Internet Marketing To Become Regulated By 2015?
By Anna Johnson on February 4th, 2010Bad behavior by Internet marketers will likely lead to regulation of Internet marketing in North America, Europe and possibly other continents, according to a recent report by Gartner.
Gartner’s report, ‘Top Predictions for IT Organizations and Users, 2010 and Beyond: A New Balance’, asserts that the Internet has the most potential of any channel to annoy the most customers, the most frequently.
According to Gartner, ‘overuse and abuse’ by Internet marketers – including spam, using ‘hot channels’ to annoy customers, abusing ‘Dear John personalizations’, etc – will probably result in a consumer backlash that prompts governments to regulate online marketing activities.
Even for Internet marketers that do the ‘right’ thing, Gartner cautions that relying on the Internet as a marketing channel may place them at a disadvantage:
“Companies that focus primarily on the Internet for marketing purposes could find themselves unable to market effectively to customers, putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage.”
What’s more, companies selling Internet marketing solutions may be in trouble:
“Although experiencing high growth, vendors who focus solely on, and sell predominately to, Internet marketing solutions could find themselves faced with a declining market, as companies shift marketing funds to other channels to compensate.”
Gartner cautions Internet marketers against using mass marketing or even mass personalization to target poorly defined, broad customer segments. Rather, Gartner advises Internet marketers to, among other things, use analytics and customer insight analysis to deliver highly targeted and relevant Internet campaigns.
Perhaps more significantly, Gartner suggests Internet marketers redefine themselves as marketers, by balancing their marketing investments in all marketing channels and diversifying their portfolio of solutions to include other marketing channels through either in-house development or acquisitions.
February 5th, 2010 at 10:33 am
It has nothing to do with “bad behavior” and everything to do with governmental control of the one free (as in liberty) source of news and communication left to ordinary people.
February 5th, 2010 at 7:21 pm
Good point Lane. If only people appreciated how over-regulation ends up hurting everyone except the wrongdoers who will do the wrong thing regardless.