The Internet – opportunity and threat

The book is divided into three parts, each covering a different aspect of how the Internet is used for marketing by organisations to help achieve competitive advantage. Table 1 indicates how the book is related to existing marketing topics.

Part 1 Internet Marketing Fundamentals (Chapters 1-4)

Part 1 relates the use of the Internet to traditional marketing theories and concepts and questions the validity of existing models given the differences between the Internet and other media.

• Chapter 1 An introduction to Internet marketing reviews the relationship between the Internet and the modern marketing concept, the benefits the Internet can bring to adopters, differences to other media and its impact on different elements of the marketing communications mix.
• Chapter 2 Key Internet marketing concepts looks at communications theory, buyer demographics and buyer behaviour in the Internet context and the impact of the Internet on the marketing mix. It also introduces the elements of effective web site design and promotion given the characteristics of the medium.
• Chapter 3 How does the Internet work? explains the main technical terms needed by marketers to understand the operation of the Internet, intranets, extranets and the World Wide Web. Steps summarise what is necessary to access the Internet as a user and for an organisation to host a web site.
• Chapter 4 Finding information on the Internet briefly explains how to use portals, search engines and directories to find information and considers marketing research strategies with many examples of web information sources.

Part 2 Internet Strategy Development (Chapters 5-7)

Part 2 describes the emerging models for developing strategy together with examples of the approaches companies have used to integrate the Internet into their business strategy.

• Chapter 5 Internet marketing strategy considers how the Internet strategy can be aligned with business and marketing strategies and describes a generic strategic approach with phases of goal setting, situation review, strategy formulation and resource allocation and monitoring.
• Chapter 6 The Internet marketing plan defines the main elements of a plan to implement an Internet marketing strategy including defining customer orientation; integrating the Internet web site with extranets and intranets; defining the scope of marketing communications; brand migration; forming partnerships and outsourcing; legal issues; impact on organisational structure; budgeting and planning.
• Chapter 7 Marketing channels, market structure and the Internet assesses how the Internet changes market and channel structures through processes such as disintermediation and reintermediation, its impact on the value chain, supply chain and reviews how resulting channel conflicts can be managed.

Part 3 Internet Marketing – Implementation And Practice (Chapters 8-15)

Part 3 of the book explains practical approaches to implementing an Internet marketing strategy. Techniques for communicating with customers, building relationships and facilitating electronic commerce are all reviewed in some detail. Knowledge of these practical techniques will be essential for undergraduates on work placements involving a web site and for marketing managers who are dealing with suppliers such as design agencies.

• Chapter 8 Creating and building the web site explains the work involved in the different stages of building a web site such as analysis of customer needs, design of the site structure and layout and creating the site. These are explained from the perspective of delivering the best service quality possible for the customer. Extensive references are provided to further information and tools in this area.
• Chapter 9 Web site promotion describes the different online and offline promotion techniques necessary to build traffic to a web site and for other promotion objectives. Banner advertising, affiliate networks, promotion in search engines and directories, co-branding and sponsorship, e-mail, loyalty techniques and PR.
• Chapter 10 Relationship marketing using the Internet details the benefits of using the Internet for building and sustaining ‘one-to-one’ relationships with customers and looks at e-mail and web-based personalisation techniques for achieving this.
• Chapter 11 Electronic commerce transactions covers the concepts, systems and processes to enable payment for goods and services using the Internet. Practical issues of security, reliability, performance and privacy are considered from the viewpoint of how they can be implemented to make the customer experience of e-commerce favourable.
• Chapter 12 Maintaining the web site and measuring its effectiveness defines a process for successful updating of a site and online and offline methods for assessing the effectiveness of the site in delivering business and marketing benefits.
• Chapter 13 Business-to-consumer marketing – the retail example examines models of marketing to consumers with many case studies of how retail businesses are tackling this.
• Chapter 14 Business-to-business Internet marketing examines the differences of marketing to other businesses with many examples of how companies are achieving this to support international marketing and different stages of the buying decision such as supplier search, product evaluation and selection, purchase, post-purchase customer service and evaluation and feedback.
• Chapter 15 The future of Internet marketing attempts some crystal ball gazing by looking at which emerging current trends are likely to be significant in the future. The problems for the marketing manager of selecting which trends to follow are also considered. Ethical issues arising from uneven adoption of the Internet amongst consumers are discussed.

Students

This book has been created primarily as the main student text, for undergraduate and postgraduate students taking specialist marketing courses or modules which cover Internet and digital marketing, electronic commerce and e-business. The book is relevant to students who are:

• undergraduates on business programmes which include modules on the use of the Internet and e-commerce. This includes specialist degrees such as Internet marketing, electronic commerce, marketing, tourism and accounting or general business degrees such as business studies and business administration and business management.
• undergraduate project students who select this topic for final year projects / dissertations – this book is an excellent supporting text for these students.
• undergraduates completing work placement in a company using the Internet to promote its products.
• students at college aiming for vocational qualifications such as the HNC/HND in Business Management or Computer Studies
• postgraduates students on specialist masters degrees in electronic commerce or Internet marketing and generic MBA, Certificate in Management, Diploma in Management Studies which involve modules on electronic commerce and digital marketing.

What does the book offer to lecturers teaching these courses?

The book is intended to be a comprehensive guide to all aspects of using the Internet and other digital media to support marketing. The book builds on existing marketing theories and concepts and questions the validity of models in the light of the differences between the Internet and other media. The book references the emerging body of literature specific to Internet marketing. As such, it can be used across several modules. Lecturers will find the book has a good range of case studies, activities and exercises to support their teaching. Web site references are given in the text and at the end of each chapter to important information sources for particular topics.

Practitioners

There is also much of relevance in this book for marketing practitioners including:

• Marketing managers responsible for defining an Internet marketing strategy and implementing and maintaining the company web site.
• Senior managers and directors wishing to understand the potential of Internet marketing for a company and who need practical guidelines for how to exploit this potential
• Technical project managers or web masters who may understand the technical details of building a site, but have a limited knowledge of marketing fundamentals and how to develop an Internet marketing strategy.

A range of features have been incorporated into this book to help the reader get the most out of it. They have been designed to assist understanding, reinforce learning and help readers find information easily. The features are described in the order you will encounter them.

At the start of each chapter:

• chapter introductions: succinct summaries of the relevance of the topic to marketing students and practitioners together with content and structure.
• learning objectives: a list describing what readers can learn through reading the chapter and completing the exercises.
• links to other chapters: a summary of related information in other chapters

In each chapter:

• definitions: when significant terms are first introduced the main text contains succinct definitions in boxes for easy reference.
• web references: where appropriate, web addresses are given for further information They are provided in the main text where they are directly relevant as well as at the end of the chapter.
• case studies: real-world examples of how companies are using the Internet for marketing. Questions at the end of the case study are intended to highlight the main learning points from each case study.
• mini-case studies: short examples which give a more detailed example, or explanation, than is practical in the main text. They do not contain supplementary questions.
• activities: exercises in the main text which give the opportunity to practice and apply the techniques described in the text.
• chapter summaries: intended as revision aids to summarise the main learning points from the chapter.

At the end of each chapter:

• self assessment exercises: short questions which will test understanding of terms and concepts described in the chapter.
• discussion questions: require longer essay-style answers discussing themes from the chapter, and can be used for essays or as debate questions in seminars.
• essay questions: conventional essay questions.
• examination questions: typical short answer questions which are encountered in exams and can also be used for revision.
• references: these are references to books, articles or papers referred to within the chapter.
• further reading: supplementary texts or papers on the main themes of the chapter. Where appropriate a brief commentary is provided on recommended supplementary reading on the main themes of the chapters. Further reading refers to the relevant chapters in widely used marketing texts including: Brassington and Petitt: Principles of Marketing; Dibb, Simkin, Pride and Ferrel: Marketing. Concepts and Strategies; Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders and Wong: Principles of Marketing: Fill, Marketing Communications – contexts, contents and strategies: Burnett and Moriarty: Introduction to Marketing Communications. An Integrated Approach and Baker et al. The Marketing Book. (See further reading, Chapter 1 for full references).
• web site references: these are significant sites that provide further information on the concepts and topics of the chapter. All web site references within the chapter, for example company sites, are not repeated here. The web site address prefix ‘http://’ is omitted for clarity.

At the end of the book:

• glossary: a list of all definitions of key terms and phrases used within the main text.
• index: all key words and abbreviations referred to in the main text

Free supplementary materials are available via the Pearson Education companion books web site at www.booksites.net to support all users of the book. This regularly updated web site contains advice, comment, support materials and hyperlinks to reference sites relevant to the text. There is a password protected area for lecturers only to discuss issues arising from using the text, additional examination-type questions and answers; a multiple choice question bank with answers; additional cases with suggestions for discussion; a downloadable version of the Lecturer’s Guide and OHP Masters.

Table 1. Coverage of marketing topics in different chapters. A large tick indicates fairly detailed coverage, smaller tick indicates a brief direct reference or indirect coverage.