Internet Marketing refers to a collection of methodologies and tools used to promote products and services over the Internet. Compared to usual business marketing, Internet marketing involves a broad range of marketing elements because of the availability of extra channels and marketing methods on the Internet. Internet marketing is also known as Online Marketing, Web Marketing, Digital Marketing, E-marketing, and Internet Advertising.
The History of Internet Marketing
Though the present level of Internet marketing business is high, the Internet marketplace is very young. The history of Internet Marketing shows that the timeline of this marketing is short. Some corporate and consecutive events lead up the online marketing business to where it is now. At first, the Internet was not introduced for any advertising purpose; rather, it was the medium for exchanging information and emails. But within a short time, it caught the marketers’ sight that this tool could help them grow their business.
Here are the events that lent a hand to commence Internet marketing: At the Start
When the email was invented, it was mostly used by universities and the military. In 1979, CompuServe (the first major U.S. commercial online service) offered email and other technical services to personal computer users. The email was used only for exchanging data and information in the next two decades. In the early ’90s, business owners started to reveal the marketing advantages of the email service.
Introduction of the First Browser
Tim Berners-Lee invented ‘World Wide Web’ in 1990, which was the first web browser. It was later renamed as ‘Nexus,’ but it didn’t get much popularity. In 1993, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois released a graphical web browser named ‘Mosaic.’ It was much easier to install and use. After this, the use of the Internet began to expand.
Initiation of Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce
For creating ‘the first Internet,’ the credit was given to the National Science Foundation. In 1991, when the foundation opened its Internet for business purposes, business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce gained popularity. In the next few years, online marketing began to grow. Amazon, the leading online seller in the world, started its journey in 1995.
Release of Search Engines
The first search engine, Archie, was invented in 1990. In 1994, WebCrawler introduced a search engine capable of indexing titles and headers of a web page and its whole content. After that, another search engine called ‘Lycos’ came to rank search results depending on relevancy. In 1996, the search engine Google was released. In 2003, the Google Company initiated its AdWords campaign. This system helped marketers to provide ads according to a user’s requirements.
Thus, Internet Marketing has begun to grow since 1996. The acceptance of online marketing is growing day by day. It can offer an incredible opportunity to the people who would prefer to launch their own business on the Internet. Internet marketing allows a broad range of marketing techniques for earning money online. Through Internet Marketing’s history tells that it is a new marketing technique, it has brought a marketing revolution in history faster than any other marketing techniques.
Importance of Internet Marketing
The benefits of Internet marketing are vast. The reasons why the internet or online marketing is imperative for any business to grow successfully are discussed below:
To build up a relationship with the targeted audience
Online marketing is a reliable tool for marketing as it has the quality of grabbing the targeted audience’s attention for any business. The Internet works as an excellent platform for initiating and maintaining good communication with the customers.
To provide products or services according to customer preferences.
Day by day, people are getting interested in purchasing products and getting services online because of the busy lifestyle. Nowadays, online purchases have significantly increased. It allows the customers to get the advantages of accessing information and ordering products and services through the Internet. So, through Internet marketing, any business can provide the customers easy access to information about their goods and services according to the customers’ preferences or choices.
Cost-effective
To establish any business online, advertising is an essential part. One of the most cost-effective techniques of advertising is Online marketing. To set up a business online, the cost of starting a business, writing blogs or writing articles, or using social media for marketing is less than traditional marketing techniques.
To increase the web traffic.
The objective of Internet marketing strategies is to find and increase targeted website traffic. This can be done by writing marketing articles or using social media sites. The more visitors will visit the site, the chances for sales will also increase.
To increase sales
As Internet marketing allows the consumers to purchase the products or services online, the customers don’t have to go physically to the outlets. It increases the sales rate and helps to get a good return on investment (ROI), which is surely one of the most significant benefits of Internet Marketing.
To customize the offers for products and services.
Digital marketing has a broad range of techniques that the advertisements for any product or service can be placed so that they can reach the targeted customers or audience. So, when the consumers see the offers for their desired products or services, they get interested and respond accordingly. Online marketing can help a business to make customized offers to customers by keeping the history of purchase. It can be done by creating profiles of the customers, tracking web pages to get the idea about their interests, storing information about their preferences, and make customized offers accordingly.
To increase brand awareness.
An Internet marketing campaign can increase brand awareness. When the customers or visitors browse or make queries or searches on the web, they may get familiar with the name or logo, or brand name of a product or service. Thus, it helps businesses to increase their brand awareness.
To keep up with the changing demands.
As days are passing by, technologies are also changing and getting updated. Now a growing number of users are using the web. Using Internet marketing methods, it will be easier for the business owners to get a continuous report about the changing demands of the customers.
Always available to the customers
At present, due to work schedules and busy lifestyles, customers are interested in online shopping. Using Internet marketing strategies, businesses can render the consumers 24-hour services.
To build up credibility.
Among the many benefits of Internet Marketing, another one is that it helps to earn reliability of the customers. Setting up an online existence through internet marketing is an excellent way to keep the business up to date and serve the customers with all of the advantages and benefits they need anytime. Thus, business owners can quickly earn the customers’ credibility at a minimal cost with a bit of effort.
Recently, Online marketers are innovating new online marketing techniques to drive more visitors to their websites and make more sales and profit. As the customers are increasing in number, becoming smarter, and their demands are also changing, companies are also trying to develop new ideas for Internet marketing and establish their online presence.