The Difference Between Internet Marketing and Marketing

By Sharon • October 7th, 2009

j0386800 Whenever I think about the work of marketers (small business owners like myself) I think about how we use certain tactics and practices (a process) to help bring a product, service or idea (as in social marketing) together with the intended audience.

Plain English: marketers will do what it takes (and what has often worked) to get customers or a particular audience to act a certain way ( e.g., buy a product/service or stop smoking).

Those processes include tactics like “Internet marketing” and that fact has always made me wonder why Internet marketers seem to differentiate themselves from marketers. But before I go there, some more facts.

Anyone who has taken any time to learn about marketing knows that marketing involves 4 basic concepts most commonly known as the marketing mix:

Product – creating something that will meet the need of an identified target market (your customer)
Pricing – how you price a product can speak volumes to your intended audience
Placement – the channel by which the product is distributed to the customer, for example the Internet… and
Promotion – which includes advertising, publicity and branding (making your product attractive and visible to your potential customers)

So now we know what marketing is, what is Internet marketing? Wikipedia says Internet marketing is the marketing of products over the Internet by tying together creative and technical aspects of the Internet including design, development, advertising and sales.

Internet marketing then encompasses the kinds of things traditional marketers do (the 4 P’s) but is contained (produced, distributed and promoted) on the Internet.

So if I publish a hard cover children’s book, sell it through the Barnes and Noble book chain and promote it through traditional and new media channels (like the Internet) I’m using the “marketing” process.

But if I create one of those products unique to the Internet marketplace like an e-book and market it online, to an online audience, I’m involved in Internet marketing.

I really can’t see there being an awful lot of differences between Internet marketing and marketing. There are so many excellent Internet marketers creating and distributing products (not just electronic products either) that I believe the whole process of Internet marketing needs to have a higher profile in that marketing mix (the 4 P’s).

Now that printed newspapers are dying and broadcast networks are scrambling to hang on to the dwindling attention span of TV audiences, the key promotional environment and the key distribution channel for the effective marketer is the Internet.

With more than 200 million people and counting getting their business, social and entertainment needs online, it would appear to me that whatever you’re selling whether it’s an e-book or a snow blower, your customers are online and that’s where a great deal of your marketing efforts should be directed.

So what’s the difference between Internet marketing and marketing? You really can’t compare since one process – Internet marketing – is truly part of the overall process of marketing. Small business owners will do themselves a great service by understanding and implementing sound marketing tactics that include internet marketing.

Ailing newspapers and most American car companies are examples of big businesses that were far too slow to adapt effective Internet marketing techniques to reach their customers.

Have you got a handle on your Internet marketing strategy?

To your success,

Sharon

Comments(4) Marketing

Comments

By Mary Lutz on October 7th, 2009 at 7:36 am

I too had a hard differentiating between “marketing” and “Internet Marketing”. To me Marketing encompasses Internet marketing. Every business, no matter how large or small should have Internet Marketing included as part of their marketing plan, and it should a major part of their marketing plan. Great post!!!

By LaTara Ham-Ying on October 8th, 2009 at 10:22 am

I have to agree with you on this one Sharon. There really is no difference as both concepts really do encompass one another. It is just that one is more web focused as you stated. However, with the recent demise of many companies who stuck with the traditional ways of marketing, internet marketing really should be taken more serious.

By watkins_lady on October 10th, 2009 at 9:23 am

I've been guilty of thinking of myself as an Internet Marketer, rather than just a marketer because most of my marketing is done online but what you are saying makes perfect sense to me.

By watkins_lady on October 10th, 2009 at 2:23 pm

I've been guilty of thinking of myself as an Internet Marketer, rather than just a marketer because most of my marketing is done online but what you are saying makes perfect sense to me.