All e-Commerce sites need to be complemented with eMarketing strategies. Your e-Commerce solutions should consider all facts to be successfull after launching the site.

The basics of marketing remain the same - creating a strategy to deliver the right messages to the right people. What has changed is the number of options you have.

Though businesses will continue to make use of traditional marketing methods, such as advertising, direct mail and other traditional tools and media. eMarketing adds a whole new element to the marketing mix.

Many businesses are producing great results with eMarketing and its flexible and cost-effective nature makes it particularly suitable for small businesses.

It is important to recognise that planning for e-marketing does not mean starting from scratch. Any online e-Communication must be consistent with the overall marketing goals and current marketing efforts of your business.

• Identify your target audience - if you identify multiple targets, rank them in order of importance so that you can allocate resources accordingly. Profile each target group and understand their requirements and expectations so that you can pitch your costs and benefits at the correct level.
• Set your objectives - possible objectives could include awareness raising (of your business or disseminating information about your products or services), entering new markets, launching a new product, focusing on sales (building Internet sales of a product or increasing the frequency of sales from regular customers), or internal efficiency (decreasing marketing costs, reducing order-taking and fulfilment costs, or improving customer retention rates).
• Decide upon the marketing mix - you should choose a mix of e-marketing activities that will help you achieve your objectives and fit with any existing traditional marketing activities you already have planned. For an outline of the range of e-marketing options, see our guide on how to generate business from your eMarketing plan.
• Agree a budget - careful budgeting allows you to prevent costs spiralling out of control. By identifying the returns you expect to make from your investment in e-marketing activities you can compare these with the costs in order to develop a cost/benefit analysis.
• Action planning - identify the tactics for implementing the selected e-marketing activities. The plan should also cover other non-Internet marketing activities that are being undertaken.
• Measure your success - build in feedback mechanisms and regular reviews to enable you to assess the success of your e-marketing activities, particularly as e-commerce is such a dynamic and fast-changing area.

E-marketing gives businesses of any size access to the mass market at an affordable price and, unlike TV or print advertising, it allows truly personalised marketing. Specific benefits of e-marketing include:

• Global reach - a website can reach anyone in the world who has Internet access. This allows you to find new markets and compete globally for only a small investment.
• Lower cost - a properly planned and effectively targeted e-marketing campaign can reach the right customers at a much lower cost than traditional marketing methods.
• Trackable, measurable results - marketing by email or banner advertising makes it easier to establish how effective your campaign has been. You can obtain detailed information about customers' responses to your advertising.
• 24-hour marketing - with a website your customers can find out about your products even if your office is closed.
• Personalisation - if your customer database is linked to your website, then whenever someone visits the site, you can greet them with targeted offers. The more they buy from you, the more you can refine your customer profile and market effectively to them.
• One-to-one marketing - e-marketing lets you reach people who want to know about your products and services instantly. For example, many people take mobile phones and PDAs wherever they go. Combine this with the personalised aspect of e-marketing, and you can create very powerful, targeted campaigns.
• More interesting campaigns - e-marketing lets you create interactive campaigns using music, graphics and videos. You could send your customers a game or a quiz – whatever you think will interest them.
• Better conversion rate - if you have a website, then your customers are only ever a few clicks away from completing a purchase. Unlike other media which require people to get up and make a phone call, post a letter or go to a shop, e-marketing is seamless.