Mining Marketing Information from Web Conversations

Marketing in the era of the World Wide Web is still a growing field. Many great ideas came, worked for a while, declined in value, and disappeared. New technologies are always developing that provide additional opportunity and value in creating stronger methods of developing and marketing new products through understanding web conversation.

Web conversation is something we see everyday but don't really notice. It is everything people put on the web when they discuss products, needs, and other opinions about ideas and concepts. It is a type of user generated content that stays on the web and is good for analysis. A study by Tirunillai and Tellis (2014) show that user generated content is ripe for market analysis.

Consider the idea that you desire to understand what people are thinking about a particular product and its features. Popular products and features often develop forums that are used by interested members to analyze and discuss their ideas and opinions as they relate to that product. By reviewing the material it is possible to gain greater insight and value.

The problem is that it is time consuming to try and follow online customer chatter. Certainly it is better than nothing but it isn't the whole solution. By using analytical tools it is possible gather a wider array of information and use that information to understand products and services better. Scanning the web for a better sample of customer preferences is extremely helpful in decision making.

The process works a little like this.Using proper software and algorithms it is possible to calculate and analyze the types of works being used to describe products. If done over a longer period of time it is also possible to create trends that can be used in determining new product cycles, features, and overall brand exposure. The process is beneficial for those seeking to understand consumer sentiment.

New technology brings new opportunities for companies to develop higher levels of analysis. Brand image is the total collective perception of the product/service in public. In this case, consumer generate content acts as a type of speech while the analytical software seeks to break apart and understand the overall conversational trend. It is like listening to thousands of people at once to gain insight for future product and marketing development.

Tirunillai, S. & Tellis, G. (2014). Mining marketing meaning from online chatter: strategic brand analysis of big data using latent dirichlet allocation. Journal of Marketing Research, 51 (4).

Improving Multi-Channel Outcomes in Online Marketing

Companies don’t always exist exclusively in the real or virtual world and neither should their marketing campaigns. Some consumers prefer buying products through physical channels while others prefer online channels. Companies find themselves managing the complexity of both broad channels to improve sales. These sales may not be based in a single marketing channel and may be more associated with the use of multiple marketing channels working together.

An article in the Journal of Marketing Research offers greater insight into cross-channel effects on traditional, online display and paid search advertising. They found that a single marketing channel cannot account for the total purchase rate of products/services (Dinner, Van Heerde, & Neslin, 2014).

Consumers may have a particular on or off line preference for purchasing but regularly use the Internet to search out and research their chosen items. The totality of both online and offline purchases is a combination of using different marketing channels and should be measured as such.

Think about how a consumer processes information. They see or hear about a product that relates to their self-image and develop an internal need for that product. If the product has value they may search out its benefits and detractors online. When a decision has been made they will either purchase online or from a ground store.

In today’s marketing world it is important not to evaluate marketing effectiveness in a silo. Even though the success of each marketing channel should be considered like the success of each purchasing channel it is still important to consider the total marketing effectiveness.

Different forms of exposure from multiple events create the total impression and experience for the consumer. Sometimes it may take multiple exposures from varying channels to grab their selective attention and finally make a decision to purchase.

Marketing is more than simply having customers see images and impressions on a webpage. There is a lot of competition out there in the cyberspace and the physical world that leads to advertising overload. A single marketing channel is unlikely to draw significant interest and improve market position.

To improve upon exposure companies will often use paid search positions. As consumers search out information on a product the paid search engine sites come up first. Usually it is the home company that reaches the top based search algorithms. In many cases there are multiple companies competing for the top position.

Paid search positions have less effect than originally thought. No one is sure why this is the case other than the click-thru rates decrease over time making the marketing method less effective. Mitigating factors could include the search engines, competition within specific industries, and the sensitization to these ads.

As the different channels work together it was found that they push potential customers into certain purchasing behaviors. Using multiple channels to direct customers to successful purchasing channels may be beneficial for raising the overall conversion rate. Channels then become augmentation and support for preferred channels that work the best.

Dinner, I., Van Heerde, H. & Neslin, S. (2014). Driving online and offline sales: the cross-channel effects of traditional, online display, and paid search advertising. Journal of Marketing Research, 51 (5).

Exploding Your Small Business into the International Marketplace

From the fire into the frying pan is one way to describe entrepreneurs that start out engaging in international marketing. According to Zhou et. al. (2012) such entrepreneurs often excel quickly past their competitors as the organization maintains pliability and learning to match market needs. Despite the overall risks of marking internationally from the beginning, organizations are more likely to grow quickly and obtain greater cash flow. 

Organizations must learn to be competitive. Starts up businesses have a significant learning curve at first but begins to wane over time as they gain skills. When they are connected quickly to the international markets there is more opportunity to find resources that requires greater learning activity. Doing so before the small company becomes structured helps to ensure its pliability in finding new revenue streams and maintains its entrepreneurial activities.

To be successful such firms will need to exploit both foreign market knowledge and networks to create the right kind of internationalization. It primarily impacts the perceptions of decision-makers that will need to focus on finding relevant information and using connections with larger international firms to create market opportunities. It changes the perception from the beginning of an organizations life to a wider world. 

According to learning theory, “what an organization knows at its birth will determine what it searches for, what it experiences, and how it interprets what it encounters” (Huber, 1991, p. 91). It is an issue of perspective gaining and creating the right vantage points to obtain information. This information can then be used to create new ways of solving problems. 

International marketing requires a wider perceptual field. Business must ensure they understand the varying niche markets around the globe, know which ones meet their needs, and understand how to provide communication to customers within that market. The more they understand how to match their marketing to the global perspective the less risk of financial failure they face over time. 

Moving beyond this report we can see that the Internet and the interconnectivity of various groups of people affords opportunities not seen a few decades ago. Products can be marketed, shipped and sold around the globe with less effort than in the past. The Internet is affording opportunities to not only get out the message about products but also to integrate more information through search engines, services, and analysis. Where businesses were once limited to local companies they can now explode onto the international market. 

Zhou, L. et. al. (2012). The effects of early internationalization on performance outcomes in young international ventures: the mediating role of marketing capabilities. Journal of International Marketing, 20 (4). 

Huber, George P. (1991) Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and Literatures. Organization Science, 2 (1), 88-115.