Internet Marketing

AshcroftInternationalBusinessSchool

Module Guide

BD415022S

Internet Marketing

Module Leader: Marcus Hanwell

The Internet –– opportunity and threat

At the same time, the Internet gives rise to many threats to organisations. For example, start-up companies such as Amazon (books) (www.amazon.com), Expedia (travel) (www.expedia.com), AutoByTel (cars) (www.autobytel.com) and CDNow! (CDs) (www.cdnow.com) have captured a significant part of their market and struck fear into the existing players in the market. Indeed the phrase ‘‘Amazoning a market sector’’ has become a commonly used expression amongst marketers.

With the success stories of companies capturing market share together with the rapidly increasing adoption of the Internet by consumers and business buyers has come a fast growing realisation that all organisations must have an effective Internet presence to prosper, or possibly even survive! But, it can also raise some serious commercial questions:

How is an effective Internet presence achieved in a medium that is alien to most companies? Are existing marketing concepts, theories and models still valid? What is the effect on channel and market structures? How should the Internet be used to support existing business and marketing strategies? How should the web site be structured and designed? How should the site be promoted online and offline? How can the Internet be used to communicate with customers and build loyalty? How can we assess whether we are achieving these objectives?

The aim of this module is to answer this type of question, so that graduates entering employment and practitioners can help the companies they work for compete successfully using this digital medium in conjunction with existing media.

To help develop the knowledge and skills for marketers to be able to use the Internet effectively, this module has been created to fulfil the following needs:

To understand the extent to which the Internet changes existing marketing models, and whether new models and strategies can be applied to exploit the medium effectively.

Marketing practitioners will need practical Internet marketing skills to market their products effectively. Knowledge of the new jargon such as ‘‘portal’’, ‘‘clickthrough’’, ‘‘cookie’’, ‘‘hits’’, ‘‘page impressions’’, ‘‘digital certificate’’ and effective methods of site design and promotion will be necessary either for direct ‘‘hands-on’’ development of a site or to enable communication with other staff or suppliers who are implementing and maintaining the site.

Given the rapidly changing market characteristics and best practices of Internet marketing, web based information sources are needed to regularly update knowledge. We will use the workshop sessions to review web sites to evaluate the practical implications of the theoretical content of the lectures.

This module assumes some existing knowledge of marketing in the student, perhaps developed through experience or by studying introductory modules in marketing fundamentals, marketing communications or buyer behaviour.

1. 
   Understand the role of the internet in establishing and maintaining different forms of competitive advantage within a range of key business sectors
   

2. 
   Compare, contrast and distinguish critically between traditional marketing communications methods and digital applications such as the internet, e-commerce, and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
   

3. 
   Propose strategic approaches that businesses can use to exploit the internet and compile a typical internet / e-commerce marketing plan
   

4. 
   Construct a corporate website suitable for use in e-commerce applications, with reference to objective definition, graphic design, best practice construction techniques, promotion and maintenance of the site.
   

The module is divided into two parts which covers how the Internet is used for marketing by organisations to help achieve competitive advantage in part one and how to create a website in part two.