Marketing v. E-Marketing

At its most basic level, marketing has traditionally relied on reaching as many people in your target audience as many times as possible (reach and frequency). As  e-marketing comes of age, it is becoming clear that these two core tenants are no longer as important. Instead of focusing on how many people are exposed to your message how many times, the focus should be on finding and reaching the very niche groups of people who will be most willing to listen to, act on, and share your message. Once these groups of people have been found the key is to get them to spread your message via word-of-mouth or through user generated content online. Theoretically these individuals will have friends who share some similar and be interested in your message as well.

E-marketing has also placed a greater emphasis on customer engagement. Traditional marketing has typically been interactive. The company sends a message, the consumer receives it and then will give feedback to the company typically in the form of purchasing their product. Online marketing allows companies to engage consumers in a much more transactional, or conversational way. Companies can literally have conversations in real time with their customers via social media like Twitter and Facebook. There is instant feedback. The more an individual feels engaged by a company, the more likely they will become a new customer or remain a loyal customer. If there is a down-side to this shift in emphasis it is that consumers have come to expect a certain level of engagement from companies and if they don't feel that a company is meeting that engagement level, they may take their business elsewhere. Also, it can be a major time and money commitment for companies to constantly be monitoring and responding to communications from their customers.