Abstract
New media marketing is now a crucial weapon in a companies quest to communicate with their target audience. In particular the widespread adoption of the internet has presented significant opportunities, as has the convergence of various mediums. Recent TV programmes such as Big Brother and Pop Idol have successfully integrated mobile technology with internet and traditional TV. This has provided for additional opportunities for communicating with the programmes target audience. Additionally companies are increasingly adopting new techniques such as viral marketing, SMS messaging and e-mail marketing. This research programme has culminated in a 30 minute documentary that provides a critical overview of the current state of these technologies. Major areas covered are advertising, in the form of traditional web sites, banner ads and SEO. Direct marketing covering the topics of e-mail marketing, viral and SMS marketing. And marketing PR covering blogs, social media and online discussion forums. The final documentary produced achieved it's overall aim of providing a comprehensive overview of new media marketing technologies for an audience of marketing professionals. However there were apparent weaknesses in tenns of documentary form.Citation
Curran, W. (2007) 'New media and its impact on marketing communications'. MA by research thesis. University of Bedfordshire.Publisher
University of BedfordshireType
Thesis or dissertationLanguage
enCollections
The following license files are associated with this item:
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
International relationship marketing: an investigation of the stages of industrial inter-organisational relationships development with an examination of the influence of national culturePressey, Andrew D. (University of BedfordshireUniversity of Bedfordshire, 2000-05)The current literature indicates that research concerning the area of industrial interorganisational relationships (lORs) and relationship marketing (RM) in an international context is growing in size as well as importance, and is regarded by many as constituting a paradigmatic shift in contemporary marketing thought. The study of lORs, however, has suffered from empirical neglect, particularly in an international context. The extant literature is unclear concerning the development process of relationships. In particular, the antecedents of commitment in affectively committed relationships (positive attachment) and calculatively committed relationships (negative attachment) and their performance outcomes, the causes of dissolution in previously committed relationships and the impact national culture has on the process when it traverses national borders is not well understood. Therefore, the primary objectives of this study were to investigate the stages of the development process of international lORs, and to determine the level of influence national culture exerted on this process. Two stages of empirical research using a mixed methodology were conducted. The first stage of fieldwork -an exploratory case study approach -used seven in-depth interviews with UK. import/export executives in charge of relationship development within their respective companies. The first stage of fieldwork was used to examine the stages of international lOR development and the influence national culture exerts on it in order to develop a set of hypotheses for subsequent testing. Stage two -a mail survey approach was mailed to 3000 UK import/export executives and used data from 322 questionnaires to test a set of hypotheses developed from the first stage of fieldwork. The study had significant findings in three key areas. Firstly, the research identified that the antecedents of commitment in affectively and caculatively committed relationships differed significantly and furthermore, relationships based on affective commitment enjoyed relatively greater levels of performance outcomes in comparison to relationships based on calculative commitment. Secondly, the study identified the causes of dissolution in previously committed relationships in four categories: buyer factors, supplier factors, competitor factors, and environmental factors. The findings also indicated that relationship dissolution could be classified in three ways: full exit, partial exit and temporary exit, and that dissolution was influenced by the motive for commitment prior to dissolution. The period of time spent in dissolving relationships was often found to be lengthy and was influenced by five categories of factors that impede partners' speed of exit. Finally, the study applied the assumptions of Hofstede (1980; 1991) to examine the extent to which national culture affects relationship development when it crosses national borders. The findings revealed little concrete evidence to suggest that national culture has a strong influence on international business relationships. International business relationships were, however, susceptible to factors such as infrastructure barriers and political barriers that were obstacles to foreign market success. The thesis contributes to current knowledge by offering the first empirically supported model of lOR development from pre-formation to dissolution in the extant literature; principally, identifying the antecedents of effective and ineffective relationships and also the stages of dissolution when relationships dissolve. The national culture literature within the domain of Marketing, and in particular, the literature concerning lORs, is advanced by suggesting that Hofstede's (1980; 1991) cross-cultural assumptions may not impact significantly on international lORs in a manner prescribed by Hofstede. In order to achieve the primary research objectives a number of scales were operationalised including scales to measure the influence of national culture on lORs, and aspects of relationship development including a multi-dimensional scale to measure trust. The study offers a number of recommendations for practitioners, and presents a number of future research directions. These are principally, to identify the antecedents of calculative commitment (that are hitherto unknown), and incorporate variables that may legitimately act as antecedents of commitment not examined in this study. -
The influence of digital marketing on brand equity for private hospitals in JordanAbuhmeidan, Tahreer Mohammed (University of Bedfordshire, 2023-04)Traditional marketing has shifted to digital marketing due to the highly competitive market and technological advancements with the internet. In today's digital age, where the majority of people are online, digital marketing has become essential for businesses to establish, maintain, and enhance their brand equity. Digital marketing is the most growing industry, with the high number of viewers increasing regularly; it has changed the way brands are managed and forced businesses to deal with customers in a new, more interactive way, as well as the Jordanian private hospitals which are commercialised as any other brands and need to shine in the digital world. This thesis aims to examine the influence of digital marketing and its main dimensions (User Generated Content and Firm Generated Content) on overall brand equity for private hospitals in Jordan to determine which brand equity dimensions are most influenced by digital marketing strategy from the perspectives of hospital marketing managers and potential customers. In addition, to assess the behaviour of hospitals' potential customers due to exposure to the hospitals' digital marketing activities (primarily social media platforms and website content). Furthermore, it provides empirically validated recommendations to improve the effectiveness of hospital brand equity through digital marketing. The impact of digital marketing on brand equity for private hospitals in Jordan yields novel insights. It contributes to advancing healthcare marketing, branding, digital marketing, and marketing research knowledge. The research can ultimately help improve Jordan's healthcare system by providing private hospitals with a better understanding of using digital marketing to build and maintain a strong brand. The study attempts to fill these gaps by utilizing two marketing theories: high-involvement decision-making for potential customers and integrated marketing communication (IMC) from the perspectives of hospitals as presented in the PESO Model (Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned). Therefore, the thesis follows a mixed methodology approach with the domination of the qualitative approach to answer the research questions and cover the thesis's three primary sources of data collection (Observation, Interviews and questionnaire) to get unbiased findings that can be generalised and comprehensively cover the sources. The need to have three studies in the thesis that one study will not cover the whole picture of the thesis objectives and answer the research questions, starting with the hospitals' social media platforms; 15 hospitals' digital marketing platforms were observed and analysed precisely using several analytical tools and presented as study one in the thesis to examine the real understand and involvement for the hospitals and their status quo. The findings of study one led to the second data source, interviews with 14 hospitals' marketing managers, which were analysed qualitatively using NVivo and presented as study two as a complement to the first study to enrich the qualitative approach with thorough datasets and findings via the hospitals. The final stage involved quantitative data collection from customers using a digital questionnaire, and 677 responses were recorded and analysed using SPSS 26 and displayed as the third study. This study assists in covering the potential customers' perspectives and allows the generalisation of the findings and obtaining objective results. Results extracted from the three studies generally showed that digital marketing dimensions (User-generated content and Firm- generated content) strongly influence the overall brand equity of Jordan's private hospitals. User-generated content has a greater influence on all brand equity dimensions, namely (brand association, perceived quality, brand reputation, and brand loyalty) except brand awareness which was strongly influenced by the firm-generated content. In contrast, User-generated content has the most decisive influence on overall brand equity than Firm-generated content. So, hospitals should keep working potently on their brand awareness using digital marketing tools and enhance their presence to build good relations with their customers. Results also showed that even hospital marketing managers rely on digital marketing but still lack the knowledge of using the best methods and techniques. Additionally, some challenges facing the marketing managers, such as lack of management support, lack of some resources and regulatory pressure, have been barriers to Jordan hospitals using digital marketing. As a result, today's standard digital marketing methods require adaptation to emphasise research content and consistently publish. Additionally, respondents pointed out that they use the Facebook platform as their primary social media channel, so managers are recommended to enhance their Facebook presence for their target customers. It is worth mentioning that video content has better engagement results than the other content types, as well as not forgetting the hospitals' websites' significant role in affecting their digital presence. Future studies could examine the doctor's point of view as they are considered significant influencers on patients' decisions to head to a specific hospital to get the best service. They could also examine the employee's loyalty impact on digital marketing reach, engagement, and brand equity, adding to the management's role in investing in digital marketing to enhance their brands. -
Exploring the role of online consumer empowerment in reputation building: research questions and hypothesesSiano, Alfonso; Vollero, Agostino; Palazzo, Maria (2012-06-18)The aim of this article was to identify the main factors that affect online brand reputation as reinforced by the empowerment of consumers. The article draws together the relevant literature from different but related disciplines, in order to identify the relationships between the critical factors of online consumer empowerment, the social processes of reputation building and e-reputation. Using assessments of this kind, research questions and hypotheses about potential indicators of online empowerment are presented. It is argued that empowered consumers can play the role of mediation in reputation building when they operate within particular ‘social Webs’, such as reputation-based systems and/or opinion platforms, blogs and so on. The study is somewhat limited by the use of a literature-based approach, in that the article can constitute only a starting point in the study of this relatively unexplored area. Subsequent research will be necessary to investigate the importance of individual indicators in determining a company's e-reputation, as summarised in the research agenda presented herein. From a theoretical point of view, we attempt to increase our knowledge of e-marketing and suggest that the management of brand reputation may be an interpretative key to a new e-marketing concept. In practical terms, the identification of the decisive factors that underpin a firm's e-reputation can indicate how the firm could take advantage of online consumer empowerment, without being overwhelmed by it.

