Online Marketing is International Marketing

Online Marketing is International Marketing

Although two-way communications between buyers and sellers describe most personal sales and have been taking place electronically since the invention of the telephone, the Golden Age of interactivity began a few decades ago. Its beginnings can be traced to the Internet (Net), a global collection of computers networks linked together for the purpose of exchange date and information. The ‘Net’ originally served scientists and government researchers but it has since evolved into a multifaceted and popular medium of communication for individual households and business users. Users can exchange data with other computer users around the world in such formats as text, graphic images, audio, and video.

Even in small, niche markets, the Internet marketing helps build e-commerce capabilities. For instance, Neoforma, a California-based medical supplies distributor, markets its products globally through its Web Sites. Among some of its best customers are foreign governments – such as the government of Oman. If this small company had depended only on traditional marketing efforts, it would have had a difficult time serving international markets.

Internet users find lots of entertainment online including everything from concert web-casts to online gaming. Online providers of entertainment can offer competitive prices, speed, and boundless services. Games, radio programming, short movies, and music clips are available online, sometimes for free, with the costs borne by advertising on the Web site. Sometimes entire songs, movies, and books are available on the Net. Online gaming has attracted a great deal of interest recently. Microsoft’s Xbox game console, for instance, has an Ethernet port making it a snap to connect to the Internet.

The web facilitates online marketing activities, including buying and selling goods and services, building relationships, increasing market size, and reducing the costs of intermediaries. Most people generally think of the Web as a giant cybermall of retail stores selling millions of goods online. However, service providers are also important participants in e-commerce. These include providers of financial services. Brick-and-mortar banks – such as Bank of America – and brokerage firms – such as Charles Schwab – have greatly expanded their online services. In addition, many new online services providers are rapidly attracting customers who want to do more of their own banking and investment trading on whatever time and day that suits them.

The early gateways for internet access were search engines. Over time, these Internet entrances became portals by adding to their site contents, shopping services, and software applications like email and online calendars. In addition to the ISP agents like AOL (American online), Earthlink, and Prodigy, major portals include MSN, Terra Lycos, and Yahoo! A more recent trend is the creation of portals built around specific services or communities. These include ESPN, CNN.com, and CBS market Watch. Their aim is to draw in Web surfers and keep their interest with specific types of contents or transactions.

Many of the same benefits achieved by Business to Business online marketers are also realized by marketers of consumer products who rely on the web for their businesses. With good marketing strategies marketers can use their web sites to build strong relationships, reduce costs, increase efficiency, create a more level playing field, and achieve a global presence.

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