Internet Marketing in the Past, Present and Future

History of Internet Marketing

Online marketing has turned out to be a major milestone in marketing industry since it has significantly transformed over the past decades. The evolution of online marketing was fuelled by the growth of technology, especially the Internet. The early 1990s marked the beginning of Internet marketing, especially after the creation of the “World Wide Web”, which was the novel web browser (Geho and Jennifer Dangelo 61). Moreover, in 1993, a simple to install and use graphical web browser was released (Shiri 202). In the early 1990s, key search engines were launched, such as Archie and WebCrawler, with the ability to index headers and titles of web pages and headers (Charlesworth 25). Following this discovery, the application of the Internet started to grow. The National Science Foundation allowed utilization of its Internet for the purpose of business in 1991 and this facilitated the acquisition of popularity (Chaston 19).

First Industries to Advertise Online

In 1993, the web-ad banner was the leading clickable online advert to be introduced, which was the key landmark in the history of online marketing. Subsequently, different companies started to purchase adverts in the web-ad banner. Some f organizations that purchased ads on the website for advertising included AT&T (Geho and Jennifer Dangelo 65). Moreover, in 1994, the leading commercial online magazine known as Hotwired, deliberated on strategies to compensate their authors. Eventually, the concept emerged where the company decided to sell advertisement spaces in its websites (Charlesworth 25). In so doing, the phrase “banner advertising” was invented. The idea was to develop unique segments on the website for the posters to be exhibited on. However, the concept was not completely new though. Notably, AT&T became the earliest organization to purchase online ads on Hotwired website. Moreover, Hotwired intended to use banner ad as a way to enhance its new campaign “You Will” (Chaston 17).

When an individual clicked at the ad, one was directed to a computer-generated trip over seven of the best museums in the world (Charlesworth 30). The reasoning behind the idea was to sway the users on the way AT&T would assist them to tour across space and time via the Internet. The ads costs were about $30,000 every three months and it generated 44 per cent in terms of click rate (Geho and Dangelo 69).

Nevertheless, prior to Hotwired ads, a company known as Prodigy existed (Tiago and Veríssimo 705). The initial online service provided a surplus update on issues such as email communication, weather, news and choices to purchase groceries and merchandises in a single platform. Furthermore, it included an advert at the bottom part of every page (Geho and Dangelo 50). Before launching the monthly subscription approach, e-shopping and advertising were the only mechanisms for Prodigy to produce revenues for the organization.

One of the main problems that Prodigy faced was that it interfered with customer’s experience. For instance, users were more eager to interact with other members via their email services (Charlesworth 31). Consequently, an ad blocker was created and looked as a small icon positioned on the lower part of the screen to wedge out the adverts (Chaston 21).

In 1994, Yahoo was introduced and a year later it was changed from an online directory to a financial business (Tiago and Veríssimo 707). In this respect, it invented the original keyword found advertisement. Saturn and AT&T bought banner advertisements on Pathfinder for $30 thousand (Geho and Jennifer Dangelo 70). Reports at the time indicated that companies were spending $37 million on the websites. Around the same period Infoseek and Netscape altered their pricing strategy on advertisement to Cost per Thousand (CPM) impressions. The authorities formulated the Internet Advertising Council.

Later, in 1995, Amazon became the prominent seller over the Internet across the globe. In 1996, other search engines such as MSN, Google and Lycos were launched. At the early 2000s, Google introduced AdWords – network-assisted advertisement based on user searches. Reports indicate that Internet marketing has started to develop substantially since 1996 (Shiri 203). By the same year, the total expenditures for online marketing in Canada and the US made over $300 billion as compared to traditional ads campaigsn of $175 billion in 1994. The acceptance of Internet marketing at the time strengthened the growth (Chaston 14).

In the 2000s, Internet Marketing was further enhanced by the introduction of iPhone. Users began searching items online prior to making decisions on their needs rather than asking a salesperson (Ryan 11). Therefore, the marketing department was forced to register their address their products online and pursue ways to advertise their products over the Internet. In 2007, the idea of marketing automation was introduced to assist marketers in campaigning (Tiago and Veríssimo 703). Additionally, it empowered firms to segment clients, introduce multichannel advertising campaigns and offer personalized data for customers. Nonetheless, the rate of flexibility to customer devices was not quick enough (Tiago and Veríssimo 705).

Research has pointed to the fact that efforts to launch online marketing began in the mid-1990s. The firms with technical expertise responded to the challenges and opportunities emanating from the use of the Internet, to develop complex websitea aiming to meet the needs of the customers. However, at this point, the success of Internet marketing appeared far less certain (Grossnickle 11). Additionally, there was a wide range of predictions, most of which were exceptionally hopeful dealing with the scale up, possibility and effects of computer-produced dealing platforms. Besides, there was a growing realization that its destination could be clearly differentiated when resolutions were provided to some of the matters, such as the degree to which the virtual arena will change the norms of the trade (Ryan 61). In this regard, questions were raised on the ability of the Internet to eliminate the available business formats and act as a common balance to the current business behaviours (Doherty and Ellis-Chadwick 26). Further, they were concerned of the type of individuals who, on the foundation of their demographics and stances, are more prone to the Internet traders. They were also worried on how the marketers would develop techniques that are appropriate for the online background, especially those on pricing, harmonization of channels, promotions and segmentation (Tiago and Veríssimo 791). Finally, they also examined answers related to whether the Internet would finally replace or rearrange the high street (Charlesworth 5).

Industry as it stands now

Currently, Internet marketing has become a part of human life because it has revolutionized the process of marketing, leading to cheaper, easier and more convenient systems. The developing of Internet marketing in the past half a decade has surpassed the anticipated levels compared to the traditional methods (Li and Kannan 15). Studies highlighted that Internet marketing became more complicated in the 2010s and the late 2000s due to the increase of electronic devices with the capacity to browse digital media. Reports from the 2012 demonstrated that online marketing is still developing. Then came the emergence of social media industry and platforms like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube (Grossnickle 10). Customers become extremely reliant on digital devices in their normal lives. In this respect, they anticipate an effective user experience across various channels for pursuing product’s information. Moreover, the transformation of customer behaviours enhanced the expansion of marketing technology (Li and Kannan 17). In 2010, 48 per cent of the total amount of money in marketing was spent on digital marketing. Additionally, a growing percentage of advertising originate from organizations utilizing the digital behavioural advertising to integrate marketing for the Internet users (Charlesworth 6).

Presently, the use of Internet marketing is characterized by the complicated use of powerful devices. The use of social media networks, such as YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn has increased the rate of online marketing (Charlesworth 26). In the present generation, the online marketing takes advantage of blogs, RSS, social media and search engine marketing. For instance, search engine optimization helps to enhance the ranking for appropriate keywords by inventing on different qualities of the website, especially on the content and structure. The RSS marketing represents web feeds for publication of new information that could be news, podcasts and blog entries (Geho and Dangelo 63). Other forms of Internet marketing include Email advertising, which leverages the popularity of electronic mail. Notably, currently, more than 4.5 trillion ads over the Internet are served every year. The spending on online marketing has increased tremendously in the past half-decade (Shiri 207).

Online marketing has turned out to be a major milestone in marketing techniques since it has significantly transformed over the past decade. Previously, there were only a few skills with the capacity to use the technology.  However, presently, all persons across the globe can use it (Grossnickle 10). More importantly, the power, scope and interactivity of online marketing process empower traders to influence the shopping behaviour of their customers as well as enhance their own background positions. The Internet now provides information, strengthens dual interactions with customers and harvests market assessment information. Similarly, it endorses service and products, and supports online organization of products (Doherty and Ellis-Chadwick 25). Studies have indicated that this is one of the flexible and rich channels of marketing. In fact, over the recent past, online sales have increased significantly and it unlocks new potential for trade in a manner that traditional marketing could not achieve (Ryan 61).

Internet marketing trends

In the future, the use of Internet Marketing across the globe is projected to grow substantially. Marketers are anticipated to take advantage of the online users’ experience to launch marketing campaign (Charlesworth 27). Marketing through mobile devices will contribute more than half of the entire transactions. The new techniques open up opportunities for businesses and advertising. For instance, in the United States, spending on Internet marketing will hit $120 billion in the next two years, which will be more than 50 per cent of all the expenditures in the media. In the coming decades, about 95 per cent of customers will rely on online reviews prior to making decisions on online purchase (Tiago and Veríssimo 706). Studies have pointed out that a 1-star rise in rating over the Internet can contribute to 5-9 per cent upsurge in revenue. Lastly, the display adverts will be more interactive and custom in the coming decades. The use of non-digital advertisements such as magazine and billboards will substantially decline (Charlesworth 10). For these reasons, the processes should be structured to leverage the benefits of Internet marketing.

Scholars have predicted that in the future Internet marketing has the power to completely change the business model. Due to the developing technologies, Internet marketing will introduce a faster alteration to accomplish immersive marketing from contextual marketing (Shiri 199). Integration of social media into marketing has modified the manner in which people remain connected with each other, as well as shop, in their daily life. Moreover, forecasts indicate that online marketing will fully control the customer experience in the future. For instance, in 2020, online marketing in the United States will reach $120 billion accounting for more than 50 per cent of all expenditure in the future. Similarly, products reviews will turn out to be a necessity. Precisely, more than 95 per cent of consumers would access online reviews before making a decision to purchase (Charlesworth 10).

Statistics indicates that in 2016 spending on display ads was estimated to be $8,872, but this is anticipated to up-surge to $10, 820 in 2021. Indeed, social advertisement will take precedence as compared to display ads (Shiri 200). The budget for social media advertising is expected to rise to $32,900 by 2021 as compared to $15,013 in 2016. Additionally, online video spending is expected to reach $20,890 by 2021 as compared to $9,250 in 2016 (Tiago and Veríssimo 790). Special features in the Internet, such as emojis, will play a critical role as a marketing tool because 84 per cent of women and 75 per cent of men consider emojis as a more effective strategy to represent their emotions as compared to words (Charlesworth 11).

Researchers have also predicted that content feeds in the coming decades will turn out to be superbly tuned for every person (Ryan 63). With the development in connection, accessibility and excellent algorithms for serving and surfacing content, individuals will gain access to immediate types of entertainment and information at all times (Geho and Dangelo 61). The online will become reliant on a continuous flow of individualized content, cleaning out anything considered irrelevant. In this respect, online marketers will be required to offer an equally promptly rewarding experience, which is customized for the benefit of the user (Tiago and Veríssimo 710). Similarly, they will also need to embrace technologies that permit easier customization or modest way of engaging persons individually. In the next decade, the world will witness decline or demise of the non-digital advertisement such as magazine and billboards ads (Charlesworth 23). Notably, this would be accomplished when the Internet connectivity has reached all the parts of the world.

Works Cited

Charlesworth, Alan. Internet Marketing: A Practical Approach. Routledge, 2011.

Chaston, Ian. Internet Marketing and Big Data Exploitation. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

Doherty, Neil F., and Fiona Ellis-Chadwick. “Internet Retailing: The Past, the Present and the Future.” International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management 38.11/12 (2010): 943-965.

Geho, Patrick R., and Jennifer Dangelo. “The Evolution of Social Media as a Marketing Tool for Entrepreneurs.” The Entrepreneurial Executive 17 (2012): 61.

Grossnickle, Joshua. The Handbook of Online Marketing Research: Knowing Your customer Using the Net. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 2001.

Hakim, Catherine. Research Design: Succesful Designs for Social Economics Research. Routledge, 2012.

Li, Hongshuang, and P. K. Kannan. “Attributing Conversions in a Multichannel Online Marketing Environment: An Empirical Model and a Field Experiment.” Journal of Marketing Research51.1 (2014): 40-56.

Malhotra, Naresh K. Basic Marketing research. Pearson Higher Ed, 2011.

Matthews, Bob, and Liz Ross. Research Methods. Pearson Higher Ed, 2014.

Ryan, Johnny. A History of the Internet and the Digital Future. Reaktion Books, 2010.

Shiri, Ali. “Digital Library Research: Current Developments andT.” Library Review 52.5 (2003): 198-202.

Tiago, Maria Teresa Pinheiro Melo Borges, and José Manuel Cristóvão Veríssimo. “Digital Marketing and Social Media: Why bother?” Business Horizons 57.6 (2014): 703-708.

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