Marketers New Best Friend: The Internet

E-marketing, you’ve heard the word tossed around but what does it really mean? As defined, e-marketing is the promotion of products or services via email. This includes email interactions for the purpose of enhancing customer loyalty, acquiring new customer or persuading current customers to engage in repeat purchases, and adding advertisements to emails. The unique thing about e-marketing is the customer can opt-in and out of receiving emails. To the marketer it means advertising to only those customers who truly want to be advertised to. This also is attractive to consumers because you only receive information you want to know about. Another advantage for marketers is the frequency in which email is read as opposed to how often postal mail is read is much higher meaning the customer will be aware of sales or promotions sooner (which is beneficial to the consumer as well). One thing that concerns both companies and consumers is the threat of spam, the electronic kind not the food product.  Sometimes customers delete an email just because it looks like spam and this hurts companies. An even bigger problem for consumers is when electronic spam is accidentally opened and utilized it can cause serious problems and may turn off the consumer to e-marketing which isn't good for business.

E-marketing was a first mover in utilizing the internet to solicit customers. Personally, I think e-marketing (though strong now) will eventually either die off or transform. Social media marketing is making amazing strides in not only innovative ways to create brand loyal customers but also at recruiting new customers. You no longer have to log into your email account d scroll through emails but instead check your Facebook news feed or Twitter tweets and you can instantly see what companies are doing. Social media is taking the internet by storm and companies who aren't in tune will soon be left in the dust.

Be Smart.

-Erica

Daily Deal: Groupon or LivingSocial

Where to begin...


I'm probably one of the most frugal shoppers you'll ever find. I check site after site to make sure I'm getting the best bang for my buck. But, for some reason, I cannot seem to get a grip on these social coupon sites. They seem pointless to me. Groupon was one of the first to make way of this new style of bargaining. By selling “coupons” say $100 day at the spa for only $50 to local hot spots whether it be for a restaurant, luxury, or merchandise. Sounds great right? Think again. Personally, the “deal” only seems worthwhile of I was already planning on going to the spa. If not, then in reality, I’m spending an extra $50 that I normally would not have spent.  On the other hand, imagine the daily deal is for $50 gift certificate to PacSun (a store I regularly shop at) selling for $25. To me THIS is a DEAL! Since I’m positive I would naturally spend $50 worth of merchandise in one visit. Paying only $25 for $50 are dollars well spent.

Something interesting to note is the growing popularity of not only Groupon, but close rival social coupon site LivingSocial. They are sitting pretty at #18 and #19 in Top Free Apps at the Apple App Store today (as seen in the image provided). Although Groupon is said to have started this wave of coupon buying, LivingSocial seems to be right behind and is forecasted to even surpass Groupon due to its user friendliness and claims on “better deals”. My suggestion: steer away from this coupon buying hustle and invest your money somewhere other than these sporadic purchases.


Be smart.


-Erica