IMPLEMENTING NEW MARKETING STRATEGIES IN THE CONTEXT OF THE ONLINE ENVIRONMENT - ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES, STATISTICS AND TRENDS

In the context of the online environment and the pressure created by the new information and communication technologies, when the Internet is used by more than 40% of the world population, when the penetration rate of the online has reached more than 75% in Europe (52% in Romania) and almost 90% in North America and when the smartphone has become a constant com­panion of the individuals, today’s companies must adapt or develop new marketing strategies that will help them win and retain the consumers, otherwise they will slowly perish. This paper aims to present several important marketing strategies based on the usage of the Internet tools like: search engine optimisation (SEO), content marketing, social media/online social networks, email marketing, lead generation, sales etc., that can be implemented by the Romanian companies. We are presenting several im­portant advantages and disadvantages of these marketing strategies. We will also bring forth several important statistics regard­ing the Internet usage and of the online marketing tools and we shall underline future trends related to these aspects, all this being designed to support future managerial decisions and to better understand the need for the companies to implement and use them successfully.