UNIT 03

E MARKETING M COMMERCE

What is Traditional Marketing?

The term traditional is in itself a broad term which incorporates different forms of advertising
and marketing. Traditional marketing is very much important for the development of any
business instead of the progress of new technology of online marketing. Mostly traditional
marketing fall under four categories:
 Print- This includes posting advertisements in magazine, newsletter, newspaper,
brochure, and other printed materials that are used for distribution.
 Direct Mail- The direct mail technique includes fliers, letters, brochures, postcards,
catalogs, and other materials that are printed and mailed directly to the customers or
targeted consumers.
 Broadcast- Broadcasting includes advertisements shown on television and radio and
other methods of advertising such as on-screen commercials in theatres.
 Telemarketing- This involves people who do cold calling to targeted consumers over the
phone to build up the rapport for growing of the business.

Advantages of Traditional Marketing

The advantages of traditional marketing over digital marketing are discussed below:
 Reach local audience: Use of traditional marketing can make your task easy to reach the
local audience. Radio is definitely the best option and the quickest way to advertise your
business and put across your message.
 Reuse and recycling possible: Online marketing will not require any physical material
like posters or pamphlets, but the sole advantage of having hard copies of the advertised
material is an added benefit. The fliers, posters, pamphlets, etc. can be reused and re-read
anytime and anywhere wherever you are located and for this, no internet connection is
required. These promotional media can also be kept for future use and recycled.
 Familiar marketing mode: Traditional marketing is a familiar mode of advertisement
for older people and businessmen, as they don’t need any explanation about the
promotional material. They will accept the flier or pamphlet distributed, and will read it
whenever they get time and in no time, the old people would understand that it is an
advertisement for any brand or a product. Digital marketing is not a cup of tea for older
customers.

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  Hard copy easily processed: Traditional hard copy marketing is always easy to process
mentally and recall in future.
 Greater exposure: Traditional marketing always has a high success rate. This method of
marketing is tried and tested method, and thus every businessman believes that the
traditional method will prove and provide them success. Online marketing might reach
most of the population, but there is no guarantee of reaching it to all the targeted
audience.
 New audiences: Traditional marketing will allow you to reach a large population and
across many demographics. You can use billboards, television, and radio for
advertisement. These will also spread your message across the various geographical area
and also reach your targeted audience, and it might be possible that new audiences might
get connected to your brand and business.

Disadvantages of Traditional Marketing

Although traditional marketing has been getting success in the past, there are some disadvantages
of traditional marketing too due to the increasing use of the internet in recent years. The
beginning of the enormous use of the internet, use of smartphones, iPods, tablets, and social
networking sites, small businessmen are also able to advertise their products using websites and
web pages through banners, social sites such as Face book, WhatsApp, Twitter, podcasts. These
cost less compared to traditional marketing. Some of the disadvantages of traditional marketing
are discussed below:
 Static text: In traditional marketing, static text is used for advertisement. For example, if
you place an ad for your product in a newspaper and you run out of stock, then you
cannot edit your ad, and there will be many unhappy customers, and in this method, you
cannot interact with the customer. But in digital marketing, you can immediately update
your page or site about the stock and let your customers know about the situation.
 Lack of time to update message: In traditional marketing, you will not get time to
respond to the changes you wish to make in the advertisement as compared to the new
modern online marketing. In the traditional advertisement, you need to prepare your ad
well in advance even though if you want to publish your ad in the daily newspaper. While
by using the internet, small businessmen can easily change their ad in a few minutes.
 Expensive compared to online marketing: For putting ads on newspapers, or
distributing any flyer or pamphlet, you need to pay for it every time you plan for running
a campaign. But in online marketing, for any changes in the website, you don’t require
any additional costs. This can be done easily by the team who are working for sales of
your product. Traditional marketing companies will charge you for each delivery of fliers
and mailers, whereas in online marketing your ad is open to the entire World Wide Web.
 Customized Marketing not possible: In traditional marketing, the specific customer
cannot be targeted; the only specific market can be targeted. For example, in traditional
marketing, an ad is created for young ladies of a new style of purse or handbag. But in
online marketing, you can look at what a viewer is looking for and thus suggest products
of her choice.
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  Provide less information: In traditional marketing, it is difficult to present complex
pricing options and offers for the product. The print media does not have enough space to
display all the different variations of the price and other offers, which might appeal to the
buyers. In the case of online marketing, you can offer your customer with various options
and appeal them to buy your product.
 Conversion of traditional media to online marketing: In recent times, many traditional
marketing methods such as newspaper, magazines are now going online so that people
can read the news wherever they are as nowadays internet is also available to most of the
population.
 Ignorance of traditional methods: Most people tend to ignore or skip the advertisement
more easily, such as they might not read the ad on the billboard or banner, change the
channel of the television when the advertisement or commercial is shown, etc.
 Forced on the consumer: Traditional marketing is mostly forced on the customer, as it
is a part of their daily life. This type of marketing has a low response rate

ADVANTAGES OF INTERNET MARKETING FOR YOUR BUSINESS

1. Convenience and Quick Service
The incredible convenience of marketing online is one of the biggest advantages of internet
marketing. The internet has extremely easy accessibility with consumers using the internet and
reaching markets anywhere in the world. Because of this, purchasing goods from across borders
now reduces the cost of transportation.

For importers, this is a huge advantage as it means they can order online right from the comforts
of their home. In addition, you can easily track sales items online as they make their way into
delivery. You can download digital products from the internet with just a click of a mouse.
Internet marketing is great for business as it gives consumers a better and more comfortable
shopping experience.

2. Low Cost for Operations

One of the main advantages of online marketing for businesses is its low operating cost. You can
advertise cheaper with internet marketing than with traditional methods of advertisement such as
ads in newspapers, on television and on the radio. In online marketing, you can easily get a free
listing in a wide range of business directories.

In addition, the internet allows you to contact your customers more in comparison to how you
would contact them traditionally. Online communication is more affordable than traditional
communication methods such as sending mail and printing brochures. For example, you can send
the same information in an email rather than a mail-out, saving you on printing, paper, and
postage.

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3. Measure and Track Results
An aspect of internet marketing that is rarely available with traditional marketing is the ability to
measure and track results. With online marketing, your business can utilize varying tools for
tracking results of your advertising campaigns. Using these tools, not only can you measure and
track but also illustrate the progress of your marketing campaign in detailed graphics.

Measuring and tracking results gives your business a better idea of how your marketing
campaign is faring. It gives you an idea of how you can better grow your traffic, leads, sales, and
conversions. Without the ability to measure and track your results, you cannot alter or modify
your marketing campaign so that it can better deliver the results you desire.

4. Demographic Targeting
Marketing your products and services online gives you the ability to target audience based on
demography. This allows you to concentrate your efforts on the audience that you truly want to
offer your products or services. With demographic targeting, you can better target your
marketing efforts on specific demographic regions.

Demographic targeting gives you the ability to target specific customers you think are likely to
purchase your product or hire your services. Every time someone visits your website and fills in
a form, it gives you an idea of who your customers really are and lets you discover important
details about them such as age and interests, which better shapes your services to match their
needs.

5. Global Marketing
The ability to market your products and services globally is one of the biggest advantages of
global marketing for business. Within several months of aggressive SEO, you can secure
millions of viewers and reach huge audiences from across the world.

With internet marketing, you can easily reach beyond your geography to offer your products or
services to customers worldwide. Wherever your target audiences are, you can easily reach them
24/7 and from any country all over the world. If your audience consists of more than your local
market, utilizing global marketing offers you a great advantage.

6. Ability to Multitask
One of the core benefits of online marketing is its ability to handling millions of customers at the
same time. As long as a website’s infrastructure is efficient, numerous transactions can easily
take place simultaneously.
However, even with a large number of transactions taking place, your website is capable of
providing satisfactory service to every customer who makes a purchase online, without the risk
of diminished satisfaction. This high adaptability of internet marketing is an important benefit
that businesses can take advantage of to provide their consumers the best shopping experience.

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7. 24/7 Marketing
Internet marketing reduces cost and runs around the clock. That means that your marketing
campaigns run for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Compared to traditional marketing, internet
marketing does not constrain you with opening hours. At the same time, you would not be
worrying about overtime pay for your staff.

In addition to this, there is no regional or international time difference for you to worry about
that will affect the reach ability or availability of your offers or online campaigns. Whenever
someone opens their computer and connects to the internet, there is a higher chance of them
seeing your marketing campaign. Furthermore, customers can look for your product at their most
convenient time.

8. Automated, Tech-Savvy Marketing

Another advantage of internet marketing is that marketing this way is easy with a one-mouse-
click automation. Compared to traditional offline marketing where marketers delegate various
tasks to the best hands and talents, internet marketing takes advantage of a more tech-savvy
method. With internet marketing, everything can go automated.

Internet marketing gives you the chance to turn every aspect of your business’s operations into a
fully automated system. All you need to do is find the right tool and technology suited to your
marketing campaign and you are done. By automating your marketing campaign, you can choose
to do something more valuable with your time.

9. Data Collection for Personalization

Transactions through the internet allow you to collect data. Whenever a customer purchases a
product through a company’s website, the data is captured. Your business can use this data in
varying ways. Most businesses analyze the data to find out what product and/or services sell
frequently.

Furthermore, the data collected can help segment customers, so your business can send them ads
and other promotional materials based on their buying habits and interests. There are various
ways that you can collect customer data including customer profiles or through their behaviour
while on your website.

10. Diversified Marketing and Advertising

When targeting your audience, diversification plays an important role in your marketing and
advertising campaigns. Diversification means that you can use a variety of tactics and strategies
in order to reach your prospects. With online marketing, diversification becomes a lot easier. In
addition to that, it is possible for you to run varying marketing techniques simultaneously to
better implement your marketing campaign.

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11. Easy Tweaking to Your Marketing and Advertising Campaigns
It is inevitable in marketing and advertising that something needs to be tweaked in order to
optimize your campaigns. Compared to traditional marketing, online advertising is much easier
to tweak. Whenever the campaign needs to be modified, online marketing allows the
modification to happen without having to worry about downtime, service interruption or even
halting the entire system.

This means that you can easily change the appearance of your online shopping mall – your
website – by changing a few lines in the CSS that link to the web page.

12. Instant Transaction Service

Executing transactions is easy and nearly instant online. You can do this through a digital
payment service so that there is no need for a cash to go between the marketer and the customer
to buy and sell merchandise. This is all possible due to payment processing solutions executed by
third party payment processing companies such as PayPal.

13. Better Sales Relationships

In traditional marketing, merchants often give their business cards or pamphlets to their
customers after a sale. However, what happens is often on such occasions, the customers lose the
cards or misplace it. The only time the seller would remember about the card was if they had the
intention of visiting the seller again.

In the end, most customers do not remember the seller much less the card, so this marketing
method does not work to convince buyers to return. This is different with internet marketing
where the marketers can easily collect email addresses of their prospects and buyers, which they
can use in reaching out and forming a relationship with the customer.

The marketer can use this email address to provide customers with valuable information such as
information about the purchased product, available coupons on their products and services,
special discounts and introducing new products. Aside from email addresses, they can also use
social media for consistent interaction with customers.

14. Time-Effective Marketing

Unlike traditional marketing, internet marketing is easy to start and quick to implement. You can
easily set up a marketing campaign at any time that is convenient for you. In fact, you can set up
email marketing for your business within only a matter of hours. Within the next few minutes,
you can setup an auto responder and create a marketing list for your business.

15. Continued Marketing Campaign

Marketing campaign’s later effects are one of the greatest advantages of internet marketing for
business. For example, content marketing efforts, such as blogs, and websites have the capacity
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to remain functional and promote your products and services years after you started your
marketing campaign. Almost every online marketing technique has viral and long-term effects
that can continually improve your site’s traffic.

Online marketing offers you a variety of benefits. If you’re looking for better ways to reach out
to your audience, Edkent Media is here to help. There are many services to choose from
including email marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization and pay per click
marketing. Get in touch today.

Marketing Mix Definition:

The marketing mix definition is simple. It is about putting the right product or
a combination thereof in the place, at the right time, and at the right price. The
difficult part is doing this well, as you need to know every aspect of your
business plan.

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As we noted before, the marketing mix is predominately associated with the
4P’s of marketing, the 7P’s of service marketing, and the 4 Cs theories
developed in the 1990s.:

Marketing Mix 4P's

1 Marketing Mix – Product

A product is an item that is built or produced to satisfy the needs of a certain group of people.
The product can be intangible or tangible as it can be in the form of services or goods.

You must ensure to have the right type of product that is in demand for your market. So during
the product development phase, the marketer must do an extensive research on the life cycle of
the product that they are creating.

All in all, marketers must ask themselves the question “what can I do to offer a better product to
this group of people than my competitors”.

In developing the right product, you have to answer the following questions:

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  What does the client want from the service or product?
 How will the customer use it?
 Where will the client use it?
 What features must the product have to meet the client’s needs?
 Are there any necessary features that you missed out?
 Are you creating features that are not needed by the client?
 What’s the name of the product?
 Does it have a catchy name?
 What are the sizes or colors available?
 How is the product different from the products of your competitors?
 What does the product look like?

#2 Marketing Mix – Price

The price of the product is basically the amount that a customer pays for to enjoy it. Price is a
very important component of the marketing mix definition.

It is also a very important component of a marketing plan as it determines your firm’s profit and
survival. Adjusting the price of the product has a big impact on the entire marketing strategy as
well as greatly affecting the sales and demand of the product.

This is inherently a touchy area though. If a company is new to the market and has not made a
name for themselves yet, it is unlikely that your target market will be willing to pay a high price.

When setting the product price, marketers should consider the perceived value that the product
offers. There are three major pricing strategies, and these are:

 Market penetration pricing

 Market skimming pricing
 Neutral pricing

Here are some of the important questions that you should ask yourself when you are setting the
product price:

 How much did it cost you to produce the product?

 What is the customers’ perceived product value?
 Do you think that the slight price decrease could significantly increase your market
share?
 Can the current price of the product keep up with the price of the product’s competitors?

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#3 Marketing Mix – Place

Placement or distribution is a very important part of the product mix definition. You have to
position and distribute the product in a place that is accessible to potential buyers.

This comes with a deep understanding of your target market. Understand them inside out and
you will discover the most efficient positioning and distribution channels that directly speak with
your market.

There are many distribution strategies, including:

 Intensive distribution
 Exclusive distribution
 Selective distribution
 Franchising

Here are some of the questions that you should answer in developing your distribution strategy:

 Where do your clients look for your service or product?

 What kind of stores do potential clients go to? Do they shop in a mall, in a regular brick
and mortar store, in the supermarket, or online?
 How do you access the different distribution channels?
 How is your distribution strategy different from your competitors?
 Do you need a strong sales force?
 Do you need to attend trade fairs?
 Do you need to sell in an online store?

#4 Marketing Mix – Promotion

Promotion is a very important component of marketing as it can boost brand recognition and
sales. Promotion is comprised of various elements like:

 Sales Organization
 Public Relations
 Advertising
 Sales Promotion
Advertising typically covers communication methods that are paid for like television
advertisements, radio commercials, print media, and internet advertisements. In contemporary
times, there seems to be a shift in focus offline to the online world.

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Public relations, on the other hand, are communications that are typically not paid for. This
includes press releases, exhibitions, sponsorship deals, seminars, conferences, and events.

Word of mouth is also a type of product promotion. Word of mouth is an informal

communication about the benefits of the product by satisfied customers and ordinary individuals.
The sales staff plays a very important role in public relations and word of mouth.

In creating an effective product promotion strategy, you need to answer the following questions:

 How can you send marketing messages to your potential buyers?

 When is the best time to promote your product?
 Will you reach your potential audience and buyers through television ads?
 Is it best to use the social media in promoting the product?
 What is the promotion strategy of your competitors?
Your combination of promotional strategies and how you go about promotion will depend on
your budget, the message you want to communicate, and the target market you have defined
already in previous steps.

Marketing Mix 7P's

The 7Ps model is a marketing model that modifies the 4Ps model. The 7Ps is generally used in
the service industries.

Here is the expansions from the 4Ps to the 7Ps marketing model:

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#5 Marketing Mix – People

Of both target market and people directly related to the business.

Thorough research is important to discover whether there are enough people in your target
market that is in demand for certain types of products and services.

The company’s employees are important in marketing because they are the ones who deliver the
service. It is important to hire and train the right people to deliver superior service to the clients,
whether they run a support desk, customer service, copywriters, programmers…etc.

When a business finds people who genuinely believe in the products or services that the
particular business creates, it's is highly likely that the employees will perform the best they can.

6 Marketing Mix – Process

The systems and processes of the organization affect the execution of the service.

So, you have to make sure that you have a well-tailored process in place to minimize costs.

It could be your entire sales funnel, a pay system, distribution system and other systematic
procedures and steps to ensure a working business that is running effectively.

Tweaking and enhancements can come later to “tighten up” a business to minimize costs and
maximise profits.

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7 Marketing Mix – Physical Evidence

In the service industries, there should be physical evidence that the service was delivered.
Additionally, physical evidence pertains also to how a business and it's products are perceived in
the marketplace.

It is the physical evidence of a business' presence and establishment. A concept of this is

branding. For example, when you think of “fast food”, you think of McDonalds.

When you think of sports, the names Nike and Adidas come to mind.

You immediately know exactly what their presence is in the marketplace, as they are generally
market leaders and have established a physical evidence as well as psychological evidence in
their marketing.

They have manipulated their consumer perception so well to the point where their brands appear
first in line when an individual is asked to broadly “name a brand” in their niche or industry.

Digital Marketing Trends for 2019

As digital trends evolve every year, marketers should always be aware of the changes in order to
easily adapt with emerging technologies and stay ahead in the market. This will help them gain a
competitive edge and become able to develop new ways to grow their businesses, generate leads
and improve the relationship with their existing customers.

1. Voice Search
Voice search is undoubtedly rising in popularity. By 2020, 50% of all queries will be voice-
based according to Comscore.

There are mainly two types of voice search: Those that are implemented by smart speakers such
as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple Homepod, Google Home and Microsoft’s Cortana which give
searchers immediate voice answers to their questions and those that are installed in desktops, and
smartphones such as Siri and Google Assistant which display written search results

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2. Smarter Chat
Chatbots have been rising in the few recent years and still persists in 2019. According to Grand
View Research, 45% of end users prefer to use Chatbots as a major means of communication in
customer service.

Chatbots play a critical role in improving the customer experience and allow marketers to better
engage with their audience - without really doing much. They offer real-time assistance to the
user, dedicated support and a proactive interactions where they ask questions to understand the
real problem.

3. Micro-Moments
As more users are processing their online activities using their smartphones, marketers continue
to leverage micro-moments to attract their audience’s attention and fulfill their instant decisions.

Whenever a customer searches for something, looks for a nearby store, wants to finalize a task or
makes a purchase, marketers can take advantage of these types of micro-moments to
create targeted content and advertising.

4. Augmented and Virtual Reality Marketing

Augmented reality ads are one of the major applications that are now used by some marketers.
It’s a way to bring static or unreal environments into a more realistic experience, something that
would integrate the "offer" with the "reality" of the buyer.

Michael Kors is a successful example of augmented reality ads. They created an ad on Facebook
asking their users to try and purchase their sunglasses.

5. Live Videos - More Stories

Thanks to Facebook, Instagram and Youtube, live content is the fastest growing segment of
internet video traffic due to the remarkable waves in the recent 3 years.

Live streaming content is effective because it’s free, takes a short time to produce while it offers
a real-time user engagement, and viewers use your content based on your time not theirs.

6. AI and Machine Learning

With global leaders like Amazon, Microsoft and Google extending their resources in AI and
machine learning, this trend is not going away anytime soon.

AI allows marketers to anticipate future probable patterns of their customers based on collected
data.

With this data, marketers can then determine how to better engage with their active buyers using
different channels such as direct mail, sales outreach, or digital advertising.
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7. Engagement-Based Email Marketing
As email marketing is getting smarter, marketers have started to care more about sending emails
to subscribers who are active on their lists. For instance, if a contact highly engages with your
emails, he should be regularly nurtured with content and updates about your company until he
converts into a loyal customer. On the other hand, if a subscriber hasn’t opened an email for a
certain period of time, he will be considered as a dormant contact and will no longer receive
additional emails.

8. Rich Lead Profiling

Offered by companies that collect and manage complex data for millions of leads and businesses,
data enrichment has become more and more important. Marketers use data enrichment to reveal
more details about their leads and personalize their approach when attempting to contact them.
The great advantages of data enrichment is that it removes any wrong or inaccurate information
that companies might have about a specific lead such as his email, phone number or street
address.

9. Browser Push Notifications

Push notifications are moving into the realm of web browser technology and are one of the most
popular web development trends for 2019.

Companies use browser push notifications to reach their leads more effectively and communicate
with their audience in a more powerful way.

Another major role such notifications play is retaining customers and improving conversion
rates. Ecommerce companies for example, use browser push to retarget their shoppers who
abandoned their shopping carts and entice them to complete their purchases.

10. Content Personalization

As one size doesn’t fit all and customers want more relevancy, the need for a personalized
approach in marketing is becoming more critical than ever. Although delivering the right
content to the right audience at the right time is tricky, it will add a big value to your content
marketing strategy because it plays a major role in boosting your users engagement rates.

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Methods of advertising
1. Target your audience
This strategy is the foundation to fabricate an effective brand image. If you do not target a
specific audience for your product, you are utilizing resources in vain.

Many businesses miss on this important aspect of campaigning.

Based on your existing customer profile you can target audience with similar psychographics and
convert more leads to prospects and then to customers.
Be it online or offline, make sure the presentation and visuals of your brand intrigue your
customers.

2. Personal Branding
As digital marketers, do we even have to think twice before saying Neil Patel and how he
channelized his popularity to build a multi-million dollar empire?
That is how amazingly this technique works. Branding yourself helps you leverage your
personality to gain trust and credibility.
The way you present yourself determines if or not people will want to buy from you. As it’s easy
to predict your viewpoints once they see you and listen to you.

Boring as it might seem in fiction, predictability is all what people want in real life.

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The technical structure of your site determines the search position ranking of your website.

This structure is fabricated by SEO to bring your website under the lens of the search engine.
It is a form of paid online advertising which is achieved through optimization of the content on
the website. It helps generate more targeted traffic.

4. Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads

Pay per click ads is the inorganic mode, used to drive traffic to a website. As an advertiser you
pay the publisher when the ad is clicked by a user. PPC basically means the amount spent to get
a click on the ad.
The advertiser bids on the keywords specific to the target audience. Bidding implies the amount
he is willing to pay the advertising service for a click.

5. Native Ads
These kind of paid ads are embedded onto the website in a way that they blend in with its visuals
and functioning. Hence, the name native ads.

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6. Social Media Marketing
Social media is the heart of the marketing system. You have the scope of pumping your content
through various channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram depending on the brand
personality and the target audience.
This method might not get you quick results but has the maximum potential for a long sustaining
brand image. Not to mention, your content is your trump card here. It is important that you give
your audience a delightful experience.

This method helps gain visibility and drives brand equity. Given the reach of social media, you
can build inbound traffic using your syndicates.

7. Email Marketing
For this one to work, you need a strong follower’s base.

Mind you! Email marketing can be tedious but has potential for ROI.
Keep content easy on the eyes and brand at the top of the mind.

Poor content quality will not leave you without your targets marking you as spam.

Target your purchase lead list or those in the current customer database.

Email marketing increases trustworthiness and enhances the chance of repeat business. It
psychologically moulds the customer to believe that you value the relationship with them
causing them to stay loyal and be your verbal advocates.

8. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a kind of outsourcing program which emerged as a result of market
complexity.

This is a performance based strategy whose success lies in the efforts of the affiliate. The
affiliate gets the website visitors and buyers in return for a reward.
The merchant, network, publisher and the customer make up the core of the affiliate system.

9. Big Data
You may run as many ads online but if they are not seen by the right people, it is not a bang for
the buck.

You might have come across ads for products you just viewed on an e-commerce
website popping up on a different website you visit. Ever wondered why?
This is the result of up-front research of marketers and their inorganic marketing strategy put
together.

They make sure their ads are viewed by the target audience with the aid of big data.

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Big data is only a high-standard way of addressing a database containing relevant information,
gathered from various sources in abundance.

Advertisers use the big data information to run online advertisements on screens of the audience
of their interest.

For example,

They will use marketing data from different sources to determine the youth visiting a particular
website are also interested in music instruments. They will run music instruments on sale ads
micro-targeting that group.

10. Text Link Ads

This is basically hyperlinked text on a website or a blog. It works well in monetizing a website.
When visitors click the link, you as an advertiser have to pay the publisher of the blog or
website.

The pay is in accordance with the pay-per –click method.

The popularity of the blogger or the website on which you link these ads plays a crucial role.

In addition, these ads improve the search engine ranking of your content.

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Top 10 Most Important Applications of Mobile
Commerce
1. M-Commerce for finance
The customer (using the mobile) can pay from their bank account using mobile commerce
facilities. Mobile users can transfer funds between account or receive any information related to
finance from financial institutions or banks. WAP based mobile devices allow the user to access
the internet or the website of the financial institutions.

For example, a user of the credit card gets reminded from the institution stating the amount of
outstanding balance, minimum amount due and the due date. Likewise, when the customer pays
through cheque or when the payment is made by him, the institution sends an acknowledgement
through SMS stating the amount that has been received by the institution.

2. M-Commerce for Retail and After sale Services

Companies can also make online catalog of products so that the mobile users can access the
catalog from their mobile devices. Customers are able to shop, place orders or hire services and
pay for dues through mobile phones.

3. M-Commerce and Mobile Marketing

It is easy for business organizations to send text messages to promote a new product or carryout
any form of promotional campaign. For example, reliance fresh sends the customer an sms
stating the reward points earned by them when they purchase goods from reliance. Even if some
changes are brought in providing reward points, they are informed to the customer in order to
encourage sales.

4. M-Commerce and Mobile Ticketing

Airline tickets can be purchased through mobile phone. It also enables users of mobile phone to
make changes in their tickets. For example, With “flybuy SMS” launched by Kingfisher Airlines
and paymate, customers can get the details of Kingfisher airlines flights by sending SMS. The
customer can book the ticket after receiving a reply. Besides the above, movie tickets can also be
booked through mobile phones.

5. M-Commerce and Mobile Entertainment

Mobile terminal acts as a portable music player. Downloading ringtones has become successful
m-commerce application. Mobile phone manufacturers and wireless providers are making good
money by selling different kinds of customized ringtones.

6. M-Commerce for Hotel Reservations

Using mobile devices, customer can reserve for restaurants and hotels according to their needs.

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7. M-Commerce in Healthcare and Medicine
Wireless services are used in healthcare and medicine for billing, lab ordering, referrals,
prescriptions and clinical decisions. For example, in United States, healthcare
professionals are able to obtain patient information from any location by getting
connected wirelessly to the hospital’s information system. They are able to access the
pharmaceutical information of patients and provide better patient care.

8. M-commerce for Intra-Office Communication

Sales personnel, who are always on the move, may need to access to the company
information system to check price of products. But mobile allows the traveling sales
personnel to track inventory and maintain communication with seniors at ease.
Traveling salesmen do not have to wait for long to get approval from the seniors. Any
information could be transferred easily and quickly with the help of mobile devices. It
removes barriers in intra-office communication.

9. M-Commerce for Information

Mobiles enable customers to get information like sport news or political news of their
choice. For example, today through SMS, students are able to check their university
results or public examination results.

10. M-Commerce for Gaming

Customers can play multi player games through mobiles. Mobile games are very popular
with colourful displays and it generates good revenue.

Essential Marketing Strategies for Your ecommerce Business

1. Produce Original Content

The first step in setting up an eCommerce website is creating the content for it. Creating high-
quality and original content will set you up for success because it will resonate with your
customers in a way that makes them want to interact with you, purchase from you, and maintain
a following.
Be creative. Be original.
Promoting original content is a great way to make a statement, strike a compelling idea, and
make a mark on the user’s mind. There is a fine line between content that engages users and
content that deters them.
Why not take an extra step, put in a little effort, and create something that will be genuinely
compelling?

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2. Optimize your website layout

After launching your e-commerce site, it’s important to test your website’s layout, language, and
placement of conversion elements. When customers visit your website, you want to make sure
it’s easy and simple to check out, that they feel naturally inclined to purchase your products and
that it’s abundantly clear how to do so.
You should test the language displayed on your landing and product pages, the language in your
conversion elements, and even the strategic placement of icons and elements.
One really nifty tool is Mouseflow — a free heatmap software that reveals valuable patterns in
customer behavior on your website. One of their most popular heatmaps, the movement heatmap,
reveals the most attractive parts of your website — based on visitor movement data to your
website.

With a color guide, Mouseflow will tell you where your customers spend the most time, and the
least amount of time! If a specific area of your page receives more attention (in white), you
should consider moving your conversion elements to those more attractive areas.
Test it for a week and see how your conversions change. Mouseflow’s heatmaps can help
improve your conversions, increase sales, and keep prospects interested. Mouseflow is truly one
of your competitor’s best kept secrets — and they offer a free account, so there’s no cost to you.

3. Content Marketing

Proper content marketing can attract more positive attention, interaction, and sustainable
conversions in a way no other marketing method can. By creating and promoting original
content, you are ensuring that your audience is receiving new information that matters to them on
a continual basis.
Brainstorm with your team to create a list of the different types of content you wish to create.
This can be blog posts, videos, and newsletters. Also, make sure you are utilizing your marketing
budget by consulting with experts, outsourcing work when necessary. Invest in high-quality
software, subscriptions, employees, and training for your team.
You will also find that if you work with the right people, many of the things you’ve paid for in
the past can be done internally. Create diversity within your team and listen to everyone’s ideas.
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We also suggest that you create content based on Pareto’s 80/20 rule, which means that your
promotions should comprise of 80% informational content, and 20% promotional content. All of
the content you publish should be relevant, interesting, and unique.

4. Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a very powerful tool. It allows you to communicate with your
industry, customers, and market in a personal way. You can utilize social media to generate
engagement and interaction, boost traffic to your website, and develop a larger base of
customers.
Utilizing different social media platforms for different purposes also creates a rich presence for
your company that diversifies your abilities, efforts. This will ultimately help you cater to your
customers’ needs in a way that grows your business over time.
Maintaining a solid tone and personality of your company through social media is very important
because consistency is what will create trust within your audience. In order to develop and
maintain brand recognition and authority, make sure your outreach efforts are unified by
ensuring your team is on the same page with your company’s communication style.

5. Email Marketing

One of the most effective forms of reaching out to your customer base is through email
marketing. Although you have to be very careful about the content within your emails and who is
included in your outreach, the reason email marketing has been around for so long is because it
works.
In order to reach your audience most effectively, provide useful content within your emails.
Make them as personal as you can, offer valuable promotions, and use it as an opportunity to
socialize.
Open up about what your business is doing, any events you are attending, new features or
products, and be transparent about your company. You want to relate to your customers on a
level that gauges their interest and keeps them engaging with your emails.

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6. Search Engine Optimization

One of the most important and manual methods of optimizing a successful eCommerce website
is making sure it’s optimized for search engines. With today’s Search Engine Optimization
(SEO) standards, it’s now more important than ever to make sure your website is constantly
updated with rich and relevant content, promotes a good user experience (UX), and is optimized
to be as error-free as possible.
The content within your website should be rich, reliable, and provide information to the public
that is useful and relevant to what they’re looking for. For example, if you have an eCommerce
store selling camping supplies, it’s wise to provide detailed product information and possibly
even host sections of your website that offer generous amounts of content that elaborates on the
topics of camping, supplies, or related subjects. Using keywords within your content in a genuine
way will also flag your website as a matching result in search engines when users are looking for
something specific.

7. Pay-Per-Click Marketing

There are three basic elements to any pay-per-click marketing campaign: the ad, the offer, and
the landing page.
All three must be in good harmony and synchronization if you want to maintain the interest of
the lead. The landing page must be a continuation of your ad, delivering what was promised as
the reward of clicking on the ad, in order to take the visitor through your conversion funnel. It
must also be customized for keywords to appear somewhere near the top of search engine results.
Keep the landing page free of distractions and unnecessary bells and whistles. Also, keep in
mind that your landing page is the most appropriate place to boast your product benefits to the
customer.

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8. Optimize Your Marketing Efforts for Mobile Devices

It is absolutely crucial to make sure your website is responsive to any user layout. Mobile users
are starting to dominate the sea of internet use, and it’s important to accommodate their needs to
provide a good user experience (UX) for everyone.
People who visit your website do not want to be redirected to an app or web version of your
website, they want the full-meal-deal. So, make sure you deliver what they are expecting and
make the investment to enhance your website so that it’s fully responsive.
You can also use mobile marketing techniques to target mobile users specifically. One of the
most popular marketing trends is called geo-targeting, which advertises to mobile users based on
their location. This technique enables you to reach out to customers who are within a specific
distance of your business, and provide them with an incentive to stop by or make a purchase.

9. Target Wearable and VR Technology

Targeting wearable and Virtual Reality (VR) technology is a trending technique that grabs users
in a new and exciting way. People are still getting used to this technology, and are not yet
overwhelmed by or habituated to advertisements.
Your target audience for these mediums will be very refined, as these users are the part of the
population that carries the latest technology at the palm of their hands at all times, keeps up to
date with trends, and doesn’t mind dropping some extra cash for items they desire. Although
creating campaigns that are designed for these technologies can be expensive, the right approach
can be worth the initial investment because a filtered audience is more likely to convert.

10. Launch Stores on Multiple Platforms

Consumers have become the power player in the eCommerce industry. Which means your
business needs to stand out in a unique way. Because of this, it’s more important than ever to
customize your user experience (UX) to cater to the needs of your audience.
Make your outreach efforts personal by taking the time to learn about your customers. People
love it when they feel special, and if you make sure to add personal touches like addressing your
prospects by name, sharing videos and pictures of your employees, and being transparent about
your company processes and procedures, you will reap the benefits of a loyal customer base.
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All of this adds to the overall ‘face of the business’. This will hopefully make its way to the
hearts of your customers.

11. Retargeting

Customers who have already shown an interest in your website are more likely to make a later
purchase.
Retargeting is a technique that tracks customers who have visited your website and displays ads
to them while they’re browsing the internet with the intent of getting them back on your website.
When these visitors enter your website again, they are far more likely to make a purchase.
To effectively manage a retargeting campaign, make sure your ads are as specific as possible.
Was the customer looking at a specific product? Make sure the ads displayed to them are ads of
that specific product and link to the page of the product. Just like with Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing, it’s important to display the
information the user is looking for the instant they click on your ad.
If they click on an ad for hiking boots and are redirected to the home page of your camping
website, they aren’t going to be thrilled. But, if they are directed to the exact hiking boots they
were considering, or even had added to their cart, before leaving your website, they will be much
more likely to continue with a purchase.

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