business such as publishers, consumer brands, charities, and business-to-business relationship-building organisations.
For the record, in 2004, the issues I identified in 2004 were:
Internet marketing strategy Issue 1. The E-marketing planning process
The integration of e-marketing-specific objectives, strategies and activities into the traditional annual marketing planning process.
Internet marketing strategy Issue 2. Organising and resourcing for e-marketing
As the importance of online channels increases, the structure of the marketing organisation and responsibilities may need to change to maximize the opportunities available through new media.
Internet marketing strategy Issue 3. Defining the Online value proposition (OVP)
To achieve increased customer usage of online channels (web, e-mail, wireless), a distinct, detailed differentiated proposition must be developed for these online channels and it must be clearly communicated online and offline.
Internet marketing strategy Issue 4. E-brand value
How does the Internet contribute to and influence brands?
Internet marketing strategy Issue 5. Setting the e-communications mix
Defining the proportion of online spend on different elements of the communications mix.
Internet marketing strategy Issue 6. E-mail marketing integration (Touch strategy)
Integrating different forms of marketing e-mail, i.e. rented list, house list e-blasts, service e-mails and e-newsletters with traditional communications, i.e. direct mail, advertising, etc to achieve maximum response.
Internet marketing strategy Issue 7. E-CRM
Using online channels (web, e-mail, wireless messaging linked to customer databases) to build and deepen relationships with customers.
Internet marketing strategy Issue 8. Building and exploiting customer knowledge
Customer knowledge is profiling information and research characterising customers including their characteristics, communications preferences, behaviours and perception of service.
Internet marketing strategy Issue 9. E-marketing automation
Developing personalized marketing messages delivered by web and e-mail in response to customer events and behaviours.
Internet marketing strategy Issue 10. E-channel optimization
Developing a continuous improvement process to monitor the effectiveness of web and e-mail marketing.
So how have these strategies issues changed in the past 2 years, and how do they compare to IMRG priority issues? From the strategy workshops I run as part of consulting I think this list holds up well. There are close links between my top 10 issues and IMRG e-retail priority issues. Specifically, many of my strategy issues can be thought of performance drivers to achieve the main 3 issues from the IMRG study of customer acquisition, conversion and retention.
