Electronic marketing, or e-marketing, refers to marketing activities conducted through using the internet and related tools.
There are many tools that can be used to create an effective e-marketing mix; these include blogs, websites, online social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr and e-newsletters. These tools are drastically changing the way people and businesses communicate.
Online social networks and blogs are internet forums that allow people from across the world to meet in the same virtual space, to converse, develop friendships, or just share information about their topics of choice.
Businesses of all sizes around the world have began to realise how much impact social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr can have on their businesses and consumers. For instance, Cape Town Tourism’s web site, www.capetown.travel, currently attracts around 60 000 unique visits from about 50 000 different people around the world each month. Its Facebook fan page alone boasts nearly 60 000 fans. Cape Town Tourism has more than 1 800 followers on Twitter, as well as over 100 subscribers on video channel, YouTube, with more than 2 000 channel views. The organisation’s official Flickr group has nearly 600 members and more than 10 000 images of Cape Town have been uploaded by the group’s members, proving that integrated, e-marketing tools can be very effective and expose a brand to a wide audience.
Market segmentation has become very important, as people demand more tailored information about services and goods. One way to satisfy this need is by creating and distributing e-newsletters. These can be tailored as per the recipient’s requests. In April, Flow sent out its first e-newsletter to its clients and other stakeholders, to inform them of the organisation’s progress, milestones and current projects. The newsletter serves as an additional form of communication with clients and associates. It also re-affirms Flow’s commitment to client satisfaction and transparency. These particular e-marketing tools are becoming even more popular, as they are “green”, not needing to be printed out on paper to be read.
As more consumers gain access to computers and the internet each day, e-marketing’s growth potential is unimaginable. Marketing is also becoming a more complex discipline, increasingly reflecting diverse consumer choice rather than just what producers think will sell.