A01 chaf6542 06 se fm indd

7  Increase in communications intermediaries

If we consider advertising and PR, with traditional media this occurs through a potentially 

large number of media owners for TV, radio and print publications. In the Internet era there 

is a vastly increased range of media owners or publishers through which marketers can pro-

mote their services and specifically gain links to their website. Publishers also include indi-

vidual influencers such as celebrities, industry commentators, bloggers and anyone actively 

using social media! Traditional radio channels, newspapers and print titles have migrated 

online, but in addition there are a vast number of  online-  only publishers including horizontal 

M09_CHAF6542_06_SE_C09.indd   406

7/23/14   1:29 PM

---

407

Chapter 9  Customer relationship management

portals (Chapter 2) such as search engines and specialist sites such as  industry-  specific sites. 

The online marketer needs to select the most appropriate of this plethora of sites to drive 

traffic to their website.