E-marketing Actions

The actions component of e-marketing planning refers to activities conducted by managers to execute the plan. Questions that need to be resolved when specifying actions include:

• What level of investment in the Internet channel is sufficient to deliver these services? What will be the payback?
• What training of staff is required?
• What new responsibilities are required for effective Internet marketing?
• Are changes in organizational structure required to deliver Internet-based services?
• What activities are involved in creating and maintaining the web site?

At this stage an e-marketing plan will be finalized to summarize actions that need to occur. An example of what appears in a typical e-marketing plan is presented in Box 8.5. This also acts as a summary for the chapter.

• Tactics
• Creating new core and extended value for customers, options for migrating brand online
• Specify balance of online and offline promotion methods. Role of CRM (incentivization to acquire new customer registrations and opt-in e-mail to retain customers, Chapter 9)
• Discounting online sales, options for setting pricing, new pricing options, e.g. auctions
• Disintermediation and reintermediation, seller, buyer or neutral sales
• People, process and physical evidence. Online service delivery through support and characteristics of web site.
• Actions

Specify:

• Tasks
• Resources
• Partnering and outsourcing
• Budget including costs for development, promotion and maintenance
• Timescale

Implementation

• Key development tasks (Chapters 11 and 12): analysis of business and audience needs, scenario-based design, development of content, integration of databases, migration of data, testing and changeover
• Project and change management (Chapter 10)
• Team organization and responsibilities
• Risk assessment (identify risks, measures to counter risks)
• Legal issues
• Development and maintenance process.
• Control
• Identify a measurement process and metrics (Chapter 12) covering:
• Business contribution (channel profitability – revenue, costs, return on investment)
• Marketing effectiveness (channel outcomes – leads, sales, conversion rate, channel satisfaction)
• Online marketing effectiveness (channel behaviour – page impressions, visitors, repeat visits, conversion rates).

Source: Dave Chaffey (2010), E-Business and E-Commerce Management: Strategy, Implementation and Practice, Prentice Hall (4th Edition).