New Internet Marketing Landscape Essay -- essays research papers

The internet is changing marketing not to mention the world. "The number of internet users worldwide is expected to reach almost 1.4 billion by 2007" according to Armstrong & Kotler (2007) p. 26. The internet is also changing the ways that companies are conducting their marketing. A great example of a company that has been transformed by the new digital age is Melendi Photography (wwww.melendiphotography.com), owned and operated by my dear uncle Luis Melendi and his wife Maria, located in Key Largo, Florida. Originally a mom & pop photography company, it has now been revolutionized by the internet and telecommunications in the past 10 years. They?re main source of marketing came from local newspapers. When they first opened there storefront in 1975, they concentrated on locals and local businesses as their own means of business. Business was steady, but in a small community like Key Largo, Florida, at times business could be very slow. After analyzing and planning a new marketing tactic, they decided it would just be better to close. The year that they decided to close their photography company was the year when the internet took a nose-dive. Many dot-com companies were going out of business, but shortly after the dot-com revolution began to get stronger, and it came back with a vengeance. In 2000 with the revolution of the internet, they created a website, a virtual gallery, a virtual spot on the World Wide Web (WWW) where customers- not only from their small Florida community could view their portraits, but statewide, nationwide and worldwide, in a last ditch attempt to keep their small photography studio alive. They designed an effective website. Melendi Photography took a chance, on something they new very little of.... ...as available on the Melendi?s new site, which they could only offer in there storefront location originally. They really began to see a difference in profits. In addition, using the internet in their photography business, the Melendi?s have been able to offer greater product access and selection. Conducting business in the traditional form is still habitual, but as technology is ever-changing, business will eventually need to keep up with technology and the changes in the environmental factors and understand that with the coming of the digital-age, every aspect of a business is affected, including marketing. References Kilby, Nathalie (2007). Get connected to affiliates. Journal Marketing Week Volume 30 Issue 12. p35-36 Armstrong G. & Kotler P. (2007) Marketing: An Introduction 8E Upper Saddle River, NJ Pearson Prentice Hall Publishers