Thursday, October 7, 2010

Online Marketing: ‘It isn’t rocket science!’


10:49 PM |

his is one of those phases that I hear way too often. Sometimes it produces a giggle, other times an exasperated sigh. Lately, I’ve heard online marketing ‘newbies’ using it to put down other online marketing ‘newbies’.

Fair? I think not


In truth, online marketing isn’t rocket science.
It does however, involve a great deal of reseach, thought, technical and campaign intelligence and an experimental attitude. It requires a ‘balanced eye‘ – the ability to look at the bigger picture, whilst staying focused on all the small details.
Here’s my top ten list of learning the ‘quantum’ of online marketing:
#1 Research – Spend 20% of your time researching. Sign up to newsletters and feeds from online marketing related sites such as ClickZ and Mashable.  Follow those in the industry (via Blogs, email, RSS feeds, Twitter and Facebook)
#2 Explore – Look at case studies to see what’s happening in the industry, what works, what doesn’t, style, tone, voice, incentive etc
#3 Swot – Book yourself on workshops, seminars and webinars. Learn from the professionals. Get technical + clued up on handheld devices, multimedia, SEO and site monitoring.
#4 Think creative – The fun part of marketing is idea generation and the chance to be innovative and creative. You’ve seen what others are doing, so put pen to paper and jot down a few of your own.
#5 Target – Marketing is all about reaching the right audience at the right time, so take the time to consider your target and reasearch ways to reach them.
#6 Socialise – You’ve discovered your audience, so start talking to them! Devising strategies to incorporate you and your brand are important here.
#7 Share – Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Slideshare, Flickr are all sites to share, along with blogs and community sites
#8 Incentivise – … make sure you have a plan, an incentive or reason for them to interact with you.
#9 Analyse – Make sure you add tracking code to your website and campaigns to monitor visits, clicks, keywords, geographical information etc
#10 Practice makes perfect - Be prepared to take time out to practice techniques and explore technologies. A large part of marketing is loving the challenge of learning new ways of reaching your audience.

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