In Mexico, micro and small companies represent 98.8% of all formally established businesses. This statistical data published by the federal government marks a benchmark towards the country's economic and commercial development. If we add to this that only 5.8% of these micro and small companies use the Internet as a working tool, it also marks a huge virgin field for the implementation of new marketing strategies based on the network of networks, the Internet.
The Internet, born as a space for the exchange of information between European scientists, has acquired a stratospheric boom in recent years, shifting from IBM's e-commerce to electronic businesses initially used by companies in the United States of North America such as Dell, Yahoo and Ebay, as well as a space for communion between thousands of people around the world. The Internet has come to create new forms of communication and cultural exchange and of ideas without forgetting of course the way of making purchases or doing business.
That is why this network of networks is called cyberspace and its navigating users, since this alternative medium has created precisely that, a cyber space where anyone from anywhere in the world can navigate in it through a computer and a connection like the telephone line, cable, the new wireless and more.
The infinity of people who surf the Internet 24 hours a day, then becomes a potential market that micro and small companies can access in an easier and cheaper way than by traditional means such as radio and television, Thus promoting your brand and products in a graphic and interactive way, achieving the possibility of building a corporate image in cyberspace which perhaps would have been more difficult to achieve due to the high cost.
It is important to note that the Internet does not turn inefficient companies into successful companies, nor is it recommended that when starting a campaign in cyberspace advertising or inverted promotion be removed from the traditional media, the Internet is an alternative means of communication that offers new advantages and also requires responsibilities and obligations. But if used properly, it can help the company achieve better brand positioning and greater impact on its advertising campaigns.
Today, there are large companies that used the Internet as their main marketing strategy when they were still small and have achieved business success by becoming one of the 500 highest-income companies in the US featured in Fortune magazine today.
Micro and small companies have an innovative and potential showcase on the Internet that they have not exploited, in Mexico the number of users is constantly growing, it is an opportunity that must be taken advantage of as soon as possible.
Thus, we begin this work, which aims to make the proposal of using the Internet as a means of brand and product diffusion, in addition to using it as a tool and ingredient of the marketing strategy.
Justification
Writing on the Internet has a very great risk, and this is that of the rapid obsolescence of information because it is a medium in constant movement and updating, however it is necessary that Mexican micro and small companies realize the opportunity and the scope that the network of networks offers them for the growth of their brand, the alternative of selling their products, the possibility of reaching new markets and creating a digital corporate image that can compete with that of large national companies.
Compared to Large companies, which use the Internet and personal computers in most of their administrative, technical and Marketing processes, the majority of smaller companies do not yet use the advantages of the network.
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Informatics (INEGI), only nine out of 100 micro companies use a PC.
This work is justified then, with the unmet need that 98% of Mexican companies have to have a presence on the Internet and the correct use of the tools that it provides, having as a purpose, having a base or simply encouraging the idea of involving Web technologies in your marketing strategies.
objective
The main objective of the present is simply to lay out the generic basis of Internet marketing, showing the existing tools and the way in which they can be used, hoping that at some point it will allow the entrepreneur to see the real opportunities that their brand income has. into cyberspace. Not pretending to provide a magic recipe or discovering a series of steps that will lead micro and small businesses to succeed on the Internet.
As previously explained, the speed with which the technologies that give interactivity to the Network change does not allow this work to expose specific guidelines for the implementation of an Internet Marketing strategy, but it does allow the presentation of general ideas for use the Internet in your marketing plan in your micro company, allowing you access to that huge market and allowing each company, in particular, to design their own strategy according to their needs.
The Internet
The Internet can be defined as a set of computers and / or networks connected to each other so that they can exchange information between them.
It should be clarified that the Internet is not just a network but a network of networks since it joins both independent computers and computers in networks, for example the PC of a company connected to a server, managing to gather millions of people around the world by Same time.
On the Internet there are basically two entities, the client and the server. The client is that computer that requests information from the Internet and the Server will be the one that provides that information, the servers also called hosts are always connected to the Internet.
The exchange of information through computers began after the Second World War in the USA, initially it was used exclusively by scientists and the military in sending confidential information on regional networks in the United States and then leaving it in the hands of the universities. However, the Internet as we know it today was designed by European scientists at CERN, creating the World Wide Web in 1990, making information sharing easier.
In 1993 the first Spanish server was born and in 1994 the restrictions on commercial use of the Internet were removed so that in 1995 it was the boom year for the network of networks, considering that year the birth of the Commercial Internet.
In Mexico, its Internet boom began in 2000, according to the Network Information Center - Mexico (NIC.mx), when in that year alone 30,000 sites were registered, doubling those that had been established up to that time from '93 to '99 This is shown in Graph 1.
Of the total number of Internet addresses legally registered in Mexico, 90% are commercial (.com.mx), 4% for organizations (.org.mx), 2% for educational institutions (.edu.mx), 2% for government institutions (.gob.mx) and the rest for various organizations or companies (.net.mx and.mx). You can see it in the following graph.
The Internet is then a virtual space where various computers from any part of the planet come together, exchanging information that is becoming more specific for each need. It is considered a growing means of communication that due to the customization it has developed is one of the most widely used worldwide today.
Mexico cannot exclude itself from this space that generates cultural, commercial, intellectual as well as informative and formative exchanges among others.
Mexican commercial companies are clear that Internet presence is basic, that is reflected in the percentage of registered pages, although unfortunately these are mostly large and some medium-sized companies. So also in comparison with the most advanced countries in the matter of Internet, like the United States of North America, the Mexican businesses in the network still are few although a constant growth is expected.
If the Micro and Small companies in Mexico manage to take advantage of the advantages and opportunities that this network of networks offers, they will have greater competitiveness both locally and regionally, and why not, start in the international market by exporting their products. In this way they will also be able to create a corporate image and promote themselves in a less expensive way, thereby achieving an increase in their sales and an increase in their profits.
Internet users in Mexico and their Habits
Mexicans in cyberspace are increasingly and actively participate in the network, in August 2005 there were 17.1 million Internet users and the growth rate is an average of 21% according to data from the Mexican Internet Association (AMIPCI).
Demographically, young Mexicans are the ones who use the network of networks the most, the ages that make up 75% of netizens are between 15 and 35 years, it is also important to clarify that they belong to the low to high socioeconomic levels. They are employees or students and their level of study is mostly at the bachelor's level.
The activities carried out online are diverse, however there are some identified for being used more frequently, and these are the following:
- Read and send emails Find information Read news Chat Check or pay for banking services Entertainment Compare prices and look for promotions Listen to radio Buy and pay for products Travel reservations or airline tickets Listen to radio.
These frequent activities allow us to glimpse opportunities and channels through which to carry out our Internet marketing strategy. At the moment we will only mention them but they will be later for your analysis.
Internet shopping is one of the points that retakes special importance for the purposes of this work, which is why we consider that mentioning that 51% of all Internet users in Mexico have purchased at least one item online is of vital importance, as well as that 49% on average has not.
About users who have made an online purchase, most of the products they have purchased are for personal use, however, purchases made by a company represent a greater outlay. The products purchased online are basically concentrated in the following:
Electronic devices
Software
Books
CDs
DVDs Airline
tickets or reservations
Event tickets
Videogames
Appliances
Toys
Cosmetics or perfumes
Among others
The average amount of these purchases between $ 400 and $ 1,000 pesos being paid by credit or debit card and online deposit or transfer.
A study presented by the companies PriceWaterhouseCooper and Visa shows that Internet sales in Mexico for 2004 were 2.384 billion pesos and the growth rate in this area was 81%.
However, it should be mentioned that this 49% of users who have not made online purchases is mainly due to the mistrust of providing their data, the lack of a credit or debit card, the high cost of shipping, the delay in sending the products and the fear that they will not be shipped. These reasons are more opportunities for improvement for companies trying to start their online businesses.
To finish with this topic, it is convenient to note that the Internet is a means of influencing the purchase decision in physical stores, since most Mexican netizens first look for price information and compare between online stores to make a better decision, if for any reason you do not buy it online, if you use that data for your normal purchases.
Mexican Micro and Small Businesses
Micro and small companies in Mexico are 98% of the total business established in the country. Micro is considered to be that company that has from 0 to 10 employees and a small one that has a maximum of 50 workers, this classification is according to the criteria established in the Official Gazette of the Federation on December 30, 2002. Regarding In its sector, Micro and Small companies add around a million in service and commerce, which represents 40% of all companies in Mexico.
These sectors define the scope of this research, which as evidenced is a large part of the total market, and is also an attractive niche due to its potential for the need for growth and development. And although in recent years training and support has been offered by the Ministry of the Economy in conjunction with various national and international organizations, in addition to financing, forums, courses as well as events, for example the SME week and various competitions for local entrepreneurs and state companies, the mortality rate of these companies has not decreased significantly, so that only 3 out of 10 micro and small companies survive the year of operations, and the reasons for this are the lack of information, planning and access. to financing.
Being the Micro and Small companies of Commerce and Services one of the largest in number of businesses in Mexico and having such great instability in terms of both development and growth, we would have to dedicate more efforts and resources to support these sectors, a commitment of the various institutions involved to grow these companies. We have already started with this support but it is only the beginning, it is necessary to integrate these micro companies into the large local, regional market and all those to whom they can offer their services, in order to achieve a strong business base with a future in Mexico.
As mentioned initially, in Mexico only 9 out of every 100 micro and small companies use a computer, which in addition to marking the technological delay of these businesses, also places us at an opportune moment to bring them the new opportunities of the new informed market and statement, that to get to this you only need to be online. Large and medium-sized companies have already set an example for them, it has been seen how Internet sales have grown in recent years and how this means of marketing and communication influences purchases in physical stores.
If these points are made known to micro and small entrepreneurs, they will surely realize that the Internet can help them improve various aspects of their business, that they need a defined strategy to go online and that this will allow them to have a solid base with the which to promote business projects not only in your locality.
Mexico is a growing country, so are its inhabitants and its entrepreneurs, whatever their size, this implies a paradigm shift in all areas, including business, which is why we propose the use of the Internet as part of the Marketing and communication strategy that all companies need, especially the smallest for their small funds and lack of information. In addition, since these are the highest volume, it is important to involve them in new trends in marketing and communication with customers.
Approach of Micro and Small Businesses to the Internet
There is a big difference between being on the Internet and doing business on the Internet, that difference lies in the strategy.
When the Internet boom began, most medium and large companies spent large sums of money to be on the Internet, which served for some time, however today just being on the Internet is the same as not being.
Mexican micro and small companies must be very aware of this difference and define the objectives to be achieved, in this way they will be able to decide with greater awareness if the Internet is a good option for them and their business. One of the main problems so that these companies do not make that decision with the necessary knowledge of cause is the lack of information and, why not say it, ignorance on issues related to various technologies.
Small businesses, for the most part, are distinguished by the low outlay they make for advertising or promotion, they are finicky when defining a budget for these items, this obviously limits their growth by keeping them small for the rest of their existence.
One of the main reasons why they do not choose to invest in advertising is due to the high costs of advertising in various traditional media such as television, radio or printed publications, coupled with ignorance of the opportunities of the Internet.
The lack of a marketing plan is another of the fields that distinguish micro companies, they do not carry out a market study or marketing strategies for their products, so they leave their scope to sales and customer acquisition, market penetration to chance. as well as frequent leads.
The fields that have been mentioned and that distinguish these companies are very important for physical business and your idea of entering cyberspace, since if you do not have a marketing plan and strategy, then why do you want to do business on the Internet?, if there are no goals, marketing objectives and sales set, what do we seek to position ourselves online?
If even without finding answers to these questions, you decide to put a web page online, then the most likely thing is that it will fail, that instead of having invested that money in something profitable, it will be an expense, and worst of all, they will keep the idea that the Internet for business does not work. The micro and small companies that have had this experience or are going through the same must understand that they did not do business online, they were only online, which does not imply any improvement or significant change.
This confusion is the one that has been collapsing sandcastles built by micro entrepreneurs eager to be in the fashion of the Internet without a strategy, in this case the expense is not recoverable.
However, there is the possibility of growing and doing business on the Internet successfully for small companies that want to dedicate time and resources, that is to commit to the new project, following a strategy. Mexican micro and small companies are just beginning to know the Internet, more and more restaurants can be seen online with the information on their menus and addresses, we can find a merchant who uploads his catalog and contact information to the network, But this is just the beginning.
How micro and small businesses use marketing.
We have previously expressed that one of the important points that distinguishes micro companies is the absence of a marketing plan and, as a consequence of a fixed amount that is dedicated to promotion, marketing, as well as advertising, however it would be very risky to assert that they do not carry out marketing or they do not carry out marketing and advertising actions. That is why in this section we will touch on how these small companies use the elements of marketing without, many times, knowing it.
When a small-sized company decides for any reason to enhance a marketing act, it is common that the first thing it does is an advertisement design and make it known through traditional means, thereby spending a large sum of money, however this action as Isolated activity is of little use if it is not integrated into a complete marketing strategy.
Another element of marketing used by these entrepreneurs is public relations through advertising called "word of mouth", this is the recommendations of customers to family and friends, this advertising is cheaper than the one mentioned initially and more functional for the purposes of the micro company.
The marketing knowledge that microentrepreneurs have is, for the most part, empirical, so it is difficult to think of joint marketing activities that are carried out in order to achieve a business goal, these activities are carried out rather by common sense and ideas of the owners and are not thought as essential for the development of their daily work but as a plus that provides personal satisfaction of the entrepreneur.
In a continuous observation that has been carried out throughout the study and analysis of this work, various elements that small companies carry out as isolated, some joint, marketing, commercialization and communication activities were identified. Some of these elements are basically the following:
- Advertisements in local newspapers Design and printing of flyers Constant promotions 2 × 1 Recommendations to family and friends Yellow section - Directories
The main objective of these actions carried out is to publicize the company's offer of products or services, thinking only of increasing sales in the short term.
Marketing can be defined as the discipline that studies the relationship between companies and the market or the markets to which they offer their services.
Thus, the marketing activities carried out must seek to bring the product or service closer to the targeted and identified customers in order to achieve a relationship not only commercial, but also, commitment to solving their needs and problems.
This definition and its implications set out the reasons why it is considered necessary for smaller companies in our country to use marketing correctly, since in this way the real needs of potential customers can be known in detail, In order to be able to offer them a product or service that meets their needs, put in place mechanisms that allow a direct and personalized relationship with them, as well as meet their direct and indirect competitors.
The relationship required between company - client is of vital importance for the growth and sustainable development of the same small business, in a way this is known and worked by micro-companies since most of them have some captive clients who visit them With some frequency, some of them could be considered faithful, but the following questions would have to be asked: What is being done to preserve them? Do we know the strengths and weaknesses of our products? Do we know the market opportunities and threats? What can the competition offer you? Are you ready to compete?
The answer to these questions might be a good start in formulating a strategy, but it is likely that those questions may not have been asked by micro-companies.
The high mortality rate of micro and small companies is due to various factors, however, some important are the lack of information about customers, the market, as well as the competitors and the lack of medium and long-term planning.
Internet Tools.
On the Internet we can find infinity of utilities, however we can summarize its applications in basically five areas:
Communication, from individual to group.
Data transmission.
Information management and obtaining.
Data processing, decision making systems.
Commercial or transactional application.
These applications have various tools that help to make them easier, these tools have been created and improved over time, they are used according to the user's requirements, as well as their possibilities.
Currently there are a variety of tools on the Internet that allow you to obtain the advantages of cyberspace for the needs of a company, there are expensive tools and structured specifically for a particular company, but there are also free generic tools that are available to anyone who wants to use them. The latter are precisely the ones we will address in this section since they allow micro and small companies to take advantage of Internet applications at a low cost.
So, we will present various Internet tools that smaller companies can use, these if used properly and with sense can be of great benefit to help businesses have a knowledge of the market, so that they can take better decisions when making plans, as well as managing information more easily.
E-mail or electronic mail could be considered as a basic and main tool for all those who want to get involved in the Internet, it is one of the most used services in the network since it is offered for free in various portals and offers communication in seconds with millions of people. Free emails allow the storage of thousands of messages and your account is for life.
Various resources such as links to web pages, various interactive files and the ability to send eye-catching messages with movement and colors that attract the attention of readers can be attached to messages sent by email.
To access the e-mail you only need to register on the page that offers the service, provide some information, enter a username (also called Nick Name) and a password. By complying with this, you will be ready to send and receive messages.
Web page. The Internet page is another of the main tools since through these companies, organizations, institutions and / or people show information that each one considers important to expose for all those who visit them. The Internet is mostly made up of Web pages as they are the graphic interface so that users can obtain the information or services they want in a presentable and attractive way that allows interactivity.
Each Internet page has a name, which is given by the acronym WWW (World Wide Web), period, name of the page, period and an extension according to its origin (.com,.net,.org,. mx,.info,.edu,.gob). An example of a web page name is www.visionenaccion.org which complies with the acronym WWW, the dot, the name of the page (which is regularly the name of the company, institution, etc.) in this case is Vision in Action, another point and ends with the extension.ORG which is so, because it is an organization. The name of the Internet page is as important as the name of the company itself, this is the brand, the identification of users with the business.
An important point in this tool is the design, content and structure of the page, since its success will depend on it. The name will allow a faster way to find and remember your website, but the design, content and structure will make you return and invite your acquaintances to visit it.
The Internet page is the virtual image of each company in the network, that is why it is necessary to dedicate time, effort and resources to it since it will be your letter of introduction to customers.
Virtual communities. As in the “Physical World”, people group together in communities related to their tastes and preferences for living, working, having fun, developing or even protecting themselves, in cyberspace they repeat this behavior and form user groups that share a certain hobby, profession or characteristics such as habits and customs on the net.
Currently, there are companies that are dedicated to managing these virtual communities and have thousands of categories that can be accessed just by having an email account and requesting access to the moderator.
Netizens who register in a community are part of a group that shares emails and can send messages to each other whenever they want without outsiders being able to access these messages, by requesting access to a community you are part of a specific group of people with a special characteristic.
Any Internet user can create a community and group in it all the netizens who share their interests, the categories are limited only by the imagination of the people who create them, there can be a community where users are grouped to what they like. dogs, mustang car owners, pregnant women, young comic addicts, etc. In the communities all the members can actively participate, express doubts or share ideas, there is an exchange of information between the members.
We will divide the types of communities into three that have been considered basic:
Moderate communities, these depend on a moderator who accepts or rejects the members according to their own criteria, it is also possible that they limit the number of messages of each member or reject the publication of one.
Open communities, in such communities the moderator does not exist as such, he is only the owner of the community. Registered users can interact without limits, anyone who wants to enter the community can do it in seconds just by providing their email.
Unilateral communities, the unilateral community is one where members only receive information from the moderator, they do not exchange ideas among themselves, they can only request information personally from the moderator and the moderator will respond in the same way.
One of the main problems of open communities is the saturation of the email of users, since most are subscribed to more than one community.
The owners or moderators of the communities can determine a regulation of language and conduct of the members at their discretion and according to the category in which it is found, it can even expel the user who does not comply with this regulation.
Forums.- Forums are spaces for discussion and debate that most Internet pages can offer for their visitors to exchange ideas and information on any topic, it has a similarity with virtual communities in terms of their basic way of operating, without However, there are differences that are decisive between one and the other.
One of the differences is that in the forum the information is stored on a Web page and not in the user's email, another difference is that anyone who enters the page can see the messages, they are not for a specific group, anyone can intervene in the subject.
The great difference between forums and communities is that the exchange of ideas and information does not take place based on a special feature of the users but on a specific topic, there is a forum for each topic and anyone interested in it can participate.
The way in which a forum works is that if a user has a question about a topic just paste a "Post" in the forum and wait for one or more users who know about the topic or have the answer to answer the message that he left, this "Post" can have only two messages or thousands, depending on the topic and the interest of the users.
Blog. One of the most current tools are Blogs, also called blogs, these are spaces on the Internet where netizens can tell stories, narrate their day, criticize an event, write a note of their personal interest or anything that may occur to them, expects no response from anyone, it's like an online personal journal.
The massive use of this space is relatively new and the use of these logs grows more and more, some users use them literally as a personal diary, others, however, use it as a daily or weekly column to publish any news, comment or opinion of some current topic of society. Internet users who decide to use the Blogs have two alternatives, remain anonymous or use a personalized blog where they are identified.
You could say that a Blog is a personal Internet page, however it would be a very limited page, since companies that offer this service regularly only allow you to choose between predetermined wallpapers, access to the note of the day is easy to manage but it does not allow you to make your own designs.
Chat. One of the oldest tools used by users are chat rooms or chat in real time. In these rooms, netizens from one country can chat instantly with others from a different country.
In order to enter to chat in most of these rooms you do not need to register, you only need a Nick Name and you can chat with the users who are online at those times. The talks can be massive, with all users connected, or private, with a particular user.
Unlike the communities or forums, which allow communication between users from different countries, it is that in Chat the talk is in real time, the gap, if there is one, is a few seconds, it occurs only between Users online at the moment and the messages and the conversation are only saved while connected in that Chat room, then it disappears without a trace.
It is common for frequent users to make appointments in specific rooms to talk to each other again. Chat rooms are divided into categories and the classic ones are:
Romance,
Friends,
Over 30,
Over 20,
Flirt,
The plaza,
Music,
Religion
Although there is also the possibility of creating your own room according to the theme of preference.
Seekers. In Mexico there are hundreds of search engines, but there are three main ones:
www.yahoo.com.mx
www.google.com.mx
www.t1msn.com
Search engines are Internet pages which store and separate data into categories of various companies, institutions, organizations or other particular Internet pages that have been previously registered in such search engines, they also have detectors that allow the capture of other unregistered pages that They are online for users to visit. This detection is made based on “MetaTags” or also called identification cards of each Web page.
Search engines are the most frequented by users to find pages that help their activities, so if a student wants information about the history of the administration, visit a search engine and type the words "administration history" in the search engine and press the Enter or "ENTER" key, the search engines review their registered database and then the "Meta Tags" of the other pages and those that match the words that the student typed to display them on the page and can be accessed for this.
The major and most famous search engines charge an annual fee to companies or organizations for registering in their database, others, however, charge per "click", that is, to charge for each time a user enters the registered page.
A diversification of search engines are business catalogs which work in almost the same way, except that the latter only present Internet users to registered companies.
On-line shop. These are the ones that offer the products or services of a company or business to be purchased online. For a virtual store to work requires security for both customers and the company, it also requires a form that will fill a database which will be filled with users and their purchases, as well as a special design for the presentation of the products and their details.
The way a virtual store works is as follows:
a) Netizens visit the page where the products for sale are presented and search for the product of their choice, review the details presented.
b) If the product is to your liking and you wish to purchase it, select the product, register in the form presented on the Website, provide your personal information, address and select a payment method, this information is emptied in the database of the company that offers the products.
c) The company, upon receiving the purchase request from the netizen, contacts the buyer to fine-tune the details of the purchase, if the method of payment by electronic deposit is selected, it provides the necessary data to make the payment, if I select credit card it only notifies that I have received the payment since I will send the product to the given address.
d) Once payment is confirmed, pack and send the product to the customer.
e) Verify that the cybernaut buyer has received the product and contact him to receive the corresponding feedback.
f) Add that buyer's data to your customer database for future reference.
Virtual stores generally have an attractive design and must provide security to users, there are various companies that encrypt the information on their page so that no one else can see it, thereby protecting the user from their identity and personal information.
This is, generically, the way in which virtual stores work, there are specific details that will not be presented in this work due to the great diversity of these.
Virtual Catalogs. Most people have had printed catalogs of clothing, shoes, quilts, lingerie or makeup on their hands, sellers often lend the catalogs to potential customers to see the products and then come back through the form to ask if they would buy something. Well, in addition to these forms, there are virtual catalogs that are identical, only one is a book that one person can have at a time and the other is a web page that anyone can see whenever they want, at the time they want without need to borrow it from someone.
There are also virtual catalogs on a CD that offer greater advantages than printed ones since they can have an image and design, as well as mobility and interactivity.
Online Auctions. One of the most widely used buy-sell channels by netizens is Internet auctions, where all users can offer items for sale like buying others in a fast, cheap and reliable way.
One of the best known and used auction companies in the world is Ebay, it was the first to offer in cyberspace the opportunity to sell its users both new and used products to others. Currently there are several companies in different countries that offer this service, in Mexico the two main sites are Mercado Libre and Deremate.
Online auctions work in a simple way in which the netizen can be buyer and seller at the same time, it is necessary to register on the page to be able to track their transactions and thus give greater security to users, after this they can To buy the offered products or put one for sale, each seller specifies the price he wants to receive for his product and the payment and delivery characteristics. There are users who are dedicated to selling through this medium and have a range of products, have established delivery and collection policies and have prestige with other users.
Companies that offer online auctions charge sellers users a commission for completed sale transactions, as well as on-page promotion to make products stand out from others.
These are the tools that have been considered basic for the development of the marketing plan in Mexican micro and small companies, these have been chosen due to their common use among Internet users, as well as the low cost of some of them. that several of those presented are free for general use.
It was considered of vital importance to show the operation of each tool since they are precisely the ones with which Mexican netizens interact on the network, the tools are the link between companies and users who are potential customers.
In the next point we will analyze how these links can be used by micro entrepreneurs to achieve a position in the virtual market and attract potential buyers not only to your Website but to your business and services.
Online Opportunities
Currently access to the virtual market and technology is not a competitive advantage for micro and small companies but a necessity. This need is invisible to the eyes of many small entrepreneurs who still believe that the Internet and computers are a luxury or a fad. That is why in this section we will present the multiple advantages that Internet presence can bring to small businesses.
It costs less commerce through the Web, according to a note from the Diario de Cd. Juárez, the Internet is indispensable for commerce because it reduces purchase-sale transaction costs, this because the buyer can access the company's products and information 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. This allows savings on phone calls to give product information or follow up on a sale. Maximizes staff time because they receive orders at any time of the day.
The use of the Internet is in constant growth, in Mexico there are currently a total of 17.1 million Internet users in which young people and children stand out. Imagine the business opportunities that this implies in the present and in the future.
73% of Mexican Internet users use the Internet as a reference and decision influence for purchases in physical stores. If a business is not on the Internet, even a large number of potential buyers are being lost since they do not take it into account when making comparisons before the purchase.
Internet advertising is cheaper and captures more attention from future customers. On the Internet, it is easier and faster to send interactive advertising with attractive designs and colors, which makes the consumer focus on the ad, in addition to the fact that the effectiveness of a campaign can be measured in real time, and can Making adjustments to this instantly is something other means are impossible to do.
This advertising is cheaper because companies can pay in various ways, among which are, payment only for actual visits to the ad or payment by registered consumers, which allows investment in advertising to be better exploited at a lower cost and you only pay for viewed ads. It is also important to mention that the Internet has decreased the use of various traditional media such as radio, newspapers and magazines by an average of 40%.
More and more Mexicans are making purchases online, from 2004 to date these purchases have increased by 81%, this percentage is above the average for the entire Latin American region, this according to a study by Visa International In this it was also said that Mexico is the second most important market in the region, just below Brazil.
Thus, there are some opportunities that the network of networks offers to entrepreneurs, there are many more that were not mentioned but are currently being used by various national and international businesses.
Integration of the Internet into the marketing strategy
By knowing the advantages of the network, small businesses can increase their competitiveness, since it allows greater access and better information management, efficient communication quickly and less expensively, in addition to allowing them to sell in the consumer's own home. 24 hours a day. However, technology is good only if you know how to use it, that is, the business must be a stable business outside the Internet in order to have stability on the Web.
To carry out online marketing or e-marketing, the elements of the Marketing Mix will be changed, the traditional 4'Ps, which are Product, Price, Place and Promotion, for 4 new elements of e-marketing that are Customer, Communication, Cost and Convenience, which will be called the 4, Cs.
The reasons for this change can be seen in the following table:
| 4 Traditional Ps | 4 Cs of e-marketing | |
| 1. Product: Sell a ready-made product
2. Promotion: Massive, invasive, unilateral advertising. 3. Price: Amount charged to customers for the product, determined by studies and relationship with the competition. 4. Plaza: Consider the physical place of purchase, branches. |
1. Client: Produce what is sold.
2 Communication: Interactivity, immediate feedback. 3. Cost: A psychological cost resulting from the perception that customers have added to the service, product displacement and waiting times. The cost implies much more than the price paid. 4. Convenience: Faster way to reach the customer, permanent catalog. |
This does not imply a radical change in the use of online marketing, it is just a different approach that highlights the new trends of the virtual market, the important points that must be taken into account in cyberspace to be able to attack them more effectively.
On the Internet, unlike the physical market, the product itself is not as important as the customer's need, an excellent example in the DELL company that offers the customer the possibility of putting together the product they want to buy, does not offer specific products It is the opportunity for the buyer to choose and determine exactly what he wants online, which makes the company focus not so much on the product but on customer satisfaction and the production of each of their orders.
Another of the great differences that the Internet has is the level and quality of communication that is achieved because it allows a personalization of the information provided, thus achieving a greater impact with some advertising campaign because the target consumers are targeted and not massify the information.
Regarding prices, it is important to clarify that, online, these will be determined and accepted by the client. Let's take the example of DELL, a person can find a fixed and predetermined product in a store waiting to be sold, which may be to their liking and costs $ 10,000 pesos, however at DELL you have the possibility to add remove the elements that you think are not Convenient, putting together your own product that comes out at $ 11,000 pesos, what product would you buy? Will the rise in price be so decisive for the customer to prefer a generic product or one of their own, personalized? This is what is called psychological cost.
Last but not least, there is the difference from the place of sale. For non-virtual businesses, it is very important to have a well-located, decorated premises, as well as the presentation of the goods, this is the most important thing in this element because customers visit the place to make purchases However, in virtual businesses, the premises will only be seen as a warehouse, since what is relevant in itself will be the way in which the product is delivered to the customer, the disbursement of this and the time it will take to get it, in addition to show you products permanently without the need to leave your home.
Having then these 4 Cs understood, an integration of this new means of communication and marketing such as the Internet can be made to our marketing strategy for the company, because we can adapt our actions to these trends of the four elements of the Marketing Mix and successfully carry out an alternate e-marketing strategy. It is worth mentioning that the 4 Ps and 4 Cs are not mutually exclusive, on the contrary with complementary ones.
Use of the Tools for Commerce and Services Companies.
Once the available tools and the elements of the e-Marketing Mix are known, it can be shown how the Mexican micro and small companies dedicated to commerce and services can use them to get the most out of them.
In part three of this document, different tools that the Internet has available, as well as a brief description of how each of them works, were revealed. It is in this section, then, how a small businessman can apply them to his business. and the benefit that this can bring you. The table below shows the different tools and their impact on each one of the Cs.
E-mail is a basic resource for companies, it is a communication channel used by all people who use the Internet, since according to a study by the Mexican Internet Association, Internet users in Mexico check their email every time they connect to the network of networks.
Micro companies can use this tool to maintain communication with their captive clients in a cheaper way, as well as to send various promotions interactively and with a better presentation. The number of printed flyers, as well as the number and cost of telephone calls to each client would decrease, since with a single email sent you can reach up to 50 people, in addition, a greater impact would be achieved with each ad because they can be personalized and get immediate feedback. One of the benefits of e-mail advertising campaigns is that it can be changed instantly and rectified, which is difficult in other media such as print.
Mexican micro and small companies can use the Internet as an alternative means to communicate with their customers and suppliers who have access to an account (which is the majority, you just have to ask them) for information exchange and promotions.
In summary, electronic mail or e-mail makes communication or transfer of information between clients faster, more effective and less expensive.
Internet pages for companies have been mythicized throughout the history of the Web, it is believed that the fact of designing an Internet page and uploading it to the network is enough, however realizing that this is not It certainly brings frustration, Internet pages require constant updating in order to have credibility.
For micro companies, it is important to know that on a Web page it is an opportunity to present the data that it deems necessary for customers to find out about the products it sells, offer additional services for free to potential customers, and show payment policies. and delivery of products, in this way all netizens will be able to know the company, its products, its policies, in addition to obtaining extra benefits.
An example of this is the Club Mujer of a young businesswoman who offers cosmetics and beauty products for sale, on her website, shows the contact information and identification of her company, offers her products for sale and establishes the purchase procedure- sale, but not only that, it also offers beauty tips, skincare items and the opportunity to win one free makeup session per month. These published data and services provided by the businesswoman on the website generate visitor loyalty.
The realization of a page of this type, a live page, brings with it various benefits, among them the generation of a psychological value on the part of the clients, a frequent traffic of visits which allows the exposure of the Web Site to more potential clients, the provide the customer with the necessary data to know and request the products or services offered.
In terms of advertising or efficient communication on the Internet, there are various tools such as virtual communities, forums, Blogs and Chat. Virtual communities are excellent for maintaining communication with both real and potential clients, as well as for knowing their experiences and doubts, it is also ideal for forming groups of clients with similar tastes so that you can provide them with specific information for their needs, these groups They have no cost and can be created with great ease.
Forums and Blogs, are used to leave announcements published in various points of the network waiting for the traffic of the netizens, these announcements in the Forums and Blogs could be compared with the announcements in radio and television, since they are published for a mass of visitors However, the difference is in the cost and the number of people to whom the commercial is exposed since in these Internet tools the advertisement is free and in traditional media it is not, and the number of people who visit the commercial in the forums it is less to which this commercial in television is exposed.
In a study carried out by the company Edelman assures that the Blogs can be used for marketing aspects since in these spaces, 50% of the Blogs published, who create them talk about companies and products, 28% use them as a way of doing public relations, 26% to evaluate products and services. To Post an announcement in these tools, simply select the forum and the section that is considered most convenient, there are national forums that are divided by states and cities, these are a good option.
Using the Chat is a little different since communication is in real time and they allow customers to answer questions at the moment, if you want to have your own Chat, you can do it with a small outlay, this Chat will be based on the Web page and requires an online service schedule. This is to designate a daily hour where visitors to your page or customers can access the Chat and talk with you or a representative of your company to resolve their doubts at the moment. This, in addition to serving as direct and real-time communication, is highly valued by both potential and real customers because they can communicate with you without having to pick up the phone or leave your home or office.
The search engines have two basic functions for the benefit of micro and small companies, one of them is to facilitate the Internet users to enter the Web Site of the business and the other is a better positioning in the search listings with the reference words. In order for the Internet page to be well positioned, it can be done in two ways, one of them is to pay an annual rent to the search engine to achieve a privileged position and the other is to insert in the Web Page a card with the general data of the company and the keywords of the content of the same.
The fact that an Internet page is registered in a search engine is an advantage since otherwise the user must know the full address of the page in order to access it.
Small companies can use a virtual store to increase their sales with fewer resources and reaching different types of people, in it they can offer the specific characteristics of each product and present it to captive and potential customers, in virtual stores customers can raise the order of your products as well as paying them immediately or waiting for the sale by the company to be confirmed.
On the page of the secretary of economy, two software companies are recommended that offer the support of virtual stores to be able to charge instantly with credit and debit cards, in addition to training to follow up on these purchases. For some trade companies, it may be very convenient to belong to a virtual store since it would allow the possibility of increasing their sales and offering customers this service so that they can buy products more easily and automatically.
Some Mexican virtual stores are:
www.elsotano.com
www.paguito.com
www.dell.com.mx
www.esmas.com
It is recommended to visit them to observe how they work.
Catalogs are a common way of selling that several companies have found profitable, but this has a disadvantage, imagine that the buyer could not buy the product they lent him the catalog, after several months or days he has the ability to buy one but he needs to see again the catalog, you must first contact the seller to lend you the catalog again, after you choose the product, you will contact the seller again to request the order and wait for the product to arrive, this obviously takes a long time for the seller and for the buyer.
Now imagine that this company, in addition to giving printed catalogs to sellers, has a virtual catalog of its products so that customers can see the products at the time they want without having to wait for the form to be delivered to their home, This would speed up the sale and allow reaching customers in a simpler and less expensive way.
The last tool we will try is online auctions, they have been growing in recent years, the Latin American auction company Mercado Libre has notified that its sales in Mexico for the course of 2005 were 280 million pesos.
These auctions are widely recommended for trading companies, however there have been cases in which some service is auctioned off or offered, such as the rent of a server space or web page designs.
Most of these auction companies divide the products into categories so that users can find the products they are looking for faster, the seller is the one who chooses the category in which the product they sell falls.
These auctions offer two sales options, the auction and the immediate purchase, that is, a seller can choose between offering his product at a set price or offering the product and that the possible buyers set the price. Buyers can also be provided with different forms of payment, by bank deposit, interbank transfer, payment on delivery or by debit or credit card, thus offering customers different options to pay.
Many of the micro entrepreneurs with commercial businesses have adapted auctions as the main sales channel, creating virtual sub-stores on these Internet pages, achieving great reliability and prestige among buyers and users.
The cost of using these auctions is a percentage of the sales that are made, these percentages range from 2% to 15% depending on the amount of the product. In this channel you can sell any product, from stationery to furniture, houses and cars, but what is sold are electronic devices, computer accessories, books, CDs, Movies and Airline tickets.
Therefore, we present the way in which companies can use the different tools of the Internet to achieve a successful foray into cyberspace, it is important that companies identify which tools are appropriate for what they offer since it is not necessary to use them. all at the same time, it is also considered relevant to communicate that these tools are not mutually exclusive but instead are inclusive, that they are not dependent on each other but can be combined in different ways to achieve a positive effect for the company.
Advantages of being in Cyberspace.
One of the main advantages of a company being online is to identify and reach different market niches with the diversification of its services or products, in addition to the fact that it can be done at lower costs and in a more interactive way.
When a company decides to do business on the Internet it is because, probably, it has its market segment identified and satisfied with its services or products, so it seeks to reach other types of people who seek added value to existing products or services., or looking for clients from another part of the state or country, to grow or diversify.
When these types of micro and small businesses start their online adventure, it is very likely that they will be successful because they have a solid base of doing business. However, when a start-up company wants to enter cyberspace, it must be prepared to fight in the first attempts to attract customers, since they are more selective on the Internet and the ability to meet the deadlines and products promised in the orders must be tested.. For these new companies it will be more difficult, however, to highlight the cost and time for this to happen is little.
In cyberspace a company can improve communication with its customers, better information management and a less expensive way of advertising, with the proper use of the tools that the Internet offers, it can be effectively promoted, its communications will be exposed To more people, you can reach more potential customers with the opportunities to do business with them no matter where they are.
Some of the advantages that the Internet offers to your company are:
Presence: Having a website on the Internet also helps your potential clients to locate you, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In a market with strong competition, it is necessary that people interested in the goods or services offered can easily find them.
Information distribution: If a company needs to offer information instantly or continuously to its clients or potential clients, a Web service makes this task easier, saving you time and money. Imagine that you want to publicize monthly offers, conditions of sale or relationship of your distributors. This information can be published on a Web service immediately.
Contact: One of the most important characteristics of the Internet is its ability to facilitate and reduce communication among its users. If a company has a mechanism linked to your business that keeps you in contact with other people, through which they can answer your questions or request information, you will be on the way to acquire new customers.
Showcase: A business has necessarily limited customer service hours, and also its physical presence may be locally limited. When you have a website, you immediately have a place where you can show what you do, your products and your services to everyone, without time or geographic limitations.
Sales tool: A business can turn its website into a sales tool. Can you imagine having the business open every day of the year and at all hours of the day? Having such a mechanism can make transactions with regular customers easier and cheaper, or simply sell during days and hours when your business is now closed.
The risks involved
The greatest risk of companies entering online businesses is that they lose themselves in the vastness of cyberspace, that their stay in the network of networks is not known to the people they are targeting, and that the annual investment requires only an expense.
It is common to find on the Internet pages with outdated designs and information from past years, e-mail accounts without checking, data without updating for a long time that offer nothing to users other than the annoyance of having come across this Web Site, this It is what happens when a company enters the world of the Internet without having a defined strategy, so it does not know what it wants to achieve with the Internet page and there is no monitoring or continuous work.
If a customer enters the website and does not find updated information in two months, it will be difficult for them to re-enter, causing the loss of confidence, not only of the customer who had the bad experience but of all the acquaintances of that customer at the same time. which will convey their experience.
To avoid falling into this risk, you must have clear objectives when entering the network of networks and constantly work to achieve them, the Internet alone does not attract customers or sell products or services, micro and small companies must have a strategy of established marketing that guided the actions to be taken online to help business success and not let those actions fall and get lost in cyberspace giving a bad image of your brand online.
E-Marketing in Mexican Micro and Small Businesses
Most of the smallest companies in Mexico believe that to start doing business on the Internet it is enough to design a Web page, however this is not true, as this belief exists many more, this is because they do not really know the potential that The Internet represents the possibilities offered by the network of networks to conduct business.
As it has been mentioned throughout this work, it is not necessary to have your own Internet page to carry out online marketing activities, you can inform promotions, expose communications, offer the product catalog and even sell products without having to have an own Web Site.
The website is only an Internet tool that can be used by entrepreneurs for their e-marketing mix, since when used appropriately combined with other tools it can bring several types of advantages, but used as an isolated action it is It probably won't work as expected.
Currently, micro and small companies that use the Internet are few, those who decide to use it do so motivated by fashion, rather than to do business, however it is expected that in the coming years they will begin to integrate into cyberspace due to the great growth of users mainly from the young population that cannot go a week without connecting to the network.
E-Marketing is one of the functions that Mexican micro companies can and should take full advantage of in order to achieve a competitiveness that allows them to survive in the market, for example in the US, SMEs enter the Internet mainly to promote and advertise their business, the The Mexican virtual market is young, even though it allows entry with great possibilities of success for all sizes of Mexican companies.
In the case of small companies in Mexico, it positions them at an unbeatable moment in which they can take a place in the online market, to position themselves in the young users who are growing with the Internet, masterfully use the different tools and take As a reference to the businesses that are online to carry out the majority of their purchases, working so that in the near future they can count on the reliability of users, being the market's favorite. The Internet offers this great advantage of positioning large companies such as small ones in cyber space in equal conditions for the market, competing only with the service and products offered.
A study by the consultancy Jupiter Research found that in e-marketing or Internet marketing it is relatively important to make indirect sales in traditional commerce, according to this analysis, the Internet has a greater impact on offline commerce, that is, the Users use the network to obtain the necessary information to make a purchase decision that will be made later in the shopping center.
As you can see, the fact that a small company in Mexico implements e-marketing will bring you a competitive advantage that will give you a privileged position in front of your competitors, achieving with them a sure increase in your sales and a reputation among the clients that you will grow your company.
Possibly in the future the names of the companies will all start with a WWW.
Final recommendations
The Internet has come to change the way of doing business, just look at the large companies that started as an idea in the head of an entrepreneur: Amazon, Dell, Google and Ebay, which have achieved worldwide significance achieving large sales and positioned to its creators and executives have great profits, their success did not happen overnight, it has been a long road of work that more than paid off what was invested.
The great challenge for Mexican Micro and Small Businesses is learning how to use the Internet to conduct business, earning the trust of users, seeking and implementing better payment options, and meeting delivery deadlines, since these are the points that netizens highlight as main to make their purchases online.
The Internet market in Mexico is growing day by day, and with the various companies they integrate and offer their services online:
Aeromexico.com.mx
Cinepolis.com.mx
Decompras.com
deremate.com.mx
elsotano.com.mx
mixup.com.mx
ticketmaster.com.mx
viajamos.com.mx
Among other.
These companies have verified that in Mexico you can successfully conduct business on the Internet, it is recommended that you analyze their cases individually and visit their site to learn about their experience.
Finally, it should be clarified that the simple fact that a company is on the Internet will not bring to its website the 17.1 million Internet users that exist in the country to do business with such a company, it requires patience and constant work, a marketing strategy and a proper mix of e-marketing.
Now customers are not only waiting for you outside, they are at home and working connected to the network of networks waiting for companies to offer added values and benefits to services and products, they do not have to be kept waiting.
Documentary references
| one | Acosta, Nelly. Businesses take advantage of Blogs. El Diario Digital: Cd. Juárez Edition.
November 18, 2005 |
| two | Mexican Internet Association, Executive Summary - Internet Study in Mexico 2005 |
| 3 | Mexican Internet Association. "Habits of Internet users in Mexico, 2005".
CD ROM. October 2005. |
| 4 | Mexican Internet Association. |
| 5 | Cor Molenaar. The future of marketing. Spain: Prentice Hall, 2002 |
| 6 | El Diario Digital: Cd. Juárez Edition. They take Addiction by Web. November 18, 2005 |
| 7 | Fabián Remo Tamayo, Internet edition 2003, Anaya Multimedia, Page 3 |
| 8 | García, Sandra. It costs less commerce for the Web. El Diario Digital: Cd. Juárez Edition.
October 2005. |
| 9 | García, Sandra. 7 out of 10 SMEs die. Juárez newspaper. September 7, 2005 |
| 10 | SMEs on the Internet. <http://www.tarsis.net/>. September 2005 |
| eleven | SMEs use the Internet. <http://www.desarrolloweb.com/ articulos / 1226.php? manual = 5>.
September 2005 |
| 12 | Butler, Juan. E-marketing. Spain: 2000 Management. 2002 |
| 13 | PriceWaterhouseCooper. Results report of the first study of electronic commerce in Mexico.
October 2005 |
| 14 | Secretary of Economy. <www.economia.gob.mx>. September 21, 2005 |
| fifteen | Taboada, Jorge. Demonstrate usefulness of online advertising. Reform Agency. September 2005. |
| 16 | Víctor Manuel Molero. Advertising, Marketing and Communication. Spain: ESIC Editorial, 1995. |
1. Fabián Remo Tamayo, Internet edition 2003, Anaya Multimedia, Page 3
2. Mexican Internet Association, Executive Summary - Internet Study in Mexico 2005.
3. Mexican Internet Association.. September 25, 2005
4. Mexican Internet Association. "Habits of Internet users in Mexico, 2005". CD ROM. October 2005.
5. PriceWaterhouseCooper. Results report of the first study of electronic commerce in Mexico. October 2005
6. Secretary of Economy. <www.economia.gob.mx>. September 21, 2005
7. García, Sandra. 7 out of 10 SMEs die. Juárez newspaper. September 7, 2005.
8. Víctor Manuel Molero. Advertising, Marketing and Communication. Spain: ESIC Editorial, 1995.
9. Cor Molenaar. The future of marketing. Spain: Prentice Hall, 2002
10. Cor Molenaar. The future of marketing. Spain: Prentice Hall, 2002
11. Companies like Yahoo and MSN offer the email address for life, although it is necessary to clarify that if the company disappears, the email address will also disappear.
12. It is called encrypting the encoding of the data provided by the user to an Internet page while it is transferred to the server, it is a way of protecting the data, it is encoded, traveled and decoded when it reaches its destination
13. García, Sandra. It costs less commerce for the Web. El Diario Digital: Cd. Juárez Edition. October 2005.
14. Mexican Internet Association. "Habits of Internet users in Mexico, 2005". CD ROM. October 2005
15. Taboada, Jorge. Demonstrate usefulness of online advertising. Reform Agency. September 2005.
16. Butler, Juan. E-marketing. Spain: Gestión 2000. 2002
17. Acosta, Nelly. Blogs are used by companies. El Diario Digital: Cd. Juárez Edition. November 18, 2005
18. SMEs on the Internet. <>. September 2005
19. El Diario Digital: Cd. Juárez Edition. They take Addiction by Web. November 18, 2005
20. SMEs use the Internet. <http://www.desarrolloweb.com/articulos/1226.php>. September 2005.
