Online Marketing New models of advertising?

2. Abstract
This paper will serve as the Master Thesis on the Cand.Merc.Ibe education. The paper is
designed to give the reader an insight to if, and how companies utilise the possibilities of
Internet advertising and branding.
2.1. Introduction
Even before the Internet there were many different ways to advertise, in different media
such as radio, TV, newspapers, magazines, as well as via telemarketing or pamphlets. Usually
the goal was to get a company- and/or product name, a statement etc. communicated to as
many people as possible for the smallest price possible.
When the Internet arose, a number of search options became available. Companies had the
option to advertise themselves on a larger scale. Due to advertising perception at the time,
many businesses were assumed to have great value, and thus traded on the stock exchange at
extraordinary high rates. This collapsed in 2001 at what is commonly known as the dot-com
bubble.
After the dotcom collapse, the Internet was almost disregarded because of many failing
website-based businesses that had expectations to the market and assumptions about
consumers. However, both consumers and companies continued exploring online options.
Soon more substantial business models emerged; search advertising1 and e-commerce were
the new possibilities. Enhancements in targeting advertising, and understanding how
websites maintain visitors, became relevant. Researching consumer’s behaviour and buying
patterns online began to interest scholars.
Due to the technologies available today, as well as broadband implementations in most
homes, advertisers are able to make massive leaps and create global campaigns (become
1 When you advertise on a search engine, you purchase keywords that relate to your product or service. Internet
users type in your keywords and see your ad on the same page as their search results.
Abstract
6
globalised in just at few minutes). Leaps that will be more obvious as a new generation of
professionals take control.
“(...) are likely to continue as marketing and advertising are increasingly peopled with individuals for whom
the internet, eBay, Amazon, Google, and YouTube were always there and which played some role in forming
their worldviews, just as television, film, radio, and print did for prior generations.” (Rappaport 2007)
So, let us face the facts: The Internet is no longer a medium of “new economy”, and “Ebusiness”
as a term has rather been rendered obsolete. The Internet is used in any and all
industries, as a branding and marketing tool, as an internal communication tool, and as the
start of most business transactions. Today companies use the Internet as one of the most
powerful tools in a big number of ways. The Internet has unlocked a large number of search
options and new ways of highlighting the important aspects of any item. Thus marketing has
been redefined via the Internet, and given even small businesses a chance to promote and
brand their products on a larger scale. The Internet has therefore experienced enormous
growth in online advertising, since its inception in the early 1990’ies. It is still however
executed in the usual one-way-communication, as it has always been done.
Success stories in advertising are easy to find: Amazon is using their customers to market
products to others via the “other buyers, who looked at this, also looked at this”. Coca Cola
are storytelling via the Internet, MasterCard use humourous clips, and through that viral
marketing.
But are all companies aware of the possibilities, and do they use them?
We live in a world of connectivity; the number of mobiles phone subscriptions in Denmark
outnumbers the number of inhabitants. The number of text messages increases year-by-year,
email and instant messenger programs set records each year. All of which points out that
people are in need of being in contact with others.
When the Internet connects people across oceans and continents, dating services,
networking pages and blogs, forums and chat rooms are increasing every minute, are the
companies aware of the consumers’ need to be connected and be part of a dialogue?
Are companies adopting the interaction approach to their advertising concepts?
Abstract
7
Getting the user to feel like part of the company will create not only happy customers, but
ambassadors, that will promote the company and its products even further. Most people do
not leave their home without their mobile phone, they are scared to miss anything, and want
people to be able to reach them for an opinion. Customers are jumping on the chance to be
heard in large audiences.
Can this interaction approach be used in advertising to create success?

Problem formulation
9
3. Problem formulation
Based on the before-mentioned questions, we have therefore decided to investigate the
following:
• What alternative advertising options does the Internet provide to internationally
oriented companies?
• To what extent are internationally-oriented Danish companies aware of such
alternative advertising options, and to what extent do they take advantage of
them?
• What strategies should Danish companies adopt to take advantage of these
options?
We wish to investigate these questions in an effort to highlight where advertisers have
options to expand current, and develop new concepts that will give companies the option of
targeting their campaigns even further.
What are the alternative options?
To understand the options available, a review of existing thoughts on the topic is needed. A
thorough presentation of the approaches companies can undertake, and how they affect the
outcome. Moreover, different options of advertising online will be discussed, and a
presentation on already done material will highlight where the current potential is, and what
should be carefully considered before use.
This section should develop into some considerations, which expand into the option of
carrying out some empirical studies.
Are internationally-oriented Danish companies aware of, and how do they use online
marketing?
We will examine examples of companies targeting their communication to the end-user, via
investigation of online communication (websites). This will however not provide insight to
which options the companies are not using. Therefore an informed opinion poll will be
conducted, in order to find out if the companies are aware of all options, and only have
Problem formulation
10
decided against their use; our preliminary understanding is that companies will use all the
insight they have.
What strategies should Danish companies adopt?
It would be obvious to make recommendations based on a study of companies and their
strategies, but a far more interesting point is whether the end-user is more prone to
advertising if conducted differently than the companies currently market themselves. We will
investigate the end-user opinion via questionnaires, and get opinions on the different options
available.
Furthermore we expect to find differences in advertising used by foreign entities, compared
to what is used by Danish companies.
In order to examine these questions in depth we need to understand and explain our
methodological viewpoint. To understand the assumptions of this paper, it is necessary to
highlight the foundation and the methods used. This is done as a stand-alone chapter, from
where items will be derived and discussed when applicable and will especially be introduced
in the empirical chapters.
We will through this paper make a number of assumptions, and we have dedicated a chapter
to make the reader follow our chain of reasoning. This is done in the chapter of Conceptual
framework. Here we will also set our limitations for the questions, and define the keywords
used throughout this paper.
Our empirical data will consist of both the companies view, as well as the enduser/
customer, and this will provide us with the necessary options to analyse what options
are available (and used), as well as giving us a set of “do’s and don’ts” for companies when
advertising online.
The paper is trying to establish a clear picture of companies’ use of Internet marketing (or
lack thereof). Part of the answer to this question is therefore whether the Internet is a new
medium for traditional marketing, or supports a new way of conducting marketing. Our
analysis will seek to provide us with insight to how customers view the Internet.
Problem formulation
11
It is important to stress that this paper is not a final manual of do’s and don’ts online, our
research area is too small, and time is too much of essence. Neither will this paper give any
insight to whether the Internet is a more optimal tool for marketing than other channels
(such as TV-, radio- or outdoor advertising). Furthermore no return on investment
discussions will be sought, ROI requires a very different perspective, but could easily be the
natural extension of this paper. Though the paper is not meant to give a conclusion on the
matter, or become a guideline of what to do, (and not do) as a business, there will be points
that lead to several statements, that alone could raise new questions, and therefore the paper
will end with a reflection of the project and topic.
3.1. Structure of the project
This project is overall divided into four main parts. The introduction, methodology and
problem formulation is our pre-understanding and questions towards Internet marketing,
and how we intend to analyse them. Each of our main questions from the Problem
formulation will have an interdependent section. We tried to find existing material on the
subject, but were unable to attain such. Therefore we have no primary data, and thus have to
create our own. This will be conducted from questionnaires and interviews, and together
with secondary data will be our main empirical collection.
In Figure 1 the project structure is depicted.
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Conceptual framework
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4. Conceptual framework
This paper requires a number of definitions and delimitations in order to keep focus on the
important aspects, and to avoid raising more questions, rather than answer the ones at hand.
Furthermore, it is important that the different terms/concepts that we refer to in this project
are defined, to give the reader a broader perspective of the issue that we are dealing with.
4.1. What is marketing?
Marketing is a societal process, which discerns consumer’s wants, focusing on a product or
service to fulfil those wants, attempting to mould the consumers toward the products or
services offered. Indeed, marketing is fundamental to any businesses growth. The marketing
teams (marketers) are tasked to create consumer awareness of the products or services
through marketing techniques. Unless it pays due attention to its products and services and
consumers' demographics and desires, a business will not usually prosper over time.
Essentially, marketing is the process of creating or directing an organisation to be successful
in selling a product or service that people not only desire, but also are willing to buy.
Therefore good marketing must be able to create a "proposition" or set of benefits for the
end-customer that delivers value through products or services.
Throughout this paper we will not differ between marketing, advertising and the term ad.
Our understanding of the words is meant to be the same, and thus they will frequently be
used. One term needs to be explained though; viral marketing, which is a concept that have
developed with the emergence of the Internet. Viral marketing spreads through social
relations, and is considered a modern version of word of mouth marketing. Whether funny,
surprising or with deep impact many small texts, pictures or even videos are sent from one
user to another for various reasons. Viral marketing will be discussed in detail later.
4.2. Limitations
Throughout this paper online and offline will refer to whether or not the subject is available
to the public via the Internet. We will not consider in what “language” (HTML or other) the
information is available, nor will it be considered, what device the information is brought
Conceptual framework
14
from. The Internet is not only available on computers. Cellular phones, mechanical
calendars, portable music players etc are integrating faster and faster.
“In the near future, networked computers will be everywhere. Low-cost microprocessors and network
connections will be embedded in all consumer durable devices, such as the washing machine, the refrigerator,
the hot water tank, the oven, and many others. Every one of these devices will be connected to the Internet,
through either the electrical wiring system or through a community wireless network (Watson et al., 2002).”
(Zinkhan 2005)
Online communication today is not only confined to the computer, and so marketing can be
provided to the end-user in more ways than via the computer. This paper will not distinguish
between different ways of accessing the Internet. A website can be designed to appear best
on a smaller screen (cellular phone), or chat can via the Internet go from computer to regular
phone, even with one end typing in text and the other end speaking. Online marketing will
therefore be used in the broadest term possible, only where necessary will the definition be
stated and discussed.
We have decided to use internationally-oriented Danish companies in our problem
formulation. An internationally-oriented company is defined as any company that is already
operating on the international market or is in the process of entering the international
market, and seeks to inform the target customers about its goods and services. The reason
for using Danish companies is threefold, firstly it is our native country, and so the dialogue
will be simpler, any need for visiting or follow ups will be simpler, secondly Denmark as a
nation is one of the most developed in the world when it comes to IT, both infrastructure
(number of broadband users), public service and the private sector is available online.
Consumers are expecting online solutions, for banking, groceries, information, service etc.
Thirdly we feel that even though these consumers are expecting (and receiving) online
solution to nearly every aspect of their life, the strategy of most Danish companies are not in
sync with what is available and requested.
Methodology
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5. Methodology
In this chapter the methodological view that we possess and the project work is described.
Depending on which methodological approach one chooses, the subject of study may
change.
People understand, explain, and improve businesses depending on the approach being used
(Arbnor & Bjerke 1997). By choosing a given methodological approach it will also restrict
the way information/data is collected and used. Different methodological approaches have
different characteristics and terminologies. To illustrate, these approaches, used by Arbnor
and Bjerke, will be briefly described, after this, a deeper insight into the methodological
approach of this paper will be introduced.
5.1. Why consider methodology?
The main idea of the methodological chapter is to highlight the method used to solve a
problem. To do so, the way one will view and tackle a problem depends on his/her
fundamental assumptions, in other words his/her own perception of reality.
When a group of people works together, very often their perception of reality and,
consequently, of the ins and outs of the problem will differ. Logically, they will come up
with distinct methods to address the issue. Therefore, it is necessary to agree on one single
methodological approach in order to create a common understanding of reality. Such an
adoption will lead to a natural selection of several sets of tools (paradigm, model, etc.),
connected to the chosen approach.
Taking up a certain methodological approach also gives a frame for how to work throughout
the project, so the data collection, its analysis, and finally the conclusions drawn out of them
are all determined by the choice of these techniques.
5.2. Paradigms
From one’s perception of reality derives the adoption of a paradigm. The theory of science
offers a number of paradigms as different ways to view the world, which leads to different
ways of processing. A paradigm can be defined as:
Methodology
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“A basalt set of values, we basically take for granted, but controls our actions- the daily actions but also
actions that are combined with actuated investigations.” (Darmer & Freytag, 1996)
An American philosopher named Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996) was the first to define the
concept of paradigms. According to his theory, a paradigm consisted of 4 components
(Arbnor & Bjerke, 1997):
• Symbolic generalization, i.e. typical expressions used within scientific a group
(also called jargon), which are not questioned,
• Metaphysical aspects i.e. typical models. These models function in a similar
way as symbolic generalization, offering suitable and acceptable analogies and
metaphors.
• Values, i.e. tools for judging the research results, theories or scientific topics,
• Ideal examples i.e. specific solutions to a problem, which scientists confront
early in their careers and can be found in scientific journals.
This definition of paradigm is however not widely accepted among the social scientific
community, since challenging theories suggest other components to explain the concept of
paradigm (ibid).
Alongside Kuhn’s revolutionary theory; the scientific theorist Törnebohm developed an
evolutionary definition, built upon four components (see Table 7 in the Methodological
appendix):
• Conception of reality (view of the world), i.e. the philosophical idea of how the
reality is constructed, whether it exists by itself or it is formed through our
reflection.
• Conception of science, i.e. the knowledge achieved through education, which
form the perception of the studied objects and subjects.
• Scientific ideals, i.e. the expected goal of any investigation/research/
consultancy.
• Ethical/aesthetical aspects, i.e. the moral norms of the investigators/
researchers/consultants, as being morally (un) suitable, beautiful or ugly, etc.
Methodology
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Moreover, Törnebohm states that generally no major driving forces can influence the four
mentioned aspects of a paradigm. Furthermore, the constitution of reality or scientific
opinion shall not be discussed, since otherwise a practical research would be virtually
impossible to conduct.
In this thesis, it is decided to utilize Törnebohm’s definition as the foundation of our
methodological understanding because his realistic angle is suitable for the working process
of this project.
5.2.1. The six social science paradigms
The six social science paradigms are considered as the most important set of paradigms to
understand and explain business activities. They represent the different categories of creation
of knowledge about and in a given reality (Arbnor & Bjerke, 1997). We have in Table 6: The
six social science paradigms in the Methodological appendix tried to describe the six
paradigms. We have decided to draw out the hermeneutical circle from the appendix, and
visualise the thoughts behind the model.
Figure 2: The hermeneutical spiral (own creation, inspired by Arbnor and Bjerke 1997, p. 164-166)
The thought behind the model can be used in any given conception of social construction.
The post understanding becomes a new pre-understanding, and thus the never ending spiral
creates a new view of any given subject. The understanding of knowledge arises from a
hermeneutic point of view, where knowledge is acquired through a step-by-step process
composed of a pre-understanding, a present understanding and a post-understanding.
Methodology
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5.2.1.1. Creating knowledge
As mentioned earlier, methodology is the understanding of how methods are constructed,
that is why an operative paradigm is developed. An operative paradigm is the conceptual
bridge linking a methodological approach to a specific study area. These paradigms consist
of two key parts: (Arbnor & Bjerke, 1997):
The methodical procedures, i.e. the way creators of knowledge incorporate, develop and
modify some previously given techniques (e.g. selection of the units to study, data collection
or results analysis) into methods through a conscious and explicit procedure. Adapting or
modifying a previous result can also be referred as methodical procedures.
The methodics, i.e. the way creators of knowledge relate and incorporate these
“techniques-made-into-methods” into a study plan and how the study is actually conducted.
Summarizing, adapting a technique to a methodological approach is a methodological
procedure, while applying this adaptation in a plan or in an implementation of a study is
called methodics. This operative paradigm may change from time to time, depending on the
shifting character of the study area and the type of operative paradigm in question.
Furthermore, this assumption of reality leads to a certain paradigm, which embraces a
methodological orientation. Each paradigm can be based on one or two different
methodological approaches – in the minds of Arbnor & Bjerke: analytical, systems or actors
approach - to create knowledge. Consequently, the next step is to present the three
methodological approaches, so as to match them with their paradigms.
5.3. Different approaches
From past studies Arbnor and Bjerke have been used as the higher understanding of
methodology, therefore their three approaches to creating business knowledge are applied in
the considerations of this paper. The three approaches are:
• Analytic approach
• System approach
• Actor approach
Methodology
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To see a deeper explanation of the three approaches see Methodological appendix.
5.4. Relating paradigms to the methodological approaches
When talking about methodology, there are different paradigms that lie beneath the choice
of the three approaches. As the methodology in each approach differentiates, it is necessary
to depict how the four components of a paradigm are viewed in order to incorporate the six
social science paradigms to the three approaches.
The conception of reality and science, the scientific ideals and the ethical and aesthetical
aspects are to be described in Table 1 according to the approach of analytical, systems or
actor methodological points of view see Methodological appendix.
The following figure aims at providing the reader with an overview to what extent social
science, orientative paradigms and the three methodological approaches are correlated.
Figure 3: The three methodological approaches related to the six paradigms (Adapted from Arbnor &
Bjerke, 1997)
The analytical approac h
System approach
Actor approac h
Explanatory knowledge
(Explanatics )
Understanding knowledge
(Hermeneutics)
Reality as
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conformable to law
from a structure
independent of the
observer
Reality as a
concrete
determining
process
Reality as mutually
dependent fields of
information
Reality as a
social
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Reality as a world
of symbolic
discourse
Reality as a
manifestation of
human
intentionality
1 2 3 4 5 6
Methodology
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5.5. The chosen approach
It is not possible to empirically nor logically to determine the best methodology approach.
This can only be done reflectively by considering a situation to be studied and one’s own
opinion on life (Arbnor & Bjerke, 1997). Theories of science can be looked at from different
approaches as explained above, but the different experiences and previous studies will always
bias the investigator. In this section we will shortly explain the choice of our methodological
view.
Our choice reflect the way data are collected and used further in the project, but also the
approach that we have decided to use, reflect our perception of reality of how business
knowledge is created.
Choosing the right approach depends on how creation of knowledge is perceived, namely
the differentiation between explanatory and understanding creation of knowledge but also
based upon the influence from the environment.
Creators of knowledge who make a distinction between the methods of the classical natural
sciences and those of the social sciences are often called hermeneutics. They claim:
“There exist a decisive difference between explaining nature and understanding culture”
(Arbnor & Bjerke, 1997).
A person that totally denies the existence of a fundamental difference between the natural
and the social sciences are traditionally called positivists. Since there is few left in the world
today that like to be called that, they primarily prefer to as explanaticists. Even though
methods might have to be modified, in specific cases, explanaticists maintain the explanatory
logics, e.g., causal explanations, in both sciences.
We believe that knowledge is a reconstruction of information seen in contexts, and that we
are depended on information in order to gain knowledge. Our perception of reality is that
human transform information into knowledge and thereby we act on the transformed
information. As a consequence of such beliefs the system approach would be the most
suitable approach to use.
Using a system approach allows us to use both explanation and understanding in order to
answer the presumption that we have created in the problem formulation. More important it
Methodology
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provides us with an opportunity of comprehend the little amount of data’s that exist
concerning this issue. We then interpret the information, which then becomes knowledge
throughout experience and interpretation. The approach we have decided to use is the
system approach with the assumption that reality constantly changing forms and activities
are based on the transfer of information. Some would say that we am pragmatic, meaning
that see reality (world) is seen as boxes and together they create synergy. Maybe that is right,
but we also see similarities in the reality as a social construction, in a way that we view reality
as a world of symbolic relations and significances that emerge out of human actions and
interaction.
There are a number of different concepts in circulation in business studies today about when
and how to use various methods for developing business knowledge. Different
methodological approaches make different assumptions about their subject. This means that
when people apply the different approaches in practice, they have to proceed differently
when trying to understand, explain, and improve business, depending on the approach being
used.
5.5.1. Applied Methodology
In this section we will explain our operative paradigm for the project work.
Through literature study, text interpretation, reflection on the material read and discussions,
the main characteristics will be drawn up. The literature that will be studied was located
through searches on the Internet, recommendations and literature-references, and consists of
published scientific articles, books and teaching-notes. Empirical studies will be conducted,
as questionnaires, and a jury of experts will be used to give further opinions on the issues
brought up in this paper.
5.5.1.1. Methods
A normal distinction between methods is the qualitative/quantitative, which also can be
developed into the reach and richness distinction. In Figure 4, it is shown how main types of
methods are positioned according to reach and richness.
Methodology
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Figure 4: Reach and Richness (interpretation of
http://www.ivang.dk/Handouts/012904%20internet%20and%20IMA.pdf)
Figure 4 shows which types of methods create the best reach vs. the best richness. Richness
is how much information/knowledge each respondent adds to the research and reach is the
number of information/knowledge sources obtained by using a specific method. A trade-off
between reach and richness exists and by using a specific method, we chose information that
would have more reach and less richness with regard to questionnaires. Furthermore, this
distinction and trade-off can also be made between qualitative (richness) and quantitative
(reach) methods.
Besides the methods depicted in the figure above, there exists a variety of other methods and
all these methods have advantages and disadvantages, which make them more or less
suitable to use in specific situations. Since we have a specific methodological assumption, we
are more inclined to use some methods prior to other. In order to gain an understanding of
the advantages and disadvantages of some of the more popular methods; we have included
Table 1.
Methodology
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Table 1: Different survey methods
In order to make statistical generalisation, we have to include a quantitative approach as part
of our data collection method.
Survey research is one of the most popular methods of gathering information about a
population. There are different ways in which surveys can be conducted, e.g. mail surveys or
Internet surveys. We have chosen to use the Internet as our channel, not only as it is fast and
efficient, but also because we need information on Internet behaviour, and therefore want to
make sure that respondents are regular users of the Internet. There are, however, both
strengths and weaknesses by using the Internet and in the following chapters; we will draw
up the main points in this discussion.

Does the Internet provide new options?
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6. Does the Internet provide new options?
The starting point of any research is what has already been examined, and what the
conclusions of these examinations are. This chapter is divided into two main parts, with two
subchapters;
• 1. The traditional Internet marketing
• 1. B: The traditional marketing strategy
• 2. The new internet marketing model
• 2. B: The new marketing strategy
Firstly to explain the theories of Internet marketing and their current use (i.e.: how
companies perceive online marketing today), and secondly to recap what options companies
have in creating marketing plans. Before this, we have included a brief explanation of the
Internet.
6.1. The Internet
Concerning the Internet there have been many ideas and theories. Due to the fact that the
Internet is rather a new phenomenon there is yet room for evolvement.
At first marketers, quite naturally, considered online media as extensions of the space and
time media—TV, radio, and print. Advertisements during most of online advertising's first
10 years filled measured spaces on web pages with variously sized banners, rectangles,
buttons, or leader boards. In fact, a good amount of early advertising industry work focused
on defining such spaces, called Interactive Marketing Units, in order to standardize practices
for the sale and delivery of paid advertising.
Through the years, many experts have developed theories concerning online Marketing.
Since the famous “Bubble” started collapsing in the late 90´ies, speculations around the
reason why it came to this point, has been many as mentioned earlier.
Does the Internet provide new options?
26
In order to realise the potential and possibilities of the medium, it is important to understand
what the Internet has brought of marketing communication.
Internet Marketing has evolved from websites with company logos and contact information,
through online product catalogues to a two way communication tool (questionnaires and
specific correspondence), and now, with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) a
variety of new options are opening up.
To understand e-communication and how companies use the internet as
marketing/advertising tools, it is important to understand how it is adopted into companies
and organisations.
6.2. Traditional Marketing
In this chapter we will try to give you an overview of what traditional marketing is and how
it is used over the internet. The traditional marketing (TM) is a common known media
concept. There are several ways of looking at TM, and using it. We have in this project
chosen only to focus on the TM over the internet. In the next subchapter we try to point out
some of the common know media tools as advertising tools.
But before doing that, it would be necessarily to point out that these tools were as common
before the internet, in another shape, than it is today.
6.3. How is marketing conducted online?
Throughout this paper, the term Internet marketing, will be used in a broad sense. There will
be sought to make the reader understand the closer definition by using other more precise
terms, where applicable. But in general internet marketing can be trying to promote both
sales and communication, e.g. Contact details, Product sales, Support possibilities, Aftersales
options etc. So what are the thoughts on marketing options online? How does one
approach the consumer (visitor), and to what extend do the visitor behave?
Does the Internet provide new options?
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6.3.1. Banner ads
One of the most widely used forms of advertising online is that of the banner ad. The ad is
placed on a website, and usually highlights itself with different colours, size and motion. It
can be a punch line, a question or even a video. It has (as almost every other item online)
evolved with the discovery of newer tools and programs. In the beginning the banner was a
non-moving square with a text and/or picture, but today it is often a video that starts with a
mouse over2. Therefore the banner ad can be compared to an outdoor communication form
that developed with the Internet.
The ROI for banners are measured in two ways, firstly the brand awareness (Robinson et al
2007), where the remembrance of your message or brand name is important. Secondly by a
rate of interaction - the click through rate (CTR) – the more people who click on the banner,
the more value the advertiser has been given. It has been found that while repetition reduces
CTR is enhances brand awareness (Robinson et al 2007).
Banner ad has been studied since the beginning of the commercialised Internet. Many
different angles of discussions and conclusions have been drawn, and there are several
counter perceptions. The form of the banner, the size, placement on the page, colour and
sound etc. are all factors to be considered in order to emphasise your message. A study from
Kingston University revealed that bigger is better (Robinson et al 2007); however the study
did not take into account the placement on the website. For instance a banner placed in the
top left corner could be more likely to generate awareness or (as the case for this study)
CTR. Earlier studies have proven to have little effect, Dreze and Hussherr tested in 2003
standard size (specific pixel size) banners against two other sizes, and found that the smaller
did actually perform as well as the larger one (Robinson et al 2007).
Studies also show that the message on the banner can have an impact. Mentioning of price,
gift, or free offers actually reduce CTR, while banners with neither price nor promotional
offers have bigger influence on CTR and brand remembrance (Rettie et al 2004).
2 When you move your mouse icon to be placed at a specific point (e.g. a picture or text)
Does the Internet provide new options?
28
A more specific targeting of the banners has proved to be more successful, generating higher
CTR.
“There is considerable evidence that targeting can improve click-through rate (Briggs et al., 1997; Chandon
& Chtourou, 2001; Chandon, Chtourou, & Fortin, 2003; Chatterjee et al., 2003). Briggs and Hollis
distinguish three aspects of targeting: the immediate relevance of the product to the target audience, the
immediate relevance of the message to the target audience and the relevance of the brand. The internet enables
advertisers to target users by choosing appropriate sites, in addition, advertising delivery can be related to the
search terms that surfers use.” (Rettie et al 2004)
This suggests that advertising via banners is more than just having the brand name, or
making a good promotional offer. It is necessary to target the specific consumer via the
correct host website, and it also needs to be with the correct message. This is not different
from that of offline marketing, but the Internet has created an option to target simpler than
otherwise. It is possible to track where the visitor is from via the ISP (Internet service
provider), what search words were used to visit this website (what website did the visitor
leave to visit the current) and is the visitor a first timer on this site, or a frequent visitor.
6.3.2. Pop-ups
The pop-up is defined by a new page (of your current browser) opens on top of the one you
are currently visiting. There are several variations of the pop-up:
• The pop-under, opening a website under the one currently being visited.
• The pop-in; where something is blurred or covered at the visited website in order
to advertise for something.
Pop-ups can be designed to appear when a website is loading, after a period of time is spend
on a website, or upon leaving the site/closing the window. Pop-ups can appear as small
windows covering a portion of the host website, it can therefore be less intrusive, e.g. when
not covering a vital text or similar.
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The popup has been perceived as very annoying, and has often been compared to that of
advertising breaks on TV. Several pop-up killers3 have been introduced online, and lately
Microsoft has included such a killer in their very popular Internet Explorer program. Pop-up
advertising is discarded by most users. Several other bigger software producers have included
pop-up killer software in their programs, and major advertisers have disregarded the option
of pop-up advertising. Edwards, Li and Lee examined the intrusiveness and irritation of popups
in a study from 2002. They stated several hypotheses based on when and where pop-ups
appeared, and found that more relevant content was perceived less intrusive, and the
perception was also dependant on whether the user is searching something specific or just
browsing without goal.
Although the pop-up is perceived as more of an annoyance than that of the banner ad, the
success rate is often higher:
“Still, some advertisers cling to pop-ups. Despite aggravations, ad execs say that 2% of them entice Websurfers
to click -- four times the rate of traditional banner ads.” (Baker 2003)
Some companies even have great success with pop-ups, designing them as entertainment or
small puzzles.
6.3.3. Search advertising
Google has developed the option of search advertising. According to Danish Newspaper
Jyllandsposten, the idea was actually invented by a small competitor, eventually bought by
Yahoo! a major competitor (JP 3/6-2008). Without bringing to much detail, the concept is
that any given word typed into a search engine, can be bought. This way, the results shown is
at one hand the result of the search concept, but a new list of advertising is available
(typically in a different list than that of the search results. Here the buyer of the word, get
advertising space. The more popular the word is, the more expensive it is to buy.
3 a small program that terminates the pop-up before it opens
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Another feature is that you can buy pr. click. One thing is to have your site/product shown
in a search, it also has to be clicked on to be truly effective. Therefore it is possible to define
your budget for a specific word, and thus create even small campaigns through Google.
Furthermore, Google has introduced a quality score, where the site behind a bought word is
valued. The webpage shown when a bought word is clicked could for instance be a new site
with advertising. Such a site would receive a lower score, and be charged more for a good
placement on the search advertising list. Thus marketing via Google have enhanced the
serious actor’s possibilities.
6.3.4. Email/Newsletters
Email is a very simple way of reaching the customers. It has however been misused, and
most users of the Internet are very familiar with the concept of Spam. Less serious
companies and advertisers buy email addresses by the hundreds and send out ads.
Many websites that ask for details on the visitor, and thus require an email address, and often
ask to be allowed to send out regular newsletters. These newsletters are a good way to keep
visitors returning to the site.
6.3.5. The herd-behaviour
The Internet reaches the globe in seconds. Therefore a successful site such as facebook.com
has millions of users. The question is, however, if the site is successful because it has a
product millions of users wants, or if the site is just popular because of herd-behaviour.
Dholakia and Soltysinski examined this behaviour in “Coveted or Overlooked” from 2001.
The publishing was based on online auctions, but it is relevant to marketing as well. The
results were that a parameter such as price might create herd behaviour, even though other
auctions (sites/services) might be similar.
The herd behaviour can be compared to viral marketing. If the message is interesting to large
numbers of people, it will be watched by even more people.
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An example can be found at youtube.com, where top lists of different videos can be found.
Not only most viewed (which is obvious), but also most recent, - discussed or active. The
herd behaviour is here used when browsing videos, and the most viewed will be even more
viewed, as people think this must be seen, since so many have been watching it.
6.4. Traditional marketing strategy
As stated previously marketing is a broad term used to cover many aspects. In everyday use
“marketing” is the promotion of any product you wish to sell. However marketing is more
than just getting a statement that says “buy this product”.
6.4.1. The four Ps
Marketing is company centred, and is according to E. Jerome McCarthy divided into four
general sets of activities, namely product, price, promotion and place. E. Jerome McCarthy
defined his four P theory in his Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach (McCarthy 1960).
Each of the activities can be further divided into different categories.
Figure 5: The 4 Ps - The Marketing Mix (source
www.freewebs.com/coachrogers/freshmanseminar.htm)
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This paragraph will go through the 4P as defined by E. Jerome McCarthy and Philip Kotler,
then we will explain what enhancements/developments have been discussed, and from here
we will define how the theory applies to the discussion at hand.
The marketing mix is probably the most famous marketing term. Its elements are the basic,
tactical components of a marketing plan. Also known as the Four P's, the marketing mix
elements are price, place, product, and promotion.
The concept is simple. Think about another common mix - a cake mix. All cakes contain
eggs, milk, flour, and sugar. However, you can alter the final cake by altering the amounts of
mix elements contained in it. So for a sweeter cake add more sugar!
It is the same with the marketing mix. The offer you make to you customer can be altered by
varying the mix elements. So for a high profile brand, increase the focus on promotion and
desensitize the weight given to price. Another way to think about the marketing mix is to use
the image of an artist's palette. The marketer mixes the prime colours (mix elements) in
different quantities to deliver a particular final colour. Every hand painted picture is original
in some way, as is every marketing mix.
Some commentators will increase the marketing mix to the Five P's, to include people.
Others will increase the mix to Seven P's, to include physical evidence (such as uniforms,
facilities, or livery) and process, i.e. the whole customer experience e.g. a visit to Disney
World (Borden 1964).
6.4.1.1. Product
The actual product is what the consumer wants, quality and colour, size and features. It also
includes supporting elements such as warranties, guarantees, and support. It is made up from
relations between:
Definition; physical product, a service or even people and organizations can be products.
Level; the product level gives the marketer an option of differencing otherwise similar
products. The levels are:
• The core benefit, the fundamental product, buying a car is buying transportation.
• The generic product, transport need to be transformed to something physical –
for example wheels.
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• The expected product, the car needs to be silent and comfortable
• The augmented product, special attributes that define your product from the
competitors.
• The potential product; what will the product turn into the future. The car may be
ready to install an auto drive function.
Hierarchy is the road from basic need to the specific product choice. Included here could be
choice of brand (more on this later) and product type.
Classification is simplified, long or short term goods or service products
Mix, the product mix is an overview of your own products. How many different product
lines do you have? How many items in each line? What is the depth of each line (variations
of the same product)? And what, if any, relation is between the products.
From the product line it can be derived what is creating income and what is creating
turnover. From this decisions can be made whether to expand the product line, either by
drawing out the line (draw the same product towards new markets) or expanding the line
with new products.
Brand; A major part of the product is the brand of the product. Several studies have been
conducted on the topic. Martin Lindstrom argues in Brand Sense (Lindstrom 2005), that
everything surrounding your product can be turned into branding. Lindstrom uses a term
called “smash your brand”, meaning that if you destroy your product people should still be
able to identify it. A broken Coca Cola bottle will be recognized because of the special bottle
design. Brand therefore is much more than a logo or product design.
6.4.1.2. Price
Price is one of the easiest ways of differencing from the competition, if you sell your product
cheaper than anyone else, the conclusion must be that you get the sale. In its core
understanding the price need not be monetary - it can simply be what is exchanged for the
product or services, e.g. time, energy, psychology or attention.
Setting the right price is a difficult task, what to charge depends on your strategy. The simple
way is to look at supply and demand. But in certain cases strategy requires to neglect one.
Using Price-elastic theory (Case & Fair 1999) e.g. if the goal is to conquer a new market in
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competition with existing products (market penetration), low price is a good start. Or the
opposite – if your strategy is to have the best product in terms of quality, price is much less a
factor. It can even be a downside to market your product at a low price. An important notice
is that most products become more elastic over time, as consumers have time to find
substitutes. It is also an option to estimate demand at different prices and then optimise your
income, by selecting the place on the curve where your contribution margin is highest.
Sometimes price changes are necessary, normally consumers tend to look with suspicion on
lowering price, deeming that the product might by lowered in quality as well. Also, while a
price reduction will give a higher turnover, the customer loyalty is lowered as well. Thirdly
your competitors will also lower their price and start an avalanche. An increase in price will
normally cause a reaction from both customers and competitors. If your product is a luxury,
then it will be more vulnerable if the price is heighted. The competitors can react in different
ways to your chance of price, depending on their own strategy.
It is also important to notice that an increase in price can be altered by changing something
about your product, e.g. lowering service, quantum pr. unit, packing or removing functions,
and thereby keep the same price, but maximising contribution margin.
6.4.1.3. Place
Place, refers to where the product is sold, what place in the store, or what type of store. And
also to which segment the product is sold.
It is however also about distribution and the choice of the number of levels before the
product reaches the end-user. The links between producer and retail outlet are often
enhancing the sale. For instance selling groceries are done in stores, where many different
producers are present, inevitable heightening competition, but also making the product
available to a large number of customers. These links can therefore be a subject of much
strategy discussion. Who to pick, what are the terms of the distribution and what are the
alternatives.
Placement or distribution: refers to how the product gets to the customer; for example,
point of sale placement or retailing. Retailing consists of the sale of goods or merchandise
from a fixed location, such as a department store or kiosk, or by post, in small or individual
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lots for direct consumption by the purchaser.4 Retailing may include subordinated services,
such as delivery. Placement of a product is essential for the seller to sell and also form the
purchasers that are viewing the sites. Later in the analysis we look at the impact the
placement of a goods or adverting have on the internet; it is not different from stores or
kiosks than it is over the internet. Purchasers may be individuals or businesses. In
commerce, a retailer buys goods or products in large quantities from manufacturers or
importers, either directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells smaller quantities to the
end-user.
Retail establishments are often called shops or stores. Retailers are at the end of the supply
chain. Manufacturing marketers see the process of retailing as a necessary part of their
overall distribution strategy.
Shops may be on residential streets, shopping streets with few or no houses, or in a
shopping centre or mall, but are mostly found in the central business district. Shopping
streets may be for pedestrians only. Sometimes a shopping street has a partial or full roof to
protect customers from precipitation. In the U.S., retailers often provided boardwalks in
front of their stores to protect customers from the mud. Online retailing, also known as ecommerce
is the latest form of non-shop retailing, for instant mail order.
Shopping generally refers to the act of buying products. Sometimes this is done to obtain
necessities such as food and clothing; sometimes it is done as a recreational activity.
Recreational shopping often involves window shopping (just looking, not buying) and
browsing and does not always result in a purchase
This P is therefore referring to the channel by which a product or services is sold (e.g. online
vs. retail), but can also be specific to which geographic region or industry, to which segment
(young adults, families, business people), etc. also referring to how the environment in which
the product is sold in can affect sales.
4 http://www.fas.usda.gov/info/factsheets/China/distribution.html
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6.4.1.4. Promotion
The way the product is promoted also influences the buyer behaviour, not only with regard
to the actual product, but also to the surrounding parts, i.e. the promotion of the warranty or
the company’s reputation.
Promotion can be divided in five subcategories:
Advertising is seen as a tool to communicate broadly. The general purpose of advertising is
to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume more of a particular brand or
product.
All types of media are used to deliver messages, including television, radio, cinema,
magazines, newspapers, video games, the Internet and billboards. Most companies that want
to advertise for their brand or product uses advertising agency or other organisation.
The general idea of advertising is to promote a specific product or Brand in few minutes to
as many as possible. This could be done on the seats of shopping carts, on the walls of an
airport walkway, on the sides of buses, and are heard in telephone hold messages and instore
public address systems. Advertisements are often placed anywhere an audience can
easily or frequently access visual, audio and printed information.
Places and to whom the advertising is addressed to depends on the product or brand. Some
organisations that frequently spend large sums of money on advertising that sells what is not,
strictly speaking, a product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious
organizations, and military recruiters. These types of advertising are directed to specific
populations. Non-profit organizations are not typical advertising clients, and may rely on
free modes of persuasion, such as public service announcements.
“While advertising can be seen as necessary for economic growth, it is not without social costs. Unsolicited
Commercial Email and other forms of spam have become so prevalent as to have become a major nuisance to
users of these services, as well as being a financial burden on internet service providers”.5
Today’s advertising is progressively more invading public spaces, such as schools, and can
to some extend be seen as a form of child exploitation.
5 http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/03/03/1528247&tid=111
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Sales promotion is most of the time the hiring of external media and non-media marketing
communication skills, engaged for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer
demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability. In other words external
employment task that have one focus and that is to sell the product or Brand in a fast and
easy way. Furthermore they also do surveys that provides the companies with statistic
concerning the given product or market.
Publicity is the attempt to guide the public’s awareness of the issue. To make sure that
product or brand are been digested prober by the public. Any ethic discussions that appear
through advertising have to be in order. The right message is brought out to the people.
Personal selling is a sale activity that involves a direct contact between the sales
representative of the given product and the consumer. A personal sale is a sold product in
return for money or other compensation. It is an act of achievement of a business-related
activity.6
The "deal is closed", means the customer has accepted the proposed product or service by
making full or partial payment to the seller.
Branding is a very broad sub-element under promotion. Branding is part of all four above
mention sub-elements, and therefore we have decided not to give a deeper explanation of
this element
The mix of these four parameters will determine the success of sale. There are however
limitations to this theory. Firstly it is often seen as marketing of low-interest, low-price
products, secondly several “p”s has been added to the theory when dealing with specific
sectors, or products. One of the more noticeable ones is from Booms and Bitner in 1981,
they analysed service firms, and came up with an addition of three issues.
The people, who are involved with the customer, whether they are sales personnel, support
personnel or other customers who describe your product, are important to consider.
Although marketing can be viewed as a one way communication, it is important to realise
that e.g. word of mouth is very powerful.
6 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sales
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Process, is regarded as an item in itself. The process of your after service, e.g. if a product is
faulty and you reimburse the customer, it has to be done quickly otherwise this will reflect
poorly on the product, regardless of the warranty issue.
Related to the study field of Booms and Bitner a service cannot be experienced before it is
bought and delivered. Therefore it is necessary to show the product before sale, which also
applies to many products delivered in the Internet. Studies or demonstrations therefore
provide important marketing. This issue was named Physical evidence, and gives the marketer
the option of providing the customer with a feeling of security before buying the product.
6.5. New marketing theory
The online marketing should be based on the consumer’s abilities to select and choose in the
interaction with the multiple Brands over the Internet.
“The rise of the model was based on advertising-supported revenue models or the assumptions about
consumers. The problem, we know now, were not the Internet, but in the business plans, management and in
the unreasonable expectations for their success based from the lesson of the bubble burst. Post-collapsed, as
consumers and companies continued moving online, more practical business models emerged and started
proving themselves, such as search advertising (now 40 percent of online advertising spending) and ecommerce.”
(Rappaport 2007)
After a while came an enhancement in targeting advertising, understanding how websites
build and keep audiences, and acquiring deeper insights into online consumers and their
media, and buying patterns. Added to that, new technologies and broadband adoption
enabled advertisers to make enormous creative leaps and create landmark campaigns. These
leaps are likely to continue as marketing and advertising are increasingly peopled with
individuals for whom the internet, eBay, Amazon, Google, and YouTube were always there,
and which played some role in forming their worldviews, just as television, film, radio, and
print did for previous generations. Based on these experiments the marketers are moving
towards the three new models of advertising:
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• On Demand model, is based on consumers' abilities to select and choose their
content and interactions with brands.
• The engagement model, where visitors are engaged in the product or service.
• Advertising as service to consumers, where the simplicity of a website becomes
an advantage.
We will now go in depth with these new thoughts on these models.
6.5.1. On Demand Model
The overall aim of these three models is a new way of thinking. We need to distance from
the traditional way of thinking. With the internet the possibilities are enormous.
The essential part of this model is the approach to the consumer as satisfied participant. The
era of consumers reading, watching, or listening on the medias' schedules seems almost
appealing; today nearly every companies is promoting their capacity/products in a way for
them to be seen or heard when ever consumers has a desire for their products. Even
network television, which built its business on aggregating viewers at specific times, is
experimenting with On Demand models. Episodes of some programs, even wildly popular
ones, are sold on Apple's iTunes, or made available from their own online distribution
systems like CBS' Innertube, or through the shows' own websites. Through these websites it
is possible to watch news 24 hours a day even from the weekend before. In fact, many media
have enjoyed an unforeseen benefit from the on-demand trend: their archives have become
hot properties because consumers seek access to materials from hours, days, weeks, or years
ago. Storage, retrieval, and on-demand access have transformed the media business and
increased the value of its content.
Broadly adopted information search tools are important developments supporting the On
Demand model. Before search engines and good websites, consumers were forced to seek
information and knowledge from the manufacturers, retailers, and distributors personally for
brand information. If the store was closed or consumers missed an advertisement, they had
no knowledge of the product, nor the ability of purchasing the product. Capable search and
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websites optimised for search engines changed that situation. Today consumers’ access,
considers, and acts on product information 24/7.
Another important aspect of the On Demand model is satisfied personalisation. In addition
to produced content, consumers want to leverage and connect the knowledge power of
brands by customising content to their personally interests, needs, and tastes. This takes the
form of managing preferences: "I want to see the weather in the 9500 and 9800 zip codes on
my home page," "Update me only when there's new information about a certain Brand X."
With choice comes responsibility. Consumers like choices, but not too much (Rappaport
2007). If we have too many choices, we will get confused, irritable or immobilising, and
counterproductive seen from a brand viewpoint. Instead of giving consumers multiple
options the companies should provide them with the necessary tools (Wagner 2007). That
way it simplifies the entrance to a Brand or implementing sophisticated business rules that
present the most relevant choices for the customers/consumers and at the same time the
company controls the choices.
The ideas are many, choices can vary and the tools sophisticated.
"(. . .) nobody's really in control, not the brand or the consumer." Joe Plummer (Rappaport 2007)
One thing that is essential to have in mind. The control has not been totally given to the
consumers, for most parts the company/brand still sets the stage, and establishes the rules.
For some parts it is the companies that control most parts, but in order to reach the
consumers’ needs, it is necessary for them to recognise that we are living in a two-way
communication era.
The thing that is different today is however, that consumers have new and powerful options
to accept or reject brand messages. For instant it is possible for most internet users today to
avoid pop-ups, and other unwanted advertising mails only by adding pop-ups killers.
Therefore it is necessary for brand marketers today, to take these new tools into
consideration in order to stimulate the demand for their products and services, but also
stimulating interest among the consumers to incorporate their brands in the choices
consumers make about what they want to see, read and listen to. Due to the many media
types and the consumers behaviour they become uniquely individual and their choices also
becomes individual choices and therefore causes many complications for the advertiser.
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These situations differentiate the traditional view of segmentation and signify that new types
of thinking are needed to exploit the advertising opportunities.
To summarise on the Demand model it can fairly be said that the consumers’ need are
covered 24 hours a day. Also the ability to alter the consumers search behaviour to specific
pages is important for the Demand model. The model also points out the ability the
consumers have concerning choices. It is crucial that choices are limited; meaning that if the
consumers have too many choices, the effect of the Brand is only partial. Therefore
communication is essential to avoid this. With the traditional marketing the advertising
marketers are more interested in having their brand at as many places as possible, whereas
with the Demand model it is more vital where and who sees the adverting. Sequentially to
gain that position, communication with the consumers is fundamental for the new brand
marketers. Communication is a keyword for this model. One thing is to modify the choices
for the consumers, but also to recognise that in order to increase the sales throughout
marketing, it is essential for the marketers to acknowledge the communication to be twoway.
With the Demand model it is important that not only do the brand marketers need to
promote their product on the internet, but they also have to make sure that the consumers
include their brand to their favourite choices.
6.5.2. Engagement Model
The Engagement model is based upon two key ideas:
1. High relevance of brands to consumers
2. The development of an emotional connection between consumers and brands.
Additionally, engagement occurs, like all relationships do, in a social context that can
influence the quality and duration of the engagement.
As Joe Plummer relates to:
“Consumers want to get involved with brands they care about, and give brand marketers explicit permissions,
through an opt-in program, to involve them with the brand." (Rappaport 2007)
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For these consumers, brands provide opportunities, this is not always given, that go beyond
typical relationships, where they looking at a ranking of privileged statuses and rewards. They
are called “The Brand Ambassador”. This status is a status the companies give to the faithful
consumers, and it is more or less the highest status that can be given to them.
As an ambassador you have insider access to marketers, and gain appreciation and social
status in the selected communities by being a spokesperson or leader. This type of marketing
looks a lot like Viral Marketing.
Because Engagement is based on emotions and relationships between customers and the
companies, marketers believe the Engagement model conceive it differently from traditional
advertising.
Engagement is much more than "I know you". In its ideal form it is about bonding, shared
meaning, and identification. You feel connected to the Brand.
Take Harley-Davidson as perhaps the ultimate example, where a buyer identifies themselves
with a lifestyle. Professionals writing about Engagement, view it as opportunity because once
consumers have chosen to receive brands' communications, the strategy is to make it worth
their while by providing compelling brand experiences.
Marketing Insight Corporation CEO Vincent Barabba:
"... consumer choice can lead to greater and more meaningful engagement between the consumer and the
provider of products and services" (Rappaport 2007)
A similar and more urgent thought is expressed by Digitas Chief Marketing Officer David
Edelman:
"... Consumers are seizing control. Marketers have no choice, but to reframe their perspectives and deliver
engaging experiences that inform, educate, or entertain. It is about defining an engaging concept... Making it
come to life and enabling consumers to call it their own" (Rappaport 2007)
Engagement strategies are relevant for B2B marketers and B2C marketers. One of the
strategies in the engagement model is that the company persuade consumers to make inputs,
or puts up a competition between regular and faithful customers, in order to hold on to
them.
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After selecting finalists they hooked the businesses up with appropriate consultants/sales
representatives, and then created video case studies of them. In that way it enables the
company to fully engage their customers by working the cases through and keeping a laserlike
focus on efficiency.
“They assiduously avoided becoming a mere provider of business information.” (Rappaport 2007)
Engagement depends on having the consumer insights. Solid Engagement strategy is rooted
in consumer data, drawing upon multiple sources that assist marketers in evaluating their
engagement efforts, and takes place through multiple communication channels and touch
points.
Standard learning and opinion pools, familiar to 30-second TV spots or online banners, for
example, like brand awareness and purchase intention, are the essential foundation in
understanding what they think of, as brands' common phases—they are the ability to
involve, inform, and entertain, and longer term, to co-evolve with consumers through the
creation and ongoing development of brand meaning.
To outline the essential of the engagement model several important issues are notable.
• Distinguishing the Brand so the consumer identifies himself in it.
• Involve the consumer in the process through for instance competition,
questionnaires etc.
• Have dialogs with the consumer, but most important make the consumers feel
significant so in the future they becomes “ambassador of the Brand”.
To enhance that idea, it is vital that the consumer indentifies himself in the brand and
therefore get emotional attach to the Brand, like the example previous about the Harley
Davidson brand.
6.5.2.1. Forums/Chat
Previous we mentioned several options of advertising available in TM. These options are
also included in the new models. There is however and options not discussed previously –
that of chat functions.
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Chat and forums are one of the more widely used ways of engaging visitors, by allowing
them chat options, both support chat and user chat the visitor has options of committing
themselves to a site and/or brand. Chatting has evolved to one of the most used functions
of the Internet, programs such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger and the now outdated
ICQ (I seek You) was among the most downloaded and used programs online7. Forums are
found on many different pages. Mostly used to link up people with a specific issue, for
instance sports interests or collectibles, the forum can also be found on sites discussing news
or politics.
6.5.2.2. Viral marketing
Viral marketing is actually based on social relations, where ambassadors of your product will
create advertising for you by highlighting their experiences with your product or service.
Viral marketing is cheaper than normal advertising option, as you in theory only have to
place you advertisement one place, and let it spread from there. Furthermore viral marketing
is often not even perceived as commercial advertising, as the person behind the message
often is a friend or co-worker. Viral marketing often has the possibility to reach consumers
the company normally would not reach with any advertising option.8
Viral marketing is word of mouth translated into Internet marketing, and can be seen as the
herd-behaviour in social relations. Many people have a tradition for passing funny emails on,
or having a specific Friday ritual with wishing good weekend with a joke.
Many companies today are very much aware of viral marketing, and typically have their
advertising material available online, and possible to send to friends.
6.5.3. Advertising as a service
Advertising as a service aims to provide consumers with information and capabilities that
soften transactions or enhance brand engagement. The first approach for the companies is
to identifying the services and information the consumers requires, and then creating the
7 There are no reliable sources as most downloads are only monitored by the producers. Estimates on number
of users differ greatly.
8 http://www.forbrug.dk/raad/reklamer/renbeskedmarkedsfrin/brnved/viral-markedsfoering/
Does the Internet provide new options?
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messages and experiences relevant to those needs (Rappaport 2007). Planning campaigns
begin with a conducted survey. This could be like questionnaires seen from consumers’
viewpoints.
• What services does a consumer need?
• How does the service need to function?
• What is the best platform, or combinations of platforms, to deliver the service?
These types of questions could almost be related to every product category. Take a car.
When consumers want to know specifications and details, like engines, trim lines, or safety
features, they turn to branded sources.
But when it comes more direct and personal information as to ratings, reliability, and quality,
consumers are unlikely to evaluate manufacturers' claims in light of sources they consider
more independent and objective, which can be searched through, TV-programs such as
“Basta” and “Rene ord for pengene”, magazines, Auto or the simple word-of-mouth from
friends or family (Viral marketing).
One major task the brand marketers and their agencies have is to assist consumers manage
the variety of sources brought to their attention during brand learning and decision-making.
Or to offer a different example, a company has an agreement with an agency to order flight
tickets, as SAS does today via Carlson Wagonlit. The customers (a different company’s
employees) have the ability to make flight reservation online at home. A username and a
password is the only thing required to make a reservation. In order to make a reservation,
there are 8 to 10 passages to get to the actual reservation. After having selected the date,
time, and company you only have to press submit. Even then it is not for sure that the
reservation has been made. After perhaps 25 to 35 minutes of trying you surrender and go
directly to another site and within no more than 2-5 passages you have ordered tickets and
saved money.
A buying experience that was easy to follow, gave the customer assurance, and allowed him
to easily complete the transaction. The difference between the two sites selling a service or
product, tickets to the same team and arena, resulted in two different outcomes because the
winning broker built its service on consumer insight that simplified things, whereas the site
Does the Internet provide new options?
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that lost a customer due to it process appeared to be more for the benefit of the broker than
for the customers benefit. The same process can be seen for other product than flight tickets
Advertising as a service as a tool goes deeper than the examples we just discussed to
providing personalized services. These are merely examples, of how importance it is for the
marketers to involve the consumer in the advertising.
Like the general practitioner who treats patients and has a lot of data of the patients,
marketers are increasingly able to capture consumers' histories and use them to provide
services. This level of customer knowledge can be used to intervene and assist customers
when necessary. This is for most parts done through logins.
Some online websites have a pop-up help window when a shopper (customer) has
performed a certain amount of searches in a short period of time. The reason for having
such items causes may be that customers are having difficulties finding an item or just not
sure what they want. Service can be more specific, based on previous behaviour on the
specific site. These are just a few illustrations where a little guidance may be very helpful and
tip the balance from browsing to buying and improving the brand experience. Advertising as
a service is perhaps the most personal of the three models we are discussing and, for this
reason, might be considered the most unselfish. Marketers need to make sure they deliver a
helpful service at the appropriate times and avoid the trap of substituting technology for
consumer insight and connection.
As a conclusion to the third and final model, Advertising as a service direct its focus on the
places to advertising, but more important the need of service the consumer demand. Sites
must not be too difficult to navigate through. The consumer demand simplicity and value of
the individual sites. In order to accomplish that the producers/companies have to make it
simple and needed. How the services should be is entirely up to the consumers’ need.
Now that we have discussed the three models, let us now take a look across them to identify
themes that can guide our practice.
It seems clear that while each model may be used alone, we have described a family of
models that can also be used in combinations that marketers believe is best for their brands.
There can or should be a relationships among the three; On Demand provide the basis for
deeper Engagement, and Engagement leads toward strengthening the brand-consumer
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relationship through Service. These models are not the final word; they may come together
or splinter, or new models may appear.
One thing we are certain of, is that we will not have another millennium with the same
model that is dominated by just four mass media. The internet is here to come, and every
day it expands.
“The new models shift attention away from traditional one-way models of advertising to two-way
communicating marketing, centered on reach, exposure, cost-per thousand, and standard brand metrics to
measures that evaluate the quality of the relationships among consumers and brands, of which there are
many” (Rappaport 2007).
The new models emerge from new technologies, but they are not determined by technology
but more on the people that uses the technology. Technology is an instrument of strategy
and effecting:
"Start with the consumer to understand what drives peoples' passion for your products and services, and then
determine how you can use technology to deepen those relationships" Joanne Bradford MSN Corporate Vice
President (Rappaport 2007)
The last observation of the three models is deepening those relationships depends on
collecting and aggregating data on individuals and combining those results with additional
sources of consumer information and insight.
There are several proportions here: the belief that brands are trustworthy and liable, that
they will deliver as promised and most important they will treat consumers' personal
information with confidence. Although there are "privacy issues," as addressed previously it
is essential for brand-consumer relationships and thus brand demand.
These models provide marketers with flexible options applicable depending on consumers
and situations. It is for companies to experiment with one model, or combinations of
models, depending on the specific situation.
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6.6. New Strategy
The traditional view of marketing assumes that an organisation should start with its
customers, learn their needs, and then try to fill those needs as shown in the previous
subchapter— profitably and on an ongoing basis. Based on the three new marketing models,
that is not the way it really works today to archive success. Marketing, as it has evolved over
the past half-century, has not been developed to satisfy customer wants and needs. Instead,
in too many cases, it has been used to assist companies in disposing of products and services
they have manufactured, created, developed, or simply wanted to vend at a profit. As a
result, most marketing concepts and techniques have focused almost exclusively on new
customer acquisition and on generating profitable transactions through cross-selling and up
selling, rather than on building long-term relationships with customers over time.
The market changed from the historic “marketer in control” to “retailer in control.” Today,
we argue it is now “customer in control.” Customers now have a wide variety of choices
from a wide variety of suppliers with a multitude of retail choices among a broad set of
products and services that are pretty much alike. Most products and services today are being
sold at continuously declining prices or at least at continuously declining margins to the
marketing organizations.
The problem, of course, is that most marketing organisations persist in trying to manage the
“supply side” of the company. That is what traditional four Ps marketing is all about:
manipulating price, product, place, and promotion to make better use of the tools and
resources available to the marketing manager in supplying products and services to
customers and prospects.
Many companies today have a customer focus (or customer orientation). This implies that
the company focuses its activities and products on consumer demands. Generally there are
three ways of doing this: the customer-driven approach, the sense of identifying market
changes and the product innovation approach.
In the consumer-driven approach, consumer wants are the drivers of all strategic marketing
decisions. No strategy is pursued until it passes the test of consumer research. Every aspect
of a market offering, including the nature of the product itself, is driven by the needs of
potential consumers. The starting point is always the consumer. The rationale for this
approach is that there is no point spending R&D funds developing products that people will
Does the Internet provide new options?
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not buy. History attests to many products that were commercial failures in spite of being
technological breakthroughs.
6.6.1. SIVA9
In today’s interactive, networked, and customer-controlled marketplace such as the internet,
we attribute much of marketing’s inability to live up to the stated goals of “identifying and
satisfying customer needs and wants” to the most common of all marketing management
concepts, the managerial rubric of the four Ps—the focus on product, price, place, and
promotion.
A formal approach to this customer-focused marketing is known as SIVA (Solution,
Information, Value and Access). This model was proposed by Chekitan Dev and Don
Schultz in the Marketing Management Journal of the American Marketing Association, and
presented by them in Market Leader - the journal of the Marketing Society in the UK.
The model focuses heavily on the customer and how they view the transaction. The system
is basically the four Ps renamed and reworded to provide a customer focus.
The SIVA Model provides a demand/customer centric version alternative to the well-known
4Ps supply side model (product, price, place, promotion) of marketing management.
Product becomes solution, promotion becomes information, price becomes value and place
becomes access.
9 This section is inspired from multiple readings of websites such as:
http://tjmacdonald.com/blog/on-marketing/marketing-strategy-siva-replaces-4ps
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing
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Figure 6: SIVA Model (New marketing Mix)
The four elements of the SIVA model are:
Solution: How appropriate is the solution to the customer's problem/need?
Customer question: How can I solve my problem?
Customers are inundated with product offerings but starved for solutions to their problems.
Witness the rate of new product failures in the United States despite half of a century of
marketing “science” on new product development. The problem is, marketers are obsessed
with developing products (the next new thing), rather than focusing on solving the problems
customers have. The demand chain approach begins with destroying the notion of the
product or service as the first element of a marketing mix and re-creating that product or
service as a solution. IBM, anticipating this change more than a decade ago, refocused the
company from “we sell computers” to “we sell solutions.” Today, if you look up computer
consulting in the Yellow Pages, it’s not surprising to note that Microsoft endorsed software
supplier and support firms are listed as “solution” providers
Information: Does the customer know about the solution? If so, how and from whom do
they know enough to let them make a buying decision?
Customer question: Where can I learn more about it?
Access
Value
Information
Solution
Customer
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The current marketing and marketing communication spectrum inundates customers in a sea
of messages, visuals, and sound bites. The average American sees an estimated 3000
advertisements a day. Thus, simply having customers and prospects hear the message so they
can either (1) purchase or (2) learn more is today’s major communication challenge. The
current marketing and communication planning and delivery methods simply are not
relevant in the marketplace that most of our customers and consumers operate in today. For
example, most consumers are networked, interactive, and accustomed to multi-tasking. Yet,
most marketing approaches assume “single point in time messaging” or marketing activities
designed primarily to deliver outbound monologues in an attempt to convince customers or
prospects to buy or try the products or services we have already developed. That is simply
not how the multi-tasking consumer works anymore
Value: does the customer know the value of the transaction, what it will cost, what are the
benefits, what might they have to sacrifice, what will be their reward?
Customer question: What is my total sacrifice to get this solution?
Today, the customer buys a solution bundle or even a solution experience, not a product or
service. Thus, we need to think in terms of customer sacrifice, not just financial costs.
The V in the SIVA model becomes the value received by the customer for the investment
made. More than 100 years ago, economists were telling us that value is best defined as
pleasure minus pain, or satisfaction minus sacrifice. We seem to have forgotten this and
continue to focus obsessively on price. While many organisations believe that price and
promotion are the primary tools for increasing sales or gaining market share, price-and-pricealone
customers generally account for only 15%-20% of all shoppers at most organisations.
The New York Times recently reported that, with Burger King’s Whopper often selling at 99¢,
prices of most products have gone down in the past 12 months. “While McDonald’s and
Burger King engage in a dollar menu death-spiral price war, Starbucks has customers paying
nearly $5 for a cup of coffee and $49.99 for a wireless access connection.” Smart marketers
like Starbucks have realised that taking the customer’s mind off the price and focusing on
value with an emphasis on style, time, and delivery can change the value equation and
Does the Internet provide new options?
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motivate customers to pay more, not less. As long as we think of price alone, we will miss
the non-price elements of value that are becoming more important in many other aspects.
Value is what customers want. Price is only one element in the mix. With the right value
package, customers are sometimes willing to pay more in order to save time, simplify
procedures, or satisfy a style preference.
Access: Where can the customer find the solution? How easily/locally/remotely can they
buy it and take delivery?
Customer question: Where can I find it?
Instead of thinking in typical manufacturing terms of getting the product to the customer,
marketers should think in terms of service businesses that are obsessed with bringing the
customer to the solution. Even McDonald’s, heralded in Ted Levitt’s classic Harvard Business
Review article as the paragon of bringing a manufacturing approach to service, is
experimenting with letting customers phone their orders in for more convenient pickup.
Domino’s Pizza’s success with delivery was an object lesson for most restaurant businesses
that have begun to offer easier takeout and delivery options. With the needs of today’s multitasking
and time-starved customers, traditional place or distribution activity may no longer
be an option. Today, the question is less about what type of logistical system the marketer
can build and more about what type of distribution system the consumer wants to access.
Thus, the issue is no longer about place, but about how the marketer can provide the fastest,
easiest, least expensive access to the product or service—alone or in combination with
others— even including erstwhile competitors. Access has at least two components: closing
the loop with customers by getting the customers to the products on their terms and making
the contact work.
In customer focused marketing it is the customer that drives the entire working force behind
the product. Customer focused marketing managers must know exactly who their customers
are and what segments of the market that they fit into. Customer focused marketing
managers need to know the demographics of their customers and information like, how
much information do your customers need before making a purchase? Do they buy the
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53
latest? And the greatest products available or do they stick with what they know? What is the
general purchase behaviour (i.e. are they impulse buyers)? The list can and does go on and
on. You can have hundreds of very specific customer segments, but most can be narrowed
down to 5-10 consumer groups.
The challenge is great when it comes to customer focused marketing. With so many specifics
to appeal to the process of doing so can be quite exhausting. As a customer focused
marketing manager you must send a unique and powerful marketing message to all of your
consumer groups. Or you can somehow create one marketing plan that will appeal to all
customer groups in which you are interested.
Obviously creating such ideal customer focused marketing plans is easier said than done.
Most companies spend the life of their business working to evolve to the point that they are
completely in synch with the purchasing desires of their customers.
Customer focused marketing spans further than just having the consumer make a purchase.
A consumer focused marketing plan also strives to increase the value their customers have
concerning the purchasing that they do. Consumer focused marketing managers are
responsible both for satisfactory levels of profitability and for improving relationships and
understanding of customers and their needs. The usefulness of each customer must be
maximized. This means both developing a product specifically for them and creating
relationships that will result in loyalty and repeated business.
As is the case with most business matters, there are technical ways to look at the process of
customer focused marketing. The rationale behind needing to look at relationships with
customers technically is that there is no use is spending precious time and money on projects
and products meant to guide a customer to buy, if ultimately the result is not an increase in
cash flow.
6.7. Part conclusion
Now we have described the two theories and the strategy. The overall issue was as described
the Problem formulation:
What alternative advertising options does the Internet provide internationally
oriented companies?
Does the Internet provide new options?
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In order for us to answer this question, we have described essential theories concerning
marketing over the internet. Also - to some extent - the strategy that is normally used in
traditional marketing. TM is well known by most marketing people, whereas the new theory
has not been broadly accepted into the marketing strategy. All though, there are some
companies that are beginning to direct their focus, towards this new viewpoint, there are still
long way to go.
The overall concern is whether or not there are differences between them. While they
technically resemble each other, the focus has changed. The TM is a theory many markers
has been using over the years and it is working. The new theory has similarities, but
distinguishes itself due to the triangulation. Each of the three models can stand alone, but
used together they create synergy.
The TM has more or less focused on the product and producer. Consumers have not been
taken into consideration, and up till now there has not been any reasonable sense of where
and when to advertise. From the TM view quantity rather than quality has been in focus.
Like for instant the television, millions of people use the television and therefore commercial
in-between programs arose. Like the television, the internet is used by millions of people.
Today there are no media used more than the internet. As soon as you click to submit a
homepage you are literally global.
The same options the TM provides, add banners, emails, etc. the new model uses. It is the
way they use the features that differentiates.
Our answer to the first question is therefore: There are alternatives - the possibility has
always been there, but has never been taken into consideration. Moreover the Internet
provided a possibility to utilise these options on a larger and more “standardised” way.
There are new opportunities, not that the old theories are outdated, but the new theory give
opportunities that have never been seen or used before. Communication is now the key
essence. The new trends are concerning customer/Consumers buying pattern/information
and from these data direct the marketing.
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In Table 2 we have provided a list of the options available to companies in online marketing.
It must be stressed that the listed items are not directly comparable horizontally.
Traditional Options New Options Advantages and disadvantages
Banner ads Chat functions Whether it is with pre or post sales, the
consumer is now in direct contact with the
manufacturer/retailer. Too much emphasis on
problems?
Pop-ups Consumer feedback Both manually (surveys) and mechanical (how
did the visitor end up on our site), the data can
be used to further optimise the marketing plan.
Possible to drown in data, and thus get nowhere.
Emails Marketing
communication
More segments can be created and messages can
be customised to fit even small groups based on
their interests. Less structure with many
segments.
Search advertising Search advertising Even small companies can “buy” visitors from
the most popular search words on the biggest
search engines. Having to find the right words to
buy, and with a major competitor the best words
are expensive.
Viral advertising Cheap marketing, although no control and hard
to track ROI.
Table 2: Differences in "old" and new marketing strategy
Further to Table 2 the marketing strategies can be compared and optimised from a company
focus to a customer focus.
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Figure 7: The Marketing Mix with Customer focus (Own creation)
The figure above shows the 4Ps (traditional marketing) and SIVA (The new way of thinking)
in a symbiosis. We have tried to construct a model that shows the advantages SIVA give
contrary to Traditional marketing - Where Traditional marketing covers one part a time
SIVA covers two. That makes SIVA more effective and useful in order to gain obtain the
customers need.
• Solution is defined from the product itself and the price it costs.
• Information is about the product and where it is based.
• Value is the perceived value to the consumer based on price and also the promotion
(after sales?) of the product.
• Access is where to get the product and how it is promoted.
It can be argued that for instance Value also is about the product and Information is also
about the promotion, so a complete merger of the two strategies is not possible in a simple
figure.
Product
Place Price
Promotion
S
A V
I
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Suppose we redefined the marketing process to reflect the customer’s point of view rather
than that of the supplier or producer. Instead of defining marketing in terms of what it does
(develop new products or sell the products the firm has made), we could define it in terms of
what customers expect (solutions to problems)? Would this new and different approach
suggest new opportunities, lead to different conclusions, and change the way we relate to
customers? We believe it will.
In the SIVA marketing mix, the marketer acts as a server (not as a supplier) of the ideal
combination of solution, information, value, and access for each market segment. Defining,
designing, and delivering these combinations are the marketer’s key challenges. Doing it
from the customer’s point of view, can only improve the chance of success, as we have
shown with our examples. Over the years, Pogo, Walt Kelly’s most famous cartoon
character, provided many business truths. One was: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
Purloining Pogo’s line, we suggest that this wisdom applies to the traditional approach to
marketing. Marketers today have an opportunity to re-establish their claim to adding
shareholder value. One impediment, we think, is related to our reluctance to re-examine the
fundamental approach enshrined in the four Ps, arguably the fundamental marketing
orthodoxy.
What we are proposing here is to redefine the marketing mix as customer driven rather than
company driven. Clearly, the four Ps have provided businesses with a valuable framework
for managing the marketing effort and have served us well for the past half-century.
What we propose is replacing the old supply-driven concept of the four Ps with a new,
modern, customer-focused approach to the marketplace. We do not, however, propose the
destruction of all that we have learned from the four Ps. Instead, we propose re-creating the
marketing mix as a more demand-driven set of corporate competencies that align and
coordinate an organization’s various activities as a set of cross-functional systems or
processes, driven by and for the customer. In this new marketing mix, we re-conceptualise
the marketing approach from the customers’ viewpoint. That view, we argue, opens up a
whole host of possibilities for the marketer that the existing four Ps approach does not
readily allow. Our “customer-centric” mix has four key elements based on four key
questions customers ask when considering or buying a product: solutions, information,
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value, and access (SIVA) fit these new competencies in the order in which we recommend
using them. (Incidentally, SIVA, an alternate spelling for Shiva, is the Hindu God of
destruction and re-creation. He destroys, it is believed, to create something better.
Are the companies aware?
59
7. Are the companies aware?
This section we will analyse the current advertising online. We will draw parallels to the
theoretical discussions from previous sections, toward the end we will offer suggestions and
highlight options for improvements.
These ideas we will discuss with a few marketing specialists from various companies as well
as ask some generic questions that will allow us to compare with our customer questions.
With an analysis based on both material available to the public (websites and literature) and
in depth conversations with professionals responsible for (Internet) advertising based in
internationally oriented companies we are able to provide details as “to what extent are
internationally oriented Danish companies aware of these alternatives advertising options
and to what extent do they take advantage of them?”
7.1. The companies
Since the emergence of the Internet, companies were quick to adopt the fast communication
methods it provided. E-mail is today as common as phones, and many business details are
often confirmed via email, even after being discussed and agreed over the phone.
Most companies also have their own website, or websites. A thorough search online among
the bigger companies in Denmark depicts a clear established presence online.
Most companies advertise for themselves via websites that cover all bases such as products
and services, job opportunities, company history, press material and news. Some even state
their mission and vision statements online, and enhance their attitude towards specific
subjects, such as environment and pollution, employee satisfaction and well-being.
Every website searched and analysed also showed options for contacting the company,
typically both with physical address and phone number of their main complex, as well as an
E-mail or contact form.
This paragraph is based on an examination of some of the internationally oriented
companies in Denmark, as stated in our Conceptual framework the examples drawn out
here, are not to be considered the most optimal, or the opposite, they are just drawn out as
examples. Analysis of their websites was done to give a set of examples, which we are able to
Are the companies aware?
60
compare and relate to the marketing options drawn out from our chapter on New marketing
theory.
7.1.1. Marketing as a service
Most websites are also available with a .dk address, without a clear preference on whether
you are guided to the main .com site (such as maersk.dk), or you enter the local site directly
(arla.dk). Some sites even allow for the choice for each visit (grundfos.com). After an initial
visit, the site often remembers your choice even when visiting the .com address. This service
allow the companies the possibility of create sites with different languages and thus
differentiate the site with regard to local customs, contact details etc. The downside is that
the sites are maintained by different people, and therefore the sites become less and less
similar. Different navigation can cause confusion, should a professional from Denmark need
information from the site from United Kingdom, he/she will have to adjust to a new site.
Many websites use a similar navigation system, where buttons on the top give the visitor
options of selecting the page of need. The sites’ navigation systems bear similarities to that
of the Operating System Microsoft Windows (wrist.dk). As this OS is the most used
throughout the world, there are compelling arguments for this fact. One downside though is
that more often than not, it is not possible to view the path to that specific page. And it can
provide even tougher to link to that page, unless you have technical insight to your web
browser.
Some sites also tend to have too much information on the page. Take arla.dk for example –
pictures and text in a big mix. The navigation on top seems to create some order, and when
going past the start page, the order is restored. Grundfos.dk is another example of order, but
most of the links from the start page opens a new window, and a new site provides new
options (Grundfos caps) without the possibility to find contact details or any of the simpler
features from the previous site.
Vestas.com should be mentioned as a good example of utilising the web as a service. Their
site is easy to navigate, because you are always aware of where you have clicked, and the
address bar can be easily linked. They do not however provide a site in local languages, so
some of the low level staff can find it hard to achieve information from the site.
Are the companies aware?
61
Physical contact details are easy to find, and every site had email or contact form in order to
contact the company online. However none of the sites searches provided much information
on board members, key personnel or specialists. Therefore a potential business partner or
customer would have to use the old fashioned ways of communication to find and talk to
whoever is needed.
7.1.2. Advertising on demand
Information should be available when it is requested. Search engines have provided users
with powerful options for finding precisely what they are looking for. Newspapers have for
years kept their articles in databases that can be searched as a subscriber. Are companies not
adopting this approach? Old products and/or brands can be remembered, even requested.
Old news can be found at most sites, but specific items, such as various consumer goods,
deodorants, clothes and simple electronic devices can be difficult to find if they are a few
years old. There are specific sites for old computer games, now considered abandonware10
(gamlespil.dk). Why are the game developers not utilising that they had a popular title years
ago to promote their new games? There are sites that specialise in finding old sports jerseys
(footballshirts.dk) why are these designs not available anymore FCK.dk does not even offer
the option of viewing an old shirt design.
Some websites also offer login to their visitors, corporate login used to create EDI or
Intranets, others as a mean of CRM and to further engage the visitor (more later). Login, or
even better the use of cookies could also allow sites to be customised for each individual
visitor. That way, a visitor who primarily are looking for job opportunities could this way,
have the companies job-section open when visiting the site.
Newsletters and direct mail are used by many different companies, SAS for instance
advertise to their customers with quick getaways and ideas for using frequent flyer miles.
Only the link provided in such an email rarely provides access to a site where you only have
10 Abandonware is software now obsolete, and thus legal to distribute/copy without written permission from
the developer.
Are the companies aware?
62
to chose a date and pay. Competitions found in for instance “Bo Bedre”s newsletter (part of
the Aller group) does not link directly to the competition; you have to navigate their site
first.
On demand also requires that the website is up and running every hour of every day. Home
banking sites that maintain their security and equipment every night at 2-4 am should
reconsider, as there might be customers that prefer this time to use the banks services.
Furthermore contacting a company with a request or question should not be neglected for
days or weeks. An email to a company address should prompt a response and a timeframe
for dealing with the enquiry, if the handling takes longer than expected.
7.1.3. Engaging the visitor/customer
Companies are still using the Internet as they would with print media, and TV/Radio.
Commercials run in TV can be found at their websites available for download, and even
more material is available online – an example is www.axe.dk that has utilised the Internet
towards even more advertising material. They have also made efforts to get visitors to sign
up for further content not possible to access without.
SAS login provides simple ordering of tickets, and the option to check in online, and register
for frequent flyer miles. However, the profile can also remember what seats you prefer, and
try to find similar seats for your next flight. Why are other companies that sell numbered
seats for an event not using this? Sports events, movie theatres etc. could all be engaging
their customers even further with simple use of technology.
A forum where customers can debate products and search for inspiration from other
customers is one example of engagement that companies should try to achieve.
www.bangolufsen.dk has just that, so here is a clear example of an internationally oriented
Danish company that utilises some of the possibilities provided by web access. The forums
even provide the possibility to connect seller and buyer of used equipment. Clearly an option
that will be cannibal some of B&Os own sales. The upside is however, that you might keep
the buyer loyal to the brand, and possibly he/she will eventually buy new parts. With a
Are the companies aware?
63
company that focuses on after-sales services, this option becomes even more valuable since
even defective equipment can be sold and later repaired by the company’s authorised dealers.
What therefore seems, and is, a competitor becomes a part of the value chain simply because
it exists on the company’s own website, instead of a non official, non related forum at a
privately owned website.
Bilbasen.dk is able to utilise the Internets offer of behaviour targeting. Banner ads on their
site are related to what the visitor is viewing, if for instance viewing a specific model or
make, most of the advertisement on the site relates to this. Car dealers are very good at
creating these links. Toyota.dk also has a “used cars” part on the website, and thus is not
only trying to catch the customers looking for a new car. They do however keep to their
prime dealers throughout the country, here the possibility to link direct to Den Blå Avis
(dba.dk) Toyota used cars part and other 3rd party selling might engage the customer even
further. Also a site called Toyotaextreme.dk, an online community for enthusiasts has a
thriving visitor base. Could this have been a part of Toyota.dk had it only had a forum? At
least there had been a place for the customers to discuss ideas and possibilities, a place that
Toyota could have utilised to find out what their customers are looking for.
7.1.4. Other advertising considerations
Websites for companies that produce and sell specific products have been found almost
without exception to lack any advertising other than what is possible to find on their site.
None of e.g. the sites for kitchen furniture and decorating advertise for plumbers, or
domestic appliance sellers. At www.hth.dk it is possible to find a few inspiration articles;
however no links to user reviews of their material or service. No contact with the customers,
no forum to discuss possibilities with other customers and/or designers.
Another example could be www.merlin.dk with a high number of stores throughout the
biggest cities in Denmark; one could argue that their website has the sole purpose of
bringing the customers to their stores. Once again, you have to go elsewhere to find reviews
of their products, and specific questions cannot be posted at Merlin’s website, as they have
no customer to customer forums or similar.
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7.1.4.1. Legal
In Denmark there is a very strict policy when it comes to registering sensitive (personal)
information. It is for instance not allowed to store credit card details, one very simple
process that would provide many online shoppers with the option of quick shopping, e.g. as
on E-bay where it is possible to store personal information, such as credit card, previous
purchases, etc. of the users. In order to be allowed to store credit card information they use
PayPAL as their co-operator. Storing personal security numbers (CPR) requires that you
have a permit to do so, and Datatilsynet (the government organisation that deals with these
details) are very strict with permissions, and more often than not large investments in
security and handling of these details are required to obtain permits, and still the visitor has
to give permission.
7.2. Informed opinion poll
This analysis of the corporate websites provides us with a thorough knowledge on what
plans the companies have for their marketing strategies. Although we cannot without further
investigation and communication with the specific companies know their intentions and
reasons for using that specific layout and tools. In order to gain knowledge we have
therefore decided to conduct an informed opinion poll, by discussing a number of open end
questions with a number of people who deal with marketing and the Internet on a daily
basis. The interviews were based loosely on a set of questions, and from there the discussion
evolved.
To gain insight to both the consumer and company we have decided to conduct an informed
opinion poll. By doing this, it will be possible to determine whether the company is aware of
both the possibilities of Internet marketing, and what the consumers are requesting.
The value of interview methods is that the researcher gains a thorough understanding of a
specific matter while maintaining good control, and observing the body language of the
interviewee. The word interview can be divided into the two words inter and view, which
means an exchange of views between an interviewer and an interviewee. Therefore, both
parties have the possibility to elaborate on their views. (Kuada 2002) The interviewer has the
possibility to be sure that the interviewee has full understanding of the stated questions, and
Are the companies aware?
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therefore, ensure an accurate answer. On the other hand, the interviewee has the possibility
to elaborate on answers so that the interviewer gets a full understanding of what the
interviewee meant with his answer. Also, the value of knowing facial expressions, tone of
voice (e.g. irony) and gesticulations of each participant should not be underestimated; these
can all have great importance on how results are interpreted. Again the interviewer has the
possibility to interrupt the interviewee and ask about, for instance a specific facial expression
if he is in any doubt about it.(Kuada 2002)
A weakness of these possibilities is the ability of the interviewer to read these expressions.
For this reason the interviewer has to be experienced in conducting interviews. If the
interviewer is not familiar with doing interviews and seems nervous, he might influence the
respondent and the answers given in a certain direction. It is therefore important that the
interviewer is confident in his work. In general the influence of the interviewer on the
interviewee is one of the greatest weaknesses of the interview. Trusting the interviewer is
important in getting the respondent to answer truthfully to all questions and questions that
can be regarded as personal are not well suited for a personal interview since a respondent
often will not tell the truth. If personal questions are needed, they should always be done at
the end of the interview, because by then the interviewee may feel more confident after
talking for a while. The cost of doing interviews is quite large, especially if the interviewer
has to travel long distances to meet with the interviewee. (Kuada 2002) As a result of the
high costs, a limited number of interviews will normally be conducted, and for this reason
there is a low reach.
Telephone interviews with some of the people how have written on a given subject (Internet
Marketing in Denmark) or people in key positions within companies and use their views and
opinions serves as empirical data to support the subject. This is called “informed opinion
poll” or “jury of experts” approach to data collection. An informed opinion poll can be
utilised without the intention of collecting empirical data, or – as in this case – to solicit their
opinions to test some of our ideas with those who may have some insight into the subject.
Are the companies aware?
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7.2.1. Validity and representation
We have tried to divide our interviews, so that we would attain different perspectives in our
answers. Firstly we have interviewed a pure online company; they maintain a number of
sport news websites. The company is less than 3 years old and therefore had to start building
knowledge of their site from zero. We had the opportunity to interview founder and daily
administrator Esben Billum.
The next company is a B2B company and one of the largest in Denmark. Vestas today is a
result of a merger between two Wind turbine companies from Denmark (Bonus and Vestas),
our contact is Global Brand Manager in the Group Communication department Kasper
Granat.
Our third interview is with the biggest plaster manufactory in Denmark, their name is
KnaufDanogips. KnaufDanogips is a part of one of the world larges manufactories of
plaster and materials within building construction. We spoke to Production manager Hans
Lauge.
Each interview began with an email correspondence, where a number of questions (mostly
closed-answer questions) were sent. The interviewee had the option to answer these
questions, and from there an informal and prolonged in depth conversation about the topic
was conducted either on the telephone or in person.
The questions are enclosed in the Informed opinion poll appendix. We chose to select
different companies to interview. We ended up with a professional from Vestas (V) - who is
among the world leaders in wind-power, SportensVerden.dk (SV) a news site with focus on
sports in Denmark and Europe only 1 year old, and lastly KnaufDanogips (DG) the plaster
manufacturer that produces all kind of materials for building construction made from
plaster.
As the poll’s population is too small to use for statistics, we have decided to use the answers
given as means for interpreting the company views on advertising via the Internet, thus
awareness and use of the new options available.
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7.3. Empirical data
In order to gain an overview of the answers given, we have divided the topic into five
different subtopics, and discussed each with the use from all of the interviews. Each
statement is denoted with the company initials as in the earlier paragraph.
7.3.1. Own design
SV is a very new website, and the goal was to create a simple site, where some of the less
known sports genres would stand out. The site layout was a trade off between the owners
own ideas, the design/build team and what were perceived as practical by the mass. It has
later been discovered that the design has many disadvantages, for instance: each article need
to have each own page, this way it can be found via search engines – and thus the site is
given further attention.
One the other end of the scale is Vestas. They are among the world leaders in their industry,
and their website is a very important means of marketing. Their design is based from the
concept the web-designer introduced, and furthermore they use focus groups, popup
questionnaire and eye-tracking to maintain and develop the site.
DGs website is a subpage to a bigger brand. Their design changed since they were bought,
and their page was less structured previously. Now it is based on the rest of the groups
design and subject to changes on corporate level.
7.3.2. Advertising
Price seems to be an important parameter. The small budget of SV has tried many different
ways of advertising, from banners at other sites, to search advertising, to joint ventures with
other members of the value chain. The site has also been promoted through the owner’s
network; other people have written about the site in forums and mentioned it to friends and
co-workers. The site is not focussing on the number of users of the site they plan to
advertise on, they are aware that it is not possible to gain e.g. 20% of a site’s users as visitors,
instead SV focus on getting out to the right people, therefore they generally advertise on
similar sites and that of the value chain. Oddly enough SV was confident that they did not
know every means for advertising online.
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68
V is also trying many different means of advertising: banner ads on different sites relating to
the different campaigns they are using; i.e. if V wants to recruit new personnel the sites used
would be portals where the potential employees visit, if V wants to promote a new product,
industry-related sites would be used. Search advertising is also frequently used. New ideas
such as video blogs are also used, where V gets an ad before the video starts. V is very strict
with their brand, and will not allow other sites to use their logo in their advertising; i.e.
advertise through subcontractors.
As with the others, DG was certain that they did not have knowledge of every aspect of
online marketing. They did however consider their online efforts to be the best options
available. DG uses banner advertising at industry specific websites; they also offer the option
of a news letter. There has been a discussion of a forum online, but the idea was dropped.
When using banner advertising, DG is not monitoring the specific place of an ad, but the
place does have an impact on the attention of the visitor.
7.3.3. Communication
SV is very proud of their communication. Each site has a chat window that requires little
time to engage into. Furthermore, the site is still very focused on the visitors that take part in
discussing topics of relevance. For instance, one of the employees was contacted after he
sent a series of emails with ideas for articles and important issues. The site is however still
using the mainstream contact form on their site as well as a generic mail@domain.com
option.
As mentioned before V is using the contact form and email similar to many other sites. Most
of the contact with customers from the website ends up calling, and mainly this regards their
sales from agents. V also uses as stated before focus groups and online questionnaires to test
their site and communicate with the user to keep in track with customer expectations.
There are no options at the DG website to buy or get direct contact to the dealer-network, a
network that can be searched is available, but without further links to the store where the
products are sold. The generic email addresses are available according to department (sales,
technical etc.) but there is also option to get in contact with the specific person via the
website.
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7.3.4. Optimisation
In order to gain visitors SV use different strategies. They have for instance bought several
other domain names, although not all of them are in use, or point towards
SportensVerden.dk. As mentioned earlier, the site structure is being revised because of
search engine optimisation. SV also make it a point to get the name mentioned as often as
possible. In the sports news world many sites borrow material from each other, and
therefore it is important to quote correctly; SV are planning to hire an employee to follow
this more thorough.
V buy domains primarily on a defensive effort to protect trademarks, misspellings and other
versions of domain names are bought, and all link to the starting page of the official site.
DG have after the takeover let the group consider such activities, and have not been
optimising their site much, apart from the advertising, the site is in no way promoted and
there has not been bought any domains offensively or defensively.
7.3.5. Engaging
SV is using login, and creating frequent competitions with simple winnings, voting for team
of the week, and player of the month etc. Other than that, the sub site hockeymagasinet.dk
has a live chat function, where users discuss hockey. SV are not really participating, other
than moderating the language.
To keep the visitors engaged V is not using anything in particular. It has never been
considered to have chat/forum functions on the site. Lately it has however been considered
to link to other sites, because Google rates sites that link elsewhere higher than those that do
not.
In order to maintain the commitment with DGs website, DG is focusing on having a lot of
information available online. All of DG certificates are posted and explained online, as well
as several lists of products and explanation of use. For professionals there are downloadable
files of their products, so that you can use them in drawing programs.
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70
7.4. Part conclusion
We set out to examine:
Whether internationally oriented Danish companies were aware of the alternative
advertising options available with the Internet, and to what extent they used them.
From our analysis it is clear that most companies are aware that the Internet provides
options not available from elsewhere. Most companies have well developed websites that
incorporate several of the theoretical options described the chapter of How is marketing
conducted online? Whether conscious choice or random chance or even a need to “follow
suit”, most companies try to keep their sites easy to navigate, with focus on language and
information on most topics important to the companies (service). They also utilise the
benefit of having much information available at any given time; however, there are several
ways to broaden this, especially with regard to historic products and events. Also the way a
website is build can reflect on the demand. The easier something specific can be reached, the
better. Competitions and buys will work better (create further visits/sales) if it is easily
accessible. Links need to go all the way, so only the very last steps need to be taken by the
visitor.
The sites analysed engage their visitors through login, and in few instances, forums. Other
not discussed topics e.g. sending out newsletters are also frequently used. There are however
several points that most companies neglect. For instance the live chat functions and
customer to customer forums are rarely used. Both of which could engage the visitors and
customers further online.
The overall issue the companies could and should be to reach and react to the customers’
needs and wishes. The online communication is a general concern for most companies
today.
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71
8. What do the customers want?
Strategic discussion is a very difficult topic. There are usually as many ideas as there are
people involved in the discussion. Furthermore as this project is based from a generic
internationally oriented company it is impossible to make specific recommendations. We
have therefore decided to ask the consumers, to find out what they find important when
going online. This allows us to base our conclusions on general knowledge obtained without
the use of cases or specific websites in mind.
We have conducted a questionnaire, and asked approx 400 students at Aalborg University a
series of questions about their preferences of online behaviour and attitude towards online
marketing. We will conduct an examination of the end-user by the use of questionnaires,
here we can find out if the end-user is prone to “use” or succumb to the current form of
marketing available. We can also test some of the ideas presented in our chapter of New
marketing theory.
These two sets of viewpoints (the companies’ experiences and the consumers’ demand) will
be held against each other to find gaps and flaws in existing strategies of marketing on the
Internet, as well as highlighting areas of possibilities to explore further. Our focus is to
establish a pattern that gives us the possibility to answer the questions highlighted in our
problem formulation. In order to keep a reader friendly interface we have chosen to draw
out specific parts of our data collection and discuss the points they raise. The full data can be
found in Survey appendix.
Before we will discuss and analyse the data we have gathered. It is important to address the
methodological considerations concerning the specific method used.
8.1. Questionnaire
In general, survey sampling can be grouped into two categories: probability-sampling and
convenience-sampling. In the probability sample, the probability of each person or
respondent in the entire population selected into the sample is known. By this, the
researcher must know the entire population, and thereby select the sample from this
What do the customers want?
72
population. Furthermore, it is possible to make generalisation about the population, but at
the same time this method is often more difficult or/and expensive to conduct.
The other approach is the convenience sample, in which each selected respondent is not
known. This method is often easier in regard to time and costs, but at the same time it is a
weakness that the entire population is not known. Thus, it becomes harder to make
statistical generalisations (Schonlau et al. 2001).
Another important aspect to consider when doing a survey is the sample size, and the
response rate. Surveys in general have a low response rate and it becomes crucial to have a
proper sample size in order to get a satisfactory result. According to the literature, different
results have been gained and the response rates reported have been as low as 7% for web
surveys and up to 44 % (Schonlau et al. 2001). However, repeated contacts with respondents
and use of reminders can push up response rates, also factors including design and
performance can influence response rates. Online answers are also more finished, meaning
fewer unanswered questions, and thus response rate is higher because of fewer
questionnaires that will be discarded or specific questions with too small population.
Online answers are considered less influenced by the desire to please or to be seen in a good
light, and therefore they have a better reliability than questionnaires conducted via telephone
or face to face. The answers will be honest because respondents feel anonymous and they
can avoid follow up questions on answers. Our questionnaire is considered a convenience
sample as we do not know the specific number of respondents or the complete population.
There are also other aspects to consider this paper. Online questionnaires are often returned
faster than offline questionnaires, and therefore it is a good way for us to speed up the
process. Furthermore an online questionnaire is a cheap way of collecting date, both with
regard to time and money. An established surveyor such as webpol or zapera might give us a
more optimal validity and reliability, but would also be very expensive.
What do the customers want?
73
8.1.1. Validity and representation
Data collected online are often not representative of the general population (Palmquist and
Stueve, 1996; Dommeyer and Moriarty, 2000; White, 2000). (Schonlau 2001) The
demographics of online population in general are not the same (education, sex, income, age,
and industries) compared to demographics offline. A larger part of the elderly is currently
not reachable online, although these numbers are inclining, the younger the age, the more
people have experience with the Internet.
In this survey it is not important to have a representative section of the general public. First
and foremost not everybody have internet access, among both businesses and privates.
We had the option of using an online questionnaire system called Surveyxact, we had never
used this system before, and thus a few of our questions required further work in order to
show what was intended (will be discussed in detail in the next chapter, where we present the
questions and reasons for asking them).
We then broadcasted the link to this survey via MSN and Facebook. Furthermore we asked
our fellow students to answer the survey, this was done by email – we made an introduction
mail with the link included and asked the administrative staff at the university to pass on
email through the university mail groups. We ended up with a population of roughly 250
persons, and got 98 usable responses, which gives us a response rate of 39%. Our goal was
to attain 30 usable responses, and therefore the result was overwhelming. This gives us a far
better validity of the analysis, and the option of using statistical analysis.
Moreover the reliability of the survey should be addressed with regard to demographics, as
we have decided to use university students and advertise for the survey via different online
mediums.
Our population will consist of primarily university students, as we believe that these for the
years to come will set the trend in online marketing. There are a number of reasons for using
these people as our population:
First and foremost, many of them will presumably be in high income groups, and thus be
able to set demand for products. Second, they are already very experienced Internet users,
and thirdly we believe they will feel obligated to help their fellow students, and therefore our
response rate should climb to a satisfactory level.
What do the customers want?
74
We wanted to make sure that our population would be regular users of the Internet, and
have chosen to mail to most of our population via the internal mailing lists at campus.
Furthermore we will use our personal relations and different chat/contact programs to
achieve a good response rate.
As our population consists of young people, we are aware that the survey cannot be regarded
as representative, but as stated earlier, demographics online and not online are two very
different items. Furthermore we have not made any considerations on several segmentation
issues (wealth, residence, workplace, social status, children etc.), and to retain representative
data would require too many resources.
A thorough analysis of the answers, as well as a discussion of why the questions were used
will be presented in the following chapter.
8.2. Empirical data
This section will be a brief walkthrough of the questions we decided to ask. The rationale
behind each question, and thus our pre understanding to the topic is explained. In order to
keep this chapter reader friendly we will go through each question, and then draw out
important and interesting point in our analysis. We have tried to keep the chronology of the
questions, but in our planning of the questionnaire we have moved related questions apart to
avoid the respondent trying to validate a former answer; therefore the analysis will jump
back and forth between answers instead of discussing them in a chronological list.
We have decided to start with a few simple questions, gender, age and nationality. As we are
aware that our population is not representative with regard to age and nationality we have
decided to divide the answers into categories rather than getting a specific answer. This will
allow us to make certain generalisations, for instance in age whether 20-25 year olds have a
different perspective than those older than 30. The nationality is embedded to have
possibilities to see if there are diverse perceptions outside of Denmark. It is our hope that
we are able to get a decent response rate with foreigners, even though we are aware that they
a very limited group in our population.
What do the customers want?
75
Our respondents turned out to have a small overrepresentation of male respondents (in
percent 55-45) and we were able to get a good rate of foreigners in our respondents as close
to 30 % had a nationality other than Danish. With regard to age we expected to have a huge
population around 25, and as seen more than 80% of the respondents were within the two
groups 20-25 and 25-30.
Our question about use of web navigation is designed so we rule out mail users, chatting and
other programs that are perceived as “the Internet” by the main public. Our pre assumption
is that heavy users of web browsing are more annoyed than that of less experienced. We also
believe that users are more interrupted and annoyed when they are “on the clock”, than
browsing in their spare time – hence the logical question of where they browse, and the
percentage of use.
Unfortunately, our design of the question did not give us the data we were hoping for. The
question should have been merged, so that we were able to have an answer of how much
time the respondent use web browsing (compared to mail checking and chatting) at home
and at work.
What is interesting though is that below 10% are online less than 1 hour a day. Compared to
for instance use of TV the Internet is far more used every day. Here it is important to stress
that our population was primarily students, and this result might be different if an
examination with a representative selection was conducted.
Next, we have a designed for the questionnaire to show a website. We chose an English
newspaper with many different banner ads and pop-ups. We needed a site in English to
support our foreigners, and hoped to use a site was not too known in our population.
Furthermore, we wanted to show the site before we let the population know what we were
dealing with a topic of online advertising.
The website had a few different banner ads placed in different positions. Our main goal here
was not to create awareness of traditional online marketing, but to see if people actually
notice it. Our thought was that not many would be able to remember the brand or product
advertised on the website.
What do the customers want?
76
However as it turned out many did notice the advertising and quite a few could name the
specific brand/product or at least the type of brand/product.
Figure 8: Recognition of advertising
More than 90% remembered that they had seen banner ads, and approx half of the
respondents named one or more brands or type of brands. The low number in noticed popups
we ascribe to pop-up killers that most Microsoft products have.
The website had options of forums (discussing each article) but none of the respondents
recognised this as “other”. Among the responses for “other” were several of the same as
mentioned as banner or pop-up.
The position of an ad could also have an effect. We have embedded the question to see if
the user think that their focus are on specific parts of the website and whether or not it
influence their choice. Figure 9 show that to some degree the placement of an ad has
influence to the responded attention.
91,10%
16,10%
21,40%
What, if any, advertising did you
notice on the page?
Banner ad
Pop ups
Other
What do the customers want?
77
Figure 9: Influence of position of an add
In table 2 we have the result of our question regarding the placement of the advertising and
to what extend it matters. The number 1-5 refers to the level of importance, where 1 is the
biggest.
Figure 10: placement of ads
We have divided the standard use of banner-ads into five different parts, and ask the
subjects to rate them. We have no way of evaluating this statement, but specific studies show
that our attention differs from picture to picture, and so we may be prone to notice a
25,60%
44,90%
17,90%
11,50%
0,00%
5,00%
10,00%
15,00%
20,00%
25,00%
30,00%
35,00%
40,00%
45,00%
50,00%
Yes big influence Yes somewhat
influence
No almost none No not at all
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1
2
3
4
5
What do the customers want?
78
banner-ad more if it correlates its position to the main window. Eye tracking11 would have
given us the option of testing this statement
The position of the banner that respondents named is therefore interesting. The two most
mentioned banners are “Lidl” and “Bingo”. Lidl has an ad on the left had side of the site a
little below halfway down. None of the other banners below Lidl are mentioned by any of
the respondents. Bingo had a large banner appearing on the top approx half of the time the
page is loaded, and also a rather large banner on the right hand side of the site, stretching
almost from top to bottom. Both the Bingo banner and Lidl’s banner are colourful and with
movement in the banner. What attracts attention with regard to banners is not part of our
discussion, but studies in this topic could also provide good insight into what strategies
should be chosen.
Then we asked about general perception of advertising online, if the subject is aware of the
possibilities, and notices them (remembers them).
Our pre-understanding is that online advertisers are not considering the advantages of
advertising with similar products or sites. Utilising the options of the Internet requires a
deliberate choice of what consumers you wish to target. Advertising for diapers on a site for
cars is not going to catch nearly as much attention as it would if placed on a site for
children’s clothes. This is not new in advertising, it also happens with TV commercials, but
we believe there is too much emphasis on the number of potential targets. Similar the most
popular websites are measured in number of unique visits, instead of number of re-visits.
Chat and blogging are gaining in momentum, we believe that there is an un-harvested
potential from advertising via these channels. As we have described in the previous chapter,
it can be compared to viral marketing. We have therefore included a question to see how big
the use of these is in our population. It was considered to make statistics on the time spend
on it, but our concern is that there is too far a spread on it. Therefore we decided that our
goal was to define the area as a possibility, and not define the size. It is however important
to notice whether or not for instance blogs are read by many or most people just want their
opinion aired.
11 Eye tracking can be used for many purposes, marketing is just one area. The specifics of the technique will
not be explained here.
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Chat programs Forums in general Forums-Specific brand or product Blogs
Read 80,90% 92,90% 90,90% 92,30%
Write 97,10% 38,10% 30,30% 23,10%
Table 3: use of forums and blogs
To start with we would just like to establish the fact that the percentages do not give 100 %.
The reason for that is that the responded had the opportunity to place their responds in both
places (Read and Write). That means that some are both writers and readers. Even though
there are thousands or new signups in blogs every day, many of our responders only read
blogs and not many writes in them.
Most of them use chat programs such as Windows/MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger etc.)
This type of communication could also be emails.
A new survey conducted by a headset contractor Plantronics they asked employees at
different companies such as Siemens, Xerox, PWC, Itera og Ergotel12. The survey shows that
there is a big difference in the attitude towards the use of emails as a communication tool
placed in different ages. In the age of 55-60 years there is a believe that email as
communication is not to be avoided, whereas the younger people in the age 20 prefers chat
programs instead of electronic mails. We believe that many of the younger generations have
been born into a right-now culture, and therefore prefer to have their enquiry answered at
once, thus a chat program is based on real-time, and not to be ignored for hours, even days
as most emails can be. Also, the older generation, prefers the telephone and teleconference
as the primary communication form. This is perhaps due to the fact that in this age the
internet is more used at work than in private. Through teleconference there is a
personalisation that this generation finds necessarily to do business.
Most of the different ways of advertising are remembered, several could mention specific
brands or type of products being advertised. However, not many respondents could
remember chat/forum advertising. We regard this as an issue with the lack of advertisement,
12 The survey in has been published at: http://epn.dk/teknologi/internet/article1105239.ece
What do the customers want?
80
more than it is not remembered as well as other online advertising options. It could be
interesting to see the data of “standard” media such as TV or newspapers. Typically,
websites are viewed more times than that of an advertising section between shows on TV, or
on a specific page in the newspaper. However, these media recycle their advertisements daily,
even hourly (most applicable to TV).
Figure 11: Online search adverting
Search advertising is what we see in Google, Yahoo and so on. Banner ads and search
advertising, this kind of search advertising is remembered by the most the responded.
Our next line of questions is regarding buying patterns. Intended to establish the subjects
buying behaviour, by asking how often they buy online. Their cognitive attitude towards
online advertising is also included by questions about attention to marketing and choice to
browse further down into an offer. We expect the attention to be small, but have chosen
answer options in text, where it is open to interpretation. Our understanding is that most
companies have not been aware of the problems with online “on demand” attitude. It is
important to hold the subjects attention once you have been guided to the advertising site.
For instance – an ad for a cheap flight, should lead directly to the booking system, rather
than to another page with more advertising for the same (or different) flight(s). We are not
able, however, to test this to its full potential, as it would require the design of an entire
60,30% 56,40%
84,60%
29,50%
69,20%
39,70% 43,60%
15,40%
70,50%
30,80%
0,00%
10,00%
20,00%
30,00%
40,00%
50,00%
60,00%
70,00%
80,00%
90,00%
Yes
No
What do the customers want?
81
website, and to get the stats would require a specific insight into the companies’ competitive
advantages. We have never the less, discussed the topic with companies back in the chapter
of Communication.
We also wanted to test the websites’ ability to keep their visitors, not in the sense that we
need visitors to stay for long periods at a time, but more to make sure that they do not find
other similar sites after their visit. We estimate that users are quite loyal towards a site, if it
has the options each visitor mark most important. Firstly we want the subject to define with
their own words, and then we give 10 examples of things sites can have, and by letting them
choose three of these as most important, we are able to test if for instance personalisation is
important. The entire data is enclosed in Survey appendix, but we have here drawn out a few
comments from our population:
It must be simple, not to many frustrating adds
good overview, homepage from which I can go to most sub-sites, not too many advertisements
easy to navigate not too many annoying ads, easy to read colours not too many sounds or flash
intros (or at least the possibility to terminate one if one exists)
structure and easy path to information
being able to comment, interact etc
I use the internet to read the news and chat with friends on msn or Facebook
Table 4: Part of the comments about personalisation
This shows that layout is of utmost importance, rather no site, than a big flash intro site.
Unfortunately we are not able to test this to a further extend, for instance review the sites of
Carlsberg or Nike, both of which use flash and many moving objects in their sites.
The main thing was to get simple structure, and a few mentioned the two way
communication as seen in Table 4. We therefore created 10 statements and asked the
participants to pick the three most important (in unsorted order).
What do the customers want?
82
Statement Number of participants who chose this
Personalisation (login) 34
Forum/Chat with users 15
Easy to find 39
Forum/Chat with customer support 9
Links to relevant tests etc. 30
Links to related products etc. 14
Easy to navigate 45
Price of product/service 26
Recommended by others 31
Table 5: important aspects of a website (80 respondents)
Navigation is of utmost importance, both how to find the site and to navigate it is the two
highest ranked statements. Furthermore personalisation and recommendation from others
rank high as well. The price is of less importance, which we ascribe to the fact that the
Internet by nature has the lowest prices available (due to many company expenses are cut
away with only a presence online). Forum and chat are among the lowest listed statements,
which we find surprising, as involvement and right-now concepts are very popular. One
reason for this can be that our tested population is still a generation who knew the world
without the Internet, and thus are not totally dependent on digital communication.
Last we want to give the population a possibility to write down any thoughts they had during
the questionnaire, whether it is about the line of questions, something that was unclear – or
something with the topic in general. Our hope is that a part of our population does focus on
the topic at hand, and therefore give us some insight into their thoughts. It will also give us
an option of concluding on the method used.
Some of the comments the respondents gave us was a critique of the questionnaire, which
will be embedded in our reflection. Also, a few mentioned their attitude towards marketing
as very negative, which leads us to believe that there certainly is a need for a different
approach in online marketing.
What do the customers want?
83
8.3. Part conclusion
As we set out to discuss the companies’ strategies, as:
What strategies should Danish companies adopt to take advantage of these options?
As discussed earlier it was a difficult task to pick strategies, when there is no specific case to
take a starting point in. Therefore we chose to highlight the opinions of the consumers. It
has to be said that our population in the investigation is not representative for that of the
general population in Denmark, but we were able to find a few points that need to be
addressed when discussing strategies in online marketing.
Primarily the overall phrases are, easy to navigate through, no pop-ups (disturbances’) simple
layout. Unfortunately, there is only a few that mention Forums/Chat rooms on the
homepage. Interaction is needed on the webpage. Communication with friends over the
internet is mentioned, and although communication with the company is not yet as popular,
there seems to be many things that point to the fact that younger people who have grown up
with the digital communication age will create a larger demand for this in the future.

Conclusion
85
9. Conclusion
In this chapter we will try to tie the ends on our problem formulation:
1. What alternative advertising options does the Internet provide to internationally-oriented Danish
companies?
2. To what extent are internationally-oriented Danish companies aware of such alternative advertising
options, and to what extent do they take advantage of them?
3. What strategies should Danish companies adopt to take advantage of these options?
Each question has been examined during the project in the previous chapters. From the start
of this journey, we discovered that the literature was plenty, but theories concerning the
issue were limited. Many different people have a comment concerning the use of the
internet, but the thoughts and use is directed towards the traditional marketing. Our mission
was to find out other possibilities to engage the internet. We found that the Traditional
Marketing has been used for many years and that companies’ websites are founded upon
these theories.
Throughout our search we discovered that it appears that the companies, have been, and still
are using internet as a communication tool to a limited extent, i.e. one way communication
to the consumers (as opposed to new marketing models). The literature provided us with
some indication of why this is the situation. One can call it simplicity for the companies or
lack of knowledge towards other ways of using the internet. Most important discovery is
maybe the fact that the latter has been the trend and way to do business. Many companies
have not been keeping track on the trends that have arisen in the past decade.
So the answer to our first question is that, international oriented Danish companies have
alternative options available, and are not that far from being able to utilise these alternatives.
With few correction and a little of extra resources it would be possible for most of them to
gain a better use of the internet.
Having analysed several company websites it is clear that parts of the theory behind the new
marketing models are being used. Whether conscious choice, random chance or even a need
to “follow suit”, most companies try to keep their sites easy to navigate, with focus on
Conclusion
86
language and information. However several are not utilising items such as chat forums,
direct service contacts and in general the two way communication to get closer to an
enhanced use of their presence online.
We have examined the Internet users’ demands and needs online, and found that they only
to a small degree ask for involvement. There are explicit demands for less advertising and
simple and well structured websites, but when it comes to dialogue, and participation only a
smaller part of our population asked for direct involvement. Login and personalisation are
however in high demand, a relatively new tool, login have appeared on more and more sites,
developed from extranets (dealer logins) to consumer login to remember setup, addresses
and other information the consumer need to type each time a purchase is made. This leads
us to conclude that over time the demand for further involvement will grow.
One of the most important features the internet provides is communication, communication
between themselves and their customers. Companies has for a long time been using the
internet as advertising tools to promote their product. In other words, it has been a one-way
communication.
Chat and forums is one of the possibilities the internet provides. The focus has to take a turn
in the consumer’s direction. So instead of one-way communication it should be two-way
communication.
Consumers want to able to identify themselves in the sites and product. This would be
achieved through chartrooms and forums. Instead of being a visitor they would rather be
participants on the sites. Conceivably more like Blogs and newsgroup provides.
What we also found out, was that the entrance to a site has to be simple and direct. A
concern that we were faced with, was the fact that only few companies has a list of contact
persons for direct contact. Also, with larger companies a receptionist is available; why not
make his/her presence available on the internet via the company website. A simple process
that would start the dialogue with the visitor, perhaps reveal areas where the website are
failing to meet the needs of the visitor. It would moreover be an indication that the
companies involved the consumers/participants in the process.
Conclusion
87
All in all we believe that in order to gain fully effect of the internet and thereby increase the
sale it is more important to have 20 dedicated customers that uses the sites than 100 visitors
that have no direct connection to the site and therefore do not purchase anything.
Danish companies have to reorganise their homepages in a way that it becomes easy and
simple to navigate through and the possibilities to communicate with the consumers.

Reflection
89
10. Reflection
Reflection to recap what we have learned, and what could have been obtained had we done
things differently will give us insight to future possibilities and areas of study.
This chapter will be divided into two parts: firstly a reflection on our methods and analysis
and secondly a reflection on the topic itself.
10.1. The project
Our project is from the beginning structured a certain way, with a certain methodological
viewpoint. This could have been chosen differently and thus empirical data should have
been weighed differently, thus possibly creating a different conclusion.
Our empirical collection also defined some interesting points to consider: Why are many
users so annoyed by advertising online, when advertising in Television for example often is
accepted, even expected? Breaks between broadcasts do not even cause a small annoyance,
and breaks in long broadcasts are accepted, to use for toilet breaks etc. Then why are popups
and the like so hated by the online community? Examinations that would highlight how
newsletters could be viewed separately from spam, and when a pop-up should appear not to
cause annoyance could prove valuable to the companies.
10.1.1. Critique of the methods
After having conducted the empirical gathering, we have learned a great deal about our
empirical collection method. This paragraph is designated to give insight into problems and
considerations that should be addressed should a similar study be conducted.
We had prolonged discussions both with and without the supervisor about our methods.
The chosen path reflects, to our knowledge, the best way to get unbiased answers to our
questions at hand.
Having conducted semi structured interviews we realised that we had to use a critique of the
source of our interview. Where the interviewee was based, influenced the answers; e.g. a
marketing specialist had to “defend” the company methods, and a product manager could
easily question the way marketing was conducted.
Reflection
90
Our questionnaire revealed that a small number of our respondents were a bit unsure of the
meaning of some of the questions, that a more rich data collection method e.g. a focus
group might have given further insight into the topic, but we feel that it would compromise
our methodological viewpoint, as it then would become from an actor’s approach.
10.2. The topic
Most websites with success are charging for their services. But there are usually always free
sites with almost the same product and or service as the successful ones. The herd behaviour
allows some sites to charge because of the number of users, and others (usually in their
startup) must stay free of charge. Sites have sometimes started their payment plan too early
(without enough visitors or recognition) and therefore lose the visitors to other sites. Simple
examples are dating sites. While there are many successful ones, a large number start up
every year, and some make it, while others close down again.
The Internet is the most competitive market ever. Users tend to jump to a new site if they
are not interested in paying for the services. Most sites lose half their visitors when
introducing payment.
During our interviews, one of our subjects stated that CTR is not the best way to measure
ROI. Branding also has a success when the ad is noted, but not clicked upon. This leads us
to an interesting discussion on how to measure ROI online. Are ads remembered more if
they are shown many times to one single individual, and thus – should a page have more
success with advertising if they have many returning visitors, or if they have many new
visitors?
References
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Webster of Dartmouth University

Appendix
95
12. Appendix
12.1. Methodological appendix
The analytical approach
The analytical approach stems from a positivistic, objective point of view. The analytical
approach is based upon the assumption that reality is independent of its observers, and that
the sum of each part equals the whole (e.g. 2+2 = 4). Each part can be investigated and
studied separately, as independent from each other. A fundamental issue in this approach is
how knowledge is to be attained, so how can objective facts be differentiated from
subjective information. As subjective knowledge is influenced by the environment and can
vary from person to person under the same conditions, it can be taken into account to create
knowledge. Only invariant and measurable elements can be seen as “true”.
Relations between these phenomena can be seen from different points of view. Firstly, these
connections can be understood as universally valid with no subject to change, according to
the model “one cause = one effect”. Therefore, one event will lead to another in a
deterministic or a highly probabilistic way. This concept called “causality” is the keystone in
determining the analytical “real truth”. Therefore, individuals are described as objective, able
to model and influence human behaviour. On the other hand, the relations between
invariant elements can also be seen as finality per se. Rather than determining a
circumstance through given causes, the explanation will be given by the larger context, where
the circumstance will serve a purpose. Likewise, logic and mathematics have a pivotal
position through the analytical approach’s history.
Within the analytical approach, hypothesis can serve as the foundation to explain certain
facts or to help the conduction of surveys to explain others. According to Webster (1956), a
hypothesis can be defined as:
A proportion, condition or principle which is assumed, perhaps without belief, in order to draw logical
consequences, and by this method to test its accord with facts, which are known or may be determined
Appendix
96
Furthermore, hypothesis can either derive from a guess or from the outcome of a previous
study. As reality can be objectively explained, the hypothesis is to be tested using induction,
moving from observations to the stated hypothesis and deducting an hypothetical method,
which is a logical ending from a common assertion to a special one (Hansen, 2000).
The systems approach
The systems approach has its roots in system theory, functionalism and pragmatism. In the
system approach, the reality is based upon systems and their interaction. Studying a system
includes not only the examination of its components, commonly labelled sub-systems, but
also the assessment of the relations among them. Like the analytical approach, the systems
approach makes a distinction between the objective reality that can be found in real systems,
and the reproductions of this reality, depicted in systems models. Nevertheless, the system
approach aims at considering an objective reality, even though it allows a certain level of
subjectivity. These subjective representations should be made accessible by becoming
systemic. The reality exists independently from us and we become determined by it (Darmer
& Freytag, 1996).
Validating a solution of an eventual problem should be conducted both through an
understanding point of view and an explaining point of view, depending on which scientific
paradigm is being used. Because the system approach lays in-between the analytical- and
actors’ approaches, many elements from each of them can be found in the system approach;
that means that there is quantitative and qualitative investigation methods.
In the systems approach there are four systems model, which can be used to explain the
reproduction of reality in the real system.
The actors approach
The actor approach comes from the hermeneutic and the phenomenological tradition, more
focused on the understanding of each individual and the social network.
The actors, by interacting with one another, contribute to a “social construction”. Although
the whole is composed of individual and multiple meanings of structure, as individual
Appendix
97
interact they attempt to create shared meaning, which when succeeded form the common
reality. From an understanding point of view, it is not possible to describe the reality in a
interpretations. However, it may be possible to take into account objective information, if
incorporating the actor’s subjective understanding.
Unlike the two previous approaches, this approach relies on determining meaning, culture
and language, whereas the other two refer to objective definitions. Individuals are by essence
considered as actors, who act according to their understanding of the reality. It is,
consequently, crucial to investigate the multiple perception of reality to explain the human
behaviour.
The dialectic process of thesis-antithesis-synthesis enables the transformation of a higher,
qualitative form of reality. Creators of knowledge use qualitative investigation methods, such
as interviews, observation to analyse and understand the actors’ individual or shared values.
Validating the results of a study is not possible, since there is no universally valid answer to a
given problem.
nother way than subjective, since reality depends on the actors and their subjective
Appendix
98
Reality as concrete and
conformable to law
from a structure
dependent of the
observer
i.e. an external, tangible and objective reality. The relations between the components
are easily predictable and measurable because of their deterministic characteristic. The
study method takes the form of controlled experiments, according to the “stimulusresponse”
or causality model (Arbnor & Bjerke, 1997).
Reality as a concrete
determining process
i.e. an organically evolving process, concrete in nature but changing in details. The
relations between the components, considered as “social facts”, are influencing and
influenced by the environment. A “competitive situation” is created over the
satisfaction of their needs and their survival. The empirical data collection, to
understand the patterns of the changes over time, consists in extensive interviews and
the analysis of documental material (Arbnor & Bjerke, 1997).
Reality as mutually
dependent fields of
information
i.e. the constantly changing reality depends on the exchange of information. The
relations are dynamic, probalistic and relative to the components of the “network of
relations”, as individuals react to and interpret the information received. The study
method is based upon the collected information about the achieved results, or
“contextual dependency” (Arbnor & Bjerke, 1997).
Reality as a world of
symbolic discourse
i.e. an inter-subjective interpretation, based upon dynamic exchange and negotiations
leading to a shared understanding and social rules. The relations are based upon
culture, symbols and language, making the results of the study method relative and
specific to the immediate context (Arbnor & Bjerke, 1997).
Reality as a social
construction
i.e. has no concrete status, reality evolves through a continuous process, because of the
shared but multiple, subjective perceptions of reality. The study method is based upon
a “hermeneutic Spiral” (Arbnor & Bjerke, 1997).
Reality as a
manifestation of
human intentionality
i.e. individuals creates the reality within their own consciousness or “transcendental
consciousness”. They are looked upon as intentional creatures, whose (un) conscious
intentions when creating the knowledge are the key determinants for the understanding
(Arbnor & Bjerke, 1997).
Table 6: The six social science paradigms
Appendix
99
Analytical approach Systems approach Actors approach
Conception
of reality
Exists in itself
Independent from the
creator of knowledge
Basically stable structure
Causal links
Objective facts
Parts can be studied
independently from one
another
2 different perceptions
Systematically constructed,
Independent from the creator of
knowledge
Dependent on the creator of
knowledge,
In both situation: contains
objective and subjective
aspects (described as
systemic)
Exist in the “social
construction”
Depends on the
actors’ perception
(multiple or shared
realities)
Reality evolved
through the exchange
and the negotiation of
values (interaction)
Conception
of science
Viewed as a picture of
reality
Definite facts (“ceteris
paribus”)
Sum of parts = the whole
Objective theories based
on logics/mathematics
Separated from moral &
ethics, subjective data
used for discussion not
for knowledge creation
Viewed as various systems
pictures of reality
Subject to changes
Sum of sub-systems > or < the
super system (synergy effect)
Dependent on the users and
their perception (explain,
understand and add value)
Pre-understanding,
actual understanding,
post-understanding
Scientific
ideals
Knowledge created by
testing hypothesis.
Follow formal and
deterministic rules.
The higher the causality,
the more complete the
scientific explanation.
Knowledge is used to
predict future causal
links
Producer-product relations
strengthened when:
• Better explanation and
understanding of the
interactions and their
circumstances.
• Better understanding of the
systems world
(development of new
concepts)
No theoreticallybased:
specific to the
actors’ personal goals
Ethical &
Aesthetical
aspects
To explain = answer
“why” (empirically
proved or theoretically
deducted)
Creator of knowledge
take no responsibility for
the use of this
knowledge
Need not only to consider the
relationships between subsystems,
but also between the
higher system and its
environment
Specific ethical & aesthetical
features to each system
No theoreticallybased:
specific to the
actors’ personal goals
Table 7: Relations between the three methodological approaches and the social science paradigms

Appendix
101
12.2. Informed opinion poll appendix
Manuscript for semi structured interview
1. Company size (number of employees)?
2. What is the primary industry of your company?
3. % amount of marketing budget used towards online marketing?
4. What is the design of your website based from?
a. Consumer requests
b. Own specifications
c. Web designers suggestion
d. Other (specify)
5. Do you use other companies’ websites as outlets for advertising your
product/service?
a. Yes Website is related to my company (subsidiary or similar)
b. Yes Website is related to my industry (subcontractor, competitor or other)
c. Yes Website has the users the we wish to target (segmentation)
d. Yes based on numbers of users (or similar)
e. No
6. Do you believe that you are aware of the different options available online?
7. What types of online advertising do you use?
a. Pop‐ups
b. Banners
c. Search advertising
d. Email/Newsletters
e. Forum/Chat
8. Do you consider the position of your advertisement on a specific site?
a. Yes
b. No
9. Please rank the position 1‐5 (1 is best)
a. Top
b. Bottom
c. Left
Appendix
102
d. Right
e. In the “main window”
10. Are you in dialogue with your online consumers
a. Yes via Email
b. Yes via Telephone
c. Yes via Forums/Chat
d. Yes via shops
e. No
11. Do you feel that you are engaging you consumers on your website?
12. What options do you use to engage your consumers?
a. Log in
b. Forum/Chat with customer support
c. Personalisation
d. Links to related/similar products
e. Forum/chat with other users
f. Easy navigation
g. Links to relevant tests/reviews
h. Price reductions/ loyalty programs
13. Do you optimise your presence online?
a. Yes, by buying several domain names
b. Yes, by search advertising
c. Yes, by search‐engine optimisation
d. Yes by links from other websites
e. No
14. Are your links from banner ads specific, or do they go to your main website? E.g.
does an ad
a. for a product go directly to the shopping basket with the product in, or just
to the page
b. where the product is described?
Appendix
103
12.3. Survey appendix
This appendix is made up of two subparts, the first being the questionnaire as it looked on
the screen for any respondent. The link for the page to be viewed is:
www.keriksen.dk/Questionnaire/1.htm
The second part is the collected data. We have cleaned out the less serious answers.
The questionnaire
Sex/Gender
Male Female
Age
0-20 20-25 26-30 31-99
Nationality
Danish Other
How much time do you spend online a day?
0-1 hour 2-5 hours 5-10 hours more than 10 hours
Where do you use the Internet navigating via webbrowsers such as Mozilla, Internet
Explorer, Firefox, Netscape etc.?
(percentual use, sum=100)
Work/Studies
Private
We will now show a website. Be aware that this is a "static" page of an existing website.
Appendix
104
Look at the page, and when you are ready to proceed, just close down the window.
You will then be asked a few questions about the site.
Click here (opens in a new window)
What, if any, advertising did you notice on the page?
Banner ad Pop ups Other
There are several ways to advertise online - can you remember having experienced any of the
following in the last month?
I remember
this form of
advertising
If possible name the
company name/type,
product name/type or other
characteristics
Yes No
Pop-ups and pop-unders (a new browser
window opens on top of or below the one you
are currently using
Mail ads (sometimes mentioned as spam)
Banner ads (a picture, text or video inserted
into the browser window/webpage you are
currently using
Forums/Chat advertising
Search advertising (ad words by Google etc.),
where companies buy specific words and their
website is promoted when searching that
specific word in a search engine.
Appendix
105
Do you experience correlation between the website you are visiting and their advertisement?
(related product and or company etc.)
Yes No Not sure
Do you think the position of an ad has influence on your attention? (Whether the ad is
placed in the topright corner, or between the lines of the text you are reading etc.)
Yes big influence Yes somewhat influence No almost none No not at all
Rate the following (1-5 1 being the best position to attract attention)
Top
Bottom
Left
Right
In the "main window"
How often do you notice "advertising links" (for instance in a mail/pop-up or on a banner)?
Rarely Occasionally Often Always
Notice
Click on
If you click on a link, how often do you experience being mislead (for example: have to
browse further to participate in a contest etc.)?
Rarely Occasionally Often Always I only click by mistake
Appendix
106
Do you use any of the following?
Read Write
Chat programs (Windows/MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger etc.)
Forums in general
Forums for a specific brand or product
Blogs
When you think of your overall use of the Internet, what options do you favour a website to
have? (write anything that comes to mind)
What makes you re-visit a website? (mark the 3 options with the numbers 1-3 (no ranking
required))
Personalisation
Forum/Chat with other users
Links to relevant tests/reviews
Easy to find (simple web address/top Google hit)
Forum/Chat with customer support
Links to related/similar products
Easy to navigate
Price of their service/products
Recommended by friends
Write down any comments you might have to this questionnaire, marketing online,
marketing in general etc.
Thank you for participating. Comments etc. can also be mailed to kim@keriksen.dk
Appendix
107
The Data
Sex/Gender
Respondents Percent
Male 54 55,10%
Female 44 44,90%
Total 98 100,00%
Age
Respondents Percent
0‐20 0 0,00%
20‐25 44 44,90%
26‐30 40 40,80%
31‐99 14 14,30%
Total 98 100,00%
Nationality
Respondents Percent
Danish 69 70,40%
Other 29 29,60%
Total 98 100,00%
How much time do you spend online a day?
Respondents Percent
0‐1 hour 8 8,70%
2‐5 hours 45 48,90%
5‐10 hours 29 31,50%
more than 10 hours 10 10,90%
Total 92 100,00%
Appendix
108
Where do you use the Internet navigating via webbrowsers such as Mozilla, Internet Explorer,
Firefox, Netscape etc.? ‐ Work/Studies ‐ (percentual use, sum=100)
Work Home
% Stk‐ % Stk
0 0
5 2 0 1
10 4 10 7
15 1 15 1
20 7 20 11
25 2 25 3
30 14 30 9
40 3 40 8
49 1 50 18
50 18 51 1
60 8 60 3
70 9 70 14
75 3 75 2
80 11 80 7
85 1 85 1
90 7 90 4
100 1 95 2
What, if any, advertising did you notice on the page?
Respondents Percent
Banner ad 51 91,10%
Pop ups 9 16,10%
Other 12 21,40%
Total 56 100,00%
What, if any, advertising did you notice on the page? ‐ Banner ad
ok magasin, lidl,
DVD rental
dvd rental og så hel med en express!
Liddl
Bingo
Daily express, Bingo
lidl, bing
LIDL
bingo
Daily Express Bingo
Appendix
109
no
Lidl
top and left side
greenwood something
lidl
bingo
Chance to win something
lidl
4
none
2
Daily express bingo
What, if any, advertising did you notice on the page? ‐ Pop ups
OK magazine
no
0
none
What, if any, advertising did you notice on the page? ‐ Other
Bingo
pictures
no
A lot of famous people
none ‐ I use adblocker
google adsense
lidl
There are several ways to advertise online ‐ can you remember having experienced any of the
following in the last month? ‐ Pop‐ups and pop‐unders (a new browser window opens on top of or
below the one you are currently using ‐ I remember this form of advertising
Respondents Percent
Yes 47 60,30%
No 31 39,70%
Total 78 100,00%
Appendix
110
There are several ways to advertise online ‐ can you remember having experienced any of the
following in the last month? ‐ Pop‐ups and pop‐unders (a new browser window opens on top of or
below the one you are currently using ‐ If possible name the company name/type, product
name/type or other characteristics
apple, chevrolett
lottery
popup for: danish gamesite
usa viza lotery
Paridise Poker
Carlsberg
There are several ways to advertise online ‐ can you remember having experienced any of the
following in the last month? ‐ Mail ads (some times mentioned as spam) ‐ I remember this form of
advertising
Respondents Percent
Yes 44 56,40%
No 34 43,60%
Total 78 100,00%
There are several ways to advertise online ‐ can you remember having experienced any of the
following in the last month? ‐ Mail ads (some times mentioned as spam) ‐ If possible name the
company name/type, product name/type or other characteristics
JP, billig‐ting.dk, lister er uendelig
Sterling, iclandair, Norwegian, travellink etc
Travelstart
Asos, Tobi
i delete them and do not remember
viagra adds
Forbrugerliv.dk
Viagra
many diff. Today from Med24.d
facebook.com
There are several ways to advertise online ‐ can you remember having experienced any of the
following in the last month? ‐ Banner ads (a picture, text or video inserted into the browser
window/webpage you are currently using ‐ I remember this form of advertising
Respondents Percent
Yes 66 84,60%
No 12 15,40%
Total 78 100,00%
Appendix
111
There are several ways to advertise online ‐ can you remember having experienced any of the
following in the last month? ‐ Banner ads (a picture, text or video inserted into the browser
window/webpage you are currently using ‐ If possible name the company name/type, product
name/type or other characteristics
ok magasin, lidl,
Mostly bookmaking companies
Clement Kærsgård nyt show
NHL adv. for use of NHL Center Ice
star tours
car advertisement
Mannaz
Eventbingo.com, startour.dk, apollo.dk
ok, bingo, lidl
There are several ways to advertise online ‐ can you remember having experienced any of the
following in the last month? ‐ Forums/Chat advertising ‐ I remember this form of advertising
Respondents Percent
Yes 23 29,50%
No 55 70,50%
Total 78 100,00%
There are several ways to advertise online ‐ can you remember having experienced any of the
following in the last month? ‐ Forums/Chat advertising ‐ If possible name the company
name/type, product name/type or other characteristics
Porn
vietcupid
messenger playground
On messemger; Fanta
There are several ways to advertise online ‐ can you remember having experienced any of the
following in the last month? ‐ Search advertising (ad words by Google etc.), where companies buy
specific words and their website is promoted when searching that specific word in a search engine.
‐ I remember this form of advertising
Respondents Percent
Yes 54 69,20%
No 24 30,80%
Total 78 100,00%
Appendix
112
There are several ways to advertise online ‐ can you remember having experienced any of the
following in the last month? ‐ Search advertising (ad words by Google etc.), where companies buy
specific words and their website is promoted when searching that specific word in a search engine.
‐ If possible name the company name/type, product name/type or other characteristics
consultancy companies
Lyngsoe Systems, Sterling
Led Zeppelin cd
some bookshops
google
Severel depending on the type of google search.
google and yahoo
Do you experience correlation between the website you are visiting and their advertisement?
(related product and or company etc.)
Respondents Percent
Yes 35 44,90%
No 21 26,90%
Not sure 22 28,20%
Total 78 100,00%
Do you think the position of an ad has influence on your attention? (Whether the ad is placed in
the topright corner, or between the lines of the text you are reading etc.)
Respondents Percent
Yes big influence 20 25,60%
Yes somewhat
influence 35 44,90%
No almost none 14 17,90%
No not at all 9 11,50%
Total 78 100,00%
Rate the following (1‐5 1 being the best position to attract attention) ‐
Top Bottom Left Right In the "main window"
1 42 6 2 9 21
2 23 3 22 13 13
3 3 3 28 28 20
4 5 10 20 22 19
5 6 56 6 6 5
Appendix
113
How often do you notice "advertising links" (for instance in a mail/pop‐up or on a banner)? ‐
Notice
Respondents Percent
Rarely 15 20,00%
Occasionally 28 37,30%
Often 26 34,70%
Always 6 8,00%
Total 75 100,00%
How often do you notice "advertising links" (for instance in a mail/pop‐up or on a banner)? ‐ Click
on
Respondents Percent
Rarely 51 69,90%
Occasionally 16 21,90%
Often 5 6,80%
Always 1 1,40%
Total 73 100,00%
If you click on a link, how often do you experience being mislead (for example: have to browse
further to participate in a contest etc.)?
Respondents Percent
Rarely 5 6,70%
Occasionally 20 26,70%
Often 22 29,30%
Always 1 1,30%
I only click by mistake 27 36,00%
Total 75 100,00%
Do you use any of the following? ‐ Chat programs (Windows/MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger
etc.)
Respondents Percent
Read 55 80,90%
Write 66 97,10%
Total 68 100,00%
Do you use any of the following? ‐ Forums in general
Respondents Percent
Read 39 92,90%
Write 16 38,10%
Total 42 100,00%
Appendix
114
Do you use any of the following? ‐ Forums for a specific brand or product
Respondents Percent
Read 30 90,90%
Write 10 30,30%
Total 33 100,00%
Do you use any of the following? ‐ Blogs
Respondents Percent
Read 36 92,30%
Write 9 23,10%
Total 39 100,00%
When you think of your overall use of the Internet, what options do you favour a website to have?
(write anything that comes to mind)
overblik. Jeg hader når der popper en masser vinduer op, som jeg skal ligge ned før jeg kan komme
videre.Struktur og skarp opdelt.Det skal være let at finde rundt i.Der skal være klar besked om hvad
tingene fører hen til.Bliver jeg vildledt bruger jeg det ikke igen.Jeg vil have klar besked om fordele og
ulemper, hvis jeg melder mig til noget.Jeg vil vide, hvad det kan bruges til.Ex. Facebook ‐ jeg hader
når jeg skal vælge 20 venner for at kunne se noget. Det gider jeg ikke.
I like it, easy to find information
an easy and understandible way of getting information
Videnssøgning, information, datoer...! Brede demokratiske deltagelsesidealer kan forenes gennem
dette medie!
It must be simple, not to many frustrating adds.
good overview, homepage from which I can go to most subsites, not too many advertisements,
Easy to navigate and without too mucj flashing
Stupid question!It entirely depends on the type of website!‐On a web‐shop it would be beneficial to
have the option to buy things..‐On web‐banking it would be beneficial to have the option to make
bank transaction..etc. etc. etc.
interresting articles. Pictures that seize you. The possibilty of being linked to more information about
subjects.
Depending on the web page I am visiting. Mostly news websites in what interest me the most.
Visible buttons
webshop
I expect them not to have much advertising
News etc.
easy to navigatenot too many annoying adseasy to read coloursnot too many sounds or flash intros
(or at least the possibility to terminate one if one exists)
Good layout
A website is a good one if there's not to many disturbing pictures, ugly colours, moving objects or
many text boxes!
a well functioning 'search' application
Appendix
115
The info that I'm searching for.
structure and easy path to information
good search function and a lot of sub menues so it is easy to find what you are looking for.
i use for kontact people i knowor search for information
Clear overview of contentQuick of use
you get all needed information from internet, connect your friends everywhere in the world
not to many advertisements‐ it is confusing for the eye, and it creates chaos on a website. I hate
popups, and that can make me drop visiting that website again. There should not be too much
writing on the frontpage, or to many pictures. Just af few to make the point, to then click further
ahead, if I'm curious. In generel I think commercials are annoying, and are often disturbing my use of
the internet, so I try to avoid them.
being able to comment, interact etc
Easy to navigate
Altså det skal jo være nemt at navigere på siden altså at den er logisk opbygget + grafikken skal være
iorden, vi er jo blevet lidt kræsne
Relevant information for the "problem" I try to solve.
Should be easy to browse. Having advertisements in the middle of a page is irritating and often
results in ruining the brand reputation of the product being advertised.
the information that i need
very little advertising. many relevant articles and that "works" fast
Den skal være overskuelige, og med informative menuer, så den er nem at finde rundt på. En god
søgefunktion
I use the internet to read the news and chat with friends on msn or facebook
Few (NO) pop ups!
good structure of the websit, search option
news
new information at any time
Convenient, no limited for time and space, low costs, be my good friend
good structure, nice webdesign
Simple with a beneficial view. I really dont likewhen a website is to complex with a lot of advertising
andespecially pop‐ups
informations, news, interaction. but not sure i understand the quistion
news, sports
struktureret, let overskuelig
It has to be easy to find what you´re looking for, and a I like that most sites has a search option
web 2.0 basic, search engine,
the option to choose by myself where i wish to go
Easy overview, search option, Activity (change of content from time to time)
I use Firefox, I see no advertising, and when I do I delete them for faster browsing.
no ads, simple navigation and layout
appealing layout‐ user friendly‐ "overskuelig"‐ of an interesting topic
Appendix
116
It should be easy to use, and interesting pictures need to be there, to gain my attention. If puchacing
items product specification is very important. So information and layout is what I find most
important.
not too many disturbing commercials, simple overall layout
What makes you re‐visit a website? (mark the 3 options with the numbers 1‐3 (no ranking
required))
Personalisation 34
Forum Chat with other users 16
Links to relevant tests/reviews 30
Easy to find (simple web address/top Google hit) 39
Forum/Chat with customer support 9
Links to related/similar products 13
Easy to navigate 45
Price of their service/products 26
Recommended by friends 31
Write down any comments you might have to this questionnaire, marketing online, marketing in
general etc.
Nemt spørgeskema, dog kunne jeg have brugt præcise forklaringer på, hvad er pop up, hvad er
banner, etc. Der er enkelte steder hvor jeg blev i tvivl om hvad det var jeg kunne vælge.I forhold til
marketing online, så oplever jeg det dybt frustrerende af blive forstyrret at pop up reklamer, når jeg
er midt i noget. Jeg vil helst have at de er stationære og ikke skal lukkes ned for at komme videre. De
må ikke være misvisende, og lede en gennem en jungle af muligheder og tilvalg. Jeg er nok bare mest
til reklamer i papirsform. Når jeg skal købe noget på nettet, går jeg målrettet efter det jeg skal købe.
Kan godt lide sider der sammenligner priser, og at der er relevant information omkring produkt.
Hmm, spørgeskemaet opfanger ikke alle mine holdninger..! Der mangler svarkategorier
I think many adds are confusing, I prefere sites with adds that aren't placed in the middle and which
doesn't scare you away from the site.
This survey is not very clear. Some of the questions and answer possibilities are a bit fuzzy... To be
completely honest I am not sure that my answers a valid in an investigation, as I was uncertain about
the meaning to a lot of the questions?sorry?
Fine questionnaire, maybe some more examples could help with the answering.
Difficult to understand and answer some of the questions in the questionnaire.Marketing online is
ok, but maybe to some exteend to product focused and need to focus more on corporate
marketing/branding.
It is too confusing, the questions need to be more especific as what answers need to be given
useally I use the internet to gather information, whether it is a product or news or e‐purchase. So
what makes me reuse a website has to do with the content of the webpage in the first place. Useally
a consumer don't show interest for gasoline prices until the own a car themselves.. you get the
picture?
Appendix
117