When trying to save dollars in a challenging economy, the tendency is to put this critical component of your business in the hands of your nephew who just graduated and “knows a lot about computers and the Internet.” This is still being done despite that it fails nearly 100% of the time. Remember, the expert you bring on must be fluent in your language as well as their own. Your nephew may be a Facebook and Twitter guru. He may know how to build and launch websites, he may even know a thing or two about the your company but in the long run, the move will cost you a great deal more than you had hoped to save. In fact, an experienced Internet marketing expert should save you more in direct and indirect expenditures than he or she costs.
Internet marketing is a foreign land with a language all its own. If we want our businesses to succeed, we all have to venture there frequently. If you don’t know your way, better to go with an experienced interpreter and guide. Or, go it alone at your own risk.
Also, if you like short stories, please be sure to visit my other blog at shortstoryisland.wordpress.com
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
The Internet Marketing Analytics Gap - Part 2 The Importance of an Interpreter
Taking the language analogy a step further, if you plan to visit a foreign country and don’t know or plan to learn the language, it is ideal to have an interpreter by your side. You would expect such an interpreter to be fluent in both your language and that of the host country. He or she would be able to discern the subtle differences in linguistics, inflection and body language and would often need to adapt what you want to say and mean to how the receiver needs to hear and understand it and vice versa. Without such a companion, a visit to a foreign land is marked by confusion, meaningless babble, blank stares and lots of wrong turns.
Let’s face it, for many companies, the Web is such a foreign country. They got into their respective businesses--their native land--because of their know-how, their passion, their interest in leaving their mark on the world, a desire to deliver some highly valued human necessity, not because they had interest in marketing, website development, search engine optimization, social networking or website performance analysis.
Given economic conditions and the rapidity with which the marketing world is changing, a thoroughly experienced Internet marketing expert who knows both the language of your industry and that of the Internet is critical to the survival of your business. And though some feathers might get ruffled with this statement, don’t assume your Marketing, IT department or advertising agency is the answer. Many, if they are being completely honest, would admit that Internet marketing and the associated analytical performance evaluation falls outside of their area of experience and expertise. In fact, the good ones would invite such an addition to your marketing team. We have enjoyed several such instances in which the combination of strengths among various marketing disciplines has produced a much better result for our clients.
Traveling the Internet superhighway without a navigator is an easily avoided mistake. Watch for our next installment coming soon.
Also, if you like short stories, please be sure to visit my other blog at shortstoryisland.wordpress.com
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Let’s face it, for many companies, the Web is such a foreign country. They got into their respective businesses--their native land--because of their know-how, their passion, their interest in leaving their mark on the world, a desire to deliver some highly valued human necessity, not because they had interest in marketing, website development, search engine optimization, social networking or website performance analysis.
Given economic conditions and the rapidity with which the marketing world is changing, a thoroughly experienced Internet marketing expert who knows both the language of your industry and that of the Internet is critical to the survival of your business. And though some feathers might get ruffled with this statement, don’t assume your Marketing, IT department or advertising agency is the answer. Many, if they are being completely honest, would admit that Internet marketing and the associated analytical performance evaluation falls outside of their area of experience and expertise. In fact, the good ones would invite such an addition to your marketing team. We have enjoyed several such instances in which the combination of strengths among various marketing disciplines has produced a much better result for our clients.
Traveling the Internet superhighway without a navigator is an easily avoided mistake. Watch for our next installment coming soon.
Also, if you like short stories, please be sure to visit my other blog at shortstoryisland.wordpress.com
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Monday, June 1, 2009
The Internet Marketing Analytics Gap - Part 1
Learning Spanish would have been a lot easier if I hadn’t had to understand what the words meant. To me, Spanish was a string of easy-to-pronounce, phonetically obvious words. Aside from an accent, a tilde or an extra alphabetical character or two, saying or reading the words on the page was cake. But much to the detriment of my high-school grade point average, understanding those words and interpreting the nuances of the language was where things got murky...pea soup murky, in fact! I see a strong parallel between my misadventures with learning Spanish and how many companies use their Internet marketing analytics.
Assuming they pay attention to the available data at all (many don’t) most can only say or read the words on the page. Sure, most can look at traffic data and know when it’s rising or falling. Most can tie a traffic peak or valley to an outside event: a new advertising campaign, a press release, an e-blast or something like that, but when it comes to a more granular understanding of the abundant data the Web provides, what it truly says about their Web marketing initiative, how their company stacks up against the competition and, above all, what it can reveal about their audience, a gaping chasm exists between website key performance indicator (KPI) data and making meaningful, actionable sense of it all. At the bottom of this chasm lies a gnarled heap of wasted dollars, missed opportunities and failed marketing plans, that, with the proper commitment to experienced data evaluation, interpretation and Internet marketing guidance, didn’t need to wind up there.
Stay tuned for part 2!
Also, if you like short stories, please be sure to visit my other blog at shortstoryisland.wordpress.com
Assuming they pay attention to the available data at all (many don’t) most can only say or read the words on the page. Sure, most can look at traffic data and know when it’s rising or falling. Most can tie a traffic peak or valley to an outside event: a new advertising campaign, a press release, an e-blast or something like that, but when it comes to a more granular understanding of the abundant data the Web provides, what it truly says about their Web marketing initiative, how their company stacks up against the competition and, above all, what it can reveal about their audience, a gaping chasm exists between website key performance indicator (KPI) data and making meaningful, actionable sense of it all. At the bottom of this chasm lies a gnarled heap of wasted dollars, missed opportunities and failed marketing plans, that, with the proper commitment to experienced data evaluation, interpretation and Internet marketing guidance, didn’t need to wind up there.
Stay tuned for part 2!
Also, if you like short stories, please be sure to visit my other blog at shortstoryisland.wordpress.com
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