Chapter VII

Framework for
Web Marketing
Group 6
Learning Objectives
At the end of this chapter, the students
should be able to:
1. Understand web marketing
2. Differentiate traditional from online
marketing
3. Explain the benefits of web marketing in
business
4. Describe the various e-actions in web
marketing
Web marketing (Internet marketing, e-marketing,
online marketing or digital marketing).

This is the process of reaching out to existing and

potential customers more efficiently and cost
effectively through the net with the objective of
persuading them to purchase the product or service.

It is growing at a dramatic pace in the hospitality

industry and is significantly impacting the business
behaviors since it drives more revenue than
traditional marketing. The methods and techniques used
for online marketing include email, social media,
display advertising, search engine optimization,
Google AdWords and more.
 Before online marketing channels emerged, the cost to
market products or services was often prohibitively
expensive, and traditionally difficult to measure. Think of
national TV ad campaigns, which are measured through
consumer focus groups to determine levels of brand
awareness. These methods are traditional not well-suited to
controlled experimentation. Today, anyone with an online
business (as well as most offline businesses) can
participate in online marketing by creating a website and
building customer acquisition campaigns at little to no
cost. Those marketing products and services also have the
ability to experiment with optimization to fine-tune their
campaigns' efficiency and ROI (return on investment).
Difference between Traditional and Online
Marketing

The goal of traditional marketing and online

marketing are the same - to attract and drive
visitors of advertisement to buy the product
thereby increasing the business profit. Let us
see the difference between two approaches now.
Traditional Marketing Online Marketing
It is difficult to measure. You It is measurable. You can know the
cannot know how many people read number of people who viewed the
your advertisement and how many online advertisement, and the
took favorable action upon viewing number of ones who purchased the
it. product
It is not cost-effective. It is more cost-effective.
It is not so good for brand It is fast and efficient for brand
building. building.
In some way, it interrupts regular It is not interrupting. The user
activities of users such as can attend online advertisement as
television advertisement interrupt per his/ her convenience and
the program you are watching, preferences.
billboards divert focus of the
driver, etc.
It may leave users' queries It can provide maximum information
unanswered as printing or about the product or service,
narrating complete information offers, and transactions.
about the product or service may
not be always feasible.
 Benefits of Web Marketing

+ Web marketing is measurable and easy to determine

Return on Investment

One of the best benefits of web marketing is its

ability to quantify results. Business owners can
set up URLs that are only present in the ads they
place. That way they can see exactly where the
leads are being generated. The same goes for
landing pages. Being able to see what works and
what doesn't helps streamline marketing's efforts,
and save time and money.
 Benefits of Web Marketing

+ Web marketing is cost-effective

Other, more traditional forms of marketing cost

companies an arm and a leg! Facebook ads, for
example, are three times cheaper and more targeted
than radio, television, or print ads. Using the
internet to expand and engage with an audience is
much less expensive, as long as there is a plan in
place in advance that helps pinpoint the desired
audience.
 Benefits of Web Marketing

+ Web marketing is focused

Few other advertising options allow companies to

target the specific demographics of their customer
like web marketing. Setting a message to show up on
websites where prospects are likely to visit, being
visible to certain industries and geographic
locations, and even targeting the clients by age or
education range in some cases are some of the
things web marketing can do. A television, radio
ad, or billboard will never be able to do that.
 Benefits of Web Marketing

+ Web marketing builds relationships

Many marketing options end up being annoying to the

very consumers the business is trying to reach.
When done right, web marketing is actually helpful
to in reaching the prospects. It can offer
solutions and address pain points. This makes it
more effective at starting conversations and
building trust than other types of marketing.
 Benefits of Web Marketing

+ Web marketing is easy to adapt and edit

Social media advertising, banner ads, or other

online campaigns can be tweaked and revised quickly
and with little fanfare. With preferences changing
constantly, this is a big benefit. New pricing,
additional products, and time-sensitive sales can
all be handled easily with web marketing
initiatives.
The Marketing Mix

When it comes to marketing models, the 4P

marketing model is the most traditional,
business-oriented one and the one you're most
likely familiar with. The 4Ps represent
product, price, promotion, and place. The
marketing mix is a classic tool to help plan
what to deliver to customers and how.
Product: it is developed by companies, from design
to production according. to the needs and desires
of customers defined by market research.

Price: the company establishes a combination of

pricing methods based on costs, competition, and
customers. Customer willingness to pay, estimated
in consumer-based pricing, is the largest
contribution that the clients have regarding
price.
Place: Identify where to distribute the
product, to make it readily available to
customers.

Promotion: Companies must also

communicate product information to the
target audience through various methods
such as advertising, public relations,
and sales promotions
The 4Ps are gradually redefined as
the 4Cs. The 4Cs marketing model was
first.
This concept has evolved to
accommodate greater customer
participation proposed by Bob
Lauterborn in an article published in
Advertising Age in 1990. Lauterborn
stated that the 4P's were no longer
relevant and did not help todays
marketer address any real issues. He
listed the variables he felt were
necessary instead. The following is a
brief breakdown of the 4C marketing
model, which consists of consumer,
cost, convenience and communication.
Consumer Value - The first of the 4 C's works on the logic that
making a product or brand to cater for existing customer needs is a
superior approach to simply making a product or brand, then
identifying or manufacturing demand for them. This theory lends
itself to a specific order of planning and production. First, is to
conduct market research (e.g. sector-specific consumer surveys, or
website data insights) to discover what the brand's existing or
prospective audience wants or needs. Then, and only then, that
planning, producing and marketing follows.

It is absolutely essential that businesses understand

the customers to whom they are marketing. The more they understand
their customer, the better they will be able to make products that
are useful and beneficial to them, and the more they will
understand how to reach out to them in their marketing endeavors
Cost - Cost not only includes price of the item, but also may
include things such as the time it takes for the customer to get
to the location in order to buy the product, or the cost of gas
that it takes to get there. It could even include the cost of the
buyer not selecting a competitor's product or service. Many
marketers mistakenly believe that the main motivation for
purchasing a product is price.

Positioning is far more important, as it directly influences

perceived value. Price can be used as a positioning vehicle to
deliver results. However, in the long term, it's likely to cause
more harm than good. This is particularly true if the price is
lower than the cost of acquiring customers later in the product
lifecycle. A focus on cost to satisfy the customer will ensure
that more factors than just the purchase price are being
considered. It drives a relentless focus on the customers'
experience. This stacks value well beyond the value your product
delivers and enables you to increase prices because value
exchange happens sooner
Convenience - The proliferation of online marketplaces, credit
cards, catalogues and cell phones has made the provision of
products to the customer a whole new ball game. A customer is not
bound to go to a physical location to meet a need and there is an
endless variety of places online to do so. Convenience is about
ensuring the brand/product is available as conveniently as
possible to each customer persona/demographic in the target
audience. This is primarily a matter of understanding how a
brand's customers shop. If the target audience prefers to shop
online, the item should be available to order online with
flexible delivery options. Or, if they prefer to try in-store
before they buy, that option should be available too. Customer
convenience can come at a high cost to businesses. In a world
where there's too much choice, businessmen must understand how
the target market prefers to buy. Once they understand, they must
adapt.
Communication - A traditional marketing mix uses promotion
as a tool to put information about the product in front of
the customer. Promotion and its methods continue to evolve
with new avenues and means to reach the consumer. Though
these methods of promotion remain effective, a niche
marketing focus needs a bit more. Communication will work
toward creating a meaningful relationship with the customer
with a focus on what they need and what their lifestyle is.
The focus is wider and more inclusive of the different
forms communication can take. There is more of a give and
take between buyer and seller. Looking at advertising as
this form of communication can help a marketer understand
their market better and increase sales and customer
loyalty.
 Through its focus on the customer, the 4C's marketing mix is
a step away from the traditional mass marketing concept. In
mass marketing, the company selling a product has a tendency
to view the audience as just that a large featureless mass
with no in depth understanding of what the customer truly
wants from a product. The 4C's divert action towards niche
marketing instead, where the conversation is often closer to
one-to-one and there is more of an effort to understand who
the customer is and what their actual needs are.

In addition, the place element in the 4P model focuses on the

traditional process of getting your product into the hands of
your buyer. On the contrary, the convenience segment in the
4Cs of marketing framework focuses on the quality of the
buying experience. This is exceptionally important for the
modern buyer.
E-actions in Web Marketing

Web Marketing is widely practiced strategy of

advertising or promoting sales and name of the
business. Wise use of the online marketing
strategies can take the business to unprecedented
levels of success. A successful e-marketing
strategy should comprise a set of specific e-
actions that help businesses reach their planned
objectives. These e-actions can be grouped into the
following seven main sections:
1. Search Engine Marketing (SEM): The large
majority of Internet surfers use search engines to
find information about hotels or travel
destinations online. This makes search engines one
of the most effective tools in driving targeted
traffic to a hotel's or destination's website. In
the hospitality sector, hoteliers have two options
with regard to SEM: Search Engine Optimization
(SEO) or sponsored search:
1.1 Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
SEO attempt to improve a website's organic (i.e. non-sponsored)
search rankings in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) by increasing the
content's relevance to search terms. Several techniques are recommended
with regard to SEO:

• The Conversion Optimizer - This technique helps to assess, through

several, testing methods, how to increase the website's conversion
rate. That is, the probability that a website visit leads to an
effective booking.
• Optimization of HTML elements: - HTML elements, apart from keywords
and site design, play a major role in SEO since they are the
cornerstone upon which all websites are built. HTML elements comprise
title. Meta description, Header tags, image name, Alt tags; internal
linking, etc.
• Content optimization for Search Engine - while the website's content
should match the guests' search criteria, many hoteliers fail in
making their websites a dumping ground for content to end up with
websites that generate very poor value to guests and very low
business opportunities.
 The process of content optimization for search engine
starts with the identification of "Long neck" and "Long
tail" keywords: Long neck keywords are the website's theme-
related keywords which are heavily searched by the target
guests by opposition to the Long tail ones. Examples of Long
neck keywords might include, for instance, "find a price",
"book a room", "hotel location while examples of long mail
keywords might include terms like "get warranty info", "get e-
newsletter", "find a job", etc. Content optimization for search
engine is all about distinguishing between "Killer content" (the
core of visitors' needs) that should be clearly showcased on a
website since it responds to "long neck" keywords, and "Filler
content that should occupy less space since it responds to "long
tail" keywords. The final aim is to make sure that guests won't get
lost on the website and that they will quickly find what they came
for in as less button-clicks as possible.
1.2 Sponsored Search

Sponsored search corresponds to search ads that allow a

hotel /chain to be included in the sponsored results of
a search for selected keywords. This action is
generally undertaken through a bidding process on
keywords. The Search Engines provide the mechanism for
the sponsored search process to occ This process is
continually evolving and gaining complexity year on
year. The payment methods for sponsored search include
the Cost Per Mille (CPM), the Cost Per Click method
(CPC), Pay Per Performance (PPP) (also called "Cost Per
Action" or "Cost Per Acquisition" (CPA)) and fixed
costs (i.e. fixed-cost compensation).
2. Social Media Marketing

Social Media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube &

etc., possess the advantage that they can spread any
information or update posted rapidly to a very wide
audience. Furthermore, sharable videos (i.e. choosing an
engaging storyline and telling it with compelling visuals)
constitute an amazing tool that keeps users' attention and
subtly persuade them along the way words can’t.
Moreover, the implementation of Web 2.0 services has
significantly contributed in transforming hotels'/hotel
chains' websites into social platforms to feature user-
generated content. This enables guests to share their
stories, photos and experiences which instantly fosters
word of mouth. Several international hotel chains have
very efficient marketing implementation of social media
3. Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising is growing rapidly since mobile

devices have multiplied, connectivity speeds have
improved and screen resolutions have advanced. For
these reasons, the online experience should be
seamless across devices. An efficient action plan
for a successful mobile advertising should include
the following actions:
Interface Design - Adjustment of the web content
for screen size so that users can comfortably
access content in an intuitive way on a smaller
screen and benefit from all functionalities on a
mobile device (hotel search, access to reviews,
bookings, payments, etc.).

Study of people's behavior - This aims at the

examination of "when", "where" and "why people
use Smartphones and tablets to better understand
their booking trend, needs and expectations.
Deals with Google - To generate fast growing
Google search traffic to the hotel website from
mobile.
QR codes use implementation - QR codes (ie Quick Response
codes represent a tremendous tool at the disposal of
hoteliers to use for marketing purposes and also for
customer service improvement. By displaying QR codes at
the concierge desk, in elevators or at the back of a room
card, hoteliers are offering their in-house guests the
possibility to get automatically diverted, upon scanning
these codes via their mobile devices to a limitless supply
of digital content (e.g. benefit from special offers, get
valuable recommendations on the city attractions and night
life, etc.). Another interesting use of QR codes might
include the creation of a mobile review page to be linked
to a QR code on the hotel bill so that guests get
encouraged to write their reviews while their memories are
still fresh. This certainly improves reviews' accuracy and
consequently customer service.
4. Email Advertising

Email advertising, also known as email

marketing, is considered as a powerful e-marketing
tool for hoteliers since it creates direct revenue
opportunities for past, present and future guests.
However, as emails and/or e-newsletters might be
unsolicited, senders should either offer recipients
an opt-out option or get their prior consent (opt-
in). In fact, experience shows that permission-based
email marketing is one of the most cost-effective
and efficient marketing tools available. The
benefits of email marketing can be summarized as
follows:
• Serves both as direct-response vehicle and
branding tool.
• Creates personalized interactive relationships.
• Targets and entices recipients with relevant
promotions.
• Plants seed in the mind of recipients regarding
future travel.
• Serves as a tool to move distressed inventory.
• Functions as a sales force since it reaches
thousands in seconds.
• Recruits new customers and retain old ones.
5. Display Advertising

Display advertising conveys its advertising message

visually using text, logos, animations, videos, photographs
or other graphics.
The most common two display advertising techniques are the
following:

• Web banner advertising (or banner ads). They are typically

graphic ads displayed within a web page. They use rich
media to incorporate video. audio, animations or other
interactive elements. These include Frame ad Pop-ups/pop-
unders, Floating ad, Expanding ad, Trick banners, etc.
• Text ads: A text ad displays text-based hyperlinks. Text-
based ads may display separately from the web page's
primary content or they can be embedded by hyperlinking
individual words or phrases to a hotel's website.
The online marketing is doubtless one of nowadays most
powerful advertising methods. All companies, and notably
in the Tourism and Hospitality industry are fiercely
competing to lead and overwhelm the online space in order
to shift market shares from competition, increase their
online traffic and make more profits In addition,
International hotel chains are considerably reducing
their offline marketing budgets year on year for the
benefit of the online ones.

However, it is always required for any company

wishing to succeed its e-marketing strategy, to ensure
that all of its online space is well managed and that it
is entirely under control. Moreover, updates and
innovations in the online world are a must to attract
customers and keep their interest constantly stimulated
6. e-Reputation

This is an emerging area in digital marketing. It

involves the management of the online reputation of a
business, particularly on social media and on review
sites. Currently, customers often look up online
opinions, ratings, and reviews of your business before
making a purchase. Negative comments, reviews, and
publicity on the internet can easily ruin your business.
That is why every business needs an e-reputation
strategy. Starwood, for instance, introduced a new
quantitative tool called "Reputation Management Index"
(RMI) which, through review analysis from all social
media, provides a lot of valuable data that can be used
not only for service improvements but also for
competitive insights.
Besides, Starwood implemented efficient Review
Management Responses to foster instant reviews any
time. A good e-reputation marketing strategy is
multi-disciplinary that often requires input from
digital marketing and public image consultants.
When done in the right way, it can lead to the
establishment of a loyal customer base.
7. User experience

Most of these digital marketing strategies

involve drawing visitors to your business' website.
However, it is the experience they get on your
website, that is user experience, that determines
whether or not a visitor will make a purchase, or
even visit your site again. Studies have shown that
bad user experience will decrease the likelihood of a
customer making a purchase by 60%. On the other hand,
customers who get a good user experience are 90% more
likely to revisit the site and make another purchase.
That's how important user experience is.
Good user experience is determined by several
factors. For starters, your web design and layout
should be captivating, and easy to use. At the same
time, the platform should work well on computers as
well as mobile devices and tablets. All these are
tasks that are handled by digital marketing agencies.
In conclusion, digital marketing is the future of
marketing, and more specifically in the hospitality
industries. Customers turn to the internet to find
services such as hotels, restaurants, spas, and other
recreational services. With a good digital marketing
strategy, you can easily reach all these potential
customers. and establish a loyal customer base for
your business.
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LISTENING
AND GODBLESS!!!