Internet Marketing and Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

I have been studying IMC for a while now, and am continually shocked to see that Internet Marketing elements: blogging, search engine optimization, making a site user friendly etc. are not addressed more.  The whole concept of IMC is to have all of the marketing communications elements speak to the customer with "One voice", and having a website or blog that does not speak in that voice is deterring from the overall IMC goal.

When I searched the Internet on this subject, all I could find through several sources and clicks were sites like this:  

http://www.homemediakit.com/

Or suggestions like this:

Internet Advertising Marketing Guide

Learn a Little About Banner Advertising on the Internet

Crash Course in Web and Internet Marketing

Listed on http://cob.jmu.edu/flahertb/merlot/imcresources.htm#IMC

There needs to be more Internet marketing addressed within the field of Integrated Marketing Communications and how to do so.  

Any Suggestions?

YouTube has Movies?

I found some interesting news on YouTube the other day, and seeing that it has become more of an outlet to personal videos and comedic clips, rather than actual TV or movie content, this was pretty interesting. Apparently, YouTube has a new agreement with MGM to air a variety of full-length movies and TV shows on the site for free. I find this interesting as You Tube has in recent months lost share to other sites like Hulu, that provide full length content and also offer a platform for Internet advertising.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10mgm.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

YouTube is a very interesting company because it is unclear where their source of revenue is, if there is any at all. On the YouTube company information section, it states that "YouTube has struck numerous partnership deals with content providers such as CBS, BBC, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Group, Warner Music Group, NBA, The Sundance Channel and many more."
http://www.youtube.com/t/about. However, it is unclear if there is any financial exchange involved in these partnerships.

Hulu, which may be YouTube's biggest competitor as of late (speculation), has a different approach to offering television and movie content, through:

"Advertising: Hulu gives advertisers an opportunity to associate their brands with premium online video content, connect with highly engaged consumers and extend their reach beyond Hulu.com to Hulu's distribution network. Additionally, Hulu offers and is committed to the continued development of innovative, new advertising experiences."
http://www.hulu.com/about

With the revenue created through advertising sales at Hulu, the site is able to provide higher quality content to viewers at the same cost as YouTube (nothing), and without the personal video content, seems a cleaner and easier to use site.

I wonder if You tube's attempt to air full length films etc. from MGM is the first stage in transforming into a more Hulu like site?

Internet Marketing and the 2008 Election

After the history changing victory for Barak Obama last night, the progress in this election has not stopped at the candidates themselves but in how they were able to reach the American voters. Digital technology has played an important role in how the public was able to view the candidates, through digital extentions on the television networks, and with the use of the Internet.

When CNN last night had a hologram news reporter and beamed her in and out of the studio, that was pretty exciting - something we haven't seen before. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/20081104/pl_ynews/ynews_pl132

It is also noteworthy that the candidates were able to use Internet marketing and technology to spread their messages more than ever before. “The year campaigns leveraged the Internet in ways never imagined. The year we went to warp speed. The year the paradigm got turned upside down and truly became bottom up instead of top down.” This is true especially for Barak Obama, who used Internet marketing to raise huge amounts of money for his campaign as well as communicating with the American public through Internet advertisements, blogs, and his website etc.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/us/politics/04memo.html?bl&ex=1226034000&en=ed50bf72c5e6eaea&ei=5087%0A

Barak Obama was even reaching voters through mobile technology - text messaging updates on the campaign trail - a technology that has also not been used before. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/advice-for-mobile-marketers-courtesy-of-obama/

So, what do we take away from this? Using Internet marketing can be an effective method to reach your target, and for Obama it helped him clench a victory and become the President-Elect of the United States of America. Pretty cool!