Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

This question needs so clarifying, but I'll take a stab at the first sentence.

I am of the school of integrated marketing. This is an approach in which all of your marketing tactics, such as advertising, telemarketing, direct mail, email marketing, the Internet etc. should work together to drive sales whether they occur at a point of sale, a lunch table, the golf course, or through e-commerce.

You should aim to integrate all these elements in your marketing program so that they reinforcee each other and drive toward a sale.

Example for a retail store on or offline: An ad should contain your website address. Your website should contain an e-newsletter sign up box. Through this you can then deliver a newsletter with a coupon that can be used to incentivize a customer to visit more frequently to experience your new seasonal additions and also can be used to measure customer/prospect actions to that particular call to action.

When planned and executed properly, it becomes a self-leveraging machine that provides for measurable actions through the cycle.

Of course, do not engage in any marketing initiatives that fail to produce a positive return on the money invested.

So, yes a website should be part of your marketing strategy, but just one piece of it.