Internet marketing as a business necessity

INTERNET MARKETING CHANNELS 
Although, beginnings of Internet marketing are associated with advertising boom and first 
versions of search engine optimisation (SEO) in 1995 [17], today, it is an umbrella term for 
“email marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing, pay per click, display 
ads on websites, gaming advertising, search engine marketing, call back or hold-on mobile 
ring tone, etc.” [5; p.30]. Internet marketing is a subset of Digital marketing, its main 
component, and it exploits dominantly Internet channel for the promotion of brands. Major 
channels of Internet marketing are the following [5]: 

---

A. Grubor and O. 
Jakša 
268 

Web Site, 

Search Engine Marketing, 

Social Media Marketing, 

Content Marketing, 

E-mail Marketing, 

Mobile Marketing, 

Banner Advertising. 
Web site is a starting point in Internet marketing campaign and communication with 
customers [18]. It is a “place” in digital space “owned” by a company, where all information 
about the company and its products can be found. This is also the final destination of all 
banners, social media profiles, texts and similar content that exist across the Internet about 
the company. Specific and very popular type of web site is blog, which generates its power to 
make an influence on consumers by providing information about particular subject (usually about 
products) in a form of personal opinion, usually given by an expert or just an ordinary consumer 
that is expressing his first impressions about the subject in a form of personal diary [19]. The 
idea that stands behind blogging is electronic word-of-mouth and encouraging communication 
about the product between consumers that has experience with it. 
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a tool for increasing visibility of a company’s website and 
making online promotion of a company more effective. It uses paid advertisements links (pay 
per click platforms – e.g. Google Adwords) and Search Engine Optimization (e.g. Google, 
Bing, Yahoo) for acceleration of website traffic – specifically, the aim is to attract as many 
targeted users as possible and to increase visits to a website and awareness of company’s 
brands [18]. In this process, special attention should be put on the process of designing 
unique and attractive content for the targeted audience. 
Social media marketing is “an innovative tool that organizations use for creating a very strong 
public relation with the customers on the virtual networks” [20]. Social media platforms (e.g. 
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn etc.) consist of large and various communities of 
customers that are not that easily available and visible in traditional channels. Those groups 
have a great power in sharing information about the company and its products, expressing 
personal opinion, rating their experience that can be both positive and negative. Social media 
web sites help in enhancing the communication with all users, and each social media site 
demands different approaches, techniques and strategies of marketing. Conducting marketing 
through social media networks “is not about you getting your story out; it’s about your customers; 
it’s about being more transparent, earning trust, and building credibility” [21; p.36]. Social 
networks provide great opportunity for reaching maximum results with minimum investment [22]. 
Content marketing is “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing 
valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience and, 
ultimately, to drive profitable customer action” [23; p.8]. It is a “good story about the 
company that is described in hundred words, without mentioning company’s references, 
brands and all other superlatives, and that, even without these components, carry attributes 
authentic, focused, and relevant” [20]. The aim is driving and retaining customer action and 
interaction with company and its brands with authentic, original and inspiring content. 
E-mail Marketing is the direct way for personal and customized communication with new 
and old customers. It helps in reaching more customers and conveying a wide variety of 
messages in creative forms with the possibility of getting direct feedback from customers’ 
and measuring its effectiveness easily [5]. E-mail marketing campaigns are cost effective, 
personalised, fast, massive but targeted, approved by consumers that are usually consciously 
registered on the companies e-mail list, easily tracked etc. However, it is very important to 

---

Internet marketing as a business necessity 
269 
avoid spamming consumers with lot of information that are not relevant but rather sent just to 
remember the consumers about the company’s presence. 
Mobile marketing is about creating content or ads that is viewable and suitable for a mobile 
device [18]. It implies “any marketing activity conducted through a ubiquitous network to 
which consumers are constantly connected using a personal mobile device” [24; p.132]. 
Mobile marketing has become business necessity in the last few years, given that “the extent 
of mobile engagement by consumers is so pervasive that it can’t be ignored by any business”, 
and implying that “all marketing must be optimized for mobile, first” [15]. Smart phones are 
devices that are always “in the pocket” of its users, with constant connection to the Internet, 
so the opportunity mobile marketing provides for a company is creating fully customised 
information to customers, depending of their location, time, activities and other data about the 
person that could be tracked through mobile device and application installed on it. 
Display Advertising is focused on the usage of visual elements like images, videos, 
animations, rather than test, in creating brand awareness and image, and finally sales [5]. 
Internet marketing channels, together with all possibilities and opportunities they give for 
growing business online, can also be presented as “The Internet marketing tree”.
The main 
parts of the tree – deep roots, sturdy trunk and branches – demonstrate priority and order in 
conducting Internet marketing strategy [25].