Personalized relationship e-marketing and the small and medium sized enterprise

Abstract

Many small businesses are beginning to adopt at least tactical solutions to enhance relationships between themselves and their customers. This chapter focuses on a UK-based marketing communications company which has developed an innovative personalized relationship e-marketing tool, utilizing mobile technology aimed at the SME sector. Current marketing practices, such as database marketing and CRM systems, are discussed in terms of SME adoption and whether the tool, Sign-Up.to is an effective replacement for established CRM systems. The authors conclude that while the case study company has developed a tool that will aid SMEs with their relationship marketing, the philosophy of relationship marketing must already be imbedded within the SME. The authors' intention is to illustrate how technology can be implemented in the SME sector and to explore how technology and marketing can help each other.