We live at a time when we are being surrounded by an enormous amount of advertising messages, most of which we do not even notice. The market is over-saturated with lots of products and services, which on a daily basis are being pushed into the attention of potential customers. Suhányi (2011) states that in most cases, the competitive advantage does not lie only in a quality product or a great idea, but it is actually marketing and an optimal use of its tools that can on a decisive level decide about the success or failure of a product or service in the market. There are authors who point out that higher education institutions should be marketed more and also managed more like corporate brands (Schüller & Chalupský, ۲۰۱۲). Whelan & Wohlfeil (2006) and Maringe & Carter (2007) state that university managers and academics have to consider the marketing not as an alien concept imported from the business world, but as both a viable philosophy and strategy for developing an higher education sector which meets the needs of home-based and international customers. With regards to this topic, many authors specialise in emarketing communication tools, where the main focus is on website evaluation, e.g. Bauer & Scharl (2002); Nielsen (2000); Rovňák (2010). Their research focuses on improving the quality of websites and on the possibilities of the use of e-marketing tools for marketing communication. A number of authors concentrate on these issues, such as Castro, Marcos & Caceres (2004); Kaplan & Haenlein (2010); Dekker (2007), Lewis et al. (2008); Krombholz et al. (2012); Durkasree & Ramesh (2011); Huttmanová & Synčáková (۲۰۰۹); Otim & Grover (2006); Parasaruman & Zinkhan (2002); Rajnoha et al. (2013). Based on the above and on research carried out in this field, the aim of this paper is to describe specific aspects regarding the use of e-marketing tools as a factor influencing the perception of the image of a higher education institution among its target groups.

۲٫ Theory

After a long period of exclusive focus on traditional media, public relations have thanks to the Internet become real relations with the members of the public, where various forms of on-line content allow the organisations to communicate directly with the consumers (Scott, 2010). The Internet has become a key, or one could say a strategic weapon: this is significant given the current hyper-competitive environment, which simultaneously raises the question of its reliability (Davidavičienė & Tolvaišas, 2011; Aladwani, 2006). The significance of online marketing is currently increasing, as we can observe changes in the ways people communicate and also in the ways they spend their free time. The advantage of the Internet as a communication medium likewise lies in the fact that it allows us to target the conveyed information at a precisely specified audience segment (Phillips, 2009). These facts seem important from the perspective of their use in public relations activities not only in the business sphere, but also in academic environment. Watson & Noble (2007) state that public relations in an online environment are mainly about convincing the public to use this medium to make positive comments about the organisation’s products or services. Unlike the off-line environment, the nature of the Internet provides a possibility to quickly connect without any geographical constraints groups of people who are interested in discussing the organisation and its parts.