DR.

BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR MARATHWADA UNIVERSITY,

CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR.

VASANTRAO NAIK SHIKSHAN PRASARAK MANDAL

VASANTRAO NAIK MAHAVIDYALAYA

AIRPORT ROAD, CIDCO, CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR.

A
PROJECT
REPORT ON

“A STUDY OF ONLINE MARKETING”

SUBMITTED TO
DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR MARATHWADA UNIVERSITY,
CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR.

SUBMITTED BY
MOHAN BHAGWAN RATHOD
B.C.A Management Science Third Year

UNDER THE GUIDANCE

DR. SAVITA LOTHE

H.O.D (COMPUTER SCIENCE)

1
 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR MARATHWADA UNIVERSITY, CHHATRAPATI
SAMBHAJINAGAR.

VASANTRAO NAIK SHIKSHAN PRASARAK MANDAL

VASANTRAO NAIK MAHAVIDYALAYA

AIRPORT ROAD, CIDCO, CHHATRAPATI SAMBHAJINAGAR.

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

BACHELOR OF COMPUTER APPLICATION MANAGEMENT SCIENCE

ACADEMIC YEAR 2024-2025

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that MR. MOHAN BHAGWAN RATHOD final year student of
BCA Management Science has submitted a Project Report Entitled A
STUDY OF ONLINE MARKETING in Partial fulfillment for the award of
B.C.A. Management Science degree during the academic year 2024-2025. This
project was authentic work done by him under the guidance of Dr. Savita Lothe
(H.O.D)

DATE:

EXAMINATION SEAT NO.

(PROJECT GUIDE) (EXAMINER) DR. SAVITA .A. LOTHE

(HEAD, DEPARTMENT OF

2
COMPUTER SCIENCE)
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Acknowledgement of Online Marketing

Online marketing, also known as digital marketing, is the practice

of using the internet and digital platforms to promote products,
services, or brands. It encompasses a wide variety of strategies and
tactics designed to reach consumers, engage them, and encourage
them to take action, such as making a purchase or sharing content.

Key components of online marketing include:

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of optimizing a

website to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs) to
increase organic traffic.
2. Social Media Marketing (SMM): The use of social media
platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to engage with a
target audience, build brand awareness, and promote products or
services.
3. Content Marketing: The creation and distribution of valuable,
relevant, and consistent content to attract and engage potential
customers, often through blogs, videos, and other formats.
4. Email Marketing: Sending targeted messages to a list of
subscribers to promote products, share news, or build relationships.
5. Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC): A form of online advertising
where advertisers pay each time a user clicks on their ad, such as
Google Ads or social media ads.

3
 6. Affiliate Marketing: Collaborating with partners or affiliates to
promote a product or service in exchange for a commission on sales
or leads generated.
7. Influencer Marketing: Partnering with influencers—individuals
with large online followings—to promote products or services.

[Link] Public Relations (PR): Managing a brand’s reputation

and interacting with customers, journalists, and bloggers through
online channels.

Online marketing provides businesses with the opportunity to reach

global audiences, measure results in real time, and adjust strategies
as needed. It has revolutionized the way companies approach
marketing, allowing for more personalized, targeted, and cost-
effective campaigns.

Would you like to dive deeper into any specific aspect of online
marketing?

4
 DECLARATION
Project Title

A STUDY OF ONLINE MARKETING

I hereby declare that, the project report submitted by us in

practical fulfilment of B.C.A. Management Science degree is a
genuine work.

It has not been submitted either fully or partially by any Institute

prior in any other connection. I have done the project as per as the
guidelines of my respected guide.

Under The Guidance Student Name

DR. SAVITA LOTHE Mohan Bhagwan Rathod

H.O.D (COMPUTER SCIENCE)

5
 Index
Serial Contents Page No.

No.

1. Abstract. 4

2. Introduction. 5

3. Problem formulation 6

4. Conceptual framework 7

5. 8
. Methodology

6. 9-23
Does the Internet provide new options.

7. 24-34
Are the companies aware

8. 35-45
What do the customers want

9. 46-58
Conclusion

10. 59-60
Reflection ...

11. References 70

6
 [Link]

Online marketing, also known as digital marketing, refers to the

promotion of products, services, or brands through digital channels
such as search engines, social media, email, and websites. At an
abstract level, online marketing involves three core elements

1. Visibility – Ensuring that a brand, product, or service is

discoverable in the online space through search engines (SEO), paid
advertisements (PPC), or social media marketing.
2. Engagement – Creating meaningful interactions with the target
audience through content marketing, social media interactions, and
personalized email campaigns.
3. Conversion – Encouraging users to take desired actions, such as
making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading an
app, using tactics like persuasive copywriting, landing pages, and
conversion rate optimization (CRO)
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

7
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?

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

8
 2. 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

9
 consumer’s behaviour and buying patterns online began to interest
scholars
The structure of an online marketing project typically involves
several key components that work together to create a
comprehensive strategy. Below is a suggested outline for
organizing the structure of an online marketing project:

10
 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

11 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

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

12
 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

13
 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
broughtfrom. 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.

14
 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.

15 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:

“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

16
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.

5.3. 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)

17
 5.3.1. 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.

[Link]. 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.

18
 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

19
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.

In order to realise the potential and possibilities of the medium, it is

important to understand what the Internet has brought of marketing
communication.

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.

20 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?

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
over 2 . 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

21
 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).

“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)

6.3.2. 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

22
 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.

6.3.3. 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.

6.4. 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”.
23
 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,

24
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:

• 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.

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.

25
 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.

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

26
 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.

27
 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

28
 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.

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
[Link]), or you enter the local site directly ([Link]). Some sites
even allow for the choice for each visit ([Link]). 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

29
visitor options of selecting the page of need.
 The sites’ navigation systems bear similarities to that of the
Operating System Microsoft Windows ([Link]). 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.

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 ([Link]).
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 ([Link]) why are
these designs not available anymore [Link] does not even offer the
option of viewing an old shirt design.

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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.

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 [Link] 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

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inspiration from other customers is one example of engagement that
 companies should try to achieve. [Link] 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.

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 [Link] 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 [Link] 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.

7.2. Informed opinion poll

This analysis of the corporate websites provides us with a thorough

32 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.

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

33
Granat.
 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.

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 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.

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@[Link] option.

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

35
them are in use, or point towards [Link]. 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.

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.

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 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.

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 thispopulation. 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

37
 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).

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.

8.2. 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

38
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.

39
 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

40
 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

41
 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.

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.

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 11. References

Arbnor, Ingeman & Bjerke, Björn (1997), “Methodology for

creating business knowledge”, 2nd edition, SAGE Publications

Baker, Stephen (2003), “Pop-up Ads Had Better Start Pleasing”,

Business Week (Downloaded from:
[Link]
htm)

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