Page 275 - DMGT408DMGT203_Marketing Management

Marketing Management/Essentials of Marketing

Notes 2. Difficulty in Evaluating Legitimacy of Transaction: Another notable disadvantage of
doing promoting businesses online is that it may be difficult for the businesspersons and
consumers to thoroughly evaluate the legitimacy of a transaction. With Internet credit
card and identity fraud on the rise, small businesses are forced to finance costly security
measures to reduce their vulnerability to fraudulent transactions.
3. Salespersons and Customers are Isolated: Another disadvantage of promotion via the
Internet is that the customers and businesspersons are isolated. There is little personal
contact between customer and salesperson prior to and after the sales is closed.

11.6.3 Tools Used

Some of the common tools used for online marketing are:

Website/Portals

A website is in fact a location on the Internet rather than an ad where anyone can come to find
out about the company, its products and/or services. It is used as a brochure to promote the
company’s products or services. There are some companies who use their websites as a source of
information and entertainment and encourage Internet users to visit often. Some other companies
use the Web as an online catalogue store, conducting business right on the Internet.

Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites such as Facebook (400 million users worldwide) and Orkut (100 million),
or the micro-blogging site Twitter (which crossed 10 billion tweets recently) may offer exciting
new platforms for the marketers and brands to promote their offerings.
In an era when a celebrity becomes a brand and brand promotions work best through social
networking sites, businesses in India are slowly realising the power of brand promotion through
social networking sites.

Caselet B2B Social Media Marketing Campaign by UPS

PS, the global shipping firm, is launching (announced in September 2010) a new
“logistics” ad campaign in the coming days to boost its credentials with small
Ubusinesses by leveraging social media networking power. Catchy ad music aside,
this could be one of the best examples to date of social media utilization for B2B.

UPS wants to show potential customers its passion for transportation and supply chain
solutions, what it calls “New Logistics” and it especially wants to bring the message of
growth opportunity to small businesses. It is using a multi-media ad campaign, with an
emphasis on digital and social channels. It has a new website which, UPS says in a press
release, is “designed to facilitate sharing core content such as customer case studies and
tools that bring the benefits of logistics to life [after] other marketing materials drive
consumers to the site.” A company blog is also in the works to liven up the message.
From here, potential customers will be referred to the new official Facebook and Twitter
pages, where a variety of media and case studies will compliment the B2B discussions. This
is a radical change from the previous unofficial UPS Facebook page, which acted primarily
as a complaint forum for disgruntled customers that went unanswered by the company.
Contd...

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