For most companies, I think Internet Marketing (IM) should be the key infrastructure for all their Marketing. Most other things will be supportive to the Internet activities. It’s all about CRM (Customer Relationship Management) in this Internet age.

So I’m with you entirely on the point you’re making.

For example, I’m a little unclear how generating more sales and adding functionality and web features are tied together.
How is content customization, discussion forums or online surveys supposed to boost sales? You can get angry customers (or even one) on a discussion forum that could blast a product and reduce it’s sales. Of course if a product has a “defect” this could be beneficial to the company but that is something else… What benefit is there to having a survey?
What kind of customer details are they looking for? There is a balance of what one is ready to disclose for information….

I have no doubt that Web Marketing is important BUT only if coupled with good customer service. What do I mean by that? Well, answering email request. Too many times this is a neglected aspect. Customers (or potential customers) don’t get answer because the company is not set up to answer emails. And YES it does hurt your sales…

Measuring the ROI on a website is also difficult because surfers are often looking for information in their buying process. They will return many times to a website before buying offline.