project on internet marketing

A PROJECT REPORT ON

INTERNET AS A MARKETING TOOL

SUBMITTED BY
GOURAV SHARMA

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION [Semester II]

SUBMITTED TO
MRS.RUPAMDEEP KAUR BAINS

ACADEMIC YEAR

2014 - 2015

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This is to certify that this project report entitled ‘Internet as a Marketing Tool’ is
the result of research work carried out by Mr.GOURAV SHARMA, College Roll
No. 2527 and university roll no. 2014MGB1728 under the guidance and
supervision of Professor MRS.RUPAMDEEP KAUR BAINS.

Signature-

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement
1.Introduction
Evolution of marketing
Advertising

4
5

2.Internet Marketing
Growth of Internet Usage
List of Countries by Internet Usage
Internet Fame with the Indian Audience
7 P’s of Marketing on the Internet
Understanding of Internet customer

7
8
9
12
16

3.Internet Advertising
What is Internet Advertising
Traditional Marketing v/s Internet Marketing
Objectives of Internet Marketing
Features of Internet Marketing
Internet Marketing Tactics
4.Case Study
Rediff.com
Conclusion
Biblography

17
18
20
20
22
27

INTRODUCTION
Evolution of Marketing
At the beginning of the century, social life was mostly local. It was followed by a
period in which commodities were produced on a mass scale. Consumer Marketing
operated on mass marketing principles and business primarily concerned itself with
how to build the best sales force. At the end of the century, there is an emerging
global culture. The major driver of these changes is technology. Technological
change has moved steadily back focusing on the individual. These changes shape
the possibility and conduct of business. Marketing is especially tied to
communication and transportation revolution. As the tools and reach of marketing
increase, the job and responsibilities of marketers have evolved with them.

In today’s technology driven world, a new fast paced digital economy is emerging.
In the near future, it wouldn’t be surprising to see that there are companies that
exist only inside computer networks. Most business transactions will be made
electronically, directly from the producer to the consumer, bypassing the supply
chain. In the digital marketing environment, the consumer becomes an integral
player in the development of the product. In fact, a consumer might build the
product himself from a wide array of parts provided by the company. It is ecommerce that is changing the way products and services are conceived,
manufactured, promoted, priced, distributed and sold. The reason being that it is
much cheaper; it allows vast coverage and helps in serving the customer better.

ADVERTISING
Advertising is a paid form of communication, although some forms of advertising,
such as public service announcements, use donated space and time. Second, not
only is the message paid for, but the sponsor is identified. Third, most advertising
tries to persuade or influence the consumer to do something, although in some
cases the point of the message is simply to make consumers aware of the product
or company.
Fourth and fifth, the message is conveyed through many different
kinds of mass media reaching a large audience of potential consumers. Finally,
because advertising is a form of mass communication, it also non-personal
A definition of advertising, then, includes all six features
“Advertising is paid non-personal communication from an identified sponsor
using mass media to persuade or influence an audience.”

SOME DIFFERENT TYPES OF ADVERTISING ARE:


Print Advertising: Newspapers, Magazines, Brochures, Fliers

 Broadcast advertising: Television, Radio and the Internet
 Covert Advertising: Advertising in Movies
 Celebrity Advertising
 Internet Advertising

INTERNET MARKETING
Internet marketing, also referred to as web marketing, online marketing, or
eMarketing, is the marketing of products or services over the Internet. Internet
marketing ties together creative and technical aspects of the Internet, including
design, development, advertising, and sale.
The Internet has brought many unique benefits to marketing, one of which being
lower costs for the distribution of information and media to a global audience. The
interactive nature of Internet marketing, both in terms of providing instant response
and eliciting responses, is a unique quality of the medium. Internet marketing is
sometimes considered to have a broader scope because it not only refers to digital
media such as the Internet, e-mail, and wireless media; however, Internet
marketing also includes management of digital customer data and electronic
customer relationship management (ECRM) systems.

Growth of Internet usage and E-commerce:
In 2014, nearly 75% (2.1 billion) of all internet users in the world (2.8 billion) live
in the top 20 countries.
The remaining 25% (0.7 billion) is distributed among the other 178 countries, each
representing less than 1% of total users.
China, the country with most users (642 million in 2014), represents nearly 22% of
total, and has more users than the next three countries combined (United States,
India, and Japan). Among the top 20 countries, India is the one with the lowest
penetration: 19% and the highest yearly growth rate. At the opposite end of the
range, United States, Germany, France, U.K., and Canada have the highest
penetration: over 80% of population in these countries has an internet connection.
An Internet User is defined as an individual who has access to the Internet at home,
via computer or mobile devcie.

List of Countries by Internet Usage (2014)
Search:

Ra
nk

1
Year
Gro
wth
%

1 Year
User
Growt
h

Total
Country
Populatio
n

1 Yr
Populat
ion
Change
(%)

Penetra
tion
(% of
Pop.
with
Internet
)

Countr
y's
share
of
World
Populat
ion

Countr
y's
share
of
World
Intern
et
Users

Count
ry

Internet
Users

1 China

641,601,
070

4%

24,021, 1,393,783,
070
836

0.59%

46.03%

United 279,834,
States
232

7%

17,754, 322,583,0
869
06

0.79%

86.75%

4.45%

9.58%

3 India

243,198,
922

14%

29,859, 1,267,401,
598
849

1.22%

19.19%

17.50%

8.33%

4 Japan

109,252,
912

8%

7,668,5 126,999,8
35
08

-0.11%

86.03%

1.75%

3.74%

5 Brazil

107,822,
831

7%

6,884,3 202,033,6
33
70

0.83%

53.37%

2.79%

3.69%

6 Russia

84,437,7
93

10%

7,494,5 142,467,6
36
51

-0.26%

59.27%

1.97%

2.89%

7

Germa 71,727,5
ny
51

2%

1,525,8 82,652,25
29
6

-0.09%

86.78%

1.14%

2.46%

8

Nigeri
a

67,101,4
52

16%

9,365,5 178,516,9
90
04

2.82%

37.59%

2.46%

2.30%

United
57,075,8
9 Kingd
26
om

3%

1,574,6 63,489,23
53
4

0.56%

89.90%

0.88%

1.95%

55,429,3
82

3%

1,521,3 64,641,27
69
9

0.54%

85.75%

0.89%

1.90%

2

10 France

19.24% 21.97%

Internet Fame with the Indian Audiences
Let us first take a quick look at the audience that this medium is trying to reach.
The top 8 metros of the country, the scope of the Internet as a medium to reach out
to a large number of people is presently limited. However, some of these
limitations can be addressed.
1. Internet is available in regional languages also. Even today this medium is
largely confined to only those who are literate in English. Various initiatives of
companies like ITC and HLL like E-choupal and i-Shakti have given a
considerable boost to vernacular usage of internet
2. Internet is accessible though other media also and not only through telephone
lines. In the current scenario, the usage of internet might be dominated by
telephone lines, but broadband and cable net are coming in a huge way.
3. Government policies are aimed at broadening and strengthening the
infrastructure required for Internet accessibility.
There could be several other modes to increase the reach of the Internet. To quickly
summarize the advantages of the Internet as seen from the point of view of the user
as well as the marketer:

To the user:
Internet gives more control in choosing content. It offers customization of the
content, the way the user wants to view it. It offers a variety of options for
information and entertainment. It offers a wide range to choose from for the user.
It offers tremendous convenience to the user not only in delivery of information,
but also in allowing him to transact — often in a seamless manner.
The best example of giving control of content is the My Yahoo !! service offered
by the Internet giant, Yahoo Inc. It gives the user the choice of content for various
topics ranging from news to stock options to entertainment to sports and just about
everything.

To the marketer:
The Internet offers several options to a marketer trying to target a particular
community
It serves not only as a channel of information, but also of product distribution
It offers a highly interactive medium that sometimes (e.g. chats, forums, VoIP) is
almost equal to one-to-one interaction with the audience.
It offers a higher level of identification of the user to the marketer.
It allows the marketer to actually link his spends to action, and pay only on action

This action could be a click on the banner or even product purchased or just a
banner impression or per 1000 impressions. In this ability Internet is, in fact, unlike
any other media.
Given the payment options and high interactivity, the Internet offers a medium for
high level of experimentation at a low cost.

Which products are likely beneficiaries of the Internet?
Given that the usage of the Internet is highest amongst young, male audiences
belonging to the larger towns and who belong to higher SEC groups, for this
medium to be cost-effective, products having similar target groups would benefit
the most from this medium.
The most likely examples that come to mind include telecom, financial products
and services, products related to entertainment like movies (promotions and
tickets), plays, contests etc, FMCG products where the core target audience is
younger (deodorants, soft drinks), consumer durables to some extent and high-end
services like tour operators, airline services, hotels etc.

7 P's of Marketing on the Internet
The four P's - Product, Price, Place and Promotion have long been associated with
marketing, but things have changed on the Internet. So along with a change in the
nature of the four P’s there are three new P’s which are relevant to the internet
marketer.
1.

The Product on the Internet usually changes form online, and the user
experiences it electronically, in the form of text, images and multimedia.
Physical goods are usually presented in the form of a detailed online
catalogue that the customer can browse through. Technology allows the user
to virtually touch and feel the product on the Internet - rotate it, zoom in or
zoom out and even visualize the product in different configurations and
combination. The example of the above can be seen at dell.com where the
company offers the user to virtually feel every aspect of their product before
they go into a buy decision. Content and software are two avatars of
digitized products that can be even distributed over the Internet. On the
Internet, E-marketing will be based more on the product qualities rather than
on the price. Every company will be able to bring down the cost of its
products and hence competition will not be on price. It will rather be on the
uniqueness of the product. To be able to attract the customers and retain
them, the company will have to provide nouvelle and distinct products that
forces the net users to purchase and come back for more.

2.

The Price has been drastically changed over the Internet. It lets the buyer
decides the price. Also it gives the buyers information about multiple sellers
selling the same product. It leads to best possible deal for the buyers in terms

of price. A website named Priceline.com is extremely popular as its
compares the price of many airlines and offers the least price to the buyer.
The very famous bazee.com now known as ebay.in follows the same
principles. Pricing is dynamic over the Internet.
3.

The Place revolves around setting up of a marketing channel to reach the
customer. Internet serves as a direct marketing channel that allows the
producer to reach the customer directly. The elimination of the intermediate
channel allows the producer to pass the reduced distribution cost to the
customer in the form of discounts. Dell Computers have used this strategy
very effectively and hence they have been able to reduce their prices of their
laptops drastically and reaped huge profits.

4.

Promotion is extremely necessary to entice the customer to its website,
as there are currently more than one billion web pages. Promoting a website
includes both online and offline strategies. Online strategies include search
engine optimization, banner ads, multiple points of entry, viral marketing,
strategic partnership and affiliate marketing. Presently, the cyberspace is
already cluttered with thousands of sites probably selling similar products.
For the customers to know of the Company’s existence and to garner
information on the kind of products or services that the company is offering,
promotion has to be carried out. There can be traded links or banner
advertisements for the same. Also the traditional mediums like print, outdoor
advertising and television can be used to spread awareness. Email campaigns
and spamming the Chat rooms on almost every server has been exploited to
the maximum for the cause of promoting their website.

5.

Presentation

The presentation of the online business needs to have an

easy to use navigation. The look and the feel of the web site should be based
on corporate logos and standards. About 80% of the people read only 20% of
the web page. Therefore, the web page should not be cluttered with a lot of
information. Also, simple but powerful navigational aids on all web pages
like search engines make it easy for customer to find their way around. The
principle of K.I.S.S ( Keep it simple stupid ) is the most important factor that
has to be considered while presenting the online business

6.

Processes Customer supports needs to be integrated into the online web
site. A sales service that will be able to answer the questions of their
customers fast and in a reliable manner is necessary. To further enhance after
sales service, customers must be able to find out about their order status after
the sale has been made. For e.g. FedEx (www.fedex.com), the overnight
Courier Company allows its customers to keep track of the parcel and they
are well informed about the present whereabouts of their package. Similar
variants have been used by the Govt of India for its Speed post and
Registered Ad services where you can keep a track of your post by entering
the code that has been issued to you.

7.

Personalization

Using the latest software from Broad-Vision and

others, it is possible to customize the entire web site for every single user,

without any additional costs. The mass customization allows the company to
create web pages products and services that suit the requirement of the user.
A customized web page does not only include the preferred layout of the
customer but also a pre selection of goods the customer may be interested in.
For e.g. Yahoo! (www.yahoo.co.in) entered the Indian cyberspace and
started its personalized services. A registered user of Yahoo can now
personalize the front page with all the information he needs. He can read the
news of the world, add a tax calculator, see the weather forecasts of his city
and listen to his favorite songs and all this simultaneously.

Understanding the Internet Customers
Now to be able to use the seven P’s effectively in order to achieve the predefined
goals of any organization it is imperative to understand the customers.
Customization will only be truly effective if we understand our customers and their
true needs.
Before adapting marketing practices to the Internet, the marketer needs to
understand the characteristics of the online customers. The Net users can be
classified into five categories depending upon their intention of using the
Internet.
The five categories of users are:
 Directed Information Seekers: They require specific, timely and relevant
information about the products and services being offered.
 Undirected Information Seekers: These users require something
interesting and useful. Something that can give them an edge, advantage,
insight or even a pleasant surprise.
 Bargain Hunters: They are of two kind. One who look for free items on the
internet and other who are seeking better deals, higher discounts etc.
 Entertainment Seekers: they see the Web as an entertainment medium of
vast breath and potential and want to explore the medium before the mass
gets there.
 Directed Buyers: They want to buy something - now. They are sure what
they require and just log on to the Web to purchase the item.

INTERNET ADVERTISING
Marketing over the years more so recently has started being used interchangeably
with advertising. Now since the explosion of the internet; advertising paradigms
have been constantly changing.
The first Web advertisement was placed on the Hot Wired web site in October
1994. AT&T,MCI, Sprint, Volvo, Club Med, ZIMA were the first to try it out and
the Internet advertising has come a long way since then.

WHAT IS INTERNET ADVERTISING?
Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide
Web for the expressed purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract
customers. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine
results pages, banner ads, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, online
classified advertising, advertising networks and e-mail marketing, including e-mail
spam.
Online video directories for brands are a good example of interactive advertising.
These directories complement television advertising and allow the viewer to view
the commercials of a number of brands. If the advertiser has opted for a response
feature, the viewer may then choose to visit the brand’s website, or interact with
the advertiser through other touch points such as email, chat or phone. Response to
brand communication is instantaneous, and conversion to business is very high.
This is because in contrast to conventional forms of interruptive advertising, the
viewer has actually chosen to see the commercial.

Traditional Marketing V/s Internet Marketing
Marketing over the years more so recently has started being used interchangeably
with advertising. Now since the explosion of the internet; advertising paradigms
have been constantly changing.

The first Web advertisement was placed on the Hot Wired web site in October
1994. AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Volvo, Club Med, ZIMA were the first to try it out and
the Internet advertising has come a long way since then. Here, I would attempt to
compare Internet Advertising with Traditional Advertising:
Let’s have a look:
Traditional Advertising:
 Traditional advertising is static.
 Space is not a restricting factor
 The proportion of advertising to editorial is high sometimes 50:50.
 Does not evoke immediate action.
 Response to the action is not immediate.
 Advertisements are passively received.
 Advertising does not always target a much focused audience.
 Advertisements are ubiquitous.
Whereas Internet Advertising :

 It is dynamic with multimedia- supporting text and graphics video sound all
together.
 Space is a problem, as regards size of the banners etc.
 A web page would be 91% editorial and 9% advertising.
 Invokes immediate action as you at-least need to click on the ad.
 First response is immediate as when the user clicks, the person is directed to
other web page with more details.
 The user has high attention level and concentration while using the net, and
hence they notice the ad. (please refer the chapter)
 This can be much focused.
 Advertisements catch users when they are on the lookout for some thing. For
example the search is for travel on a search engine there are ads of travel
agents on the net.

Objectives of Internet Advertising
Advertising: As far as advertising on the Internet goes, all advertisements will
serve to attract the user's attention and draw him to the company, which is
advertising. Build brand awareness: Direct or indirect methods can be used on the
websites to build brand awareness of the different brands of a company. This is
where the Internet scores traditional media and methods as explained below.

Stimulate direct action: Visitors to a company's web site should get
involved with the offerings on the site. Valuable customer information can also be
captured and tracked for future marketing initiatives.

Promote its brands: Promotional give - away or contests generate
excitement while simultaneously promoting your brands online, aiding off - line
sale. Building a culture around its brands: This goes along with that company's
traditional advertising.

Surrogate advertising: This is another means of surrogate advertising of
the company, where all forms of traditional advertising fail. Surrogate advertising
can be proved to be positive in case of advertising on the Internet.

Features of Internet Advertising:
Advertising on the Internet has certain unique features that differentiate it from
other forms of advertising. They are as follows:

Member registration: Member registration is an efficient tool that is used
by firms to create their database. Such a database may be used to design
promotional campaigns. Allowing registered users to participate in various events
can follow systems of free registration. Online opinion polls: Opinion polls are

conducted to obtain the responses from users regarding the firms' products and
services besides including topics of general interest.

Newsletters: Regular newsletters are sent especially to registered users. These
contain information about current updations on the site and activities being
performed by the company.

Contests and sweepstakes: Contests are useful in attracting new users to
websites. They may be for simple things depending on the product or service being
advertised. The prizes offered are in a wide range and usually have the logo of the
company and the homepage address displayed prominently.

Content: The content of the advertisement can be regularly updated with news
regarding the activities of the firm. A fact-based section showing the
manufacturing processes of a company may also be included. The use of
multimedia tools can make this more interactive.

E-cards: Users send free cards via e-mail from the site of the company
advertising the product. The card prominently displays the logo or the baseline of
the brand. The cards may be for different occasions such as birthdays, festivals,
birthdays, etc. These cards are used to reinforce brand identity. Star endorsers of
the brand may also be included in the picture postcard themes.

Downloads: Downloads may include various utilities for the computer such as
icons, desktop patterns, screensavers, themes, etc. Registered users get the
opportunity of downloading software. Charts and other informative articles may
also be included.

Internet Marketing Tactics
There are many different technologies to facilitate your Internet marketing strategy.
Some of the most common and effective tools are:
Search Engines and Directories: Search engines are one of the most popular
means of finding web sites, second only to following links on web pages.
Search engines help people find relevant information on the Internet. Major search
engines maintain huge databases of web sites that users can search by typing in
keywords or phrases.
Advertise your message. Web directories/search engines are information, gateways
that have high traffic and are good for displaying advertisement banners. They are
used to find Internet information and for this reason, appeal to broad target groups.
E-zines (Online magazines): These publications are focused on specific topics and
may be a way to reach a target audience interested in that subject. Some companies
have gathered the e-mail addresses of potential customers and used these lists to
send out product information specific to client interests.
Seven good reasons to establish an E-Zine
1. Establishes Trust
2. Brings Visitors Back
3. Establishes You as an Expert
4. Keeps Current & Potential Customers Up to Date on New Products & Services
5. Builds Relationships
6. Allows You to Build an Opt-In Email Marketing List
7. Keeps Your Website Fresh in Visitors' Minds

E-mail: Ethical methods of gathering e-mail addresses are through on-line
registration built into your corporate Web sites, or requests for information forms
that request submission to your opt-in lists.
An alternative is to purchase lists of customer e-mail addresses indexed by special
interests from a private company such as 'Postmaster Direct'.
Online customers are becoming increasingly selective about their relationships, the
brands they trust, and what they consider relevant. While most marketers are aware
of privacy issues and the risks of Spam, there is still need for improvement. Email
marketing campaign management is still fairly unsophisticated even at the largest
of organizations.
Marketers have to think about the drivers of customer response and purchase. Over
time, as more is learned about your customer buying behavior, you can will isolate
campaign and program characteristics that drive your customer or visitor response
and action. Isolating the behavior of high value customers, business customers, or
the minority of customers who prefer to buy online will be critical. For example,
new online buyers get referrals when shopping online, while experienced frequent
buyers prefer search engines.
Affiliate Marketing: Affiliate Marketing enables you to increase online sales by
promoting your products and services through a network of Affiliate sites on a
payment-by-results basis.
It also provides the opportunity to generate additional revenue by exploiting your
site's own content to promote the products and services of other online Merchants.
A Merchant recruits content sites to partner with them as Affiliates in exchange for
commissions. A common third party provider such as Commission Junction can be
used.

The Merchant provides their advertising banners and links to their Affiliates and
assigns a commission for each click-through to their site, subscription to their
service, or purchase of their products that is generated from those links.
Affiliates place the tracking code for these ads and links on their Web sites. This
allows clickthrough's to be tracked online and commissions to be calculated. If a
product or service is purchased, the customer pays the Merchant directly and the
Affiliate is paid a commission for that transaction. The dating giant
adultfriendfinder.com has used this strategy to the maximum and has earned
millions of dollars by proper implementation of this strategy.
Banner Advertising: Banner advertising can play an extremely important role
within your website strategy. One can use banner advertising as a means of
promoting it’s own products and services, raising awareness, or as a way of
generating revenue by selling advertising space on your own website.

Purchasing Advertising: There are currently two widely recognized methods of
purchasing banner advertising. The rates for these are usually quoted on a cost per
thousand basis or (CPM). The rates you pay can vary tremendously as there is
currently no standard price model - so be prepared to negotiate!
 Pay-Per-Impression: This method of purchasing banner advertising is
based on a charge for the number of times someone sees your banner. There
are no guarantees as to how many visitors will come to your site as a result
of seeing your banner; you are simply paying for the number of times your
banner is displayed. Websites that offer such programs include
paypopup.com and adclicksor.com
 Pay-Per-Visitor: This method of purchasing banner advertising is based on
a charge for the number of times someone visits your site as a result of

clicking on your banner. This is a better method of purchasing banner
advertising as you are only paying for results, although expect to pay a
premium.
 Pay-Per-Click : The revenue model of the Internet giant google.com has its
very own service which offers certain share of the profit that it makes by the
click-thru that a website generates from its adsense codes. The revenue
model is known as google adsense and almost every successful website uses
this model to make profits. The Google adsense ads can be seen on websites
like Times of India, Moneycontrol.com, ManagementParadise.com and a lot
many other reputed websites.
Sales Promotion: Employing methods to stimulate sales through immediate or
delayed incentives to the customer. If the incentive is attractive, the price: value
ratio is adjusted favourably enough to affect a sale. This strategy should integrate
with the overall marketing mix to balance extra sales with long-term profit
motives. Examples of sales promotion strategies are:
 Sampling - offering product samples, electronically.
 Bonus offers - offering additional goods or services when making single
purchases (e.g. buy-one-get-one-free).
 Limited time offers - attracting visitors to return to a Web site.
 Games with prizes: Useful to keep people coming back to Web sites.
 Cross-product sampling: When a customer makes a purchase they have an
opportunity to try out another company’s product/service. Also, the customer
may have the opportunity to try out more than one company’s product/service
while testing another. Useful for complementary products/services.
 Feature pricing: providing special pricing to those that order electronically.

 Cross-promotions with other companies’ products/services - Buy a
company’s product/service and get a coupon for another company’s
product/service.
Publicity: The goal of publicity is to have others talk about the small business or
its products. It can be inexpensive or even free and it may have the potential to
generate far more in sales than even a well executed advertising plan.
Promotional Publications: Facilitate customer education, with the intention of
building corporate image and even brand awareness, the small business may
sponsor and/or publish its own electronic magazine on the Web, e-mail, etc. These
are useful in fields
where the customer needs information to develop sufficient knowledge for
movement through the first three stages of the sales process of awareness, interest,
and desire. Although time consuming, they replace or complement the print
versions of newsletters/corporate magazines/flyers.
Subscriptions: Business marketers may use their Web sites to encourage visitors
to subscribe to receive regular email messages from the company. These messages
are called digests or newsletters, and are a clever way for marketers to push
product news to willing customers.
E-mail Links: Visitors to a site should have the opportunity to correspond with the
host of that site, especially if out of the telephone area or time zone. E-mail links
may be strategically placed throughout the site to elicit response from visitors for
at various points. These are also useful for feedback on site maintenance problems.

On-line Surveys: Information may be collected on the visitors to a Web site
through registration forms, on-line surveys, or through tracking of areas of site
they visit. These websites also offer referrals wherein if you refer someone to their
site and the person becomes a member then you are paid commission on that.

Case Study
Rediff.com
Rediff.com is one of the premier worldwide online providers of news, information,
communication, entertainment and shopping services for Indians.
Known for being one of the first with news and providing accurate and trustworthy
information, Rediff.com provides an ideal platform for Indians worldwide to
connect with one another online fast. Rediff.com is committed to offering a
personalized and a secure surfing and shopping environment.
Rediff.com additionally offers the Indian American community one of the oldest
and largest Indian weekly newspaper, India Abroad.
Founded in 1996, Rediff.com is headquartered in Mumbai, India with offices in
New Delhi and New York, USA
Rediff.com is the leading online network targeting India and Indians worldwide.
They provide original and third-party branded content through interest-specific
channels, extensive Web-based community features such as free e-mail, chat,
personal home pages and an India adapted search engine, and the largest ecommerce platform in India. They have designed their Web-site offerings by
keeping the slow access speed available to most Indian Internet users in mind.
Rediff believes that it has created the online network of choice for Indian Internet
users, as well as created a highly desirable advertising and e-commerce platform
for advertisers and merchants respectively.
They believe that their success to date is attributable to the following key success
factors:

1. Focus on India & Indians Worldwide: They serve the online needs for Indian
Internet users and people of Indian origin worldwide and have developed their
product offerings based on the demands and the requirements of their user base.
They have been in business since 1996, and hence have a large archive of Indian
focused content. Rediff provides their users with:
· Broad range of community offerings such as, chat, singles channel and personal
homepages that allows users to interact with other Indians with similar interests;
· Search engine, with technology from Inktomi, that has been customized to
provide India relevant content as top searches for queries by users;
· Channels that are relevant to Indian interest, e g Horoscope, Cricket, Singles,
Indian finance, Indian music and Indian movies;
· Up-to-date news focused on India, constantly updated by their in-house editorial
staff, featuring interviews with several leading Indian politicians, movie stars, and
celebrities;
· Airline and train schedule and availability, thereby eliminating the need for Indian
users to queue up in airport and train stations;
· An easy to understand interface that strikes the right balance between an attractive
visual appearance and fast down-load times for people accessing the site with low
speed modems.
2. Comprehensive online offering: Rediff believes that it is "one-stop-shop" for
Indian Internet users by satisfying all their online requirements. By providing them
with locally relevant content, community functionality, and ability to shop online,
it has been able to attract and retain users on its site for extended periods. They

believe that their extensive offerings coupled with their aggressive branding
program have made them the most recognized Internet brand in India. To help
advertisers reach the Rediff audiences, they help them build their sites, design their
banners and sponsorships and lead them through a comprehensive service to assist
their marketing efforts on the net.
3. Leading e-commerce platform: Rediff has created the Rediff Marketplace
which provides Indian merchants a guide and effective way to move from being
merely advertisers/sponsors on their site to selling their goods and services online.
To demonstrate the value of this proposition they created a Rediff Book Store and
Music Store online and the initial positive results from them has allowed them to
sign up more merchants. Till date they have put online several dozen merchants in
India and are now completing development of software that will allow merchants
to automatically sign-up, create their own store and transact business on the web.
On the other hand they have created the necessary facilities to allow their site
visitors to easily search and provide the right goods and services in the Rediff
Marketplace.
Promotional Strategies
Rediff generally believes advertising in mass media like Television, Newspaper
etc.Apart from these general means of advertising it also believes in promoting the
site through web promotion. The best e-commerce site in the world is worthless if
no one can find it. But, too often, ecommerce start-ups use shotgun marketing,
simply advertising everywhere, to everyone, in the hope that a fraction of a percent
of those who see the ads will respond.

Majority of the Rediff customers come through search engines, such as Yahoo,
Google, AltaVista and others. So they see to it that they are getting their site listed,
making sure that their site shows up high in the list of search results and ensuring
that their site is listed for specific keywords which is a science in itself.
Rediff also believes in Word of Mouth policy, an offline strategy. This can be
done only if they provide innovative products and services to its customers and to
see that what the made by them is being fulfilled, more the number of people
visiting their site more is the awareness made by them to other people.
For E.g. Rediff offers ‘Rediff Blogs’ a service that allows a user to publish their
thoughts and ideas directly on the web. Rediff.com is the first Indian website to
offer Blogs to Indians worldwide using the latest in the internet technologies.
A Blog or a web log is a personal or conversational website updated frequently
with views, links, commentary and such other information relevant to a particular
topic. This could comprise of links and commentary from other websites on topics
of interest such as writing diaries, poetry, uploading photos, providing project
updates, news about a company, a person or an idea and even fiction. This service
enables the user to express his opinions, be heard and make friends on Rediff.com.
The process of setting up and updating a blog is very simple. All a user needs is a
Rediff.com account. Thereafter a blog can be set up in three simple steps, starting
with entering a subject, choosing a template and making an entry into the blog.
Building Trust
Online users expect certain things from the service provider i.e. easy to use and
trouble free procedures like while creating a new Rediffmail account, the

information asked by Rediff to the online user is very specific and up to the point.
According to them trust is an ongoing job, at no point can they afford to loose a
valuable customer. On its website they have got a Rediff Marketplace option
wherein a customer can buy the products online. Rediff has got this system
whereby if a customer after shopping is not satisfied with the product purchased
from Rediff, they can return the goods back to Rediff even if they have used the
product. Rohit Varma, Chief Marketing Officer said that it is these small things that
one has to take into consideration and which can create a sense of trust in the
minds of the customers.

CONCLUSION
Today’s corporation better serves their customer and their bottom
line by functioning as a focus of resources than as a owner of
resources.
Outsourcing non- core functions like websites maintenance and
the use of internet buisness conslutant provides many companies
with enhanced levels of services at lower costant will help you in
a buisness complete in today’s highly competitive market place.
Global competition has intensified with the introduction of new
technologies. Those who can exploit the opportunities of this new
technologies will win. Internet marketing enables a large company
to be responsive,innovative,and fast and a small company to
complete internationally with the big boys. Information
technology changes on a month to month basis and sometimes
week to week. The pace of change in acclerating.
To remain competitive,companies must position themselves and
commence marketing on the internet.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books
Marketing Management – Philip Kotler

Marketing.Com – Vijay Mukhi
E-Business Essentials- Matt Haig

Websites
www.citemarketing.com
www.slideshare.com
www.scribed.com
www.rediff.com
www.marketingterms.com