Consolidation and Integration of Web Service Offerings, direct Email Marketing

Is email direct marketing an industry unto itself? Not at all. The principles of service-based marketing and communication are essential to the success of any online marketing initiative. And email is a mission-critical tool that plays an integral role in the e-marketing and communications mix for all online merchants. But as we’ve touched on earlier, email itself is just one of a large number of electronic communications channels that e-marketers will be using in the future. Furthermore, marketers ultimately won’t want to manage relationships with a large number of different service providers.

That may be why there have been so many industry consolidations. Netcentives acquired Post Communications in order to broaden its technology infrastructure and provide a wide range of relationship marketing services, from customer acquisition programs and customized email relationship marketing programs to loyalty programs and promotions. In order to expand its service offerings to email broadcasting from integrated Web design services, Media acquired to be able to provide both inbound and outbound email products. In short, a number of different “constellations” are being formed to provide a rich suite of product and marketing services. And this is just the beginning.

The rapid move toward consolidation and the resulting increase in service offerings is going to continue at a frantic pace. I predict that the e-marketing landscape will be in a state of evolution for the first half of this decade. Growth opportunities in this industry are phenomenal and there is much more innovation and invention ahead of us than behind us. Broader global adoption of the Internet, new business models, new technologies, and the constant evolution of the e-marketing discipline itself will continue to fuel growth and consolidation.

To end the “who’s who” discussion, here is a summary of the most important criteria you should consider when making your final selection of a service provider or product vendor.

Evaluate the Engagement Model

Ensure that your service provider can present you with a formal engagement model that contains tested processes and procedures that can take you from a defined marketing concept with clearly articulated goals and objectives to a fully operational email marketing service. Normally an engagement model will be broken into three main stages: design, implementation, and operation. When evaluating an engagement model, look for the following:

A clear description of the stages that your service provider expects to lead you through, from program design to operational stability
Formalized processes and procedures, for example, a kickoff process
Design implementation, and operational guidelines containing expected resource requirements
Quality assurance procedures
Testing and disaster-recovery procedures

Evaluate Marketing Services

Are the services your provider offers sufficient to meet your needs? Do they provide strategic oversight and guidance or are they focused only on tactical execution? Make sure the provider clearly defines the services it’s offering and the level of participation and involvement your organization will need to operate a successful program. When evaluating a marketing services provider, look at the following:

Services provided in-house as a core competency versus through partners and contractors
Depth and breadth of services offered (domain experts versus generalists)
Ability to select services (a la carte) versus fixed-service offering (take it or leave it)
Flexibility to adapt to your organization’s working style and culture
Relevant reference clients (Go register with a couple of their programs and see what you get. Be clear about which parts the service provider is responsible for and which ones you’ll have to handle in-house.)
Makeup of account teams, including level of seniority and experience of team members

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5 Responses to “Consolidation and Integration of Web Service Offerings, direct Email Marketing”

ECommerce Website Design Creation on 06 Jul 2008 at 11:20 pm #

And Ignatius Press will never sell, rent, lease, barter, trade, or give email addresses to another third party vendor. … ECommerce Website Design Creation

Conduct Business on 06 Jul 2008 at 11:21 pm #

Customer will notify Company of any change in Customer’s mailing address, telephone, electronic mail or other contact information. … Conduct Business

Internet Access on 17 Jul 2008 at 11:34 am #

It is expressly prohibited for any person, business, entity or website to link to any page other than the home page of this website, without the prior written approval of Truworths. … Internet Access

Online Scan on 18 Jul 2008 at 1:04 am #

Corporation tax status, all shareholders of the corporation must elect S status, by signing IRS Form 2553, and file it with the IRS within 75 days of the date of first doing business. … Online Scan

Online Business Opportunity on 18 Jul 2008 at 9:54 pm #

They sell a great variety of goods for use throughout the home and garden, specialising in linens such as curtains and bedding. … Online Business Opportunity

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