According to Seth’s article, the cost to acquire a new customer is “vanishing close to zero”(Paragraph 1). I agree with Seth, the cost to build and maintain customer relationships is declining as the Internet revolutionizes.

As the Internet grows and becomes a commonplace for customer research, it will no longer be essential for companies to go out and directly market to their consumers. Advertising over the Internet is much faster, cheaper and less time consuming than direct marketing. Although online marketing is not a supplement for direct marketing, it is advantageous for some companies to partake in online marketing.

Many firms are now realizing that many consumers resort to the Internet as a means of information, and are now beginning to advertise through this medium. Many companies have had great success in creating awareness and offering various promotions for their products through this online channel.

Given the growing success of online marketing, it seems like all companies should adopt this new way of advertising; however, this is not the case. Some goods or services, like insurance or cars, require more personal selling than goods such as clothes or electronics. Having said that, it doesn’t harm a car dealership to showcase and promote their cars through the online medium to attract consumers to their lot in order to make a sale, but the majority of the selling process takes place face to face.

Online marketing also enables companies to focus on their target market. For example, a company can better relate its advertisements over the Internet as they may have some background information on the consumer or consumer groups they are trying to target. In doing so, the company is able to directly target its main consumers and is not wasting time or money on consumers who show minimal interest in their product.

The rapid growth of the Internet and online market has opened a new door to advertising and has proven to be a success for many companies. I believe this medium will increase in popularity among organizations and will become a vital asset to a company’s marketing campaign.