The Nature of Electronic Marketing

By: Sabaa Saed Fadhil

Supervised by: Lect. Dr. Dhiaa Radhi Al-Safi

Marketing is the activity that is based on planning and presenting the integrated mix (product planning, prices, promotion and sales, distribution) that satisfies the needs and desires of the consumer (Al-Azhari, 1995: p. 14).

Electronic marketing is also a new method used on the Internet and offers three types of deals:
The first: Providing the Internet services themselves and explaining how to access this network for businessmen and customers.

The second: Electronic delivery of services, i.e. delivering service product deals to the consumer in the form of digital information.

The third: Using the Internet as a channel for distributing services where goods are purchased through the company

(Dr. Al-Taie and Al-Abbadi, 2009: p. 83).

The media, with its various methods and means, especially social networking sites, is one of the most prominent components of the contemporary world in all its cultural, intellectual and ideological data. The importance of the media is evident through the various issues it raises that are capable of influencing the recipient and causing radical changes in his thoughts and beliefs, especially at the present time, which is witnessing the dominance of technological means over all aspects of human life.

So that a person, regardless of his orientation and place of residence, can communicate with others in a few seconds without any barriers or obstacles (Saleh Khalil, 2006, p. 53).

In a study, 45% of companies that do not use social media as a main element in their marketing strategies acknowledged that they have missed great opportunities to gain more customers. In a study by Lun Hsu, he confirmed that Taiwan was able to build a strong network of hotel customers locally through the use of Facebook as an electronic marketing tool, but it did not achieve the same success internationally. Hsu Lun attributed this to the lack of a clear marketing strategy vision for marketing its hotels internationally[1] (Lun Hsu, 2011: pp. 972-980).

Abu Al-Ela defined promotion as: an activity that informs or reminds individuals or institutions and urges and influences them to accept the product or service and then search for it, either to resell it or use it (Al-Alaq, 2010: p. 33).

He also defined promotion as: an activity that takes place within the framework of any marketing effort and involves a process of persuasive communication.[2] (Kotler and Killer, 2011: p. 21)

To maximize the benefit from promotional efforts, marketers must develop a promotional plan and implement it using all the necessary tools and means to fully control the facility’s communications with other parties. Effective promotional activities depend on the amount and type of information from customers and the nature of the market so that promotion can be used successfully to maintain a strong positive relationship with those parties.

E-marketing has become one of the researched topics recently that has received the attention of many parties active in the field of tourism in general and the hotel sector in particular. Perhaps tourism services are one of the most prominent services that have increased in need, especially with the strong growth witnessed by tourism activity.

E-marketing is an activity based on identifying human needs and desires and working to meet them, convincing consumers of available products and ensuring their delivery on time and
In the following table, we explain the most important positives and negatives of e-marketing:

(Boudouda et al., 2014: pp. 26-27)

Pros of e-marketing Cons of e-marketing
– Providing extensive services Mass Service. – The need to provide prior experience, knowledge and skill in using the Internet to enter the field of Internet marketing.