Why is Internet Marketing Important?

Today, in the Information Era, our global economy is described as in transition to a “knowledge economy”, where it is the wealth of knowledge gathered from information producing economic profit; and where knowledge based skills are considered at great lengths to be far more valuable than traditional economic resources (land, natural resources, etc.). This knowledge based economy exists as a result of the so called “information society”, a society so ravenous for knowledge, so centered around information technology as supporting pillar of economy, production and culture even to initiate migration from the industrial society brought on by the industrial revolution to the aforementioned information society triggered by the recent informational revolution. It is easy to see therefore the importance information today has on the economy and society around us.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics nearly 40% of the Australian work force today is comprised of 'knowledge workers', a 7% increase since 1989.

So the importance of the web is obvious, its impact in all aspects of life undeniable, and its usefulness unshakable. This is true for recreational users spending increasing amounts of time browsing the net in search for fun activities, excitement, relaxation and even romance; it is true for the customer relying ever so more on the internet to deliver their products of choice; and ultimately it is true for the business, particularly how more and more companies are putting their identities online, sometimes relying solely on their website to represent them.

The World Wide Web is as valuable to a company as a telephone, and a website is just as important to a company as a phone number. Aside from the telephone all other forms of communication are uni-directional, and through these media advertisements will use a more direct form of publicity, one where the customer is told what the product is, why it’s good, why it exists and why they should buy it and own it. This form of advertising is known as the “show and sell” strategy. While this strategy has worked until now, it is somewhat considered intrusive and to some extents abusive, so why is it used? Well, simply because that was the only viable strategy applicable to the unidirectional media like TV, radio and print.

So this knowledge based economy we speak of in the context of the web still feels a little incomplete, it’s missing a keyword… “Network”. The knowledge based network economy is radically changing the workplace: the old 9-to-5 work hours are shifting to accommodate and adapt to the world wide clock, the office is a scattered around the world, sometimes allowing the home to become the office, and obnoxious bosses are… well they’re still there. So the business concept of the early twentieth century has become a global business concept live 24/7 * 365, merely overnight.

With the web playing such a crucial role in the knowledge-based network economy a new strategy that takes advantage of the unique capabilities of the web is needed.

This is true as almost 37 million people were active users of the internet in 1996, only 6 years since the release of the first tools for creating websites. Over 1 billion individual users were estimated to have been regular users of the internet as of December 2006. Australian statistics for Dec. 2006 indicate that a staggering 70.2%, 14,729,191 people, of the Australian population are regularly users of the internet.

So with all the potential benefits of online marketing, such as being able to target your market with pin-point accuracy, being able to track the effectiveness of your strategy with highly detailed conversion rates and statistics compared to radio, TV and print, and the fact that entry level costs allow for affordable yet effective advertising, the greatest advantage of the web is that it allows to exploit the enormous mass previously mentioned. So, rather than localizing your advertising efforts the internet can help you cover the entire global digital network, no matter how remote your business or location is.

Regardless of the negative reputation many corners of the internet appear to receive as a result of abuse and other lamentable activities, and while we may have become accustomed to the web and though it may seem that the social and business revolution it promised may seem over, the impact it has is inescapable and its efficiency in marketing strategy holds enormous amounts of potential. We can safely say that we are still in the early stages of a global digital network and the influence it impresses on our institutions, economy, languages and daily routine is just beginning and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.

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