Online Marketing and Traditional Marketing Order Instructions: You need to do background research on your topic/ startup to start the project.

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Online Marketing and Traditional Marketing Sample Answer

Online Marketing and Traditional marketing

Abstract

Unlike traditional agency platforms, online agencies offer potential customers a plethora of information on anything they want to understand about the product they intend to purchase. However, there is insufficient literature to guide marketing agents on the behavioral characteristics of online users relative to those attracted to traditional agencies. This behavioral difference, if well established, can be the key determinant of the design and marketing strategies that can be used by online agents and traditional agencies. According to Andrews and Currim (2004), knowing the difference in preference and marketing variables such as price and promotion on choices are critical components in a firm’s adaptation to internet commerce. This research paper examined unique consumer characteristics that influence their decisions to use online agencies or use traditional platforms. The findings revealed that even if there are no clearly defined differences between the behavioral characteristic of online and traditional consumers, online agencies have well been received due to their compelling features such as low cost, high speed, accessibility, reach and interactivity.

Online Marketing and Traditional Marketing Introduction

As internet advanced, online commercial activities also developed and presented a broad range of uses by both small and big business. The advancement in the digital world has resulted in rapid changes in the business world, as more firms are finding numerous of benefits from online agencies. Most of the venues previously reserved for traditional mediums are being replaced with digital means. Whereas traditional agency is linear and the consumers are passively involved in the communication process, online users are actively involved in encoding and decoding of messages. Online agencies make use of new technology to assist clients to reach customers through new channels. The primary targets are internet users, whether from traditional websites or in mobile applications.  Digital agencies monitor and analyses users behavior though various functionalities such as analytics and use this information to improve their sales and conversions. They further create and modify online advertisement campaigns that target specific regions and demographic groups. These ads usually pop up in websites and across various platforms that offer content relevant to the messages of the client. Bezjian, Calder, and Iacobucci (1999) note that with traditional agencies, consumers have no control over the flow of information they receive, ads are presented one after the other in a linear flow.

In any interactive format, the audience has more control over traversal order and the subset of information being transmitted. For this reason, it has always been hypothesized that any other interactive information traversal is superior to the linear flow type. There are two primary elements to be considered to help settle on the idea that online agency, which is largely traversal, is superior to traditional means. The first is the psychographic personality characteristic of the audience, which relates to how the consumers visualize the information. This is a complex comprehension factor that renders interactive messages poorly suited for visual users. The other factor is the nature of the message itself. Given that visual communication is more appealing than verbal ones, it is more likely that such information would be best delivered using traditional means.

Online Marketing and Traditional Marketing and Consumer characteristics

Consumer Preferences

Arguably, consumers have more alternatives for purchasing online products when compared to traditional formats. They can quickly screen for alternatives from a wide range of goods and services so that they can focus only on those options that meet their preferences. Online agents are in a better position to collect information about their consumer characteristics and preferences and therefore present products that go beyond customer expectations. Interactive home shopping allows instantaneous screening and sufficient presentation of information before making the purchase decision (Andrews, 2004). For loyal customers, marketers have devised ways to ensure convenient online shopping and easy accessibility of goods and services which result in customer satisfaction and greater brand. Online agencies have the chance to shift consumer’s attention from price to non-price elements like brand name, leading to increased usage of brand name for screening purposes.  Additionally, consumers with high-income levels may be less price sensitive, but their choices for a particular product will be influenced by non-prices attributes like timeliness.

As the market for goods and service is increasingly becoming crowded with both national and local dealers, remaining competitive and at par with current issues is the key to securing a strong market base. A website is an important tools that allow leveraging personal relationships with established clients. A regular site with engaging content is essential to showing potential customers what the firm has to offer. Unlike traditional marketing agencies,, a website is easy to update and allows timely delivery of new information to customers.

Online Marketing and Traditional Marketing and Consumer price sensitivity

For consumers to make purchase decisions, they need to change their behavior. However, changing consumer’s behavior is a complicated process that requires incentives like convenience. For example, a consumer who chooses to buy online instead of using traditional agencies will have to perceive the benefit of convenience without which they would not buy. It is also argued that majority of internet users are well-educated people with good income, suggesting higher opportunity cost for the time spent going to the traditional stores and supermarkets. This implies that they will use online platforms as it will be more convenient and time saving without being sensitive to the price. According to Bellman, Lohse, and Johnson (1999), online buyers have a lifestyle wired to heavy use of the internet for entertainment, email and reading news, they are time sensitive and always looking for faster and convenient ways of making purchases.

Online Marketing and Traditional Marketing and Marketing reach

Online agencies have a higher market reach as the platform comes with operational efficiency of small and medium enterprises. Dholakia and Kshetri believe that the internet creates a democratized platform where the market has been established in a way that even small firms have an opportunity to promote and brand their products (2004). It can be stressed that through the internet, there are numerous opportunities for small businesses to engage in national and international activities which could have been impossible with the traditional agency means. This is because traditional platforms require huge resources to start and maintain. Conceivably, the main advantage of online agency is based on the fact that internet levels competition between well-established large firms and the smaller ones, given that size, human resources and resources are not the key factors for successful market penetration. A small company that has mastered the art of internet retail can significantly influence potential customers and achieve increased sales.

Online Marketing and Traditional Marketing and Traditional Agency

Despite the rise of the web, a lot of firms continue to use ta raditional agency. This is partly because these means have a wide market reach, are regular and appeal to firms seeking to pass information to a specific local audience. Traditional agencies handle everything ranging from branding to media placement. The ad placement is done via a medium such as publications, billboards and radio.

Online Marketing and Traditional Marketing Conclusions

The benefits of using online agencies outweigh those of using traditional marketing means. However, these two platforms are not competitors but rather compliments that companies can use to deliver their services. While online agencies offer appropriate solutions, is less costly, convenient and has a higher reach, it remains inferior when it comes to local audience penetration. Internet users are mainly the youth and educated people who have access to the internet. However, many people have no internet connections and still rely on newspapers, radio, television, and face to face communication to make a purchase decision. The findings from this paper suggest that a strategic marketing solution should embrace the two means; a digital platform to reach the educated, good earning customers’ sensitive to timely and convenient services, and traditional agency to take care of price-sensitive audience who has no internet access. This is particularly the case because consumers use more than communication medium to get awareness about goods and services. Organizations must make use of the latest technology since the internet is ever changing.

Online Marketing and Traditional Marketing References

Andrews, R, and Currie, I., 2004. Behavioral differences of customers attracted to shopping online versus traditional supermarkets: implications for enterprise design and marketing strategy. International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 1(1), pp.38-61.

Bellman, S., Lohse,  and Johnson, E.. (1999) ‘Predictors of online buying behavior,’ Communications of the ACM, Vol. 42, No. 12, December, pp.32–38.

Bezjian-Avery, A., Calder, B., and Iacobucci, D., 1998. New media interactive advertising vs. traditional advertising. Journal of advertising research, 38, pp.23-32.

Dholakia, R.R., and Kshetri, N., 2004. Factors impacting the adoption of the Internet among SMEs. Small Business Economics, 23(4), pp.311-322.