Advertising on the Internet

Advertising on the Internet

Marketing on the Internet as it Applies to Management Information Systems

Management Information Systems (MIS) provide corporations with a continuous flow of information through a computer-based system; organizing information that is relevant to their specific decisions and areas of responsibility. The advent and development of the Internet and the World Wide Web has widened the scope of MIS considerably, in numerous ways. From a marketing perspective, researchers use management information systems and tools to logically coordinate and strategically respond to an overwhelming amount of data. By utilizing Management Information Systems tied to the Internet and the corporate structure, companies can create a "living" nerve center that continually monitors the market place and provides instantaneous information that assists researchers in responding to changing market conditions and customer demand. In effect, Management Information Systems built around the Internet are changing the way corporations strategize and implement their internal and external marketing efforts.

Historically, corporations have employed management information systems to organize information, past, present and projected on internal operations as well as external intelligence to support decision-making. Relational databases developed in previous decades helped create "group-ware" and "Intranets"; basically internal Internets designed to be used within the confines of a company.i Until recently, most corporations relied on these proprietary software and hardware systems to network their computers; a costly a time consuming process made more difficult if offices were in more than one location, or worse yet, scattered all over the world. Even under the best of conditions, sharing information among different hardware platforms, file formats and software within a corporation, or between a company and its vendors or distributors was not an easy task. With the recent development of off-the shelf-Internet technology, Intranets are now solving this problem, making internal communication and collaboration much simpler.ii

From a marketing standpoint, such collaboration and communication is a critical component in effective competition. For example, Ford Motor Company, a global giant, is in the midst of a Ford 2000 initiative to make itself truly a global firm with shared management and resources. To effect its goal, Ford is using the technology of the Internet. Using tools such as a Web site, search engine and communication links, Ford has developed its own "Intranet." Like the World Wide Web, Ford's Intranet can transmit graphics and multimedia data as well as text. Ford's Intranet so far connects more than 80,000 professional employees who can link to various categories -- including products and competition. Under the competition link, Ford employees can find information on not just direct competitors, but also on the global market, product-cycle plans, archived and pending patents, and marketing or promotion-related events. The information is constantly updated off of the Internet, giving workers accessibility to the latest data. An added benefit of the Internet-intranet concept has not been lost on Ford's marketing strategists. Ford employees using the Intranet can also use it to buy Ford vehicles at a discount. The system is highly used, receiving more than 1 million hits per month just one year after it was operational.iii

"Information can make the difference between staying in business or going broke," according to technology expert Herb Brody. "Keeping on top of changing consumer demands, competitors' actions, and the latest government regulations will help a firm to fine-tune existing products, develop new winners, and maintain effective marketing. Developing Internet-based applications for management information systems gives them a competitive advantage."iv

At the heart of any management information system is its database; its centralized, integrated collection of data resources. Corporations design their databases to meet particular information processing and retrieval requirements that their decision-makers encounter. For example, an effective database can help a company target its direct marketing efforts by providing details about prospective customers.

The Internet now figures prominently as a corporate database resource for marketing purposes. Firms look up online data that provides enormous amounts of information ranging from census statistics to the addresses of potential buyers or customers who have entered company names (of the firm or its competitors) for their own user-searches at Internet portals such as ComFind.com. Some corporations also subscribe to commercial services that provide fee-for-service databases on the Internet on particular topics. Besides broad-based databases available through fee-based services such as Prodigy, CompuServe, and AmericaOnline, companies can access specialized databases geared toward particular industries and functions. Marketing research firms including A.C. Neilsen and DataGeneral store consumer data in commercially available databases that firms can subscribe to.iii

Marketing research that is incorporated into Management Information System databases can also be effected through user-free email services on the Internet, and the company benefits from added exposure, as well. Juno, for example, attracted more than 2 million users in one year for its free email service, making money by selling advertising. The benefit for advertisers is that Juno, in turn provides participating companies with marketing data, telling them exactly how many people visited what sites and their demographic characteristics.

Corporations of course, via their own Internet web sites, often target consumers for surveys when they request additional information about a product or service. Such questions as age, sex, geographic location, occupation, and income are common and are considered critical in developing a marketing profile of corporate customers and potential customers.

With so much information available online, the new challenge for corporate marketing is finding the best way to discern what information is the most valuable and the most accurate. One of the downsides to the Internet is a lack of accountability of information. It is up to the end-user, often times, to discern accuracy or value of Internet-based information. For example, of the Internet information filling corporate databases today, IBM estimates that only about 7% are actually used.v The goal will be to carefully plan and control information that is relevant to any corporation's marketing strategy plan.

In summary, the Internet has revolutionized Management Information Systems, significantly changing the way marketing strategies are created, and implemented.

i Nelson, T.H. "Getting it Out of Our System". Information Retrieval, a Critical Review. G. Schecter, ed. Thomas Books, Washington D.C., 1967 (pp.191-210).

ii Smish, J.B. and Weiss, S.F. "An Overview of Hypertext." Communications of the ACM, July 1988. Vol 31, No 7.

iii Cerf, Vinton G., "The Next Generation Network." Technology Review. June, 1998, pp. 23-27.

iv Brody, Herb. "Internet@Crossroads", Technology Review. June 1998, pp. 41-45.

v Cook, Terry. "Do You Know Where Your Data Are?" Technology Review. Jan 1998, pp. 13-17.

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