Unit-7

7.1 Marketing Communication

7.2 Marketing Tools
7.3 Virtual Factory, Strategies for Electronic Business, Making Money on Net
7.4 Portals and Vortals Concepts, Search Engine Optimization
Marketing Communication
Definition: The Marketing Communication refers to the means adopted by the
companies to convey messages about the products and the brands they sell, either
directly or indirectly to the customers with the intention to persuade them to purchase.

In other words, the different medium that company adopts to exchange the information
about their goods and services to the customers is termed as Marketing Communication.

The marketer uses the tools of marketing communication to create the brand awareness
among the potential customers, which means some image of the brand gets created in
their minds that help them to make the purchase decision.
Marketing communication offer solutions to the following questions:

• Why shall the product be used?

• How can the product be used?
• Who can use the product?
• Where can the product be used? And
• When can the product be used?
Marketing communication includes Advertising, Sales Promotion, Events and
Experiences (sponsorship), Public Relations and Publicity, Direct Marketing,
Interactive Marketing, Word-of-Mouth Marketing, Personal Selling. These tools of
communication are collectively called as Marketing Communication Mix.

Elements of Marketing Communication Mix

1. Advertising: It is an indirect, paid method used by the firms to inform the
customers about their goods and services via television, radio, print media, online
websites etc. Advertising is one of the most widely used methods of
communication mix wherein the complete information about the firm’s product
and services can be communicated easily with the huge target audience coverage.
2. Sales Promotion: The sales promotion includes the several short-term incentives
to persuade the customers to initiate the purchase of the goods and services. This
promotion technique not only helps in retaining the existing customers but also
attract the new ones with the additional benefits. Rebates, discounts, paybacks,
Buy- one –get- one free scheme, coupons, etc. are some of the sales promotion
tools.
3. Events and Experiences: Several companies sponsor the events such as sports,
entertainment, non-profit or community events with the intention to reinforce
their brand in the minds of the customers and create a long term association with
them.
The name of the firm sponsoring the event can be seen on the playground
boundaries, player’s jerseys, trophies, awards in the entertainment shows,
hoardings on stage, etc.

4. Public Relations and Publicity: The companies perform several social activities
with a view to creating their positive brand image in the market. The activities
that companies are undertaking such as, constructing the public conveniences,
donating some portion of their purchase to the child education, organizing the
blood donation camps, planting trees, etc. are some of the common moves of
enhancing the Public Relations.
5. Direct Marketing: With the intent of technology, the companies make use of
emails, fax, mobile phones, to communicate directly with the prospective
customers without involving any third party in between.
6. Interactive Marketing: Interactive Marketing has recently gained popularity as
a marketing communication tool, wherein the customers can interact with the
firms online and can get their queries resolved online.
Amazon is one of the best examples of interactive marketing wherein the
customers make their choice and can see what they have chosen or ordered in the
recent past. Also, Several websites offer the platform to the customers wherein
they ask questions and get the answers online such as answer.com.

7. Word-of- Mouth Marketing: It is one of the most widely practiced method of

communication tool wherein customer share their experiences with their peers
and friends about the goods and services they bought recently.This method is very
 crucial for the firms because the image of the brand depends on what customer
feels about the brand and what message he convey to others.
8. Personal Selling: This is the traditional method of marketing communication
wherein the salesmen approach the prospective customers directly and inform
them about the goods and services they are dealing in. It is considered as one of
the most reliable modes of communication because it is done directly either
orally, i.e., face to face or in writing via emails or text messages.
Thus, marketing Communication mix refers to the different tools that a firm can adopt
to inform, persuade, and remind the customer about the product and services it sells.

Marketing Tools
Marketing tools are the systems, techniques, strategies, resources, technology and
materials used by companies or marketing professionals to create and implement
marketing campaigns that successfully promote their products and services. Your
company's marketing campaign is the direct link between the company and its
customers, so it is important to choose the marketing tools that are most effective for
your customers. There are several types of marketing tools available, and each type of
marketing tool serves a unique purpose. It is common for businesses and marketing
professionals to use a combination of marketing tools in their overall marketing strategy.

Marketing creates an avenue of exchange between you and your customers. Sometimes
that exchange prompts an immediate sale, and at other times it builds awareness of the
brand for when future purchases are made. Businesses use various marketing tools to
communicate company information, stimulate customer interest and motivate action.
An integrated marketing approach applies several tactics to engage customers and build
business.
Marketing tools are tools that companies use to develop and promote their products and
services. In this context, the word ‘Tools‘ refers to techniques, strategies, and materials.
The vast majority of businesses use several different marketing tools, such as
advertising, direct mail, and market research to boost their sales.
Companies have a range of marketing tools at their disposal. Some of them are
specifically for boosting sales, while others focus on gathering consumer data.
It is important to know which tools are best for your business. In other words, which
tools you need to achieve your primary goals and objectives. In most cases, people use
multiple marketing tools at the same time.
Businesses use various marketing tools to communicate company information, stimulate
customer interest and motivate action. An integrated marketing approach applies several
tactics to engage customers and build business.”
You need to determine which marketing tools you need. They should help boost sales.

Types of marketing tools

Below are some marketing tools with an explanation of what they are and why
businesses use them.

Classified Adverts
Classified adverts or classified ads are useful for generating leads. In this context, the
word ‘leads‘ means potential customers.

Classified ads can direct people to a specific website or webpage (the word exists as one
or two words, i.e., ‘web page’). They can also attract people who seek further
information.

Social Media
In the world of Internet marketing, social media is a marketing tool where you try to
develop an interactive online relationship with consumers. Your aim is not, for example,
to surreptitiously mine customer data.

Blogging, posting, sharing and tweeting are popular social media marketing tools.
Media sharing, pinning, bookmarking, and commenting on social media websites are
also popular.
Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Another type of marketing tool that has become increasingly important is social media
marketing. Social media marketing involves using company profiles on social media
websites to raise brand awareness, engage with customers and advertise products or
services. Social media marketing tools include things such as blogging, micro-blogging,
posting, sharing, commenting and bookmarking.

Internet marketing refers to marketing that only occurs online. Search engine
optimization (SEO) and online advertising are examples of Internet marketing. There
are several ways to increase your SEO. One of the first steps is to secure a reliable and
simple domain name that is relevant to your site, industry, or keywords you want to
match for.

Search engine optimization refers to techniques to increase one’s website’s

appearance on search engines.

Search engine optimization (SEO)

Another marketing tool closely related to your website marketing is search engine
optimization, also commonly referred to as SEO. Search engine optimization involves
optimizing both the on-site and behind-the-scenes content of your website to rank higher
in major search engine results pages (SERPs). Search engine optimization refers only to
natural search results rankings, not paid links at the top of the SERP. Effective search
engine optimization involves the creation of high-quality content that consumers will
find relevant to their search.

The higher your website ranks in the search engine results page algorithms, the more
likely your website is to show up on the first couple pages of a keyword search related
to your business. Because most consumers only look at the first page of search results,
the higher your SEO ranking is, the more effective your website marketing will probably
be.

SEO is the process of taking steps to help a website or piece of content rank higher on
Google.

The key difference between SEO and paid advertising is that SEO involves “organic”
ranking, which means you don’t pay to be in that space. To make it a bit simpler, search
engine optimization means taking a piece of online content and optimizing it so search
engines like Google show it towards the top of the page when someone searches for
something.
Look at it this way. When someone types “vegan lasagna” into Google, they’re likely
looking for a recipe, ingredients, and instructions on how to make it. If you wrote an
article about making vegan lasagna, you’d want people to find your recipe. For anyone
to find it, you need to rank above all the other websites with recipes for vegan lasagna.
It’s not easy, but that’s what SEO marketing is all about.

Let’s break it down even further: The majority of online searches begin with a search
engine like Google. In fact, 75 percent of those searches start on Google.

To better understand how you can rank your content higher in the search engines, you
need to first understand how search works.

The ultimate goal of this article is to help you understand the ins and outs of search so
you can optimize your content to rank higher on Google and get more eyeballs on your
posts.

Core Elements of SEO: On-Page SEO and Off-Page SEO

When it comes to broader SEO, there are two equally important paths: on-page
SEO and off-page SEO.

On-page SEO is about building content to improve your rankings. This comes down to
incorporating keywords into your pages and content, writing high-quality content
regularly, making sure your metatags and titles are keyword-rich and well-written,
among other factors.

Off-page SEO is the optimization happening off of your website itself, such as earning
backlinks. This part of the equation involves building relationships and creating content
people want to share. Though it takes a lot of legwork, it’s integral to SEO success.

Digital marketing

The increased use of the Internet by consumers has made it necessary for companies to
have a website. There are several roles your company's website will have as a marketing
tool. You can use your company's website to build brand awareness, educate and inform
potential customers, advertise your products and services, communicate with customers,
generate leads and make sales. It is also important to make sure your website is
optimized for speed, design, function and various platforms such as computers,
cellphones and tablets.
Google Analytics

If you have an online business or your company has a website, Google Analytics is
extremely useful. It gives you an overview of where your visitors are coming from. It
also tells you what type of people are visiting, and which content on your website
performs best.

You can also use Google Analytics to work out visitor conversions. This data will help
you set up conversion goals.

Organic Click-Through Rate (Organic CTR)

Organic CTR is a way you can utilize Google Analytics to improve your website traffic.
You can optimize page titles and descriptions and see how they perform by
implementing A/B testing.

Direct Mail

Direct mail or direct mail marketing specifically targets potential customers.

Traditionally, we have referred to the letters as ‘mailshots.’ Ever since the advent of the
Internet and emails, we also have ’emailshots.’

“Designing an emailshot differs from creating a webpage or designing for print as you
have to consider the specific needs of your target audience and the technical
requirements of different email applications.”

This brings us to modern-day email marketing tools which many marketers still
consider to be more effective than other types of digital marketing.

Media Monitoring Tools

These marketing tools scan the web and inform you of conversations that are relevant
to your company, product, or brand. These tools scan, for example, social media sites,
forums, blogs, and videos.

“Media monitoring lets you discover what people are saying about you online so you
can jump in and respond or react to conversations, decrease the spread of negative PR,
and even help increase awareness of your product, service, or organization.”

Surveys

Surveys are useful for determining which products to create and also for improving or
upgrading existing goods. The word ‘goods‘ in this context means ‘products.’
Surveys are also useful if you want to rate your and your rivals’ products. A survey can
ask a representative sample of consumers what they like about your and your
competitors’ products. You can carry out a survey face-to-face, on the telephone, by
normal post, or online. Most marketing professionals will mention surveys when you
ask them to list their most important marketing tools.

Customer Loyalty Programs

Customer loyalty programs are used as a marketing tool to generate customer interest
and encourage customer retention. Customer loyalty programs involve providing
rewards to customers who can use those rewards to earn discounts or free products or
services from your business in the future. Customer loyalty programs are available in
several forms, ranging from a program as simple as offering customers a card that can
be stamped on each visit to using customized mobile applications and other digital
systems to manage your loyalty program.

Customer loyalty refers to the likelihood that existing customers keep coming back. In
other words, how frequently customers come back for more again and again. It differs
from brand loyalty. Among marketing tools that many small businesses overlook,
customer loyalty programs are one of the most common. This is a pity.

It is much cheaper and requires less time to get an existing customer to buy your
products than new ones. Some studies suggest that it costs seven times more to get a
new customer to buy from you than an existing one.

Automation

Automation tools are marketing tools that save a lot of time. Marketers can save time
wasted doing those daily tasks like saving files and emails to spreadsheets.

Print advertising

Print advertising is a marketing tool that uses physically printed materials to raise brand
awareness and generate customer interest. Print advertising includes materials such as
classified ads, billboards, business cards, brochures, direct mail campaigns, catalogs,
sales letters, order forms and more. These are some of the most traditional types of
marketing tools, however, many of them are still effective. You can even use your print
advertising to drive your customers to your digital marketing campaigns by directing
them to your website or social media pages.
Press releases (PR)

Press releases are advertisements that take the form of a news article or story in a
newspaper, magazine or online publication. Many consumers may not realize that these
newspaper and magazine articles are often written by businesses or marketing teams and
then distributed to several publications for printing.

Commercial advertising

Commercial advertising traditionally refers to paid advertisements that are played on

television or over the radio. However, the widespread use of the Internet for marketing
has led to paid commercials being played at the beginning of videos posted online and
throughout video streaming services.

Brand Reputation Management

It is very important for companies to protect their brand's reputation. Media monitoring
tools are marketing tools that help your company search the internet for any mention of
your company to ensure you can engage and respond to comments and reviews being
made about your business. This helps you build your brand awareness and also ensure
you are protecting your business from negative reviews or remarks.

Event Marketing

Event marketing is a promotional marketing tool that involves the engagement of a

brand's representatives with potential and existing customers and the community at
promotional events. Common types of promotional events you can use for event
marketing include networking events, conferences, seminars, speaker presentations,
workshops, trade shows and expos, parties, competitions and awards.

Information Gathering

Information gathering is the process of reviewing and analysing data and information
about customers, the market and your industry. Information gathering is a very
important marketing tool because it gives your company insight into how well your
other marketing techniques are working. Information gathering can include things such
as customer surveys and web analytics. Many marketing tools will provide you with
data that you can use to analyze how well that specific marketing tool is performing.
Examples of Software for various Marketing Tools

Project Management Software

1. ProofHub
ProofHub is a leading project management and team collaboration software that you can
use to manage your marketing projects as well as your teams effectively. It combines
all the essential tools that you need to plan, collaborate, organize, and deliver projects
on time. Define workflows and break projects down into smaller, manageable tasks.
The Kanban boards in ProofHub let you track the progress of each task and see them
moving through the different project stages. Moreover, you can attach files and add
comments to a task. The integrated chat tool even makes it possible for you and your
teammates to have quick conversations over text messages.
Key Features:
Being an all-in-one project management software, ProofHub comes loaded with a wide
range of features with the most prominent ones as follows:
• Online Proofing
Online proofing allows you to review, proof, and approve designs & documents in real-
time. To give feedback or suggestions while reviewing a file, all you need is to add
comments to the design file or the document. Additionally, the markup tool makes it
possible to highlight and add feedback to the specific regions of a file.
• Gantt Charts
Gantt charts incorporated in ProofHub offer a visual representation of the overall project
timeline. You can view task schedules, drag and drop tasks to modify their schedules,
set task dependencies, and highlight the critical path of a project. In addition, Gantt
charts in ProofHub also give you the flexibility to associate milestones with tasks and
track the progress of each task.
• Files & Documents Storage
With ProofHub, you will get cloud storage to bring all your project files to a single place
and manage them with relative ease. You can upload files from your computer or from
third-party file storage services, including Box, Dropbox, GoogleDrive, and OneDrive.
You can store multiple versions of a file and attach files to tasks and share them in chats,
discussions, etc.
• Timesheets
Tracking time for each task that you are working on becomes convenient with the in-
built timers in ProofHub. While timers offer automatic time tracking, you can also make
manual time entries to keep an accurate record of your working hours. All the time data
gets stored in timesheets that you can access whenever you want and use them for
various purposes like payroll, client billing, time management, and much more.
• Custom Reports
Reporting is an essential part of project management and with ProofHub, creating
detailed project reports is just a few clicks away. The software lets you create and
customize both project and resource reports. It is quite easy to highlight specific data in
reports by picking parameters of your choice. You can even download the reports and
use them in meetings to discuss project progress and make plans for better utilization of
resources.
Ups:
• Simple and easy-to-understand interface with little to no learning curve
• Activity logs make it easy to keep track of everything happening within
projects
• Create custom roles and set different permissions for each role
• IP restriction helps to prevent unauthorized access to your ProofHub
account
Downs:
• Limited app integrations

2. Todoist

Managing the tasks of a project effectively makes it possible to complete your projects
on time and the Todoist app is the right tool for that. It allows you to create interactive to-
do lists that you can use to keep a track of all your tasks. You can easily organize and
prioritize your tasks with Todoist and make sure that you never get off track.
With the quick add feature, you can create new tasks and organize them in no time.
Moreover, it’s quite easy to see the details, like subtasks, added comments, the due date
of a task through from the task view. Also, you can bring your teams to the Todoist app
and assign them tasks directly through the app.
Ups:
• Real-time notifications for everything happening within a task
• Color-coded graphs help you to visualize your daily and monthly
productivity
• Easy access to the completed tasks of a project
Downs:
• A limited set of project management features
• Not suitable for large organizations
Content Creation Software
3. Whatagraph
Whatagraph is an online reporting and monitoring platform for medium marketing
agencies. It allows them to review, monitor and report on the performance of their
marketing campaigns from multiple data sources.
Whatagraph is a highly visual platform. It turns the performance numbers into a visual
presentation, helping agency teams, their clients, and anyone not a marketing expert
read and understand the data easily.
Ups:
• Performance monitoring and reporting on more than 40 different channels
• Easy to adopt and use by connecting data sources directly and building
reports using widgets
• Automatically updates and sends reports to designated clients or produces
live dashboards to view from a link
• Can work with customer data through an API or import from Google Sheets
Downs:
• Data fetch time can take a long time on some integrations
• For agencies using a small number of channels, the platform can be
expensive
• Some of the integrations are limited – e.g. do not have full segmentation
abilities
4. Creatopy

Creatopy is an intuitive ad design platform that helps you easily craft engaging ads that
fit all your needs, including banners and other display ads, social media ads, and video
ads. You can start from industry-specific templates and standard sizes or create your
own custom designs. By taking advantage of the high-quality stock photo, video and
audio libraries, you can truly bring your ads to life.
Due to its automation capabilities, Creatopy allows you to generate large volumes of ad
variations with just a few clicks, eliminating repetitive tasks. In addition, the platform
gives you the possibility to work in bulk, creating sets of ads that can be edited and
downloaded simultaneously.
Ups:
• Access to a mix of automation, animation and customization capabilities,

• Intuitive interface and short learning curve

• Scalable pricing model

Downs:
• It’s a new product, so new functionalities are still under development

5. Pixpa

Pixpa is an all-in-one website building platform for creative professionals and small
businesses. It is an ideal portfolio website builder for creatives like photographers, artists
and designers, as well as businesses like architecture firms and branding agencies. It
also offers a very comprehensive platform for small businesses to build and grow their
online presence with tools like a built-in online store, blog, client galleries, SEO
management and marketing tools etc.
The best thing about Pixpa is the fact that it is a no-code platform and requires no
advanced technical knowledge. If you are in search of an inexpensive and accessible
solution for creating a branded website or portfolio, Pixpa is exactly what you are
looking for.
Ups
• No coding needed. Easy to use and accessible.
• Extensive SEO management tools.
• Integrated e-commerce and marketing features.
• Drag and drop website builder.
• 24X7 support (email, live chat)
Downs
• Lack of built-in options for purchasing custom domain names.
• Paid platform. No free plans.
Social Media Marketing and Management Software

6. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is among the top-rated social media management software providing

marketers the ability to manage all their social media campaigns. By having this
software on your side, you can easily plan, create, and schedule all your social media
campaigns with relative ease.
It’s also possible to manage your social media teams effectively with Hootsuite. You
can set different permission levels for individual team members and control what they
can access. You can regulate the permissions separately at the organizational level, team
level, and social account level.
Ups:
• Performance monitoring of all your social media from one place
• Allows you to create and manage social media ad campaigns
• View customer messages and queries from different social media accounts
and reply to them directly from Hootsuite’s Inbox
Downs:
• The user interface seems dull and outdated in terms of design
• A fair amount of time required to get familiar with the software’s
functionality
7. Crowdfire
If you want to manage the social media of your business in a simple and effective
way, Crowdfire is the ideal app that you need on your side. It is one of the best social
media management platforms and offers best-in-class features to help you stay on top
of your social media profiles and campaigns.
By using Crowdfire, it’ll become easier for you to boost your social media engagement
and growth. Moreover, the platform allows you to publish content on blogs, and you can
also interact with customers to provide them excellent customer service. You can also
discover relevant content to share with your audience and even schedule posts to publish
them automatically at different times.
Ups:
• Easy to learn and use
• You can curate articles as well as images to be used across your social media
accounts
• Queue meter helps you ensure that your social profiles stay active
• Customizable reports simplify the way you measure, track and understand
your business’s ROI
• Competitive pricing
Downs:
• Doesn’t work well with LinkedIn
• The free version comes with a limited set of features
8. Buffer

Buffer is yet another popular app for managing multiple social media accounts using a
simple dashboard. You can integrate all the major social media platforms, including
Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn with the app.
You can draft posts, schedule them, and analyze the performance of each social media
campaign. With Buffer, you can harness the power of social media to increase the brand
awareness of your organization and drive customer engagement.
Ups:
• Remarkable UI and UX design
 • The in-built calendar lets you see all your scheduled content on different
social platforms at a glance
• You can share posts with your teammates and ask for approval before
publishing them
• It’s easy to measure social media performance and create detailed reports
for analyzing how your efforts are paying off
Downs:
• Pricey for individuals and small businesses
• Lacks team management features
9. SocialPilot

If you want to add some automation to your social media management work, SocialPilot
is just the right tool. You can add the URL of your business’s website and other websites
that you follow to share their blogs automatically on your social media.
With SocialPilot, you can view and reply to messages, comments on multiple Facebook
profiles in real-time. The integrated social media analytics lets you analyze the
engagement on social posts and also helps to understand the audience’s behavior. Also,
you can document the analytic reports of your social platforms by downloading them in
the PDF format.
Ups:
• Assign roles to team members and define their access levels
• Content recommendations from across the web
• Bulk scheduling makes it possible to schedule social posts for upcoming
weeks or months
Downs:
• It’s somewhat difficult to navigate through the app

10. 8b.io
8b.io is a new link in bio tool that allows adding multiple links to a single page. It offers
to easily curate what the users share on their social media and convert their auditory to
their subscribers or customers. The 8b.io pages can be customized with a collection of
page styles, profile pictures, animated backgrounds.
You can change your subdomain name to a custom one, get QR code for free. The
premium subscription is annual, and it allows creating up to 5 pages with an unlimited
number of links. With the Premium plan the user can connect a custom domain, add
“Blue badge” to profile, remove 8b.io logo, access the advanced analytics and all styles
and backgrounds.

Ups
• The tool is free with minimal limitations
• Custom video backgrounds
• Direct links to call phones, chat on messengers, send text, email
• Easy interface with zero learning curve
Downs
• Only 5 layout styles is available at the moment

SEO and SEM Software

11. SEMrush
SEMrjush is one of the top-rated digital marketing tools for business that you can
leverage to plan and monitor all your SEO strategies. It allows you to search relevant
keywords for your website, analyze competitor’s SEO strategies, and create SEO-
friendly webpage and blog content.
Apart from SEO, SEMrush can also help you with PPC (pay-per-click) ad campaigns
and boost your business’s sales. It is a comprehensive software that can meet both your
SEO and SEM needs, like backlink analysis, organic traffic insights, content audit,
competitive research, and much more.
Ups
• Comes with a wide range of useful tools and features
• Suitable for marketing teams of every size
• Data-driven solutions for developing powerful content strategies
Downs
• Pricing is quite high for individuals, freelancers, and startups.

Website Optimization and CRO Software

12. Hotjar

As a marketing professional, you need to analyze and understand the behavior of users
visiting a website. Hotjar is a specialized behavior analytics software that allows you to
gain better knowledge about user behavior with features, like heatmaps and visitor
recordings.
The software also makes it possible for you to get feedback directly from users. This
feedback data is useful for identifying the factors that trigger them to perform certain
actions. With Hotjar, you can embed surveys on a website or share it with users to get
their feedback.
Ups:
• Easy to set up and use
• Allows visitor targeting using URLs, device and user attributes
• You can export user responses in CSV or XLSX format
Downs:
• Suitable only for websites, you can’t use it for apps

Email Marketing Software

13. SalesHandy

Making effective email marketing campaigns to boost a business’s sales is what

SalesHandy can do for you. The tool allows you to automate and track the outreach of
emails sent to prospects.
SalesHandy comes equipped with several powerful features that help marketers to take
maximum advantage of email marketing. It enables you to create personalized emails to
target different customer segments, schedule emails, and track the performance of email
campaigns in real-time.
Ups
• Compatible with Gmail and Microsoft Outlook
• Create and save email templates to cut the time required for drafting
frequently used emails
• The auto follow-up feature helps improve customer engagement and reply
rate
Downs
• The user interface is not up-to-date
• Email tracking can be better
14. MailChimp

Mailchimp is an all-in-one integrated marketing platform that is quite popular for its
capability to create meaningful email marketing campaigns. You can use this software
to draft professional emails for your customers and drive sales.
Its pre-designed email templates and drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to create
engaging emails in no time. Additionally, you can manage multiple email campaigns
using MailChimp and track all of them in real-time to make sure that all your efforts
bring the desired results.
Ups
• The content studio store images and files that you can use readily in emails
• Allows you to create transactional emails, such as order confirmation
emails.
• Integrated analytics tools make it possible to analyze audience behavior and
engagement
Downs
• Suitable for small businesses
• Lack of advanced features

15. Systeme
Systeme.io is an all-in-one software to build an online business (no need to download
anything on your computer) that allows you to:
• build your email list
• create sales pages, email capture forms and popups
• send newsletters (and lead magnets) to your subscribers
• create sales tunnels
• host your online trainings
• create (pre-recorded) webinars
• collect payments for your trainings (and other services such as coaching or
even physical products)
• create your affiliate program and find your affiliates
• edit invoices and manage your affiliates’ commissions
• find partners to sell in affiliation thanks to the integrated marketplace
• get statistics on your business (turnover, conversion rate, number of sales,
email opening rate, etc.)
Ups:
• It is the easiest tool to use to build an online business
• Systeme.io is the most competitive offer in the world. You will not find on
any other tool so many features for so little money
Downs:
• Systeme.io allows few integrations today

16. GetResponse
Although GetResponse started as an email marketing platform, it has developed into a
full suite of inbound marketing tools ranging from a marketing automation system,
website builder, landing page creator, and more. However, their email marketing still
stands out as one of their key features—boasting a deliverability rate of 99%.
GetResponse is also able to integrate with many other key elements of your marketing
arsenal such as CRM platforms, Ecommerce services, forms and survey integrations,
and many more. This allows you to take control of your own digital destiny and grow
your business more effectively.
Ups:
• GetResponse’s Marketing Automation is second-to-none offering an easy
drag-and-drop editor to fully develop and nurture customer relations through
automated messaging and events.
• Each plan—including free—comes equipped with their AI-driven website
builder.
• GetResponse is well-known for having one of the best landing page creators
available on the web that can easily integrate with your Facebook or Google
advertising campaigns.
• Email marketing is made much more effective through their advanced data
segmentation techniques.
• GDPR compliant
Downs:
• Webinars cannot be fully white labeled.
• The new email creator doesn’t support Google AMP yet.
• You cannot attach files to your emails.

17. elink
elink is a content curation suite that helps you send out stunning, visually appealing, and
responsive email newsletters in minutes! Instead of going down the path of creating
newsletters from scratch, you can just pick a template from elink’s extensive gallery and
add the links to the content you want to share as your newsletter. elink will then
automatically convert those web links into visual blocks with a picture, title, and a short
description which can be further edited.
Even though elink does all your work for you, you can still apply a healthy dose of your
brand’s personality to your newsletter. elink has a robust editor that allows you to add
elements like images, texts, bullet lists, numbered lists, dividers, buttons, search bar,
and even social media icons in your header and footer body. You can even customize
your fonts, background colors, text colors, and more with minimal effort!

Once you’re happy with your newsletter, you can export it via Gmail, Mailchimp, or
any other 3rd party email service by simply copying and pasting the newsletter HTML
code. What’s more? You can use elink’s automation feature and save your precious time
by automating content creation for your newsletters. You can choose sources and add
filters to make your content more relevant and effective.
Ups
• Amazing plug-and-play templates to automate email marketing.
• Works seamlessly with all the major email services out there.
• Has a robust editor that allows you to add multiple elements to your
newsletter.
Downs
• None so far.

Video Marketing
18. Viewbix

Viewbix is an interactive video platform that marketers can use for improving their
video marketing strategies. The powerful video analytics makes it possible to see how
your videos are performing and get useful data to optimize videos for better viewer
engagement.
By using Viewbix, you can easily identify the sections of your videos that most viewers
find engaging. This way, it becomes possible to create meaningful content that delivers
messages to your audience effectively.
Ups
• Supports cross-platform distribution
• Viewer engagement analysis and real-time campaign optimization
• You can add links to videos
Downs
• Clunky user interface
19. VidIQ

For marketers who want to optimize YouTube videos to have a better reach, the VidIQ
software is the perfect tool. It allows you to improve the visibility of your videos and
expand your audience.
Apart from offering detailed insights for YouTube videos, VidIQ also provides metrics
that reveal audience engagement with your videos on Facebook and Twitter.
Ups
• Allows you to perform comprehensive keyword research for YouTube
videos
• Analyze competitors and discover content that is working well for them
• It’s easy to know the performance of your YouTube channel with its channel
audit feature
Downs
• Do not support integration with many popular social media platforms, like
Instagram
• High-end plans are quite expensive

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software

20. Salesmate
Salesmate is among the leading CRM software that allows you to automate your sales
process and build better relationships with your customers. It comes loaded with several
advanced CRM features that enable you to drive sales and retain customers.

The software offers a simplified pipeline view to visualize, organize, and prioritize your
deals with customers. It also has smart email features that you can use to track how
customers are interacting with your emails.
Ups
• Easy to use
• Allows team members to collaborate on sales
• Detailed analytics and sales activity reports make it easy to visualize your
sales team performance
Downs
• Suitable for startups and small businesses
• Too many features can overwhelm users

21. HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM is among the top tools for marketing professionals for boosting sales
activity and managing interactions with customers. It also lets you have a bird-eye view
of your sales pipeline with its interactive visual dashboard.

The software comes with a plethora of features, such as live chat, email templates, and
meeting scheduling, etc. that come handy while reaching and connecting with prospects.

Ups
• Responsive user interface design
 • Allows you to track all your business deals
• Comes with an integrated email automation system
Downs
• Steep learning curve

22. Canva

Canva is the preferred choice for marketing teams to create visual content that can be
used in various marketing campaigns. The best thing about this tool is that it offers
professional design templates that allow you to create beautiful graphic content without
having hardcore graphic designing skills.

Whether you want to create stunning infographics that engage people with your content
or videos to help customers learn better about your product/service, Visually can help
you create a wide range of content.

Ups
• Allows you to create a wide range of content
• Comes with several advanced image editing features
• You can use free icons to make your designs more impactful
Downs
• Lack of collaborative features
Making Money on Net
Earning money has typically been associated with and restricted to traditional 'offline'
route. With the Internet taking over a large part of our lives, more people are looking to
ways to earn money online to increase their financial inflows, with secondary income
streams.

You should be mindful of the platform that you choose. While there are numerous ways
to earn money online, some of these might be fake. Also, do not expect to earn a huge
amount quickly when using online avenues to earn Money.

With a situation involving more time at home and/or more free time in general, maybe
fewer working hours for some, some of you might have some free time on hands. Here
are online platforms, websites and tools that can help you earn money online.

1. Freelancing
Freelancing has always been a popular way to earn money online and the Internet has
several options. There are several websites offering freelance tasks for people with
varying skills. All you need to do is to create an account, browse through the listings,
and apply for the task that suits you. Some websites may even require you to create a
personal listing with the details of your skillset, so that interested cli ..

But remember, you will only get paid once you successfully complete the given task
and it has been approved by your client. This may even mean revising the work
several times unless the requirements of your clients are met. Some sites may ask you
to set up a PayPal account, as most clients prefer to make payments digitally via it.

2. Starting your own website

There is enough material available online to help you put together a website. This
includes choosing the domain, templates, layout and the overall design for your
website. Once ready to service the visitors with the relevant content, sign up for
Google Adsense, which when appear on your website and clicked on by visitors, help
you make money. The more traffic you get on your website, the more will be the
potential for higher earnings.

3. Affiliate marketing
Once your website is up and running, you could opt for affiliate marketing by allowing
companies to insert web links on to your site. This is like a symbiotic partnership.
When visitors to your site buy products or services by clicking on such links, you earn
out from it.

4. Surveys, searches and reviews

There are various websites offering money to undergo online surveys, carry out online
searches, and write reviews on products. To get the credit, one needs to disclose
certain information to them including one's banking details. This is why you should
use this route with utmost care. Some of them may even ask you to register with them
before working on projects. The most important watch out in such projects is to stay
away from websites offer ..

5. Virtual assistantship
Doing all the corporate stuff from one's home is what a virtual assistant (VA) does.
VAs basically work remotely with their clients and manage the aspects of their
business that they are too busy to handle themselves. When you work as a virtual
assistant, you can choose to work as an employee or you can set up your own business.

VAs are skilled, home-based professionals that offer companies, businesses, and
entrepreneurs administrative support. Some of the major areas of work includes
making phone calls, email correspondence, Internet research, data entry, scheduling
appointments, editing, writing, book keeping, marketing, blog management,
proofreading, project management, graphic design, tech support, customer service,
event planning, and social media management.

6. Language translating
Knowing a language other than English may even help you earn some extra money.
There are several websites that offer translation projects that require translating a
document from one language into another. This may include Spanish, French, Arab,
German, or any other language to or from English.

7. Online tutoring
If you are an expert in a particular subject, you can earn by tutoring people online.
Online tutoring provides a means to connect online with students of all ages, across the
country to provide homework help and tutoring in the subjects for which you have
demonstrated expertise.

One may sign up on websites like Vedantu.com, MyPrivateTutor.com,

BharatTutors.com, tutorindia.net as an online tutor by creating a profile, and listing the
subjects or classes you want to teach, how much experience you have, what your
qualifications are, etc. Some of the platforms may offer flexible and convenient time to
work as an online tutor.

8. Social media management, strategy

In addition to interacting with friends and strangers, social networking platforms like
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat can be used to make money. Companies
and brands pay social media strategists to further boost the popularity of their
products. With lots of competition around and the constantly shortening of attention
time of online viewers, creativity is essential to create posts, videos etc that can go
viral quickly and enh
9. Web designing
Not all business owners are tech savvy but the need of the hour is to have a website of
their own. Those who have a knack for all- things- tech, especially related to websites,
can help small businesses set up their own websites and earn from it. Coding and web
designing are the essential ingredients in setting up websites. Further, websites need
maintenance and may require frequent updates, which may add to one's revenue.

10. Content writing

Online platforms can be a good starting point. Depending on the quality of the articles,
one gets paid. One may be asked to work upon articles with specific guidelines as
well. Develop a niche in your area of expertise and build strength in that domain to
increase the revenue stream.

11. Blogging
It starts with a hobby, interest, and passion and soon blogging becomes a career option
for many bloggers. There are a number of full-time bloggers. There are two ways to
start a blog: you can either create a blog through Wordpress or Tumblr, which requires
no investment, or go for a self-hosted blog.

In case of the latter, you will have to invest in and spend money on domain name and
server hosting space that can cost you between Rs 3,000-Rs 5,000 a year. Self-hosted
blogs have an added advantage that it allows you to customise elements and
functionality of your website. In case of the former, you need to make peace with the
tools and plug-ins made available by the service provider.

12. YouTube
If you are not comfortable in penning down your thoughts through blogs and content
writing, make use of your camera to create a video presentation. Create your YouTube
channel, upload videos and start monetising them. Choose a category or subject that
you want to make videos on and get started, but make sure it's a topic that will interest
a lot of people. Everything from cooking shows to political debates can find many
takers on YouTube. You have to create a You ..

13. Kindle eBook

If writing books interests you, one option you can exercise is self-publish eBooks and
paperbacks with Kindle Direct Publishing, and reach millions of readers on Amazon.
Publishing takes less than 5 minutes and your book appears on Kindle stores
worldwide within 24-48 hours. One can earn up to 70 percent royalty on sales to
customers in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, India, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Brazil,
Mexico, Australia, and so on. One can keep control ..

14. Selling your products online

If you want to sell products online, you may can it by creating your own website. As
there's lot of competition and several existing websites in place already catering to this
market, an attempt to create a niche in terms of products may be considered. Or, you
can use the platform such as Amazon, Flipkart to sell. One can increase reach and
visibility through affiliate marketing.
15. PTC sites
Several websites offer money (after a minimum level of earning) by clicking on
advertisements. Hence, they are called paid-to-click (PTC) sites. One has to get
registered before the project begins. Not all of these sites could be genuine, so be
careful. One may also refer friends and earn money in the process. Some such sites are
ClixSense.com , BuxP and NeoBux are some of such PTC sites.

16. Peer to peer

Similar to e-commerce websites such as Amazon and OLX, a peer-to-peer (P2P)
platform is a marketplace for money lending activities. You can lend money to others
in a more organised and structured manner using the P2P lending platform. The P2P
platforms have the recovery process in place and one should understand it before using
the services of the platform. Since this is an unsecured loan where there is no face-to-
face interaction, a P2P lender needs to be aware of the risks involved.
17. Data entry
Although this line of work is seriously threatened by automation, there are still plenty
of data entry jobs available in India. It is one the simplest jobs you can do online, and
requires no special skills. You just have to have a computer, Internet connection, fast
typing skills, and the ability to pay attention to details. Most freelancing websites list
these jobs, and you can sign up on any of them to start earning in the range of Rs 300
to Rs 1,500 per hour.

Virtual Factory
• Virtual Factory provides the link between company’s enterprise “brain” and all
of the machines and devices on your factory floor. Machines, sensors and
operations are monitored and information is fed back to decision makers. Data
collected is saved for later recall and analysis.
• Virtual Factory will help prevent a small problem from becoming a large problem.
Virtual Factory will notify you (pager, cell phone, email) when a problem occurs
that requires immediate attention. Whether a machine breaks down or a part’s
quality suddenly worsens, the right person will be able to respond quickly and
take appropriate action.
• A virtual factory (VF) is defined as an integrated simulation model of major
subsystems in a factory, that considers the factory as a whole and provides an
advanced decision support capability. It seeks to go beyond the typical modeling
of one sub-system at a time, such as the manufacturing model, the business
process model and/or the communication network model developed individually
and in isolation.
• Its application are used to demonstrate the integration between business
processes and manufacturing system performance. Future work will move further
toward; the development of the complete virtual factory and its industry
applications.
• Virtual Factory can help trace a problem to its source. Not only can scrap counts
for each part be recorded, but scrap reasons can also be tracked automatically and
manually. You can track where on a part a defect is occurring and what process
or machine or tooling are suspect. Perhaps a certain supplier or set of tools is the
culprit.
• Virtual Factory can provide you the evidence. Below is a thermal image showing
location and frequency of defects on a part. Defects and reasons can be traced
back to tooling (e.g. casting dies).

By Virtual Factory will do :

• Measure production performance, Performance measures can be displayed in real
time on large screen or boards as well as on laptops or smart phones.
• It compare actual production quantities with planned or ideal quantities to
measure your factory cells’ or lines’ efficiencies.
• it will perform trend analysis and summarize performance data to help continuous
improvement efforts.
 • It can track consumables usage and maintain historical usage information to help
prolong the life of machines and to ensure they run reliably. By signalling when
it’s time to perform preventive maintenance or replace worn tooling Virtual
Factory helps to avoid more costly breakdowns.
• It will provide real time factory visibility to the enterprise by continuously feeding
back machine status, work-in-progress status and order status to ERP system.
Your enterprise managers and schedulers will have up-to-date information from
the factory floor to help them with tactical decisions. You could even provide
your customers with up-to-date order tracking!

Advantages Of Virtual Factory

• Improved decision-making throughout the complete life cycle of businesses,
facilities and products.
• Can be applied to improve facility sizing equipment layout
• Help in Material handling equipment requirements
• Group technology
• Manufacturing design
• Production scheduling
• Improved operations efficiency, throughput, flexibility and profitability of the
operations modelled
• Streamline lead times
• Decrease capital investment, inventories, and risks associated with change
• Can be used to analyse/perform time studies,
• Human accessibility/safety,
• Process optimization and verification
• To face the future with confidence

Challenges
• The challenges facing virtual factory are inexperienced users, security, expense
control, and the level of incorporation required to create a successful virtual
factory.
Electronic Business Strategies
“…how to transform an old business design, based on the physical realities of
business-as-they have-known-it, into a new design rooted in the digital
requirements of tomorrow.” Kalakota

E-business isn’t just about defining ‘how to do a business online’, it defines ‘how to do
a business differently online’. The e-business strategy defines how.
Strategy defines the area of focus and the activities to be undertaken in order to achieve
business goals.
E-business strategy defines the approach by which applications of internal and external
electronic communications can support and influence corporate strategy.

E-Business Strategy Formulation

1. Knowledge Building – Helps the company understand where the industry is
headed and what customers preferences and needs are.
2. Capability Evaluation – Defines what capabilities the company has currently
and what they will need tomorrow.
3. E-Business Design - Determining the best business design that will allow a
company to differentiate itself and compete in a digital market. Lays the
foundation to address the new customer needs.
1.Knowledge Building
• Understanding the customer.
• Customer value and relationship trends.
• Technology trends.
• Supply Chain Trends.
• Competition.
• Core Competencies.
2. Capability Evaluation
• Establish Objectives:
i. Process Improvement
ii. Strategic Improvement
iii. Business Transformation
• Determine Internal Capabilities
• Determine the Capabilities and Resources Needed to Speed Up Execution.
3.E-Business Design
• Select a Design
• Refine the Design
• Clarify what will make the company different and what position the company
wants to take in the market.

Different Forms of Organizational Strategy

Figure : Different forms of organizational strategy

A generic strategy process model
Relationship between e-business strategy and other strategies

Elements of strategy definition for the e-business

Elements of strategic situation analysis for the e-business
Portal & Vortal
• A web portal is a website that brings information together from
diverse sources in a uniform way. Usually, each information
source gets its dedicated area on the page for displaying
information; often, the user can configure which ones to
display.
• Apart from the standard search engines feature, web portals
offer other services such as e-mail, news, stock prices,
information, databases and entertainment.
• Portals provide a way for enterprises to provide a consistent
look and feel with access control and procedures for multiple
applications and databases, which otherwise would have been
different entities altogether.
Web portals are sometimes classified as horizontal or vertical. A
horizontal portal is used as a platform to several companies in the
same economic sector or to the same type of manufacturers or
distributors.
A vertical portal (also known as a "vortal") is a specialized entry
point to a specific market or industry niche, subject area, or interest.
Some vertical portals are known as "vertical information portals"
(VIPs). VIPs provide news, editorial content, digital publications,
and e-commerce capabilities. In contrast to traditional vertical
portals, VIPs also provide dynamic multimedia applications
including social networking, video posting, and blogging.
Types of web portals
• Personal portals, Tender's portals
• News portals, Stock portals
• Government web portals, Search portals
 • Cultural portals, Domain-specific portals
• Corporate web portals
Types of vortal:-
• Geographical vortals: Creating an online community
platform addressing particular city, town or country.
• Industry specific vortals:- These can address the following
industries
a. Accommodation. f. Real estate.
b. Arts. g. Professional
c. Fishing. services.
d. Agriculture. h. Retail trade.
e. Entertainment. i. Information. Etc

• Ethnic market vortals:- This vortal can address a mainstream

market, a worldwide exchange or can address a particular
ethnic group’s focus.
• Interest specific vortals:- This vortal addresses a particular
type of interest. These interest vortals can be stand alone
integrated within already developed website, a corporate portal
, an internet or an extranet.
Vortal can address the following areas:-
1. Information. 9. Security.
2. Education. 10. Schools ,
3. Politics. Universities
4. Religion. 11. Alumni
5. Trade portals. 12. Entertainment.
6. Music 13. Art.
7. E- commerce. 14. Corporate.
8. Human resources.
• Membership specific vortals:- It address any membership
organization such as:
➢ Associations
➢ Clubs
➢ Tenants.
➢ Vortals, like portals, use advertising as their main source of
revenue. The survivability of vortals might very well depend
upon how viable of an advertising channel they present. Unlike
some of the large portals, vortals can offer extremely targeted
advertising opportunities. The community nature of vortals also
gives them a better chance because they attract loyal audiences.
Inclusions of message boards or chat rooms can enhance the
sense of community and enable the vortal to become a strong
branding tool.
➢ There are hundreds of vortals on the Web, ranging from the
ultra- niche to larger subjects such as medicine and law. .
Examples of some of the larger vortals include Financial Find.
➢ All of these sites serve different segments and interests, and all
are extremely focused. They are searchable, and often contain
community building tools such as chat boards. If you’re
interested in having your own vortal, check out Absolute
Authority which enables you to create your own vortals and use
affiliate programs to market it. You’ll be amazed by the variety
of vortals that exist through this site! Step 1 is to search to see
if your topic is still available.