E-marketing has reached new opportunities and challenges. It is all about how to communicate with the clients online, how to interact and how to make them feel part of the product. This may seem like a bearable task, but is not as easy as it looks. Many companies have failed in the attempt of how to reach their customers and millions of dollars are spent on marketing campaigns that doesn’t really pay off. E-marketing is no longer a one-way communication, but on the contrary a matter of creating bi-directional communication with the customers. But needs and product desires change rapidly and it can be difficult for the companies operating online to keep up with these changes. Especially among the younger generation these changes can be difficult to predict.
In class we touched upon an interesting element, namely how the online communities help companies updated on consumer preferences. It has been interesting to observe how online community for teens have popped up everywhere and how an increasing number of teens use it on a daily basis. These online forums are a unique opportunity for companies operating online to keep up to date on what consumers want.
In Denmark one specific forum stands out. In Denmark the travel agencies have teamed up and created a very popular online community for the younger generation. An immense number of the younger generation has signed up and they use the forum to share all sorts of information regarding traveling. The Danish travel agencies understood that they have to be more modern if they should capture the younger generation. Their online forum enables the younger generation to share travel advice, recommendations, find travel buddies ect. When they sign in, a questionnaire is filled out about travel preferences, previous travel experience and so forth. This insigh information is used for the companies to do direct E-marketing and target the preferred customer segment.
This illustrates the unique opportunity for doing E-marketing in the future. If you can willingly get possible customers to give information about their preferences as the travel agencies did through their questionnaire, many doors are open for expanding the E-marketing business….
Frederikke
Tags: Danish travel agencies, online forums, teen E-marketing
