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The Internet Maketing The dynamic growth of the Internet is producing dramatic changes in every corner of the business world. According to Martin Read, editor of Mind Your Own Business magazine, the number of Internet users doubles every hundred days. The marketing, commercial and trading potential of this growth has been recognized by marketers and advertisers in every field of endeavour. This is especially true in fields such as consumer, network marketing internet business-to-business, manufacturing and service industries and communications. There is scarcely a business of any size in the industrialized countries which does not possess and use at least one computer. Many businesses have networks of users; examples are estate agents, banks, supermarkets, airlines, travel agents, freght hauliers and insurance companies. The network marketing internet business is often described as the fastest-growing advertising medium, and it is rapidly becoming the most preferred. It depends from where you are viewing the situation. In Britain, for example, it could well be the fastest growing, but only when considered in relation to other media. These are relatively static and have been so for some time. In the United States, this view of growth may be true. According to the Association of National Advertisers, advertising appropriations devoted to on-line promotion have tripled each year since 1997. Other experts predict that advertising on the Internet is likely to grow to almost $8bn in the USA, and in Europe to approaching $1.6bn. There are indications that European households capable of accessing on-line advertising are approaching 10 per cent of total households, and rising. At the current rate of growth, the proportion could reach 40 per cent by 2002. In Europe, householders are starting to take up on-line shopping, but more cautiously. According to informed opinion, Britain, France and Germany, the most advanced of the European network marketing internet business, are set to buy over $3bn in products and services by 2002. Whatever the reality, nobody knows for certain how fast Internet commerce is growing, or what the future holds for advertisers. What we do know is that everything is developing at high speed, including the technology. So too is the movement to curb Internet activities and control what until now has been an almost free market. There seems little doubt that, if the current trend continues, the Internet will be the backbone of business, commerce and trade locally, nationally and globally. As Intel chairman Andy Grove said in April 1999, Al companies will be Internet companies, or they wont be companies. The Internet is a huge global network of computers. Some computers are owned by individuals, such as householders; others by network marketing internet business, companies, corporations and organizations, many of them with internal networks. Many of these computers are used for purposes other than surfing the Internet. Individuals use them for activities as diverse as education, research, entertainment, Email, scientific pursuits and household accounts. Businesses use them for every aspect of commercial life, including high-level decision-making and of course, marketing. With this in mind, it is easy to see how computers connected to the Internet are a source of revenue to anyone with a product or service to sell. Millions of customers are out there. The question is, how to reach and promote to them, quickly and cost-effectively. The Internet, Email and the World Wide Web are powerful tools in the hands of advertisers who want to reach consumers. Many well-known marketing organizations are already using on-line advertising. Companies such as IBM, Hewlett Packard, Mitsubishi Electric, Pearson, Dell and Fidelity Investments use Internet advertising as part of their promotional portfolios. Smaller fry are beginning to adopt the medium, but more cautiously. Some, for example, are uncertain about the possible returns on the investment. Advertising on the Internet, like other media, costs money; budgets must be created and allocated. Others are confused by the rapid advances in the technology, or are waiting for more reliable methods of measuring response and media performance. Still others are uncertain of the awesome power of the Internet as a marketing tool, remaining passive until convincing case studies emerge. Meanwhile, the growth of the Internet advances and the technology continues to improve. Marketers and advertisers continue to warm to it commercially speaking. They continue to deliver the right messages to the right target audiences at the right time, efficiently measuring the results indeed, just as they do with press, broadcast and direct response media. As a medium, the network marketing internet business is just as capable of growth as any other medium. Its dynamic expansion over the period from 1993 to 1999 has encouraged marketers, advertisers and their agencies to exploit it. Many have already done so with success. Amazon.com, the US direct bookseller, for example, has taken up on-line advertising with enthusiasm. Although it is not the largest on-line advertiser using the Internet, it claims a sales turnover of over $550 million in five years. Amazon, clearly believing in the future of on-line advertising as a factor for company growth, has expanded into videos and CDs. It looks set to continue to develop its business using the Internet as its chosen medium of communication, promotion and sales. Unlike other communications media, the internet is capable of reaching both a mass market and specified individuals within it. It offers huge possibilities for bringing sellers and buyers together on a worldwide basis. Moreover, on-line advertising differs from other media in one other important respect. It allows enquirers and consumers to interact with advertisements direct and with immediacy. With a key-stroke or a mouse-click, a visitor can cal up information about a product, resolve questions about it and then buy it all this in the same visit. Some comparisons can be drawn between the Internet and other media broadcast, press, direct mail and outdoor. However, its capability extends beyond all these because of its immediacy, flexibility and interactivity and its ability to reach target audiences on a truly global scale. Television commercials enable advertisers to dominate television screens. They allow the advertiser to use all TVs capabilities: movement, animation, colour, sound and response-contact information. The most popular formats are 30-second, 45-second and 60-second slots. Although TV cannot target individual consumers, it can address the interests, wants, needs and emotions of well-defined consumer groups. It does this up to and slightly beyond the geographical limits of transmission areas of individual stations, which is crude form of targeting. So far, on-line advertising has been less aggressive than that appearing on TV and consumers have become accustomed to this low-key commercial environment. Advertisers, however, are gradually becoming more assertive in their on-line presentations, experimenting with and introducing videoed advertisements and animation. There is an intriguing but important side-issued here. The downside for advertisers using TV is that consumers using the Internet cannot at the same time be watching TV. Prime-time TV in the UK is roughly 7 pm to 11 pm. There is some evidence that Internet usage peaks in the early evening, work, one of the first things they do is check their Emails. This on-line activity, including surfing the Internet, may continue until bed-time, with a break for dinner. With 100m or more households expected to be on-line by 2001, this could represent unwelcome news for TV contractors. Other Articles |