Marketing is the process by which goods are sold and purchased. The aim of
marketing is to acquire, retain, and satisfy customers. Modern marketing has
evolved into a complex and diverse field. This field includes a wide variety of
special functions such as advertising, mail-order business, public relations,
retailing and merchandising, sales, market research, and pricing of goods.
Businesses, and particularly the marketing aspect of businesses, rely a
great deal on the use of computers. Computers play a significant role in
inventory control, processing and handling orders, communication between
satellite companies in an organization, design and production of goods,
manufacturing, product and market analysis, advertising, producing the company
newsletter, and in some cases, complete control of company operations.
In today's extremely competitive business environment businesses are
searching for ways to improve profitability and to maintain their position in
the marketplace. As competition becomes more intense the formula for success
becomes more difficult. Two particular things have greatly aided companies in
their quests to accomplish these goals. They are the innovative software
products of CAD/CAM and, last but not least, the World Wide Web.
More and more manufacturing businesses are integrating CAD/CAM with other
aspects of production, including inventory tracking, scheduling, and marketing.
This idea, known as computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), speeds processing
of orders, adds to effective materials management, and creates considerable cost
savings.
In addition to designing and manufacturing a product, a company must be
effectively able to advertise, market, and sell its product. Much of what
passes for business is nothing more than making connections with other people.
What if you could pass-out your business card to thousands, maybe millions of
potential clients and partners? You can, twenty four hours a day, inexpensively
and simply on the World Wide Web. Firms communicate with their customers
through various types of media. This media usually follows passive one-to-many
communication where a firm reaches many current and potential customers through
marketing efforts that allow limited forms of feedback on the part of the
customer. For several years a revolution has been developing that is
dramatically changing the traditional form of advertising and communication
media. This revolution is the Internet, a massive global network of
interconnected computer networks which has the potential to drastically change
the way firms do business with their customers.
The World Wide Web is a hypertext based information service. It provides
access to multimedia, complex documents, and databases. The Web is one of the
most effective vehicles to provide information because of its visual impact and
advanced features. It can be used as a complete presentation media for a
company's corporate information or information on all of its products and
services.
The recent growth of the world wide web (WWW) has opened up new markets and
shattered boundaries to selling to a worldwide audience. For marketers the
world wide web can be used to create a client base, for product and market
analysis, rapid information access, wide scale information dissemination, rapid
communication, cost-effective document transfers, expert advise and help,
recruiting new employees, peer communications, and new business opportunities.
The usefulness of the Internet or WWW depends directly on the products or
services of each business. There are different benefits depending upon the type
of business and whether you are a supplier, retailer, or distributor. Lets
examine these in more detail.
Finding new clients and new client bases is not always an easy task. This
process involves a careful market analysis, product marketing and consumer base
testing. The Internet is a ready base of several million people from all walks
of life. One can easily find new customers and clients from this massive group,
provided that your presence on the internet is known. If you could keep your
customer informed of every reason why they should do business with you, your
business would definitely increase. Making business information available is
one of the most inportant ways to serve your customers. Before people decide to
become customers, they want to know about your company, what you do and what you
can do for them. This can be accomplished easily and inexpensively on the World
Wide Web.