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Are You The Duke?

A successful internet marketing plan is only as good as it is flexible in its tactics. A sound marketing plan remains focused on overall business goals and objectives while remaining open to which tactics can be utilized to hit those targets. The plan is not the tactics. The tactics can change too readily.

Why is this important to understand? The fourth quarter is almost here. If you're like most businesses, the fourth quarter is spent doing many of the marketing projects that during last year's fourth quarter planning seemed of critical importance. A panic sets in and in order to cross certain items off our "to do" list, we deploy a bunch of tactics. Get email marketing software set up. Check. Buy keyword phrase at Google. Check. Spend ad banner budget. Got it.

Folks, without a plan, these tactics may be sitting in out in the parking lots smokin' doobie. As this hip-shot method relates to web marketing strategies, we need break free of the cycle. But how?

Quit Thinking "Project" - Two years ago, we began a strategic initiative that forced us to rethink our business model. We quit thinking in terms of discrete projects that had clear beginnings and clear endings. Aside from individual web promotions, web marketing and optimization strategies may have clear beginnings but necessarily do not have clear endings.

Take search engine positioning as a good example. A search project may begin with up-front research into your keyword positions, web page architecture, and competitors' positions. Yet, once a search initiative is launched, you've jumped onto a never-ending moving sidewalk. There's no search "project". Keywords need updating. Google changes how they list sites. New pay-per-click programs emerge. Essentially, the search world moves and you need to move with it. A surefire way to fail in a search initiative is to treat it like a project. Search engine marketing is not something you launch and leave. You launch and manage.

The same can be said for all types of web marketing tactics, from email to online advertising.

Think "Duke Ellington" - If you're company is more Mozart than The Duke, you may struggle for a while getting your internet marketing strategy to jive (that's a jazz term, baby) with your exisiting offline campaigns. Staying strategic is critically important because it's too easy to get lost in the tactics. As you plan for next year, make sure you've got a Duke at the piano, and a handle on your unruley bandmates.

Until next month,

Andrew Eklund
CEO