Integrating Marketing and e-Marketing

For many companies the question of if they ought to integrate marketing and e-marketing is often answered by the more urgent question, and that is when.  The pervasive adoption of the Internet, and with it Web 2.0 technologies that serve as the catalyst of social networks (Bernoff, Li, 2008) are revolutionizing nearly every aspect of international or global marketing today (Sheth, Sharma, 2005).  The intent of this analysis is to point out the factors favoring the integration of marketing and e-marketing.

In order to sustain and grow trust with customers over time it is critically important for them to stay current with how customers choose to learn about new products, purchase and use them (Radin, Calkins, Predmore, 2007).  Staying relevant is the first step to retaining the trust of customers over the long-term.  As more customers rely on the Internet as their primary means to learn about, gain trust in and eventually purchase products, it’s critical for more companies to look at how they can integrate marketing into a single, cohesive platform.  This entails the integration of marketing and e-marketing into a single, unified platform.  Once this has been accomplished companies can keep pace with their customers’ changing needs much more effectively.

Another factor driving customers to the Internet is the opportunity to create a more personalized, custom experience from the products orders, the interaction with the company, and the overall brand experience as well. All of these factors taken together, across all channels, both on- and off-line play a critical role in customer loyalty (Chang, Wang, Yang, 2009).  To attain higher levels of trust and loyalty with customers over time, companies are being forced to have a highly synchronized series of strategies that deliver the same experience, information and value both on- and offline.

Analysis of Performance

Another primary factor that is serving as a catalyst for companies integrating their marketing and e-marketing into a single, unified platform is the potential that exists for measuring performance of strategies at a much greater level of accuracy than has been possible in the past (Bernoff, Li, 2008).  This is particularly useful from a global standpoint when companies must budget their advertising, promoting and marketing dollars across a wide variety of programs, each operating in a different geography (Sheth, Sharma, 2005). While much has been written about the world being flat, in fact marketing globally has never been more heterogeneous and diverse (Sheth, Sharma, 2005).  For companies to attain a high level of trust in their chosen markets the focus needs to be on measuring strategies online to see what resonates and makes them relevant over not (Radin, Calkins, Predmore, 2007).  Metrics captures from e-marketing can deliver insights into how to be a trusted advisor in a critical market over time.

Conclusion

It is not a question of whether e-marketing should be merged or not; it is a question of when.  All factors point to the integration being critical to the long-term growth of companies striving to be trusted in their core markets with their primary customers and prospects.

References

Bernoff, J., & Li, C.. (2008). Harnessing the Power of the Oh-So-Social Web. MIT Sloan Management Review, 49(3), 36-42. 

Chang, H., Wang, Y., & Yang, W. (2009) The impact of e-service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty on e-marketing: Moderating effect of perceived value. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 20(4), 423. 

Tara J Radin, Martin Calkins, & Carolyn Predmore. (2007). New Challenges to Old Problems: Building Trust In E-marketing. Business and Society Review, 112(1), 73-98. 

Jagdish N Sheth, & Arun Sharma. (2005). International e-marketing: opportunities and issues. International Marketing Review, 22(6), 611-622.