Faced with media fragmentation and escalating demand for measurable results, marketers are shifting their spending from mass media to response-oriented promotional channels. Even the advertising industry is propagating 360 degree marketing, as it is also confronted with wafer-thin margins. And with rising competition in almost every customer-centric product category and increasing clutter in the traditional advertising media, this is a fact which Indian companies have also realized. Organizations are now in the dilemma in which way to go—traditional or modern; they are trying to find out the perfect balance between the above the line and below the line communication strategies. Below-the-line promotions include any marketing communication containing a reward, either economic or experiential, which motivates a specific action by the target audience during a defined time period. It provides the `reason to buy now' and, are increasingly becoming important part of the integrated communications mix of many companies. Below-the-line marketing consists of channels that strive to establish targeted relationships between marketers and individual consumers; it includes direct mail, direct response broadcast, direct response print, event marketing, interactive marketing viz., one-to-one marketing, the Internet and mobile marketing, consumer promotions and trade promotions and point of purchase displays and in-store marketing. This paper covers the key areas related to the Internet marketing, its intricacies and most important factors which affect the consumers choice towards the various communication vehicles. This helps to better understand the market and make desirable changes to make the Internet most effective and efficient vehicle to convey message to the people.

The web is a meeting place where anyone can communicate with anyone else. Against this backdrop, many promotional activities of specific organizations have been taken place. Hoffman and Novak (1995) and Timmers (2000) argue that there are a number of characteristics of the Internet such as 24 h online, ubiquity, global availability, interactivity, one-to-one and/or micromarketing and integration that make an important impact on marketing communications. Attracting consumers to a marketers' website is critical to the effectiveness of web presence and longer visits are a possible measure of success of these websites (Hoffman and Novak, 1996). The opportunities to do business worldwide with the click of mouse are enormous and enticing. Internet marketing—also referred to as web marketing, online marketing, or eMarketing—is the marketing of products or services over the Internet.

Internet marketing offers information and transaction efficiency but may not necessarily lead to sustainable competitive advantage. It offers new business opportunities that organizations have never experienced, if it can align with the other elements of the strategy. It is important to emphasize that it is not about internet-users but about customers. Unlike other mediums, the Internet offers the potential to influence the customer by manipulating all the elements of the marketing mix. As the networked world is characterized by virtual and cross-functional integration, leveraging technology assumes significance to exploit the immense potential offered by the net. Integrating content, format and access to create virtual community of customers is paramount to create value and deepen relationship with the customer.

The term `Viral Marketing', coined by the Harvard Business School professor, Rayport (1996) and further popularized by Tim and Steve (1997), describes e-mail practice of appending advertising of hotmail for itself in outgoing mail from their users. When used offline, it is referred to as Word-of-Mouth (WOM) communication, and when used online, it is called `viral marketing' (Juvertson, 2000). It provides effortless transfer to others by exploiting common motivations and behaviors. The name viral connotes that it can assume epidemic proportions if planned carefully; each recipient of the message is a potential carrier. Thus, it can achieve scalability by allowing customers to transmit messages in their reference groups (Helm, 2000) by lowering the cost of customer acquisition.

Management Research Journal, Internet Marketing Campaigns, Viral Marketing, Permission Marketing, Traditional Advertising Media, Marketing Communication, Event Marketing, Customer Acquisitions, Marketing Management, Customer Relationship Management, CRM, Communication Messages.