Contents

Sr No. Particulars Page No.

1 Executive Summary 3
Section A
2 Introduction to Internet Marketing 4
3 Importance of Internet Marketing 11
Information Marketing – The Process and the
4 Concept 13
Deal Listing Sites and Various other
5 Innovations in Internet Marketing 14
6 Market Trends & Statistics 22
7 About Forysta 26
8 About SNO 27
Section B
9 Competitors and their model of Working 34

10 Partnership with SalenOffers.com and its Types 39

11 Reasons to Partner with SalenOffers.com 40
12 Business Development 42
13 Client Behavior 46
14 Experience 48
Market Analysis and the Future of Internet
15 Marketing 50
16 Conclusion 53
17 Recommendations 53
18 References 54

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 Acknowledgement

I, Vinod M Raisinghani, a student of PGDBM at N.L.Dalmia Institute of Management

Studies and Research would like to take this opportunity to thank all the People involved in
making this project a success.

First of all, I would like to thank Forysta Ventures and team for giving me this opportunity
and their constant support. I would also like to thank Prof. P.L.Arya, the director of our
institute and all the faculty members of the institute for their support and love. I am thankful
to the institute for their infrastructural help also.

Regards,

Vinod M Raisinghani

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Executive Summary

This Project Report is based on the Summer Internship Assignment given to me at

SalenOffers.com, a Forysta Ventures Initiative. It is purely based on the experience gained as
Business Development Executive for an Internet Portal.

 The Report covers, the concept of Internet Marketing and its Importance as a medium
of Promotions.

 It also makes a person know about the new concept of Information Marketing and the
process of implementing it as a business.

 Innovations in Internet Marketing i.e. various concepts like SEO, Social Media
Optimization, E-mail marketing, Banner Ads etc are explained in complete detail.

 Background of the Subject Company along with the profile of business and the
Current Market Trends and Statistics are also discussed.

 There are no direct competitors of the Website or Competitors of that Caliber as direct
ones; hence some indirect competitors and pioneers of the industry in India are
studied with an overview.

 Reasons to Partner with SalenOffers.com and various models of Partnership as per the
Business Model of the related partner is discussed in detail.

 Some of the features of Business Development are also highlighted along with a pinch
of knowledge over Client Behavior studied during the internship.

 Finally, the Market is Analyzed and the future of the market taking into consideration
various innovations is also discussed.

Introduction to Internet Marketing

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Internet marketing, also referred to as i-marketing, web-marketing, online-marketing,
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or e-Marketing, is the marketing of products or services
over the Internet.

The Internet has brought media to a global audience. The interactive nature of Internet
marketing in terms of providing instant response and results, is a unique quality of the
medium. Internet marketing is sometimes considered to have a broader scope because it not
only refers to the Internet, e-mail, and wireless media, but it includes management of digital
customer data and electronic customer relationship management (ECRM) systems.

Internet marketing ties together creative and technical aspects of the Internet, including:
design, development, advertising, and sales.

Internet marketing also refers to the placement of media along many different stages of the
customer engagement cycle through search engine marketing (SEM), search engine
optimization (SEO), banner ads on specific websites, e-mail marketing, and Web 2.0
strategies.

In stark contrast to traditional marketing maneuvers, internet marketing comes with a lot of
benefits and advantages. It is up to the organization promoting products and services to
realize the real worth of these services so that the products get the leverage they deserve and
also receive huge exposure in front of a huge and influential audience that believes in trying
out new products and making investments in them.

Internet marketing services use the Internet as a medium to advertise and sell products and
services. They are a form of electronic commerce, online marketing is used by most of the
business organizations to expand and promote their marketing worldwide. The best thing
about this strategy is that it works in both the cases, i.e. Business to Business and Business to
Customer. Both have had tremendous impact on industries such as flea markets, banking, and
music.

Today, Internet marketing has become a fashionable marketing plan as Internet usage has
increased tremendously among the public. Like any other traditional marketing strategy,
internet marketing covers customer service, public relations, information management, and

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sales. It has a number of advantages over any other traditional marketing methods. It happens
to be very cost effective and flexible than offline advertising, which is great news for
marketers. The investment that they will have to do in it would be far less in comparison to
traditional marketing. The presence of internet marketing is 24x7x365. This implies that the
service can be used throughout the year and is present all the time over the web. The
convenience that the user gets to research on a product is much more.

Sales performances are standardized and the credibility of the product is improved. The kind
of marketing that the promoter of the product gets to establish is two-way communicative
marketing with the costs involved in market research being very cheap. The biggest
advantage of using internet marketing as a tool to promote your products is the global
exposure that the product receives. Since the product is made visible in front of a global
audience, things invariably start falling into place.

With all of these benefits in place, Online internet marketing has definitely evolved as one of
the most ballistic methods of marketing and has turned the world of product promotions
upside down. The benefits that have flown in are huge and the advantages are tremendous.
Internet marketing has indeed become one of the greatest phenomena of modern day
marketing and has turned out to be the best in the industry.

Internet marketing is associated with several business models:

e-commerce

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This is where goods are sold directly to consumers (B2C) or businesses (B2B).

e.g. Ebay.com

Publishing

This is an advertisement regarding a sale.

Lead-based websites

This is an organization that generates value by acquiring sales leads from its website for
Businesses allied with the website.

e.g. Mydala.com

Affiliate Marketing

This is the process in which a product or service developed by one person is sold by other
active sellers for a share of profits. The owner of the product normally provide some
marketing material (sales letter, affiliate link, tracking facility).

Local internet marketing

This is the process of a locally based company traditionally selling belly to belly and utilizing
the Internet to find and nurture relationships, later to take those relationships offline.

There are many other business models based on the specific needs of each person or the
business that launches an Internet marketing campaign.

The Target Population or the Target Market can be approached with the following customized
approaches:

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One-to-one approach

The targeted user is typically browsing the Internet alone therefore the marketing messages
can reach them personally. This approach is used in search marketing, where the
advertisements are based on search engine keywords entered by the users.

Appeal to specific interests

Internet marketing and geo marketing places emphasis on marketing that appeal to a specific
behavior or interest, rather than reaching out to a broadly-defined demographic. "On- and
Off-line" marketers typically segment their markets according to age group, gender,
geography, and other general factors. Marketers have the luxury of targeting by activity and
geographical location. For example, a kayak company can post advertisements on kayaking
and canoeing websites with the full knowledge that the audience has a related interest.

Internet marketing differs from magazine advertisements, where the goal is to appeal to the
projected demographic of the periodical, but rather the advertiser has knowledge of the target
audience or people who engage in certain activities (e.g., uploading pictures, contributing to
blogs) so the company does not rely on the expectation that a certain group of people will be
interested in its new product or service.

Geo targeting

Geo targeting (in internet marketing) and geo marketing are the methods of determining the
geolocation (the physical location) of a website visitor with geolocation software, and
delivering different content to that visitor based on his or her location, such as country,
region/state, city, metro code/zip code, organization, Internet Protocol (IP) address, ISP or
other criteria.

Different content by choice

A typical example for different content by choice in geo targeting is the FedEx
website at FedEx.com where users have the choice to select their country location first

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 and are then presented with a different site or article content depending on their
selection.

Automated different content

With automated different content in Internet marketing and geomarketing, the

delivery of different content based on the geographical geolocation and other personal
information is automated.

Advantages

Internet marketing is relatively inexpensive when compared to the ratio of cost against the
reach of the target audience. Companies can reach a wide audience for a small fraction of
traditional advertising budgets. The nature of the medium allows consumers to research and
purchase products and services at their own convenience. Therefore, businesses have the
advantage of reaching out to consumers through a medium that can bring results quickly. The
strategy and overall effectiveness of marketing campaigns depend on business goals and cost-
volume-profit (CVP) analysis.

Internet marketers also have the advantage of measuring statistics easily and inexpensively.
Nearly all aspects of an Internet marketing campaign can be traced, measured, and tested. The
advertisers can use a variety of methods: pay per impression, pay per click, pay per play, or
pay per action. Therefore, marketers can determine which messages or offerings are more
appealing to the audience. The results of campaigns can be measured and tracked
immediately because online marketing initiatives usually require users to click on an
advertisement, visit a website, and perform a targeted action. Such measurement cannot be
achieved through billboard advertising, where an individual will at best be interested, then
decide to obtain more information at a later time..

Because exposure, response, and overall efficiency of Internet media are easier to track than
traditional off-line media—through the use of web analytics for instance—Internet marketing
can offer a greater sense of accountability for advertisers. Marketers and their clients are
becoming aware of the need to measure the collaborative effects of marketing (i.e., how the
Internet affects in-store sales) rather than differentiating between each advertising medium.

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The effects of multichannel marketing can be difficult to determine, but are an important part
of ascertaining the value of media campaigns.

Limitations

Internet marketing requires customers to use newer technologies rather than traditional
media. Low-speed Internet connections are another barrier. If companies build large or
overly-complicated websites, individuals connected to the Internet via dial-up connections or
mobile devices experience significant delays in content delivery.

From the buyer's perspective, the inability of shoppers to touch, smell, taste or "try on"
tangible goods before making an online purchase can be limiting. However, there is an
industry standard for e-commerce vendors to reassure customers by having liberal return
policies as well as providing in-store pick-up services.

Insufficient ability to measure impact, lack of internal capability, and difficulty convincing
senior management are some of the other limiting factors.

Security Concerns

Information security is important both to companies and consumers that participate in online
business. Many consumers are hesitant to purchase items over the Internet because they do
not trust that their personal information will remain private.

Recently some companies that do business online have been caught giving away or selling
information about their customers. Several of these companies provide guarantees on their
websites, claiming that customer information will remain private. Some companies that
purchase customer information offer the option for individuals to have their information
removed from the database, also known as opting out. However, many customers are
unaware if and when their information is being shared, and are unable to stop the transfer of
their information between companies if such activity occurs.

Another major security concern that consumers have with e-commerce merchants is whether
or not they will receive exactly what they purchase. Online merchants have attempted to
address this concern by investing in and building strong consumer brands (e.g., Amazon.com,
eBay, Overstock.com, Indiatimes.com), and by leveraging merchant/feedback rating systems
and e-commerce bonding solutions. All of these solutions attempt to assure consumers that
their transactions will be free of problems because the merchants can be trusted to provide

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reliable products and services. Additionally, the major online payment mechanisms (Credit
Cards, PayPal, Google Checkout, etc.) have also provided back-end buyer protection systems
to address problems if they actually do occur.

Importance of Internet Presence and Marketing

 Changing Nature of Business

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For today's business owners the shape of commerce has changed. No longer is the success of
our businesses completely reliant on world-of-mouth and persuasive print advertising.
Today's savvy entrepreneurs understand that in order to be truly successful in today's
competitive environment it is absolutely essential to conduct comprehensive Internet
marketing.

 Reach

An online presence is critical for reaching your target audience in today's Internet focused
age. Internet marketing - an affordable alternative to pricey print and broadcast marketing -
can reach the people you want without breaking the bank. Let's face it; your audience is
already online; now it's just a matter of delivering them your message.

To do so, you can work with professionals who understand the complexities of Internet
marketing. They will assist you in developing your message, orchestrating a plan, and
implementing it. The result can very well be a high level of success and viability for your
small business.

 Professional help available

To find such professionals check with other small business owners - for whom you have a
respect - to determine what Internet marketing professionals worked well on their behalf. It
may be beneficial to find someone who has an understanding of your particular industry. This
alleviates the learning curve when attempting to construct an appropriate message for Internet
marketing.

Internet marketing professionals will also be well-versed on the legalities of marketing small
businesses online and can guide you through the process with an eye towards boundaries.

 Customization Possible

You may also wish to conduct your Internet marketing on your own. No one knows the
intricacies of your business better than you; who better to construct a specific message than

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you? Before embarking on any Internet marketing, however, be sure to conduct thorough
research.

 Easy to use features

Your actual Internet marketing can be conducted right on your website with the use of
surveys, give-aways, and a specific call-to-action.

It may be in your best interest to take some marketing courses so that you can best familiarize
yourself with the importance of Internet marketing.

 Mass Appeal at Low Cost and less efforts

The beauty of Internet marketing is its mass appeal. It would take enormous effort and money
to reach certain targeted audiences with specific messages delivered in a particular way. The
Internet bridges the gap between all audiences and levels the playing field for those interested
in marketing their small business.

Using Internet marketing to further the efforts of your small business can be vastly
rewarding. With consistent and poignant delivery of messages through Internet marketing you
can experience long term success and viability.

Information Marketing – The Process and the Concept

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Information Marketing Association, USA states Information Marketing as a process of three
steps, namely

1. Customer Acquisition – Customer Acquisition involves Preparation of Business

Models, Generation of leads, Conversion and Provision of Service

2. Service Fulfillment – Backend Support and Relationship building forms a part of

Service fulfillment

3. Improvement in Operations – Improving the Business Systems, the accounting

systems as well as simplifying legalities can improve the overall operations.

Deal Listing Sites and Various other Innovations in Internet Marketing

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Online advertising through Deal Listing Sites is a cost effective way to promote retail deals to
target segments. In these times of intense competition and rising advertising costs retailers
benefit from advertising on Deal Listing Sites in several ways. Apart from being cost
effective, far reaching and focused, it offers great play for cross promotional offers in other
media. The overall impact is wider than one can imagine, improves branding and increases
footfalls considerably. Deal listing sites provide retailers with the luxury of spreading the ad
spend more productively for maximum reach, improved branding and great online presence.

How online advertising in deal listing sites helps

The question that all retailers would like an answer to is - does advertising on deal listing
websites promote my deals/offers/sales? A valid question! Especially when there are several
conventional media options- newspapers, television, emails, mailers, hoardings - that have
been tried and tested. However the conventional media vehicles have their drawbacks. There
are too many deals in the marketplace causing a massive clutter. There is heavy competition.
They are all expensive modes of advertising. And finally there may not be enough return on
the ad spend!

Deal listing sites - A boon for consumers

This is exactly where Deal Listing Sites come in. These sites list all deals/offers/sales that are
on offer in the market place at one place, and make it easy for the end consumer to make an
intelligent choice sitting at his/ her desk. They also allow the consumers to search city wise,
category wise and even area wise for the best deals in the product categories that they are
interested in. Apart from providing a great convenience for the consumers, it is a very
focused platform for retailers because only those who are interested in deals visit these sites.

Value for retailers

Deal Listing Sites allow advertisers to upload their deals at a miniscule price. This allows
retailers to spread ad spend across various media and provide depth to their advertising. The
reach of online sites is world over, at every terminal so to speak, and adds fillip to the brand.
The subscription fee normally covers all deals offered for a year and the retailer can upload as
many offers and deals as may be desired during this period.

Online is the future

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For the small subscription fee, you access a whole new market - the exploding online market.
It is gradually gaining acceptance in India as is evident in the numbers - 54 million users as
on date and increasing at a rate of 20% p.a. - it is expected to touch 90 million by 2012.
Online advertising would be the most preferred medium in the future for its innovative, cost-
effective, far reaching benefits. And it does make sense to get on the bandwagon now!

Net and Mobile - Wider, focused reach

Online advertising is never complete without its equally potent twin - the mobile. SMS, Voice
and WAP are all avenues to promote the deals in cross promotional activities. At the same
time, mobile phones with access to the web have identified areas like 'retail deals' with
special pages dedicated to them, complete with downloadable discount coupons called
'mobile coupons'. When you consider the reach you get through these media in tandem vis-à-
vis the cost, it is unbelievable value.

Other associations - Print and electronic media

Deal Listing Sites operate in the retail space exclusively and hence they have associations
with other media in the retail sector. Associations with newspapers, magazines etc are
common and provide further reach through multiple media vehicles, normally at the same
cost.

In conclusion deal listings sites, apart form the cost, reach, footfalls and other associated
benefits, bring in a longer term visibility to your brand which adds tremendous value in future
as online grows bigger. In fact retailers benefit as much as consumers in this highly effective
medium.

Search Engine Optimization/Marketing

Search Engine is an internet-based tool that searches an index of documents for a particular
term, phrase or text specified by the user. Commonly used to refer to the large web-based
engines that search through billions of pages on the internet.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), It is the process of improving the volume or quality of
traffic to a web site from search engines via search results. SEO aims to improve rankings for

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relevant keywords in search results. An Individual can do Search Engine Marketing for his
own online services with the help Search Engine Optimization.

Search Engine Marketing is important because of the following factors

• 85% of all traffic on the internet is referred to by search engines

• 90% of all users don’t look past the first 30 results (most only view top 10)

• Search engine traffic is low and websites aren’t indexed because they are generally
poorly optimized

• Cost-effective advertising

• Clear and measurable ROI

• Operates under this assumption:

More (relevant) traffic + Good Conversions Rate = More Sales/Lead

The SEO process in a nutshell can be portrayed in the following manner:

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Social Media Optimization

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Social media optimization (SMO) Social Media Optimization is the methodization of social
media activity with the intent of attracting unique visitors to website content. SMO is one of
two online methods of website optimization; the other method is search engine optimization
or SEO.

There are two categories of SMO methods:

(a) Social media features added to the content itself, including: RSS feeds, social news and
sharing buttons, user rating and polling tools, and incorporating third-party community
functionalities like images and videos

(b) Promotional activities in social media aside from the content being promoted, including:
blogging, commenting on other blogs, participating in discussion groups, and posting status
updates on social networking profiles

Social media optimization is related to search engine marketing, but differs in several ways,
primarily the focus on driving traffic from sources other than search engines, though
improved search ranking is also a benefit of successful SMO.

Social media optimization is in many ways connected as a technique to viral marketing where
word of mouth is created not through friends or family but through the use of networking in
social bookmarking, video and photo sharing websites. In a similar way the engagement with
blogs achieves the same by sharing content through the use of RSS in the blogosphere and
special blog search engines.

Social Media optimization is considered an integral part of an online reputation management

(ORM) or Search Engine Reputation Management (SERM) strategy for organizations or
individuals who care about their online presence.

Social Media Optimisation (SMO), is not limited to marketing and brand building.
Increasingly smart businesses are integrating social media participation as part of their
knowledge management strategy (ie. product/service development, recruiting, employee

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engagement and turnover, brand building, customer satisfaction and relations, business
development and more).

E-Mail Marketing

A powerful means of communication and promotional activity. Can help create initial contact
and develop online relationship once transactions have taken place. Encourage readers to
look at a website. Gain permission to send more information. Surveys suggest that e-mail
campaigns are still in infancy.

E-Mail Marketing Evolution:

Viral Marketing

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Word of mouth e-mail. Achieved by using the forwarding facility (e-mail a page to a friend).
Effective form of communication in terms of believability and trust. Can build up e-mailing
list. Some customers may view this as a form of unsolicited mail.

Wireless Marketing (Mobile Marketing)

Sometimes called m-marketing or mobile marketing. Using text messaging as a means of

targeting customers. Marketers must consider customer lifestyles and be careful about setting
the right tone of the communication. Any message must be short usually alerting customer to
a special offer or promotion. Can fail to inspire or encourage interactivity. Audience tend to
be younger people.

Banner Ads

We are in a period when banner advertising seems to be on the wane. You know, those
rectangular boxes on commercial sites. Click-through rates have dipped to 0.20% for average
banners and to about 0.50% for rich media banners. According to the Eyeblaster Analytics
Bulletin for March 2009, this is very low. Are banner ads dead as a viable form of
advertising? Not really. A great many companies, large and small, still use banner ads as part
of their advertising mix and will continue to do so. Nevertheless, advertisers are becoming
more aware and informed about when and how to use banner ads.

Some of the important characteristics of Online Banner Advertisements are:

 Hits -- It means the number of times a webserver has been "hit" by a request for a
webpage or a graphic image. Since perhaps 5 out 6 "hits" are for graphic images, the
number of "hits" can be grossly misleading. Usually people mean by "hits" the number of
times a webpage has been seen, but to be precise, the better term is "views,"
"pageviews," or (more sophisticated) "impressions."

 Page impressions or pageviews -- Refers to the number of times a webpage has been
requested by the server.

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 Banner views or impressions -- Refers to the number of times a banner has been
viewed. Almost the same as "page views," but some banner server programs don't count
the banner view unless the visitor stays on the page long enough for the banner to be
fully downloaded from the banner server.

 CPM -- A metric from the print advertising, meaning "Cost Per Thousand," using the
Roman numeral "M" to stand for one thousand. A price of Rs 1500 CPM means, Rs 1500
for every thousand times a banner is displayed.

 Banner ad -- An ad graphic hyperlinked to the URL of the advertiser. These are

sometimes static graphic images, but animated rich-media banners do much better. The
most common banner size used to be 468 x 60 pixels (Full Banner). To standardize, the
Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) specifies ad sizes in their Ad Unit Guidelines. The
sizes they're recommending these days are 300x250 (Medium Rectangle), 180x150
(Rectangle), 728x90 (Leaderboard), and 160x600 (Wide Skyscraper). In fact, I don't see
people following these IAB size recommendations very closely. You'll see a lot of
125x125 (Square Button) on sites, too.

 Creative -- "Ad-speak" for the actual banner graphic.

 Click -- When a visitor clicks her mouse on a banner ad, she is transferred to the
advertiser's site. The number of responses to a banner ad is sometimes refereed to as the
number of "clicks."

 Click Throughs -- Same as "click," commonly used to count the number of visitors
who click on the banner and are transferred to the advertiser's site.

 Click Through Rate (CTR) -- The percentage of click throughs to banner views. A
1% CTR means that 1% of each 1000 banner views (or 10 visitors) have clicked through.

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 Conversion Rate -- The percentage of shoppers in an online store who actually make
a purchase. This varies a great deal, and depends a great deal on the quality of the
landing page (See more in my book, How to Develop a Landing Page).

 Cookies -- Small files written to your computer when you view a banner ad, visit a
website, or put a product in a shopping cart. This helps the banner server to keep from
showing you the same ad, or perhaps show you ads you might be more interested in
seeing. Cookies are controversial, but are here to stay; too much of the Web is run by
cookies to get rid of them. Cookies also allow an advertiser to track which banner ad a
visitor saw that brought him to the advertiser's site, and which banner ads resulted in
actual sales.

 Run of Site (ROS) -- Refers to displaying a banner ad throughout a website or a

banner network with no targeting by keyword or site category. Run of site advertising
will probably cost less than more targeted advertising.

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Market Trends & Statistics

Everything is subject to trends: fashion, music, technology, television, and more. There were
times when people used to copy Amitabh Bachan in their attire, hairstyle and even speaking.
Maybe it is still new enough not to remember that but even if we knew how fast things can go
out of style. The same is true when it comes to internet marketing. Since the early days of the
World Wide Web, businesses have been coming up with ways to use this venue in order to
increase their sales and augment the bottom line. Remember when websites were nothing
more than black and white text with a bit of colour splashed in here and there?

The only form of marketing back then was a really annoying pop-up ad or an email message.
Of course, email marketing is still going strong, but there are so many more options out there
that it doesn’t make sense to stick with the old and ignore the new.

For maximum internet marketing success, keeping up with current trends and taking
advantage of them before every one else does can be a great way to dominate an emerging
market.

Knowing everything there is to know about the latest and greatest technology and internet
marketing strategies could be a full-time job. Everything simply changes too fast these days.
Just when we get used to the idea of using our cell phone to browse the internet, Apple
creates the iPad and gives people the opportunity to use this slim new notebook as an eBook
reader. And a whole new form of internet marketing must be created in response.

So how can you keep up with rapidly changing trends? Keep an eye on the latest buzz. You
can achieve this in several ways.

Find a good blog that reviews all the newest products before they hit the consumer market
and add an RSS feed for it. You may want to do the same with a blog devoted to Web 2.0
marketing techniques. These sites are usually quite popular, with good reason – they
disseminate valuable information.

Join an online group or forum devoted to technological advances. There are lots of ‘nerds’ out
there who can’t wait to beta test the latest and greatest software and devices. It may be

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difficult to understand the lingo, but over time it will become easier to translate their geek-
speak and understand how it relates to the realm of internet marketing.

Don’t forget about offline networking, too. Join a local business association where you can
network amongst others who might have some great tips and advice to offer. Become friends
with anyone in marketing who attends the same meetings

Browse through the daily news, too. Online news sources are great places to find out about
emerging trends. Online magazines devoted to technology and/or marketing are also good
resources.

The key is watch for great opportunities and to jump on the bandwagon right away. Don’t
wait until every other e-commerce owner finally gets it and there’s a wealth of information
posted about how to market to prospects using the latest gadgets. Review it yourself and find
ways you can capitalise on this information early. This is the best way of keeping up with
current trends and staying ahead of the competition.

Looking at the Indian population from the perspective of Internet usage, urban population
forms the relevant mass. As most of the content available over the Internet is in English,
familiarity with English acts as a major factor driving Internet usage. India being a home for
22 odd regional languages, Internet is largely limited to those familiar with English. This
opens an opportunity for vernacular content to increase and thus tap the non English speaking
literate people. Internet In Urban India Exposure to PC usage acts as another factor limiting
the growth of Internet users in India. A significant increase is expected in Internet penetration
due to increasing focus on literacy, PC education and vernacular content in the coming years.

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People have started realizing that Internet can serve as a one stop point for all their needs. Be
it communication, entertainment, shopping, information search, Internet serves as a panacea
for all their requirements. This has led 70% of the ever users to glue themselves to the
Internet and access it on a regular basis.

Youth forms the major chunk to the growing Internet user base in India. This may be due to
the fact that all the sticky applications which are present today are focusing on youth and
youth forms the segment which can adapt easily with the changing times and changing
applications. Another major segment on the Internet comprises the school kids. They have
shown their increasing interest in Internet due to the initiatives taken by the Internet
application providers. There has been an unexpected decrease in the share of older men and
non working women in the Internet user pie This might be due to the lack of sticky
applications for this segment and greater growth rates of other segments clouding out growth
in this market.

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Preference for the primary access point is a function of the following 3 C’s:

Convenience, Cost & Content sought. School going kids and college students find it more
convenient to use cyber café as it is the cheapest source of access & also gives them more
privacy regarding content. On the other hand, home and office has gained popularity amongst
young men, older men and working women as they find these access points to be more
convenient & cost effective over others. The content they seek also involves e-commerce
applications which need a secure network. This acts as a limiting factor for them to the use of
cyber café as point of access. Non working women like to access from home as it is more
convenient for them.

25
About Forysta Ventures Ltd

Forysta Ventures Ltd is a Start-up by a bunch of people, who have come together to address
some common problems in this world of technological advancements:

1. Lack of Availability of Information

2. Too much fragmentation of the available information
3. No Common platform for a Buyer and Seller to negotiate in retail industry
4. Complete package of online promotions

To overcome the above difficulties faced by the retail industry, Forysta Ventures Ltd came up
with their maiden venture ‘Salenoffers.com’ in the year 2009. Salenoffers.com primarily
focuses on consolidation of information regarding Sale, Offers and Discounts offered by the
retail industry from time to time. So, Salenoffers.com acts as a one-stop solution to know
about the various offers and discounts running in the city.

The Core-Management team comprises of People from Management backgrounds. The Co-
Founder Mr. Kunal Mehta looks after the Business Development and Core Marketing
Strategies and Director Mrs. Urvi Mehta looks after the Operations and Human Resource
Management.

26
About Salenoffers.com

Salenoffers.com is an online information service which enables a Business to post their sale
and offers listings whenever they are running them in their stores, both online and offline
across the country. The idea is to achieve easy information penetration and availability for the
customer to give him the ‘pull’ advantage. The portal lists the offers for a variety of users out
there, who love to get informed about their favorite brand. Along with this, there are various
other features available to make your brand reach that extra mile and add revenue.

Characteristics of Salenoffers.com

The portal Salenoffers.com believes that a Retail Business can do much better during sale
promotions if there would be an effiecient and effective communication portal to make sure
that the target wany unwanted imposition is avoided. By partnering salenoffers, a partner i.e.
a Retail Player shall have access to a host of services a few of which are listed below,

1. Subscription Account and Listings:

Subscribe to SalenOffers by registering your company or brand. Upon Successful

Registeration, SalenOffers provides the Partners with their own comprehensive
account with complete management and administrative controls from where the
business will be able to list the sale and offers, manage brand profile and
information, and control the listings on real time basis and much more.

2. Make and Publish your offer:

The Partner Business can put up the sale and offers online to reach out to the
consumers. Even custom offers can be created for loyal customers and
Salenoffers.com registered users.

3. Promotions

An Opportunity to opt for various promotional programmes and co-branding

activities in order to maximize the business potential and revenues.

4. Unique Set of features

27
 The Partner will be able to use the unique features offered by the portal, which are
user friendly and help stay in touch with the customers regarding any important
information.

5. Reports & Statistics

The Partner also gets access to various reports surrounding the particular listing of
offer or a discount, which gives a feedback or an insight on the benefits derived
from the partnership.

Unique Features of the Portal

Every offer appears in detail as seen in the picture below.

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Garma Garam

These are the offers that are available exclusively to the SalenOffers registered users. The
Garma-Garam offers appear on the homepage and change randomly as per the exclusive
offers available.

The Latest

This window appears just besides the Garma-Garam window on the homepage. As the name
suggests it shows the latest offers running in the town.

29
iDemand (Soon to be launched)

This unique feature makes possible for a user to demand a customized or a desired deal for a
certain product or service with the help of SalenOffers platform. This demand is directly
passed on to the business and if the business finds the deal feasible, it can be called a sale.

My Quicklist

This feature browses all the offers related to the favorite brands of the user. A user can
manage his own quicklist on the portal.

My Favorites

This feature makes sure that a user does not miss any offers from his favorite brand.
Whenever his favorite comes up with any kind of offer or deal, the user gets informed
through an SMS and an e-mail about the details regarding the offer.

30
M-Coupons

M-Coupons are mobile coupons which can be used by a business as a medium of redemption
for an exclusive offered only to SalenOffers registered users.

When the user clicks on the marked area, a pop-up window opens up which asks for the
mobile number and the e-mail address of the user. When the necessary details are provided a
M-coupon is sent to the users mobile phone with a unique code and the necessary details.
This can be used to avail of the discount.

Layout

SalenOffers.com has a very user and partner friendly layout, so as to minimize the hassles.
The Layout includes all the features required in order to make it full-proof. The Placement of

31
features on the portal is also very well strategized , except the area allotted for Social Media
Optimization directly from the website.

The above screenshot includes, Search box, Registration, My Favourites, The Latest, Garma-
Garam, Offer Status and SnO Baap.

This part contains the Offer Details, User Sign-up, Partner sign-up, Coupon Offers, Rating
and Sharing options.

32
The bottom part has two impressive features of Reviews and the SalenOffers Blog.

Competitors and their model of Working

33
Burrp.com

Burrp! is a fun way to find and share your views on local stuff, ranging from restaurants to
bars; cafes to roadside stalls; and much more. Burrp.com went live on August 15th, 2006,
after which they have tried their best to create a vibrant community around local stuff.
Burrp.com has always been known for the wide range of reviews gathered about every
happening place in the cities that they operate in. Burrp.com has always been known for
Quality Reviews on new Restaurants and Eating Joints. People have become used to look at
the reviews and then try out the place. The Users themselves write the reviews for the
purpose of spreading the information.

Burrp has a variety of features like every listing is bifurcated categories for a user friendly
search. A user can also type in the name directly in the Search box and find the place, the user
can also put in the area name for more accurate and useful results.

e.g. Spas and Salons, Lokhandwala Complex

Other Features:

 Picture Catalogue – A Business can upload the original pictures of the service
providing area or facility to create more appeal among the users. The pictures can be
uploaded directly on the portal.

 Reviews – Users can review a place after visiting, so that others know what the place
is all about and a business can respond to the review, complaint or compliment
received by the way of review on the website.

 Menu/Rate Card – The Actual rate card or the Menu in case of a restaurant can be
made available in this space, so as to let the customer be informed.

 Latest Happenings – This space provides information about the latest news related to
that business. E.g. New Branches, New products on offer etc.

 Running Offers – Any running offer or a discount can be made known to the users in
this space related to the business.

34
Burrp.com is not a listing website; it is an information portal and a common platform for
Business and Consumers in the retail industry including services.

Asklaila.com

35
Asklaila.com as the name suggests answers the day to day questions about a product or a
service to the common man. It answers the questions

Where ? to get the best Chinese food in town

What ?the number of nearest pub is
Who ? to call on a Sunday when the flush overflows
When ? things are happening
How ? to get to places, and even
Why ? you might love to go shopping in the city

Asklaila.com has evolved along with time, it is thriving at its best in many big cities of India
on a simple philosophy of providing the information about anything at the right time. They
make sure that a person does not need to search out for a particular commercial information
physically or through research. They make it available at the click of a button, the most
relevant answers at the fastest time possible.

All you need to do is Asklaila!

This is what Asklaila.com had to say about themselves;

Metaphorically speaking, we didn't invent the wheel.

We didn't even try and make the wheel, better.
We chucked all that wheel business, and built something original. Asklaila.com

They felt the Internet could do a lot more to provide information not just about Indian
websites, but about real-world India. They did not end it here, as said earlier they are
constantly evolving, and they make the world know about it, through their blog. They are also
open to suggestions from the users themselves.

Mydala.com

Mydala is a platform which gets a business great deals in their city leveraging the "power of
group buying". Group buying happens when like minded people come together to get deals

36
that can never be bought on our own as individuals. We all are the power of mydala. Mydala
has been constantly working on the concept of advantages of group buying for both a
Consumer as well as a Business.

Launched in November 2009, Mydala features a daily deal on the best stuff to do, see, eat,
and buy in a variety of cities across India. They have about 25 people working at their Delhi
Head office working side by side with folks in mydala´s other cities. They have a
straightforward mantra: Our customer is king! Or Queen! And we treat our customers the way
we like to be treated.

They sell stuff that a customer craves to buy; They make it available at a great price which is
also a great product or service. They carefully select and work with the "best of the best"
business partners and along with the unbeatable prices, they are known to make a business
feel at ease when trying something new - just because it´s featured on mydala. They make the
partner the face of mydala.

They are known to provide different deals everyday at unbeatable prices. The Normal
discounts available are always above 50%. Mydala provides offers across businesses and
categories including Restaurants, Spas, Salons, Entertainment, Apparels etc. Mydala is an
easy to use e-commerce portal, wherein a transaction takes place then and there. The Portal
its own pre-determined pre-negotiated commission and the rest is passed on to the business.
The Customer as well as the fan base for the website has been increasing at an increasing
rate.

They have a Quick and friendly customer service, they make it sure that the customer gets a
reply along with the relevant information as soon as possible. Queries can be raised via e-
mail or telecommunication and the response will be delievered in the fastest time possible.

Snapdeal.com

37
SnapDeal is a product of Jasper, which is a leading marketing company in India. Jasper has
led the way in multi-channel direct marketing solutions with clients that count themselves
leaders in their respective industries. The company was founded by marketing, technology,
retail and analytics professionals to address a need for high-quality, cost-effective customer
management for consumer brands.

SnapDeal features a Best deals Coupons at an unbeatable price on the best stuff to do, see,
eat, and buy in your city. It provides vouchers and discounts in all the major cities like Delhi,
Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore. The company’s philosophy is very simple:they treat their
customers the way they like to be treated. SnapDeal helps a prospective buyer to get the
money saving products online. A person can also gift your shopping voucher to your friends
or family members.

The featured deals are for places anyone would love to visit. Not only Online Discount
Vouchers but also got to be a great product or service. Between their top-rated business
partners and unbeatable prices, they make a user and a new business feel comfortable
venturing out and trying something new - just because it's featured on SnapDeal of best deals
on the internet. They want SnapDeal to be the one place you go to for finding the best things
to do in your city, and at an unbeatable price.

They have Minimal Terms & Conditions, which is an added advantage. They want a
shopper to love SnapDeal. Hidden terms and conditions, and surprises at the last minute
when you are using the offer are not the greatest ways to achieve that. Hence, snapdeal will
go out their way to be very clear about any special conditions and situations that you should
be aware of.

Partnership with SalenOffers.com and its Types

38
A Business gets great deal of advantages after partnering with SalenOffers.com. To register as
a partner, a business needs to register online through the Partner Sign-up on the website.
When any business signs up, the backend of SalenOffers.com gets intimation via e-mail
regarding the details of the newly signed partner.

Then, a representative from SalenOffers.com gets in touch with the concerned person from
the partners side and takes the necessary details. When, every requirement is fulfilled, a
business becomes a partner of SalenOffers.com for the purpose of promoting their offers, sale
and deals online. The normal tenure for a contract is 1 year. In which, a partner is allowed to
upload ‘n’ number of offers on the portal and all the offers are promoted and pushed with
equal importance.

A Partner can sign-up as a Partner by choosing anyone of the two types of Models, which are

1. Yearly Subscription

2. Pay-Per lead Model

Reasons to Partner with SalenOffers.com

39
SalenOffers.com is a unique Business to Consumer portal which only tries to push the offers,
deals and discounts offered by the Retail Business. They Specialize in promoting deals and
offers all across categories, sectors spread throughout the city. They are very different from
the other websites which publish offers and work on collective buying, the portal does not
have any direct competitors. Some of the unique features offered by the website are in
demand among businesses big or small.

SalenOffers.com has very big brands onboard, which helps the small brands and other
competitors to gain exposure. The Portal offers all the brands online presence along with
promotions at a minimal price, this also proves to be a healthy step for small players towards
promotion.

Reasons:

All Round Promotion

After Partnering with SalenOffers.com, a brand i.e. its offers and deals get promoted via
Online Media, SMS Campaigns, E-mail Campaigns, Social Media and opportunities to
participate in other Co-Branding activities.

Specialized Service

SalenOffers.com is a specially designed portal only for the sole purpose of promoting the
offers of brands across categories online using various features available. So the offers get
pushed as deeply as possible among the users.

Unique Features

The unique features offered by the website help a user to stay in touch with the offers of his
favorite brand and also lets the partner know about the popularity of the brand’s offer s and
deals among the users.

Transparency in Operations

Transparency is one of the best features offered by the portal to its partners. All the controls,
records and reports are easily accessible by the partner anytime when the need arises.

40
Online Presence

Along with promoting a brand online, the portal also makes sure that the presence of the
brand is felt online by promoting the brand through various other online mediums.

Advantageous for Mid-size and Small Brands

The Mid-Size and Small brands get a chance to get exposure via online media along with
some of the biggest players in the market. The Brand gets known in the vicinity.

Platform to get Connected with the Buyers

Brands get a good platform to get connected with the buyers as well as prospective buyers
with the help of various features available on the portal like iDemand etc.

Business Development

41
Business development mediums change. Effective Business Development does not, because
it is based on a knowledge of human nature. The first principle of Business Development is
the prospects of a business like an Internet Portal are inherently selfish. The prospective
clients will ask one question of everything your web site does, "What's In it for Me?"

The first question a Business Development personnel will have to answer with the features of
the web site. It has to tell and show the clients what's in it for them. What would they get out
of ordering from the site that isn't available anywhere else?

Below are four aspects to the human make-up which can be added and should be used
throughout the process of Business Development.

1. No holds barred and powerful features as a powerful motivation.

Just about every information product we see advertised has the word "Secrets" in the ad
somewhere.

This can be used to our advantage. With information products, It’s great to write the sales
letters so that the client knows everything about the deal . This makes it possible for us to
take advantage of this factor of human nature by providing some of the results which were
achieved through the information system, but not actually revealing what the system
specifically is.

The purpose of this is to pull the deal to the advantage of the partner and make him/her
interested in an offer.

2. Great deal at Low Cost.

People want to keep up with the peers. They want the absolute best, but they want to feel like
they got it at a bargain price. No one wants to feel that they paid too much for anything. So, it
is necessary to give them an impressive value at a bargain price.

In many products and cases, this simply boils down to explaining the exact process it took to
create the product. For example, with an information product like SalenOffers.com, it may

42
have taken upto 2 years of research and some great deal of money in testing to come up with
the information product like this. If so, it is good to tell them about it.

Psychology to Viral Marketing

Even if all of our competitor's go through the exact process we did to create the product, it
will still be effective for a marketing personnel to tell the story to the customers. This is
called preemptive advertising. The person who first tells the story is the one who garners the
trade. Anyone else who seeks to follow them ends up looking only as a copycat, not the
originator of the system.

Once the customer understood the value involved in the product, they will be glad to be able
to purchase it at such a low cost.

3. Fear of Failure and of Making the Wrong Decision

This is the biggest barrier that we have to overcome throughout the selling process. People
are afraid they are going to make a bad decision while partnering with the portal. They are
afraid that we are going to rip them off and not provide them with the product they are
expecting.

Everything that you say as Business Development Executive is immediately looked at with a
grain of salt. People have been lied to before when it comes to Internet Marketing, so they
look at our portal wondering if we are any different. Unless we find a way to overcome this
fear of "being taken" in the eyes of a prospect, It won’t be possible for us to close a majority
of sales.

There are basically two aspects for overcoming this resistance. The first way is by presenting
and adding credibility to our previous assignments. Credibility is produced through a "proof"
and through the testimonials which we should be able to provide.

It is often said that salespeople without testimonials have skinny children. It is next to
impossible to build the credibility we need in the eyes of our prospects without testimonials.
The second way to overcome this resistance is by giving a risk free guarantee or a better than
risk free guarantee. This lets our prospects know that they can return then package for any
reason.

43
Plus, giving them several bonuses in the package which they can keep even if they return the
package for a full refund can work wonders for a portal like SalenOffers.com. An even better
method of overcoming this buyer's resistance is by allowing them to try out the package for
free, and having them pay for it at the end of the trial period. Which one you rather buy from?
Would you rather buy from the person who gives you the horse to try out for a week and
allows you to pay later...or the person who requires up-front payment?

Think about ways where the buyer's resistance can be overcome by offering a more risk free
proposition than all of our competitors.

4.Exclusivity

People like to get a "special" deal which is made just for them. They like to be told that they
are special. They like to have their names mentioned. It is good for a Business Development
Personnel to have learned how to apply this factor to his own sales.

All successful Partnerships are also based on this element of exclusivity. A special deal was
created with the list owners partner ONLY for their customers. No outsider can participate.
Like, only partners can opt for this co-branding activity. The partners whose name appeared
in the list cared so much that they negotiated to get them this special price or special deal.

 Sector Wise Categorization and Planning

The Database is categorized sector wise i.e. Apparels, Lifestyle, Health & Beauty,
Travel & Tourism, Restaurants & Cafes and Miscellaneous. This makes it easy for a
Business Development Executive to understand what deal would be the best for a
particular brand in a particular category. It is also useful for a Business Development
Personnel to do his homework properly and then think of tapping the prospective
client for partnership.

After categorizing the data Sector Wise, the list of prospective clients is graded on the
basis of its size of operations and brand recognition in the particular area. The Brands
of all types are included and then sorted out internally. Some of the companies, which
are too small are removed from the final list.

 Partners & Advantages to Partners

44
 Within a year of starting the operations, SalenOffers.com has acquired a lot of Big
names as their partners, which has provided the portal a base of its own.

Some of the partners have been able to make their online presence felt by taking this
small step towards Internet Marketing. They have received a kind of response, they
had not expected from a comparatively newer and smaller player like
SalenOffers.com. By subscribing through a minimal cost, the partners get a wide
range of advantages as follows,

o Unique Features
o All Round Online Promotion
o Specialized Service
o A Way to get connected with the masses

Client Behavior towards Internet Marketing and Promotions

45
According to Rupert Hiller, we lose a lot of customers because we don't know how the brain
of a prospective client works. We need to understand how the marketing brain works. It is
necessary to harness its immense potential to make our business generate greater revenues.
Our strategy and tactics would be vastly different, if we understood the client behavior
towards our marketing ideas.

If we don't understand the simplicity and predictability of the brain, a lot of our business
could be walking out of the door. And we may not even realise it! There is an opportunity to
learn the psychology behind what makes the prospective customer’s brain tick. Then it is
quite easy to use this information, to keep them stuck to our ideas like glue.

Psycho Tactics is a thought system that is based on 5000+ years of tried and tested methods
given by Rupert Hiller himself. According to the concept, Our brains are hardwired with
information, that hasn't changed in all these centuries. Imagine being able to use that same
psychology in business. It's so deceptively simple that anyone will wonder just how we did
without this incredible understanding of the human psyche for so long.

The basis to know about the Client’s psyche is through his questions and his body language.
Some of the prospectives after listening to what the portal is all about, ask how can we go
about for becoming partners. This shows that they are ready and It would be better to close
the deal as soon as possible. As it is said in sales, a minute longer in a meeting can ruin the
deal. These clients are already impressed with the portal and the performance that they were
told about. They also know about the financials involved, they are just ready to go.

Some of clients may ask about the credibility of the portal and how true is it about the
performance. This means that the Business Development personnel will have to build the
trust factor in order to win this partner. The question shows lack of trust, but clarity about the
advantages offered. So the credibility and the proofs about the performance of the portal in
bringing revenue to the partners need to be shared along with maintaining the confidentiality
in the information shared. The information should be shared in a tactful way, so as to seal the
deal.

Some of them might get apprehensive about the Partnership Models their working and may
ask everything for free. This happens with quite a lot of Partners as they believe that giving

46
an offer is anyways a cost for them and along with it they are asked to pay for promoting
their offers, deals etc online. This makes them uninterested, so then it is the job of the
Business Development Executive to make him understand about the addition in the revenue,
increase in client base and the intricacies of the partnership models as everything cannot be
done for free. This makes sure that the partner gets to know each and every detail about the
partnership and then takes a proper decision of going for the deal or not.

The Internship Experience

47
The Company that I worked for was SalenOffers.com, a maiden venture of Forysta Ventures
Ltd. The topic for the Summer Project assigned to me was Business Development for an
Internet Portal with the portal being SalenOffers.com. The Project assignment covered almost
every part with a practical on job experience. Initially, I was trained under the Director and
the Business Development head of the company about the product, about the market and
some insights about Internet Marketing.

I attended some Client Meetings with the Business Development in the initial period to know
how the things go about in reality. Then some part of the Internship Period, I was allowed to
explore about Internet Marketing and other related things. The first task assigned to me was
to make a solid database of the prospective clients from all over Mumbai. After making the
list, I was taught how to Categorize and then Grade the data to make it perfect for
approaching clients. Keeping records of the daily leads has a lot of importance in Business
Development as it lets us know about the progress. Follow-ups for meetings and various
other purposes also form an important part of Overall Business Development. Complete
database management followed by some meetings along with the Business development
concluded the training part.

The task assigned to me after the completion of the database was to approach the ‘Type B’
and ‘Type B+’ prospective clients. I was asked to stay away from the Big brands as I was new
and did not have the experience to approach clients of that caliber. I was a complete Rookie
in the field of Business Development and asking me to speak to such large clients without
any exposure would have been a disaster for the company. But, I was still given lot of space
while approaching the clients to have some learning from each meeting and be better next
time.

Slowly and Steadily, I came to know about the every small detail about the product, the
operations part and the overall relationship management with the partner. Managing relations,
being up to the clients expectations and keeping the trust factor alive are some of the very
important characteristics of Successful Business Development. The above factors make sure
that the client once a client will not turn his back on us and partner with a competitor.

48
I approached the Clients with the best possible zeal and enthusiasm. In the earlier stages,
there was no success, no positive signs as I was not tactful enough to answer the questions of
the client, which were quite valid and thoughtful. But Steadily, I learnt the trick as well as
some Business Development. I started roping in the ‘Type B’ and ‘Type B+’ clients as
partners as well as made them participate in some of the co-branding activities like Vodafone
Privilege Booklets etc.

Clients like Orchids Fish & Foot Spa, Dhuan Coffee & Grill, Micasa Home Décor, Wich
Latte, Top’n Town Ice Cream, Brewers Café etc were roped in as partners by me for
SalenOffers.com. Some of them opted for Subscription and some of them for the Pay-per lead
model. Partners roped in by me were from different sectors and different parts of the city.
Overall, It was a fantastic experience with a good outcome for the portal also. I would
sincerely like the entire team of SalenOffers.com for their kind support in the whole process
of my internship.

49
Market Analysis and the Future of Internet Marketing

In India, the market for Internet Marketing and related activities is in its nascent stage.
Whereas, it is growing quickly as the corporate world has come to know about the power of
Internet Marketing as a tool. Recently, Vaseline launched an online application on Facebook a
popular Social Networking Website to make a person look fairer in his profile picture. This
application is made to promote a latest Fairness Cream for men from Vaseline, which is a
Hindustan Uniliver Product.

This shows that there is immense opportunity in the Online Promotions market. But, any
player will need to have the following characteristics in order to survive in the market.
According to my Experience, they can be called the ‘4 A’s’ of Online Marketing.

 Adaptability

The adaptability of a player especially a portal towards the ever-changing trends of

the market and being flexible enough to cater to the customized demands of the
partner will be quite helpful for a Portal like SalenOffers.com. Adaptability and
Flexibility makes sure that the partner remains satisfied with the service provided.

 Accountability

Accountability in simple words means responsibility. If a portal is responsible enough

for the activities taken up on the partners behalf and can be accountable for it, then a
partner would love to extend the relationship with the portal even if the performance
is not that good. The marketer has to think of the brand as his own and then promote it
via various mediums available online.

 Availability

A Portal needs to have some of the best bargains, some of the best deals or some of
the best brands in town as partner in order to have that edge among the competitors
and a reason for people to visit the website. Availability makes up the user or the
50
 visitor base on the portal which is the most important thing from the point of view of
the Partner. Building up on this factor should be a point of priority for any player.

 Accessibility

The Accessibility of the portal through various mediums available today like Internet
and Mobile phone etc should be possible. In the near future, it may necessary for all
the portals to become WAP enabled. This makes sure that the required information is
available whenever and wherever possible. This may also give an added advantage to
the players whose portals are WAP enabled over Non-WAP enabled ones.

For today's business owners the shape of commerce has changed. No longer is the success of
our businesses completely reliant on world-of-mouth and persuasive print advertising.
Today's savvy entrepreneurs understand that in order to be truly successful in today's
competitive environment it is absolutely essential to conduct comprehensive Internet
marketing.

An online presence is critical for reaching your target audience in today's Internet focused
age. Internet marketing - an affordable alternative to pricey print and broadcast marketing -
can reach the people you want without breaking the bank. Let's face it; your audience is
already online; now it's just a matter of delivering them your message.

To do so, you can work with professionals who understand the complexities of Internet
marketing. They will assist you in developing your message, orchestrating a plan, and

51
implementing it. The result can very well be a high level of success and viability for your
small business.

To find such professionals check with other small business owners - for whom you have a
respect - to determine what Internet marketing professionals worked well on their behalf. It
may be beneficial to find someone who has an understanding of your particular industry. This
alleviates the learning curve when attempting to construct an appropriate message for Internet
marketing. Internet marketing professionals will also be well-versed on the legalities of
marketing small businesses online and can guide you through the process with an eye towards
boundaries.

You may also wish to conduct your Internet marketing on your own. No one knows the
intricacies of your business better than you; who better to construct a specific message than
you? Before embarking on any Internet marketing, however, be sure to conduct thorough
research.

Your actual Internet marketing can be conducted right on your website with the use of
surveys, give-aways, and a specific call-to-action.

It may be in your best interest to take some marketing courses so that you can best familiarize
yourself with the importance of Internet marketing.

The beauty of Internet marketing is its mass appeal. It would take enormous effort and money
to reach certain targeted audiences with specific messages delivered in a particular way. The
Internet bridges the gap between all audiences and levels the playing field for those interested
in marketing their small business.

Using Internet marketing to further the efforts of your small business can be vastly
rewarding. With consistent and poignant delivery of messages through Internet marketing you
can experience long term success and viability.

Conclusion

Internet or Online Marketing has got a bright future considering the diverse brands that come
up in a highly populated country like India. The Internet Marketing Media needs to mature
with time to make the whole gamut of activities a success. The Supporting tools like SEO,

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SMO, and e-mail marketing also need to evolve with time and constantly remain appealing
for the brands whether big or small. Ultimately, this would make the Indian Online
Promotions Market a grand success with the help of Internet Marketing tools. It is quite
possible with the kind of speed that the Indian market is developing for these activities.

The medium of Internet Marketing is bound to become as popular as other mediums of

marketing like Television, Radio, Print and Various other modes of Offline Marketing. With a
large population turning Internet Savvy for various reasons like Banking, Shopping and
Business, it is not far that Internet Marketing will be a mature medium of promotions. It will
also be able to appeal tpo comparatively smaller businesses due to less cost involved.

Recommendations

Following are recommendations for SalenOffers.com for better prospects as a concluding part
of the report.

 Expansion to other cities as the market is big enough to be tapped and the prospects to
make it bigger and better are also favorable.

 More focus on being accountable towards the deliverables of the Partner.

 Focusing more on the Subscription model as compared to Pay-per Lead model, which
can be used at a later stage of expansion.

 Roping in more big players so as to attract more visits to the portal.

References:

 Forysta Ventures – SalenOffers.com

 Rupert Hiller: Internet Marketing and the Insights

 Information Marketing Association Journal

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 Wikipedia.com/SEO, Wikipedia/Social Media

 Websites:- SalenOffers.com, Snapdeal.com, Burrp.com, Asklaila.com, Mydala.com

 The IMRB I-Cube Survey on Internet Marketing 2008

 Mint - June 2010, Economic Times – June, July 2010

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