Marketing has pretty much been around forever in one form or another. Since the day when humans first started trading whatever it was that they first traded, marketing was there. Marketing was the stories they used to convince other humans to trade. Humans have come a long way since then, (Well, we like to think we have) and marketing has too.

The methods of marketing have changed and improved, and we've become a lot more efficient at telling our stories and getting our marketing messages out there. eMarketing is the product of the meeting between modern communication technologies and the age-old marketing principles that humans have always applied.

That said, the specifics are reasonably complex and are best handled piece by piece. So we've decided to break it all down and tackle the parts one at a time. This week we'll be looking at the "what" and "why" of eMarketing, outlining the benefits and pointing out how it differs from traditional marketing methods.

By the end of the series we're pretty sure you'll have everything you need to tell better marketing stories.

What is eMarketing? Very simply put, eMarketing or electronic marketing refers to the application of marketing principles and techniques via electronic media and more specifically the Internet. The terms eMarketing, Internet marketing and online marketing, are frequently interchanged, and can often be considered synonymous.

eMarketing is the process of marketing a brand using the Internet. It includes both direct response marketing and indirect marketing elements and uses a range of technologies to help connect businesses to their customers.

By such a definition, eMarketing encompasses all the activities a business conducts via the worldwide web with the aim of attracting new business, retaining current business and developing its brand identity.

Why is it important? When implemented correctly, the return on investment (ROI) from eMarketing can far exceed that of traditional marketing strategies.

Whether you're a "bricks and mortar" business or a concern operating purely online, the Internet is a force that cannot be ignored. It can be a means to reach literally millions of people every year. It's at the forefront of a redefinition of way businesses interact with their customers.

The benefits of eMarketing over traditional marketing Reach The nature of the internet means businesses now have a truly global reach. While traditional media costs limit this kind of reach to huge multinationals, eMarketing opens up new avenues for smaller businesses, on a much smaller budget, to access potential consumers from all over the world.

Scope Internet marketing allows the marketer to reach consumers in a wide range of ways and enables them to offer a wide range of products and services. eMarketing includes, among other things, information management, public relations, customer service and sales. With the range of new technologies becoming available all the time, this scope can only grow.

Interactivity Whereas traditional marketing is largely about getting a brand's message out there, eMarketing facilitates conversations between companies and consumers. With a two-way communication channel, companies can feed off of the responses of their consumers, making them more dynamic and adaptive.

Immediacy Internet marketing is able to, in ways never before imagined, provide an immediate impact.

Imagine you're reading your favourite magazine. You see a double-page advert for some new product or service, maybe BMW's latest luxury sedan or Apple's latest iPod offering. With this kind of traditional media, it's not that easy for you, the consumer, to take the step from hearing about a product to actual acquisition.

With eMarketing, it's easy to make that step as simple as possible, meaning that within a few short clicks you could have booked a test drive or ordered the iPod. And all of this can happen regardless of normal office hours. Effectively, Internet marketing makes business hours 24 hours per day, 7 days per week for every week of the year.

By closing the gap between providing information and eliciting a consumer reaction, the consumer's buying cycle is speeded up and advertising spend can go much further in creating immediate leads.

Demographics and targeting Generally speaking, the demographics of the Internet are a marketer's dream. Internet users, considered as a group, have greater buying power and could perhaps be considered as a population group skewed towards the middle-classes.

Buying power is not all though. The nature of the Internet is such that its users will tend to organise themselves into far more focussed groupings. Savvy marketers who know where to look can quite easily find access to the niche markets they wish to target. Marketing messages are most effective when they are presented directly to the audience most likely to be interested. The Internet creates the perfect environment for niche marketing to targeted groups.

Adaptivity and closed loop marketing Closed Loop Marketing requires the constant measurement and analysis of the results of marketing initiatives. By continuously tracking the response and effectiveness of a campaign, the marketer can be far more dynamic in adapting to consumers' wants and needs.

With eMarketing, responses can be analysed in real-time and campaigns can be tweaked continuously. Combined with the immediacy of the Internet as a medium, this means that there's minimal advertising spend wasted on less than effective campaigns.

Maximum marketing efficiency from eMarketing creates new opportunities to seize strategic competitive advantages.

The combination of all these factors results in an improved ROI and ultimately, more customers, happier customers and an improved bottom line.

Next up in the eMarketing 101 series: Having identified the "why" of eMarketing, our next article in the series will look at the "how". We'll be glancing at some of the weaponry in the eMarketer's arsenal, and looking at how these tools should be used to target customers.

SEO, PPC, ORM, WebPR - the acronyms are never far behind. We'll take a brief look at each, defining what they are and giving some guidance in terms of which tactic to use in a given situation to ensure optimum ROI on advertising spend.

Later on, we'll examine each of these weapons more closely and see just how they are used to produce results.

Other Articles in the eMarketing 101 series: What is eMarketing and how is it better than traditional marketing?The Arrows in the eMarketer's quiverBlogging - everyone else is doing it, so why can't I?A focus on natural search (beginner's guide to SEO)Case StudyPPC - you gets what you pays forCase StudyEmail marketing - no, not SPAMAffiliate marketing - because we all need friendsWebPR and ORM - blah blah blah conversationsCase StudyViral marketing - linkerbation is a normal, natural thing. Perfectly natural.Online advertising - throwing a banner into the worksConversion optimisation. Are you closing the deal?Case Study