How Online Media Will Change Marketing Strategies

Is the world of marketing changing? The advent of online marketing has adjusted the basic assumptions of marketing and the way in which companies reach potential customers. A longitudinal study by Valos, et. al. (2010) looks at the perceptions of 40 senior marketing executives and attempts to understand how things have evolved. The study provides implications for future marketing strategies.

No doubt the Internet has changed the very way in which people obtain information from their environment and how they make choices between different types of products. Each purchase is based upon a range factors that includes social impression, product understanding, ease of purchase, information attainment, benefits vs. costs, and consumer personality.  

The Internet has become a new catalyst in putting these factors together in a way that leads to positive purchase decisions. Today’s advertisers are moving away from mass marketing approaches and seeking to be more exact with their marketing dollars to increase conversion rates. 

Why spend a fortune canvassing a large market when you can focus on those customers most likely to purchase? The Internet is offering the ability to customize marketing directly to motivate buyers based upon specific customer profiles. Messages are becoming more focused to appeal to core consumers.

Related research indicates that marketing will become more akin to engineering through database-driven decisions (Peltier, et. al. 2006). As marketing becomes increasingly interactive and able to reach specific subgroups it will require higher levels of analysis and development. 

The way in which companies put together their marketing mix will evolve to maximize emerging technologies. Imagine how a highly motivated market segment may be attracted to specific videos, language, graphics, key words, and displays. The way in which companies develop their marketing mix will naturally have an influence on attracting the selective attention of their most lucrative customers. 

The authors conclude that the increase in niches will make marketing increasingly complex. It will be beneficial to coordinate diverse media, marketing objectives, and marketing metrics. Personalization of marketing will likely grow and emerging technology needs to be incorporated into a company’s marketing mix. As customer touch points increases a greater emphasis is placed on using behavioral data and attitudinal data to fine tune marketing components. Mass marketing that serviced the mass manufacturing systems of the past are likely to become more expensive and be viable for certain types of businesses.

Peltier, J., et. al. (2006). Interactive IMC: The relational-transactional continuum and the synergistic use of customer data. Journal of Advertising Research, 46(2), 21-28.

Valos, et. al. (2010). Practitioner prognostications on the future of online marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 26 (3/4).