WEEK 12: the end

1. Find an article on affiliate marketing. What is the difference between affiliate marketing and PPC (Pay per click) marketing and what are the advantages and disadvantages of both?

Affiliate marketing is when an organisation pays an affiliate (another person or company) for each person or customer who is brought to the organisation's site because of the affiliate's marketing. Advantages can be that merchants like affiliate marketing because in most cases, it uses a "pay for performance" scheme which means that the merchant isn't charged marketing expenses, apart from the initial cost. Disadvantages include that affiliate marketing isn't easily scalable.

Pay per click marketing is when advertisers pay their host when their advertisement is clicked on. Advertisers usually bid on keywords or phrases with search engines to ensure that whenever their key word is typed in, their organisation's website is at the top of the list of website. Advantages include that this marketing pays for performance and with the right placing; it can drive a large volume of traffic to one particular site. Disadvantages include that the pay per click model can be abused through people continuously clicking on the advertisement but not actually wanting to view the website, just to increase the number of clicks.

2. How is CRM relevant to affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketers are always on the lookout for ways in which to improve the relationships they have with their customers. Customer Relationship Management uses technical tools and systems to improve their customer relations and gain repeat customers. Therefore, affiliate marketers should aim to ensure that their organisation is as friendly as possible, which is where an appropriate CRM system can help.

3. Where does viral marketing fit into this mix? For an example check out the 'Obama girl'. Who/what is the purpose of the Obama girl. Find your own links for this one!

It is purely a hot girl being associated with Barack O'bama. Sex sells, marketers know this. (she sure is hot though)

4. In the powerpoint presentation there is a link to Overture which was a 'key word' search tool. You will find that it is no longer there - one of the ongoing issues with web resources. Yahoo bought Overture and shut it down. Do your own search and see if you can find an alternative to Overture. Also see the discussion page and share your thoughts there.

I typed in: Overture alternatived, read 2 comments on a forum and then landed on: digitalpoint.com which is relatively similar. Gotta love the forums.

5. What is dmoz? Read about dmoxz in wikipedia. What seach engines use dmox? I have a personal online book business called OZRURAL. Is it listed in dmoz

DMOZ is an open content directory of the world wide web links. It is owned by a company called Netscape, however it was constructed and is maintained by volunteers. Search engines such as Google, AOL search and Netscape search use dmoz. OZRUAL is listed in dmoz.

week 11

Week 11: almost on the home stretch!!!!

1) What did Monster.com want to use CRM for?

They wanted to use a package to provide their sales force with instant information on prospective buyers.

2) What were some of the issues and problems caused in the first 12 months and how were they resolved.

PROBLEM: The system was slow and sales people couldn’t access the database for one year.

RESOULTION: lots of money and management time was invested into the system .

The article states that 'Simply put, CRM software is designed to help companies keep track of their customers and boost revenues by increasing customer loyalty'

3) Do some research yourself. Who were the major CRM vendors in 2002 (from the article) and are there any new players now? See the video in the powerpoint presentation as well.

MAJOR VENDORS: Fortune and a telecommunications company

4) What is the main reason CIO's (Chief Information Officer) run into trouble with the introduction of CRM systems? What is the best way to achieve a successful introduction?

The main reason is that employees don’t have the skills and training to be able to use the system properly. They are implemented to quickly and employees actually don’t want to have to use them

5) Find three additional references on CRM and write several paragraphs to demonstrate your understanding of the key elements of CRM.

What is CRM – custom relationship managament.

What is E-CRM

Assess the relevance of the concepts of relationship, direct and database marketing marketing on the Internet. It also evaluate the potential of the Internet to support one-to-one marketing and the range of techniques and systems available to support dialogue with the customer over the Internet.

CRM Applications

1 Sales force automation

2 Customer service management

3 Managing the sales process

4 Campaign management

5Analysis

Examples of CRM data

• Personal and profile data

– Contact details

– Preferences

• Transaction data

– Sales history

• Communications data

– Campaign history

– Research / Feedback / Support queries

– Contact reports (B2B)

CRM incorporates permission marketing. Therefore, no spam, requires opt-in and opt-out.

Some companies who do good CRM are:

· Blackberry

Week 10

New media and the brand

I think that new media has come a long way as pretty much everyone knows, coming from the old days of boy bands and computer games that housed about 3 different colours in total. Now the sophistication that is in the world today, the I-Phone, I-Pad just to name 2 that wouldnt even be in the wildest dreams of the child i once was.

The world used to be completly controlled by the governing body which at the time was the corporation its self, now days its very much focused on the consumer. If a company still operates in the old way, itsw a matter of time until they dissapear inot this air.

The consumer likes to be in control and almost determine what a corporation should make and do and how to operate, massive power and influence!

Week 6

Week 6 Questions

1) When talking about Yahoo auctions, what did Seth Godin mean by 'billion dollar decisions do not have anything to do with technology'?

Their marketing wins involved word of mouth marketing,

2) What has story telling got to do with cat food?

Consumers purchase the product because the believe the message about how the cat must like the taste. But do we really know that?

3) Explain the concept of funnel marketing, and how would 'flipping the funnel' help the marketing of a product?

That people want to be on top and will do anything to do that. Once at the top that is when people can affect how the product is being marketed to the consumer.

4) What does the term 'remarkable' mean in the context of purple cows?

It means that the cow is always changing to adapt and this is remarkable.

As e-Marketers we all want 'happy surfers'. Godin talks about the fashion/permission complex. He lists four parts to the fashion/complex.

They are -

1) Make it (the message) worth listening to

2) Tell it to the people who want to hear

3) Tell their friends

4) Get permission to tell about your next fashion.

The complex states that marketing need to do something amazing, something out of the ordinary ,something that will really change the way a consumer will look at the marketer and how their product is advertised to the market.

Blogs and twitter has now become the new fashion, since twitter burst onto the internet scene every man and his dog jumped on the bandwagon just to become part of the craze. Celebrities, sports stars and even news readers have their followers on this site and to some people will watch their every word like it was their last on earth. Politics has jumped on to with both leaders looking to become prime minister are using twitter to announce developments and throwing down their propaganda to their loyal followers.

Week 5

New idea Distribution models

-Affiliation: Affiliation programmes can turn consumers into sales people.

-Disintermediation: This is removing the middleman to deal direct with customers instead of through agents, distributors and wholesalers.

-Reintermediation: this is the emergence of new types of middlemen who are brokers such as Bizrate, who unite buyers with sellers.

-Peer to peer service: Music swapping services such as Napster and Nutella opened up an entirely new approach to music distribution with both supplier and middlemen.

-Infomediation: A related concept where middlemen hold data or information to benefit customers and suppliers.

-Channel confluence: This has occurred where distribution channels state to offer the same deal to the end customer.

10 Promotion Tools that can be used online

advertising - Interactive display ads, pay per click search advertising

selling - Virtual sales staff and chat and affiliate marketing

sales promotion - incentives, rewards, online loyalty schemes

PR - online editorial, ezines, newsletters, social networks,.links and virals

Sponsorship - sponsoring an online event, site or service

direct mail - opt out email using e newsletters and e blats plus web response

exhibitions - virtual exhibitions and whitepaper distribution

merchandizing - promotional ad seving on retail sites, personalised recommendations and e-alerts

packaging - virtual tours, real packaging is displayed online

word of mouth - viral, affilate marketing, email a friend, links

Winner of the Grand Prix

Monopoly Street

Client: Hasbro

It used Global advertising to attract attention. They then took their product to the next level partnering with google and making their maps authentic with google maps as to make it a real world experience. Also exhibitions for younger people was used to attract more people in.

Winner of the best Business to Business Campaign

SAGE Taxation Personalised URL

Client: Sage Accounts Division

Things used were Sales promotions, Word of Mouth, Selling and also PR was used very well

Week 4

Week 4 Questions

1) A decrease in prices is inevitable in an online marketing environment. Do you agree or disagree?

I agree that it is mostly inevitable but it all depends on what market the product is in.

This is due to price transparency, customer knowledge of the product increases which will make them look for the product at the best price. This will in turn cause the products to drop durastically in price as to compete, standardisation becomes a factor here. While this then becomes a good result for the consumer as they now have low prices coming from across many different companies and the ability to pick and chose from whom they choose is becoming bigger than ever, companies feel the pinch as profits diminish as the ability to effectively compete in the market becomes harder.

Price reduction can also be good for the business as they will attract more customers and increase sales with consumers looking for a good quality product at a competitive price. Innovation is now becoming more important than ever as being the market leader is harder to achieve these days. Competition will increase also due to this.

2) Disintermediation will ultimately lead to channel conflict. Discuss.

There are 4 steps involved in a purchase. The first 'place' as it is known as in the process is Place of purchase. This first place involves being categorised as one of 5 sites

-seller controlled sites

-seller orientated sites

-neutral sites

-seller orientated sites

-seller controlled sites

Place 2 has 3 processes in it. A. Distintermediation which is the removal of an intermediary, or middleman, from a transaction or communication. B, Reintermeditation which is the emergence of new types of middlemen who act as brokers, who unite buyers and sellers, and C. Countermediation which is the creation of a new intermediary inside an established company.

Place 3 is Channel Conflicts. This occurs when a significant threat arises from the introduction of an internet channel is that while disintermediation gives the opportunity for a company to sell direct and increase profitability on products, it can also threaten existing distribution arrangements with existing partners.

The channel conflicts may be dependent on:

1. A communication channel only

2. A distribution channel to intermediaries

3. A direct sales channel to customers

4. Any combination of the above

the fourth place is that of virtual organisations

does disintermediation cause channel conflict. The answer is up to the individual but personally I think it contributes. A establsihed company may be looking at expanding into the web but while costs are cut the usual ways of operation may be disturbed and thesefore operations may be pushed inwards and conflict may occur due to this.

3) What are the five elements of promotion and what are some examples of combining online/offline promotion?

Online promotion uses communication via the internet. It may take the form of links from other sites, banner adverts or targeted emails messages. Offline promotion uses traditional media such as tv or newspaper advertising and word of mouth to promote a companys web site

1. Advertising - Interactive display ads, pay per click search advertising

2. Selling - Affiliate marketing and chat and virtual sales staff

3. Sales Promotion- Incentives, rewardsm online loyalty schemes

4. Public Relations- Online editorial, e-zines, newsletters, social networds, links and virals

5. Direct Marketing- exhibitions, word of mouth, virtual tours, sponsoring, events, sites

Week 3

2) Consider two other products/services of your choice. Write down all the offline/online marketing possibilities you can think of.

Target Australia

Offline

The newspaper, magazines, Business cards, word of mouth, In window sales, BillBoards, TV, radio

Online

loyality programs, main website, email offers

Maxwell / Collins real estate

Offline

billboards, the firms shop window, extensive section of newspapers

Online

other real estates sites, news web sites, the firms main web site

3) What makes a great online product from a marketers point of view? How would you measure success?

A great online product would generate a steady increase in sales. The product would draw customers to look at other products since they are satisfied with the first product.

You can measure this buy the amount of sales on the product, whether its selling or not. If its not, the product should be removed from the website.

Web Analytics could be used in this situation also to monitor the amount of people visitng the website and how long they are on it and if any transactions have been made.

4) Preview the pricing of two products and consider some dynamic pricing models.

Looking at group buying discounts, it can be used for clothes and mobile prices when looking at bulk buying.

Group buying is similar to the volume discount concept, it is economically efficient and can be used in the efficient pricing model for these products.

5) What are some of the issues these (pricing) models raise?

The pricing can vary a lot which may cause the models to fail