Corporates Raise Online Bar For Customer Attention  ( November '11,2003, FE)

Recognising the growing significance of e-marketing, companies are looking at more ways to woo customers. On the growing awareness of e-marketing strategy, says IMC National IT Committee member Probir Roy: “I see companies and portals in insurance, banking and mutual funds more upbeat in leveraging the Net for information dissemination, leads acquisition and paring down overall costs of transactions.”

According to Mr Roy, LIC, Ing Vyasa, Metlife, Royal Sundaram, Union Bank, Andhra Bank and mutual fund companies are stepping on their e-marketing plans mainly for information dissemination.

Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) is in the process of revamping its Website, says MUL general manager (marketing) Ravi G Bhatia. “After gauging the response for our online ad campaign for Alto, we plan to launch cyber ad campaigns for other brands including Baleno,” he adds. At present, MUL is revamping its site with the help of an in-house team.

In cyber space, Hungama.com, a virtual marketing company has revamped its portal with new features. As competition is just a click away, other portals like Contests2

win and Yahoo!India are also chalking out new initiatives to grab more eyeballs.

On Hungama’s revamping strategy, says Hungama chief executive officer Neeraj Roy: “The new site, done entirely in Flash 6.0, has hopes of enhancing online surfing experience of consumers. The new global trend is to bring about a richer and better experience for Net users.”

According to Contests2win CEO Alok Kejriwal, one of the new trends in online marketing is integration of mobile and online campaigns. “We have observed that it is the same user profile who would be logging on and accessing a mobile phone, so a synergy between the two works well,” he adds.

As for Yahoo!India’s future plans, says Yahoo! India’s country head Neville Taraporewalla: “There are some new initiatives in the pipeline at Yahoo!India. In 2004, we will be rolling out these initiatives. Also, we are looking at marketing tie-ups with corporates.”