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Branding Laws · Internet Marketing · eMarketing · Internet Advertising · Online Branding |
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Branding Laws · Internet Marketing · eMarketing · Internet Advertising · Online Branding |
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An eMarketing Concentration In The Marketing Major
Barry E. Langford, Florida Gulf Coast University
An eMarketing Concentration
In The Marketing Major
Barry E. Langford, Florida Gulf Coast University
Abstract
Many colleges and universities are adding a ‘Marketing on the Internet’ course or
Internet content to their undergraduate curriculums, and some are considering the addition
of several courses to complete an eCommerce or eMarketing concentration in the Marketing
major. This article offers some insights on the creation of an eMarketing concentration,
with emphasis on the creation and delivery of a ‘Marketing on the Internet’ course.
I. INTRODUCTION
The AACSB publicly recognized the need for including in business education the current
and future impact of the Internet on businesses and economies by staging its first ever conference
solely on this subject in June 2000 in Boston, and in its publication Newsline (2000). The
primary purpose of this article is to share a few insights on delivering an undergraduate
Marketing on the Internet course with professors who are considering teaching a similar course
(Sendall, 2000), who are considering adding Internet content to other marketing courses (Aviel,
2000), or who may soon create additional courses to provide an eMarketing or eCommerce
concentration in the Marketing major.
The addition of serious Internet Marketing content to the marketing curriculum is an
important academic adjustment (Miller, 2000) because it is likely the surviving business models
of this decade will use the Internet extensively to enhance all areas and types of marketing to
maximize the customer experience at all five customer contact points (CCPs) – inside and
outside salespeople, advertising, customer center (customer service, direct marketing, and
database marketing), and the company website (Langford & Cosenza, 2000). This assertion is
consistent with marketing history which clearly demonstrates that firms who did not master the
previous four CCPs (i.e., prior to websites), and previous 3 CCPs (i.e., prior to websites and
inbound/outbound 800 numbers) either did not survive or were absorbed by companies that
mastered all available CCPs.
Further evidence of this business paradigm shift is seen in the collapse of the dotcoms in
2000. In the opt-in world they created using Internet technology, these companies tried to master
the Internet CCP, threw money at the advertising CCP, bungled the customer center CCP, and
ignored the inside and outside salespeople CCPs as totally unnecessary. The result was quick
failure for most and eventual failure for the great majority of dotcoms as stand-alone firms.
These are a few reasons I firmly believe business schools without serious Internet marketing
content will produce dramatically inferior business graduates that have no clue how to use the
Internet across the organization to both save and make money. Additional reasons are offered
throughout this paper.
II. AN eMARKETING CONCENTRATION
Florida Gulf Coast University began its eMarketing concentration in the Marketing major in
Fall 2001 consisting of three required courses (Direct Marketing, GIS/Database Marketing and
Marketing on the Internet) in addition to the required courses for the Marketing major
(Introduction to Marketing, Understanding Consumers, Marketing Research, Economic &
Business Statistics II, and Market Analysis & Strategy). Two approved upper division business
or marketing electives (6 hours) complete the major requirements.
The three eMarketing courses are sequenced with Direct Marketing (DM) taught in the Fall,
and GIS/Database Marketing (DBM) and Marketing on the Internet (MOTI) taught each Spring.
However, students are free to take these courses in any order that fits their schedules; an
important option at a university where most students work at least 30 hours per week.
Direct Marketing is an introduction to and analysis of the ethical use of direct marketing
strategies and techniques in marketing promotions. Topics center on the uses of direct response
marketing, and on its relationship with database marketing, Internet marketing and traditional
marketing of goods and services. Students learn how the key elements of DM drive promotion
strategies, accountability, and continuing relationships with customers in all types of businesses
using all distribution and information channels.
The current text used is William J McDonald’s Direct Marketing: An Integrated Approach
from McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Since this text does not include PowerPoint’s or lecture notes, my
custom designed discussions (modules) include: direct marketing (dm) basics, dm and the
Internet, lists & merge-purge, database marketing basics, privacy issues, the offer, creative,
media basics, the dm package, dm testing, mathematics of dm, lifetime value, fulfillment &
customer service, catalogs, magazines & newspapers, radio & TV, infomercials & home
shopping TV, web marketing basics, telemarketing, and B2B dm. This is the only course I teach
without a term project.
I am currently reviewing chapters from a new text proposed at McGraw-Hill/Irwin by Nick
Sherwin titled No Pressure Direct Marketing, and another from Prentice Hall/Pearson Education
titled Interactive Direct Marketing. So far, these new entries show promise; and since
McDonald’s text does not include the support materials I prefer, a text change is highly likely.
GIS/Database Marketing is an in-depth study of the strategic and ethical use of databases in
marketing communications and strategy. Topics center on creating and using customer
databases and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to build and maintain customer, vendor
and supplier relationships. Students learn how long-term relationships are facilitated through the
collection, organization, storage, analysis and continuous updating of data, how business
functions and processes are made more effective, productive and accurate using databases, and
how databases are used in developing, measuring and evaluating marketing programs.
The text currently used in DBM is Jackson & Wang’s Strategic Database Marketing from
NTC Business Books. This text also lacks sufficient support materials, but does consist of
chapters that can be used directly in lecture modules including: old marketing ways, how
databases empower marketers, how databases work, database uses, applying databases, about the
data, data use strategies, database technology basics, choosing database technology, statistical
segmentation, statistical analysis & modeling, system building, implementation and managerial
issues, CRM (customer relationship management) issues, social issues, and DMB trends.
An introduction to GIS is included in this course due to my belief that the geographic data
housed in these systems will merge with traditional CRM and other databases containing
demographic, psychographic and behavioral data to map a complete picture of individuals and
groups of customers, vendors and suppliers. The goal is to introduce students to the various
capabilities of GIS. Thus, students are required to complete the ArcView GIS tutorial at least
three times on their own in preparation for a hands-on, in-class test of their ability to solve a
specific marketing problem by producing a specific map housed somewhere within this large
tutorial.
The GIS exam consist of students having a maximum of 15 minutes to find the appropriate
tutorial module and manually produce a usable graphic solution to the marketing problem in the
exam. The student that produces the complete solution in the shortest time receives a 100 on the
exam, and the others are graded proportionately. This grading method is based on the
assumption that students who do all the tutorial many times will recognize quickly the cues in the
marketing problem and find the appropriate module, and then have the skills to rapidly produce a
complete mapping solution. Each completion of the tutorial requires approximately four hours,
and students learn the many applications of GIS through repetition.
III. MOTI COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OUTLINE
Brad Alan Kleindl’s text Strategic Electronic Marketing: Managing eBusiness (2001) is my
current choice for the undergraduate Marketing on the Internet course (as well as the base text
for my graduate section) due to the breadth of content and the integration of Internet terms and
concepts with applicable marketing concepts and strategies taught in our Introduction to
Marketing classes. The following table displays the ten modules in my MOTI syllabus for
Spring and Summer 2002 semesters, which is based directly on Kleindl’s text outline with
dynamic augmentations from magazines, newspapers, and videos, including those I record from
CNBC, History Channel, and The Learning Channel:
Marketing on the Internet Lectures [Langford, 2002]
Module 1 – Introduction to E-Business
• Impact of E-Business
• E-Business-Based Marketing System and Relationship
Development
• Changing Business Models
Module 6 – Diffusion of Innovations
• Innovation (Relative Advantage, Compatibility, Complexity,
Trialability, Observability)
• Adoption Process
• Product Life Cycle
• Electronic Communities
• Cross-Cultural Acceptance
• Diffusion and Adoption Process in the Firm (Intrapreneurs,
Communication, Coalition Building, Industry Leaders and
Laggards)
Module 2 – Understanding E-Business Technology
• The Internet (Telecommunications Standards,
Infrastructure, Bandwidth, Backbone Speeds, The Last-
Mile, Digital Convergence)
• Internet Service Providers and Security
• World Wide Web (Browser, Languages and Sites)
• Web Future (Bandwidth and Web Appliances)
Module 7 – Information Collection and Use
• Data Sources (Market Data, Marketing Research, Online Research
Design)
• Competitive Intelligence
• Uses of Information (Knowledge Discovery, Database
Development)
• Business System Control
• Knowledge Management and Privacy Concerns
Module 3 – E-Business Communication
• Promotion
• Hypermedia Communications Goals
• The AIDA Model
• Industrial Markets (Intranets and Extranets, Sales Force
Automation)
• Advertising (Agencies, Timing, Measurement, Ad
Blocking, Ad Payment)
Module 8 – E-Business Strategy
• Drivers of Strategy
• E-Business Value Chain (Distinctive Advantages, Alliances,
Acquisitions)
• E-Business Strategy (First-Mover Advantages, Second Movers,
Build Barriers, Brands, Portals, Customer Relationships, Niche
Strategies).
• Choosing and Evaluating Strategy
Module 4 – E-Business Distribution Systems
• Distribution
• E-Business Channel Systems
• Channel Functions (Possession, Communication,
Payment Flows, Electronic Credit and Billing, ECommerce
Security)
• Relationship Development
• New Middleman Role
Module 9 – E-Business Management
• Leadership (Culture, Learning, Talent)
• Organization (Community vs. Hierarchy, Teams, Virtual
Corporations, Distance Workers)
• Restructuring (Business Process Engineering, Spin-Offs)
• Organizations Positions
Module 5 – E-Business Value Strategies
• Creating Value
• Online Purchasing Strategy (E-Tailing, Pure-Play
Internet Businesses)
• Digital Communications Strategy
• Service Strategy
• Business Process Strategy
• Market-of-One Strategy
• Auction Strategy
• Pricing Strategies
• Hosting the Technology
• International E-Commerce (Infrastructure, Political and
Legal Problems, Acceptance)
Module 10 – The Political, Legal, and Ethical Environments
• Political Environment
• Legal Environment (Cybercrime, Intellectual Capital, Trademarks,
Intellectual Property, Jurisdictions, Netiquette)
• Ethical Environment (Public and Employee Privacy, Economic
Welfare, Access and Equity)
We watched a thousand dotcoms fail since early 2000. We also watched brick and mortar
organizations repeatedly fail or disappoint in their dotcom efforts since 1995. I believe a central
cause of these expensive disappointments is the lack of marketing people who understand
Internet and database technology well enough to have innovative ideas capable of serious impact
on the practice of marketing. This situation essentially forced IT (information technology)
personnel to quickly become their own marketing strategists while simultaneously attempting to
get or stay ahead of the competition technologically. The more one knows about marketing, the
more one knows this was an impossible task, destined for failure, except for some first entrants
into technical sales with IT people selling IT products to early adopter IT people. In effect,
many senior marketers were relegated below marketing strategy development and
implementation, concentrating instead on trying to sell IT inventions or implement the
‘marketing’ ideas of IT personnel (i.e., the inventors) – a business model that has a sustained
history of failures. A major cause of these expedient but ill-fated attempts at Internet-enhanced
marketing is the knowledge gap between marketing and IT personnel within organizations. It is
marketing’s responsibility to bridge that gap.
If surviving firms must master customer experiences at all five CCPs, it follows that those
firms must adopt some form of click and brick business model (Langford & Cosenza, 2000).
This situation suggests a central goal for today’s marketing majors – to learn enough about the
terminology and applications of Internet-related technology to communicate effectively with IT
specialists toward jointly finding innovative ways to apply the Internet’s capabilities throughout
the marketing function to save and make money for the organization. The following brief
description of my Internet Marketing course modules outlines my attempt to help marketing
students accomplish this goal.
Module 1 centers on comparing traditional business models with emerging models that
include the Internet. While I use the emerging models in the text, I finish this module with and
extensive discussion of the Five Customer Contact Points (5CCP) Model of Click and Brick
Organizations introduced by Langford and Cosenza (2000). Students like the 5CCP Model
because it pictures for them the overall connections between the five CCPs, brick and mortar
sales and operations, click (Internet) sales and operations, databases, direct marketing, customer
service, and relationships with suppliers and vendors. I refer to this model throughout the course
to show students which part of the overall business process we are discussing, and thereby help
them learn to integrate the individual concepts of the course toward critical thinking on micro
and macro levels simultaneously. Students also say this approach makes the course more
interesting and gives them confidence in the quantity and quality of their learning experience. I
have learned that students are happier and learn more the less confused and frustrated they are on
a daily basis. This module concludes with a video from the History Channel that chronicles the
creation of the Internet.
Module 2 provides students some of the basic Internet and technological terminology they
need to facilitate learning throughout the course. I supplement this discussion with a long video
about the development and current and future uses of broadband communications.
Module 3 begins the process of reminding students of some of the traditional marketing and
business concepts they learned in Marketing Principles. The focus is on some of the major
changes resulting from the existence and use of the Internet in business processes from
promotions and communications to sales force automation.
Module 4 extends the theme of Module 3 to changes in supply chain management. The
focus is on Internet-facilitated changes in channel roles and relationships, distribution systems,
new or changing exchange facilitators, and transaction security.
Module 5 introduces some of the online marketing strategies E-Businesses are using to
create value for customers. The focus is on ways the Internet is used directly to create value for
customers, as well as some of the problems early adopters of these strategies have faced.
International considerations and problems are also introduced.
Module 6 reminds students of the concepts of diffusion and adoption of innovations and the
Product Life Cycle. The focus is on applying these concepts to electronic communities, crosscultural
acceptance, and effecting changes within the organization.
Module 7 introduces some of the online marketing strategies E-Businesses are using to
create value for customers. The focus is on ways the Internet is used directly to create value for
customers, as well as some of the problems early adopters of these strategies have faced.
International considerations and problems are also introduced.
Module 8 extends the strategy discussion beyond the value strategies of Module 5. The
focus is on managing the e-business value chain (e.g., the inbound and outbound logistical
process) to create distinctive competencies through improving supply chains and electronic data
interchange. The ultimate goal of these strategies is to gain competitive advantage(s) through
stronger customer relationships using tools such as the Internet, Extranets, Intranets, ERP
(Enterprise Resource Planning) software, databases, customized production, innovativeness, and
leadership.
Module 9 introduces concepts applicable to managing e-businesses such as leadership,
organization structures and new e-business positions, and restructuring. Next year I intend to
expand this module to provide some depth on change management (Sethi, 2000).
Module 10 considers the political, legal and ethical environments. Topics discussed include
cybercrime, intellectual capital and property, jurisdictions, netiquette, public and employee
privacy, economic welfare, access, and equity.
Each student also completes an individual term project that includes the creation of an
interactive website. After visiting and evaluating many websites for content, mapping, and
quality during the first half of the semester, students create a website for a small local business
currently without a website. In contrast to the norm, the level of sophistication required of some
students’ websites is higher than for other students in the same class. Level 1 is for all business
majors except those majoring in computer science or computer information systems (which are
both housed in our College of Business), who are required to produce more sophisticated Level 2
websites. Level 2 must be both informational and interactive, which requires the use of a
database with the website, while Level 1 websites are purely information content sites without
interactive capabilities. The difference in their knowledge of databases and programming at the
beginning of my class is the reason for the two levels of expected performance, and students at
both levels seem pleased with the division because everyone learns from the project without
being overwhelmed. The fact that our MIS department offers various levels of website design
classes allows me to concentrate on the many marketing aspects of a website and its uses, as it
should be.
However, as the number of Level 2 students in my Internet Marketing class grows, I will
experiment with a major change in the term project. Depending on the number of Level 2
students in the class, I intend to create teams consisting of one major in computer science or
computer information systems, two to four marketing majors, and one business major from
another discipline. Each team’s project will consist of finding a business of any size to cooperate
in the development or redevelopment of an interactive website to be hosted by a local farm.
IV. CONCLUSION
This article provides some insights on the creation and delivery of an eMarketing
concentration in the Marketing major, and focuses on the one course I believe every marketing
program should offer – Internet Marketing (or Marketing on the Internet). While some may
disagree with some of the assumptions in this paper, I hope all professors see the need to at least
add Internet content to current courses.
I sincerely thank the early teaching pioneers of Internet marketing that took the time to
create our first set of textbooks in this important area. While I currently use in my Marketing on
the Internet classes and refer in this article to one text (Kleindl 2001), this article is not intended
to be an endorsement or promotion for a particular text. Before choosing a text for your class,
you may also want to read at least three additional texts – Hanson (2000), Hofacker (2001), and
Strauss and Frost (2001). I hope future textbooks and revisions will add more content centering
on applying the many capabilities of the Internet across all marketing strategies and activities
toward creating competitive advantages and efficiencies.
V. REFERENCES
American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business - The International Association for
Management Education, 2000, "Hurr-E Up: B-Schools to Get E-Business Courses and
Resources Up to Speed," Newsline, Vol. 30(2), (Winter), pp.1-11, St. Louis, MO.
Aviel, D., 2000, “Something Old and Something New: Combining Computer Technology and
the Internet with Old Fashion Decision-Making Techniques for Classroom Instruction,”
Journal of the Academy of Business Education Proceedings Issue, (Winter), #132,
www.abe.villanova.edu/proceeding.html
Hanson, W., 2000, Principles of Internet Marketing, Cincinnati, Ohio, South-Western College
Publishing.
Hofacker, C.F., 2001, Internet Marketing, 3rd Ed., Dripping Springs, TX, Digital Springs, Inc.
Kleindl, B.A, 2001, Strategic Electronic Marketing: Managing E-Business, Cincinnati, Ohio,
South-Western College Publishing.
Langford, B.E., 2002, “On Teaching Undergraduate Internet Marketing,” Proceedings of the
Association of Marketing Theory & Practice, (March), Session 7.2 pp.2-8.
Langford, B.E. and Cosenza, R.A., 2000, “Surviving the Click versus Brick Wars by Managing
Five Customer Contact Points,” Proceedings of the Direct Marketing Education Foundation
Conference, (October), on CD.
Miller, A.L., 2000, “E-Commerce Education: A University’s Quick Response,” Journal of the
Academy of Business Education Proceedings Issue, (Winter), #041,
www.abe.villanova.edu/proceeding.html
Sethi, A.S., 2000, “E-Commerce: Empowering Change Management and Leadership Strategies,”
Proceedings of the Direct Marketing Educators’ Conference, (October), on CD.
Sendall, P., 2000, “Launching an Electronic Commerce Course for Undergraduate Business
Majors: Trials and Tribulations,” Journal of the Academy of Business Education
Proceedings Issue, (Winter), #043, www.abe.villanova.edu/proceeding.html
Straus, J. and Frost, R., 2001, E-marketing, Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice-Hall, Inc.