eMarketing Myths

By David Golding |  Print This Post

A close friend of mine began researching the internet and wanted to learn to build websites. Once he could effectively build one, he ran into the problem that every single one of us out there in cyberspace have asked ourselves at one time or another: How do I get traffic? So he did what any rational web surfer would do. He turned to the internet to get answers. In a matter of seconds, he came across a handful of websites that promised lots of eMarketing secrets, sure to provide the “secret” source of traffic for any website in existence. He plopped somewhere in the vicinity of $40 for an ebook and read it all that same day.

We discussed the book at length, and I’ll admit, it sounded too good to be true. The secret this particular ebook mentioned had to do with price positioning. The author claimed that what you had to do was inflate the price for your services. Instead of pricing something in the $10, $20, or $30 range, you ought to push it higher like $100, $200, or $300. He claimed there existed a strange phenomenon on the web that when the price was ridiculously high, users attributed higher levels of credibility to the price, and online retailers actually made more money.

I just read a study that was published not six months ago by Harvard Business School. Not only does this study prove that my friend’s ebook was a total waste of $40, but the whole concept of price both offline and online is something even more serious to consider in forming any kind of marketing strategy for any company both offline and on. This research shows emphatically that users gauge price carefully and will make different decisions based on the perception of the cost. (For example, they show that you can have the same total price for a CD + shipping, but when the shipping cost is higher and the CD price lower, people rate their satsifaction lower. Perceived costs of secondary features like shipping have a significant effect on the perceived total cost.)

This is only one of many stories I’ve seen. I’m here to try to persuade all my readers to avoid the emarketing myths. They are rampant. They can be seen everywhere. The only way to steer clear of them is to focus entirely on the subject matter as a whole. More research is being done by corporations and business schools about the whole of marketing strategy than any one-man-band out there on the net.

Some have tried to separate internet marketing from the mainstream marketing strategies claiming that it’s somehow different and special. That’s like saying algebra is not math because it’s different than overall math, that it’s more “targeted.” No, algebra is math, and math is greater than algebra. If I study all the math I can, I can apply algebra to more than what algebra students can. In the same way, studying marketing as a whole will allow internet marketers to apply their ideas of marketing strategy on the whole to the web more efficiently.

The fact is, internet marketing is one of many disciplines of the whole of marketing. And I vote emphatically for online businesses to focus on the marketing principles on the whole rather than consider their website special or different from a legitimate business venture.

For some additional reading, go see how others have argued the same point not 3 years ago: Search Engine Optimization Myths Debunked.

Yes, do some SEO. Yes, factor in the current internet marketing trends into your strategy. But ignore the current marketing research and overall principles to your own demise.

---

Comments

One Response to “eMarketing Myths”

---

Submit Comment

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website