum exhibit or flower company.
Concerns about disclosure have even reached the Federal Election Commission, which is holding hearings this week, in part, to discuss whether to require bloggers to disclose funds they receive from political campaigns. Disclosure became an issue in South Dakota's US Senate race between Tom Daschle and John Thune last year, when the Thune campaign paid two political bloggers to scrutinize Daschle, who was defeated. The compensation did not come to light until campaign finance reports were filed.
''People should be trained to take what they read with a grain of salt," said Cutler, 40, who also was paid to promote credit cards and car insurance on his blog, www.jeffcutler.com. ''A person is not spending their time to throw something up on the Internet unless they have an objective or an ulterior motive. For me, it was making a few bucks and disciplining my writing."
For other bloggers, the compensation can be a windfall. Somerville resident Susan Kaup received $2,100 this winter for writing a dozen times about Marqui -- a Portland, Ore., marketing software company -- and linking to its website on her blog, www.sooz.com. Though Marqui disclosed it was paying bloggers, Kaup did not always mention the compensation on her site
Blogger Linnea Sheldon, 26, of Worcester, has scored nearly $200 in complimentary tickets to events around Massachusetts in exchange for writing about them on her blog, www.linneadates.com, which details her dating life.
''There are freebies everywhere that all different people take advantage of," said Sheldon, who usually discloses that she receives free tickets. ''It is simply a way of getting the word out."
A growing number of companies are also setting up their own online journals and giving bloggers full-time jobs. Earlier this month, Country Music Television disclosed that had it signed a $100,000 contract with a fan of ''The Dukes of Hazzard" to blog daily about the show.
Though many companies involved in blogging spend a fraction of their budgets on these promotions, Forrester Research Inc. reported last month that 64 percent of marketers surveyed are interested in advertising in blogs, the highest percentage compared with other emerging interactive channels, such as instant messaging or video on demand.
Marketers say that bloggers are viewed as opinion influencers and trendsetters and that getting them to write about a product or service is an effective way to spread the word. The blogosphere also offers access to a key demographic: young people. According to Forrester, young adults between ages 18 and 24 make up one-quarter of all adult bloggers.
''Blogs are the hottest area online," said John Cate, vice president of national media for Carat Interactive, a marketing firm that recently launched a blogging division in San Francisco. ''There's real power to be able to speak to and listen to influencers like bloggers."
The more companies can get bloggers to link to their websites, the higher their sites will appear on Google's search list. Google ranks its listings, in part, on how many Web pages link to a website. So paying $5 to a few thousand bloggers is a small price for companies such as Dot Flowers to move up closer to the first page of results in a Google search.
For that reason, some advertisers joke that blog actually is an acronym for ''better listing on Google."
Two weeks after Marqui launched its program to pay bloggers in November, the company's Google results skyrocketed to 278,000 from 2,040, said spokeswoman Tara Smith.
While Marqui remains open about paying bloggers, not all companies are so forthcoming. Though laws exist to protect consumers from deceptive practices and false advertising in other media outlets, there is no formal oversight in the blogosphere.
For now, self-regulation rules. ''We try to be as ethical as possible," said Ed Shull, chief executive at USWeb, the ad agency that pays bloggers to post about Dot Flowers and other companies.
''In our opinion, paying bloggers is no different than Tiger Woods getting money to wear the Nike logo."
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.
© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.
This news article is taken from www.boston.com
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