World over, marketers are increasingly focusing their attentions on tapping the potential of the internet as a tool to achieve substantial market penetration in a far more effective manner, both in terms of cost as well as reach, than conventional modes of communicating value. This is also indicative of a paradigm shift in marketing, with the online campaign often integrating all aspects of a standard marketing drive with a direct distribution channel, something that is greatly beyond the scope from the traditional role online media has played in serving as an agent to increase what marketers term top of mind association with a particular product.
On analysis, most such successful campaigns can be seen to have three common components, each of which, in fulfilling its own individual role, complements and enhances the whole. The first part is the product website. Serving as the principal and one-stop source of information about the product, the website often contains data on the product, its benefits, features and variants, sources for support software and after-sales service, a link to the direct distribution channel for immediate purchase, and some information on the company itself. An increasing trend
