Advantages

There are various advantages and problems of Internet marketing. The most obvious advantage of Internet marketing is that it is an inexpensive approach to reaching a specific target audience at low-cost. Internet marketing allows companies to reach a wide audience for a small fraction of traditional, or offline advertising budgets.

Internet marketing provides another advantage in consumer education i.e. consumers can research and share their experiences with others about specific advantages and problems of Internet marketing products and/or services very conveniently. This medium can bring faster virtual results as compared to the other forms of marketing efforts.

Businesses have not always been able to provide exact statistics for their marketing campaigns, but Internet marketing provides exact measuring statistics easily and inexpensively. Individuals can trace and measure all aspects of an Internet marketing campaign to determine the best ROI.

With relevant analytic and stats businesses now have the option to choose, campaigns that fit well into their marketing budget and ROI goals, from the various methods for Internet marketing such as pay-per-impression, pay-per-click, social media, search engine optimization, blogging etc.

Problems of online advertising

The use of online advertising has implications on the privacy and anonymity of users. Hosting the banner images on its servers and using third-party cookies, the advertising company is able to track the browsing of users across these two sites. However, most browsers are now able to increase privacy and reduce tracking by advertising and tracking companies, without negatively affecting the user’s Web experience by blocking third-party cookies. Many advertising operators have an opt-out option to behavioral advertising, with a generic cookie in the browser stopping behavioral advertising.

Some businesses/advertisers use illegal and unethical ways to promote their message. These include external applications which alter system settings (such as a browser’s home page), spawn pop-ups, and insert advertisements into non-affiliated webpages. These applications are usually labeled as spayware or adware. These programs are designed to dupe the user, acting effectively as Torjan horses. Many users find them very difficult to remove or uninstall. The ever-increasing online users, many of whom are not computer-savvy, frequently lack the knowledge and technical ability to protect themselves from these programs.

Spam is another problem with Internet marketing. Many Internet products are outright scams, or are promoted with deception making it difficult to know which offering has true value.

Security is an ever-growing concern with the Internet marketing. Many consumers are hesitant to purchase items over the Internet because they do not believe that their personal information will remain private. Almost all online businesses have a privacy policy, but few seem to be following their own policies. Many customers are unaware if and when their information is being shared, and are unable to stop the transfer of their information between companies if such activity occurs. Additionally, companies holding private information are vulnerable to data attacks and leaks.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]