I’ve been asked to describe the role internet marketing has within a modern marketing context. I have described how the marketing activities of different businesses have been incorporated into internet marketing.
Internet Marketing
The role of Internet Marketing within a Modern Marketing Context
Nowadays technology is developing, as a result more people are starting to use computers more often to shop online, surf the web ECT… and because of this, internet marketing is undertaking an ever greater role in businesses. For example the statistic showed that in the UK alone, internet shopping continues and is growing, where in 2006 the value was £1,000 per person, where it shows that more businesses are setting up their own website because they want to attract more customers to make more profit. However due to the fact there are lots of competitors and most businesses compete with each other, that’s the other reason that they are setting up their own website, for example, Morrison, ASDA, Sainsbury sect; all these are international businesses where they have their own website, where they offer their customers the opportunity to shop online and buy the same products as they would buy in the store. The internet marketing is also more beneficial because people won’t have to leave their house, instead they can just order it online and it will be delivered straight away to their door. However in the UK in 2005, the total UK consumers spend online was £6.7bn; this equates to £9.79bn, conclusively this shows that more people are shopping online nowadays.
Modern Marketing
Marketing is both a function of a business and a set of processes and its aims to; * Create value to customers * Communicate to customers * Deliver value to customers
However this is all within the context of providing benefits to the organisational and its stakeholders, in terms of turnover and profits. However this is not the only aims of marketing, due to the fact that marketing has emerged so much over the recent years; the two primary key goals of marketing still remain the same as they are to asses and identify the needs of customers, in other words identify what they want ECT, also satisfying the needs of product and services customers might want. However in order for the marketing to succeed in any relationship between businesses and customers, the latter has to have unmet needs and the business must have the desire and ability to satisfy those needs. The next step is for the two parties to communicate, in this step they can only; * The business exchange its products or services to satisfy the needs * The consumer pay for them

One of the first main key objectives of marketing is for a business to discover the needs of their consumers. Alternatively it is not easy for consumers to identify and describe what they need and what they want, for example something that is needed is food, clothing etc., and a want is something such as; TV, games consoles etc., however above these three, everything else is considered as want instead of a need, not needed. So it is very important for all businesses to make sure they know what their customers need and want. The second main important key is to actually satisfy the targeted consumers. Even the largest businesses such as; Tesco, Morison’s and Sainsbury, won’t be able to satisfy all their consumers, in other words meet their needs. So businesses will need to make sure that they focus on specific groups e.g. if they are selling a product and their target market are elderly people, they should focus purely on that specific target group or they can become specialised in providing a specific want, which could be a niche market. After the business has selected its approach, they will need to make sure they plan and develop a way in which the want of those potential consumers can be met in order to sell their products or services, where naturally this involves creating a unique marketing programme.