Webiste Marketing Concepts

Website Marketing Concepts

In order for a company to achieve its goals, the company must have a strategy that mixes the correct elements of marketing. The term Marketing Mix refers to "the four Ps" of marketing (Kotler & Keller, 2006). When creating a mix, a company should keep the needs of their target market in mind. The company must also understand the needs of the customer, then create marketing strategies that will satisfy the "segment" (Schneider, 2004, p. 161). The marketing mix should also meet or exceed the goals of that company. For the purpose of this discussion we will take a look at the Marketing Mix as the strategies apply to the websites that service both for business and customer end users.

In looking over a B2B websites many marketing concepts are used to attract and retain customers. B2B website are usually more customer-based and use electronic commerce along with strategic alliances with other companies to create the correct marketing mix for their company. The Ebiz website found in the student website has an example of a b2b website. In this website I observed several strategies geared to benefit the customers needs. Product is the element in the marketing mix that will define to the target customers what about the company's product that meets the customer's needs (Kotler & Keller, 2006). The B2B website was able to cover this topic in several ways. Since the website offers products from two different catalogs, they decided to use the "Web catalog revenue model" in the right hand corner of the site (Schneider, 2004, p. 100). I think the company was able to address issues with promoting the product information (identification) as well as pricing. The website also featured a personalized homepage geared towards the consumer's needs based on the purchasing habits. I was able to identify this with the company's ability to use customer "behavior segmentation strategies" (Schneider, 2004, p. 166). There were discounts available in the form of clearance items and sales items. There were also promotions in the form advertising of new arrivals.

B2C websites are usually more product-based and use electronic commerce along with strategic alliances with other companies to create the correct marketing mix for their company. In the Ebiz website for consumers there were several marketing strategies as well. B2C website usually have a registration process to gather pertinent "online customer segmentation and targeting strategies as well as rapid new product development" (UoP, 2000). The welcome statement communicates the selling proposition. The sweepstakes section offers marketing opportunities by getting the customer to opt in on e-mail notifications. This along with the "what's new" section