Internet Marketing Is Just Marketing, Part II
By David Golding
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I have mentioned before that I believe that internet marketing should not be considered as its own complete marketing strategy. When putting together an internet marketing strategy, too many assume that the elements of that strategy only involve the internet. No, there is no internet marketing or e-marketing. When taking a look at your site and everything that goes into it, view it from an overall marketing strategy basis.
I have gotten strange looks for this position from others in the past. I guess there are a lot of search engine optimization experts who have only studied the search engine’s way of doing things. Or tech wizards who only look at the GUI or the technical aspects of getting a site up and running. In the end, though, it all comes back to the marketing strategy and the company’s offering to the web. Those in the top marketing positions, though, hold to what it is I’m saying.
Michael Porter wrote back in 2001 about the dot-com bust and what the internet has to offer in marketing terms. It’s amazing to me that 5 years later, all those SEO gurus still don’t catch on.
To quote Porter:
“Many of the pioneers of Internet business, both dot coms and established companies, have competed in ways that violate nearly every precept of good strategy. Rather than focus on profits, they have sought to maximize revenue and market share at all costs, pursuing customers indiscriminately through discounting, giveaways, promotions, channel incentives, and heavy advertising. Rather than concentrate on delivering real value that earns an attractive price from customers, they have pursued indirect revenues from sources such as advertising and click through fees from Internet commerce partners. Rather than make trade-offs, they have rushed to offer every conceivable product, service, or type of information. Rather than tailor the value chain in a unique way, they have aped the activities of rivals. Rather than build and maintain control over proprietary assets and marketing channels, they have entered into a rash of partnerships and outsourcing relationships, further eroding their own distinctiveness. While it is true that some companies have avoided these mistakes, they are exceptions to the rule.”
My sentiments exactly… and I’m no Harvard Business School professor.
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Doug Norton
Oct 13th, 2006, 10:23 pm
I agree with your sentiments that “eMarketing” is not a new type of marketing but merely a different way in which marketing principles can be applied (just like television marketing, radio marketing, billboard marketing, or any other marketing medium available).
However, I am not so sure that I agree with Michael Porter when it comes to his opinions on strategy.
When he says “Rather than build and maintain control over proprietary assets and marketing channels, they have entered into a rash of partnerships and outsourcing relationships, further eroding their own distinctiveness” I think he is missing the advantage that most strategists see in successfully identifying and sticking to a company’s core competency.
In Jim Collins’ “Good to Great” he outlines the “hedgehog concept” in which you define as a company what you can be the best at and throw everything else out the window as irrelevant.
What the internet has done is to create an amazing network of suppliers and consumers while removing shipping costs of the product. For example, Ask.com receives all of its paid ads from Google. There is no shipping cost involved, which allows Google to do what they do best (generate relevant ads based on search terms) while Ask.com can focus on their own core competency (this includes the features that only they provide such as interesting answers to fact-based questions).
I think that if Google is obviously making its past mergers and partnerships work well (writelys.com, etc.) it will continue to do so with its recent purchase of YouTube, its partnership with Microsoft, and the variety of other things they are pursuing.
On the other hand, however, I think that Internet companies overall have indeed shot themselves in the foot by seeking “to maximize revenue and market share at all costs, pursuing customers indiscriminately through discounting, giveaways, promotions, channel incentives, and heavy advertising.” It’s pretty hard to find a high-end market online — right now it seems like a lot of dollar stores all competing for the best promotion or the lowest price in order to steal away market share.