The Business Case for Organizational Diversity
The Business Case for Diversity The articles in this module so far have focused on how organizational diversity makes eminent sense from legal compliance and value based perspectives. The discussion so far was about how organizations must embrace diversity as a value based imperative and for furthering corporate social responsibility. This article examines the business […]
Falling Gender Ratio and Ways to Prevent the Decline in Numbers of Women
While the gender ratio was hovering around 930-950 throughout the earlier decades when there were fewer women than men as a statistical fact, this has become more alarming in recent years because the number is falling rapidly. When taken together with the overall increase in population of India that has a large percentage of young […]
Measuring Sources of Brand Equity
For any marketers, it is of supreme importance to understand a consumer mind and also current level of brand knowledge among consumers because this understanding lays foundation for formulation of marketing communication strategies. Hypothetically, marketers should be able to construct such mind print; but as this knowledge resides in consumer mind, task become difficult. Marketers […]
Managing Money Laundering Risks in Commercial Banks
Up until now, we have seen various ways in which commercial banks are able to serve their corporate clients. Almost all the products and services created by commercial banks are created with the intention to serve their customers. However, corporate customers are not the only stakeholders that the banks have. Commercial banks are also answerable […]
McKinsey 7S Change Model
McKinsey 7S model was developed by Robert Waterman and Tom Peters during early 1980s by the two consultants McKinsey Consulting organization. The model is a powerful tool for assessing and analyzing the changes in the internal situation of an organization. It is based on 7 key elements, which determine the organization’s success, which should be […]
Ever wondered how websites give away much for free or for low prices and offer lots of information and other such conveniences? Did you ever felt the need to know how online marketing works with terms such as clicks, click through, eyeball views, and likes and shares indicating how online marketing firms monetize these aspects?
Indeed, online marketing offers website owners, firms, marketers, and advertisers a way to convert the digital footprint of the visitors to the websites into monetary values thereby ensuring that website owners do not lose out on their low cost access and advertisers find new ways to convert clicks and eyeball views into product sales.
If not anything online marketing is similar to Television and Newspaper marketing except that in its case, the number of unique visitors can be measured accurately due to the availability of tools that provide statistics on how many visitors (measured as eyeball views) browsed through, among them how many actually clicked on the ads, and in a more granular manner, how many of them visited the advertiser’s website.
These metrics in turn help marketers and advertisers pick and choose which websites to place their ads in. In a way websites compete with each other to attract the, most number of visitors in a manner similar to how TV channels are geared towards attracting the highest readership possible so that advertisers choose them over others when placing ads.
Thus, online marketing is a relentless race to garner the most eyeballs, achieve the most number of clicks as possible, and to convert such clicks on ads into product sales. In this respect, it needs to be noted there needs to be a “synergy” between the websites on which the ads are being placed and the ads that are being displayed.
A clear example of how successful online marketing works is this website, ManagementStudyGuide.com wherein as you read a particular article, you can see ads that are relevant to the topic of the article.
Indeed, the key to successful online marketing is the complementarities and the supplementarities that the website and the ads that are being placed on it have in common.
This is the reason why many websites and the advertisers who place ads do so with view of attracting what are known as Click Through consumers.
These are visitors who after reading something on the website notice the ads that are related to the specific content and then click on the ads and if enticed and persuaded, buy the product that is being advertised. For successful “conversions”, the website of the advertisers has to be optimized as well.
Talking about optimization, it is also the case that websites can attract visitors only if they are ranked higher than the other pages when browsers search for information on search engines. Research has shown that browsers do not go beyond the first 10 (or more commonly, the first five) results on Google when they search for a particular keyword.
This is the reason why most websites often undertake what is known as SEO or Search Engine Optimization wherein they use targeted language and keyword placement so that they appear on top of the results. Indeed, the better optimized your site, the more chances that you would attract visitors, and the more possibility of conversions.
However, sometimes this race for search engine ranking has the consequence of making the language on the website pretty jumbled and unorganized and hence, not reader friendly, thereby defeating the purpose for which such optimization was done.
Having said that, in recent years, the race for eyeballs and likes and shares has led to what is known as Black Ops Advertising wherein marketing and advertising are so “in your face” that it is almost impossible not to notice or for that matter, not to be bombarded by ads and escape the incessant buzz of notifications and alerts.
You may have noticed how most websites ask whether you want alerts to be sent, and how they place ads almost everywhere to the point where it becomes irritating, and how intrusive such ads are as you browse through the website.
Indeed, this type of advertising is known as Black Ops Advertising and it has got some consumer privacy advocates and other well meaning stakeholders worried about how to protect consumers from this so that they are not tricked into buying because the ads are so invasive.
Moreover, there is also the concern that in the race for eyeballs, clicks, and views, marketers are unduly targeting the consumers and in some instances, collecting data that includes personal and confidential data as well. Indeed, in an age where Data is the New Oil, such nefarious access to data might do more harm to everyone than good.
Thus, there is a need for regulating online marketing in the same manner in which print and visual media marketing is regulated.
Of course, one must also consider how online marketing helps businesses lower costs of website access for users as they gain on ads and then pass on the benefits to the users by charging them low costs for access.
Thus, there are advantages and disadvantages of online marketing and much depends on how website owners allow their websites to be used or misused as far as the race for eyeballs, clicks, and likes and shares are concerned.
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