Digital Marketing Fundamentals

From Strategy to ROI

Marjolein Visser, Berend Sikkenga, Mike Berry

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000442915
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Marketing
• Index: Business

Digital Marketing Fundamentals is the first fully-fledged textbook on digital marketing that covers the entire marketing process. Both the scientific theory behind digital marketing as well as techniques and media are discussed. Digital Marketing Fundamentals is easy to read and contains many International examples and cases. The Dutch version of this book (Basisboek Online Marketing) has become a standard issue in The Netherlands.

In this book, all relevant aspects of digital marketing are addressed: strategic aspects, market research, product development and realisation, branding, customer acquisition, customer loyalty and order processing. The book also discusses effective websites and apps, digital analytics and planning and organisation. The application of social media and mobile communication is seamlessly integrated into the topics.

Digital Marketing Fundamentals is very suitable for commercial and management courses in Higher Education and also for professionals active in digital marketing.

1 Digital Marketing

Author: Marjolein Visser

Over the past decades the framework of marketing has changed dramatically. Internet use has become part of the daily routine for almost everyone. It has radically transformed the behaviour of consumers and business buyers. Knowledge of online consumer behaviour and Digital Marketing are vital to marketers. This first chapter will explain what Digital Marketing involves and which basic principles are covered in this book. The following chapters will describe how Digital Marketing fits within all of the other marketing related business processes. The last chapters of this book describe overarching subjects eg. effective websites and apps, digital/web analytics and the planning and organisation of the Digital Marketing process.

This chapter will cover:

• the definition of Digital Marketing
• Digital Marketing versus traditional marketing
• Digital Marketing and the marketing mix
• Digital Marketing in relation to business processes
• development of Digital Marketing
• basic models for Digital Marketing communication

After reading this chapter you will be able to:

• explain what Digital Marketing involves
• identify the differences between traditional marketing and Digital Marketing
• name and recognise ‘the seven types of websites’
• denote the relationship between the Four Ps and the Four Cs
• describe the five Digital Marketing-related core business processes
• describe the phases in the development of Digital Marketing
• using examples, illustrate how the Digital Marketing funnel is related to the RAIA model

1.1 Definition of Digital Marketing

Kotler and Armstrong (2019) define marketing as follows: “Marketing is the process by which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.” Peter Drucker (1973), a famous management guru, defined the purpose of marketing as follows: “the aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

According to Kotler, marketing is an integrated process that companies use to create value for customers and to build strong customer relationships in return for a reciprocation of value from their customers. In many instances, products or services are traded for money, but alternative exchanges are also possible, eg. political parties that trade ideological representation of interests for votes or brands that trade interesting/valuable content for the user’s time and attention.

The internet plays an ever-increasing role within the marketing process. Digital Marketing is a sub-process of marketing. Therefore, we can define Digital Marketing as a process in which organisations and existing or potential customers use the internet to create value and products as well as exchange them. In this respect we do not discriminate between the various ways that the internet is accessed and the device on which the content on the internet is viewed. Whether a computer or a smartphone is used is of importance to the applied technological methods, but not to the marketing principles. Internet marketing, online marketing and e-marketing are all synonyms for Digital Marketing. In this book, we will use ‘Digital Marketing’.

One frequently asked question remains: what is the difference between Digital Marketing, ecommerce and ebusiness? Ecommerce refers to selling products or services over the internet. Customers can complete transactions or submit changes using a website. This book considers ecommerce to be one of the possible options within Digital Marketing. Many organisations do approach their customers via the internet, but don’t sell their products online. In this case it is a question of Digital Marketing communication, an element of Digital Marketing, but not of ecommerce.

Ecommerce

The authors of this book see ebusiness as a way of doing business with the assistance of digital technologies. Ebusiness is a wider concept than Digital Marketing and ecommerce. In ebusiness it’s not only about the interaction with markets, but about adequately establishing all of the processes that enable an organisation to make their products or provide their services. It’s about the front and the back of the organisation, including the parts the customer does not come into contact with (see Figure 1.1). Ecommerce is simply defined as ‘selling and buying online’.

Ebusiness

FIGURE 1.1 Ebusiness encompasses digital processes throughout the entire organisation and is more inclusive than Digital Marketing

1.2 Digital Marketing versus traditional marketing

Digital Marketing is becoming increasingly important.

As a result of the growing number of possibilities regarding digitalisation and interactivity that the internet facilitates, a number of marketers’ dreams have become reality. When used wisely, the internet makes marketing more effective: marketing objectives can be met with less effort. Consider the following possibilities:

• Thanks to the internet, the customer’s demands for information are more easily and simply met.
• The internet allows for the provision of tailor-made information.
• The internet offers the possibility of gathering large quantities of data about potential customers.
• The effects of marketing communications on the internet can (in most cases) be easily measured.
• A high level of interactivity with customers is possible.

Also, Digital Marketing can be more efficient than traditional marketing. Eg.:

• It is possible to share large quantities of information with potential customers at low cost.
• The marketing budget can be more purposefully assigned due to the fact that the effects of marketing communications are (in general) more easily measurable.

The internet has accelerated the transition from mass marketing to individual marketing. The aim of individual marketing is to fully tailor products and marketing or marketing efforts to the individual customer.

One-to-one marketing

Because the internet allows for the customer’s individual data to be saved, communications have become increasingly ‘personalised’. The profile of the individual customer is recognised; thus, they receive a ‘personalised offer’, an individual proposition. That way a travel agency can offer a customer, who is recognised in their database as someone who likes to take his/her children to a theme park, a last-minute deal for Disneyland Paris.

Individual marketing

Individual proposition

Simultaneously, an older couple that enjoys walking are offered a peaceful holiday in the Austrian Alps.

Individualised production

The internet makes individualised production easier. On the internet, you can design T-shirts or greetings cards with a personalised image on them, You can even design your own brooch and have it printed in 3D. Digitised services mean users can seek advice or information at any time: even in the middle of the night you can ask your bank for a statement or pay a bill; the internet and world wide web (www) are ‘always-on’ 24/7. Individualised distribution of ordered goods or services is relatively cheap and often highly effective via the internet. Eg. when you book a flight online, you can either print your ticket yourself or access it on your smartphone via the airline’s own app. A package from Amazon.com is delivered to your doorstep the following day; you don’t have to go to the store for it; moreover, you get helpful messages regarding the status of your order.

The website is at the centre of Digital Marketing. Websites can be classified as follows:

• Corporate sites are aimed at supporting interaction between the organisation and the various stakeholders, eg. customers, employees, press and shareholders.
• Ecommerce sites are online stores or selling sites where products can be viewed and ordered; famous examples are Amazon.com, eBay and Taobao (Alibaba). Ecommerce sites can also be procurement sites of a company or sector, where the purpose is seeking/accepting offers/bids/tenders, ie. buying, not selling.
• Communication sites inform their visitors more about the products or services o...