Abstract
This paper studied e-marketing and it’s economic development. In doing this, the study looked at the different types of e-marketing in Nigeria and conceptual issues were also discussed. Also, the study looked at the relationship between e-marketing and the Nigerian economic development. However, the study introduces a new perspective on the role of e-marketing in economic development and it also provide quantitative estimates of the impact of e-marketing on the economic development in Nigeria as well as their relationship.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the study
E-marketing is any marketing done online via websites or other online tools and resources.
E-mail marketing is mainly by sending commercial message, typically to a group of people, using e-mail. In it’s broadest sense, every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could be considered e-mail marketing. It usually involves using email to send advertisements, request business or solicit sales or donations and is meant to build loyalty, trust, or brand awareness. E-mail marketing can be done to either sold lists or a current customer database. Broadly, the term is usually used to refer to sending e-mail messages with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or previous customers to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business, acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately and adding ads to email messages sent by other companies to their customers.
E-marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customers relationship in ways that benefit the organization and it’s stakeholders.
Therefore e-marketing by it’s very nature is one aspect of an organization function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customers relationship in ways that benefits the organization and it’s stakeholders.
As such an aspect, e-marketing has it’s own approaches and tools that contributes to the achievement of marketing goals and objectives.
E-marketing has not only reshaped businesses in Nigeria but also created tremendous opportunities for new businesses.
Business organization regardless of their size have applied internet technological tools in a wide range of their business activities including advertising, online delivery of goods and services via online business and e-marketing services. Both public and private sector organization are spending heavily on digitization in the hope of getting a competitive edge in the market.
Developing a successful e-marketing has become a major issue in the internet age, despite it’s benefits there are also threats. Studies has indicated that the rate of adoption of e-marketing is slow among the organizations round the globe.
The main reason impeding the growth of e-marketing include the lack of financial resources, lack of government support and lack of IT know how on the part of management.
Types of e-marketing
E-mail marketing can be carried out through different types of emails:-
Transactional e-mails
Transactional e-mails are usually triggered based on a customer’s action with a company. To be qualified as transactional or relationship messages, these communications’ primary purpose must be “to facilitate, complete, or confirm a commercial transaction that the recipient has previously agreed to enter into with the sender”, along with a few other narrow definitions of transactional messaging. Triggered transactional messages include dropped basket messages, password reset emails, purchase or order confirmation emails, order status emails, reorder emails and email receipts.
The primary purpose of a transactional email is to convey information regarding the action that triggered it. But, due to its high open rates (51.3% compared to 36.6% for email newsletters), transactional emails are an opportunity to engage customers: to introduce or extend the email relationship with customers or subscribers, to anticipate and answer questions or to cross-sell or up-sell products or services.
Many e-mail newsletter software vendors offer transactional email support, which gives companies the ability to include promotional messages within the body of transactional emails. There are also software vendors that offer specialized transactional email marketing services, which include providing targeted and personalized transactional email messages and running specific marketing campaigns.
Direct e-mails
Direct email or interruption based marketing involves sending an email solely to communicate a promotional message (for example, an announcement of a special offer or a catalog of products). Companies usually collect a list of customer or prospect email addresses to send direct promotional messages to, or they can also rent a list of email addresses from service companies, but safe mail marketing is also used.
Mobile e-mail marketing
Email marketing now develops large amounts of traffic through smartphones and tablets. Marketers are researching ways to capture the attention of users, in both span and volume. This is because the rate of delivery still relatively low due to strengthened filters and also because certain users have multiple email accounts that serve unique purposes. Because emails are generated according to the tracked behavior of consumers, it is possible to tailor promotional material to their needs and to present relevant details to potential buyers. Because of this, modern email marketing is perceived more often as a pull strategy rather than a push strategy.
- Statement of the problem
E-marketing in Nigeria is facing many challenges to grow. The people in Nigeria are economically poor that is why the number of users transacting on-line are limited. The number of organizations offering on-line business that will necessitate e-marketing is also limited and few of them are generating sufficient revenues.
Moreover globalization is increasingly dominating the minds of progressive business executives in the country to opt for e-marketing.
Some other problems are:-
Authenticity:
The authenticity of the product maybe questionable, as the real product is not available at the time of its purchase. The product may not turn out as expected by the customers.
Internet marketing scams:
Fake schemes like ‘get-rich-quick’ or ‘win cash prize’ on the internet, often lure the users to payout huge sums of money to such frauds and not get anything in return. It has given rise to a lot of scams and fraudulent activities detrimental to the users.
Security issues:
Consumers may be hesitant to disclose their personal information on the internet as they may feel the invasion of their privacy.
- Objectives of the study
This research work will evaluate e-marketing, it’s conceptual to it’s economic development in Nigeria. The researcher intends to achieve other sub-objectives which are:
- To examine the opportunities that e-marketing will bring for small and medium scale in Nigeria.
- To examine the threats of e-marketing as a tool for economic development.
- To examine the level of awareness of e-marketing as a strategic marketing tool for businesses in Nigeria.
- Research question
For the successful completion of the study, the following research questions were formulated:
- What are the level of awareness of e-marketing as a strategic tool for economic development?
- What are the threats of e-marketing in Nigeria?
- What is are the opportunities that e-marketing will bring as a tool for economic development?
- What is the impact of e-marketing on delivering credible economic deveopment?
- Significance of the study
It is conceived that at the completion of the study it will be of great benefit to the users of e-marketing for their different businesses.
It is conceived that the study will also be of great importance to researcher who are in need of information on similar field. Finally, the study will also be of great importance to lecturers, teacher’s students and the general public.
- Scope and limitation of the study
The scope of the study is the problem and prospects of e-marketing as a tool for economic development. However, the study has some constrained and limitations which are:
(a) Availability of research material:- The research material available to the researcher is insufficient thereby limiting the study.
(b) Time:- The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.
(c) Finance:- The finance available for the research work does not allow for wider coverage as resources are very limited as the researcher has other academic bills to cover.
- Definition of terms
E-marketing:-
e-marketing (Electronic marketing) is the marketing of products and services using electronic media such as the internet which includes search marketing, email marketing but also now including the rapidly developing mobile marketing environment.
Tool:-
It is a device or implement especially one held in the hand used to carry out a particular function.
Economic development:-
It is the process by which a nation improves the economic, political, and social well-being of its people.
This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research
Problem and prospects of e-marketing as a tool for economic development>
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