Internet marketing possibilities of CRM within the UK Small Enterprises

This paper details an ongoing research study centred on the impact of the Internet Marketing within Small and Medium Enterprise’s (SMEs) in the United Kingdom (UK). It addresses the need for and development of, Critical Success Factors (CSF’s) to facilitate Internet Marketing and its acceptance by those SMEs with little or no knowledge of marketing, the Internet or of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Internet marketing as a method of marketing communications seeks to encompass the absolute essence of CRM and consequently extends beyond how a company engages with its customers or the systems it deploys. Internet based relationships and interactions with customers, through means such as Internet Marketing have already been adopted by numerous small firms as have other methods of customer interaction. However, a comprehensive understanding of CRM may go beyond the limitations of many SMEs (for example knowledge, cost, and expertise required to implement and operate) as the term CRM, may confuse the SME as to what it actually means. This paper attempts to investigate the role of Internet Marketing within SMEs as an integral part of CRM and highlights the potential problems facing SMEs, when engaging in such activities through the existing literature. It also argues for the need for a ‘tangible’ and ‘valuable’ set of CSF’s, specifically for SME owner/manger when entering their decision making process.