Internet Marketing – The How, Not the What

There are thousands of consultants who will tell you what to do to be a success in Internet Marketing.  The real issue consulting clients face, however, is to get advice on how clients can develop and execute an online marketing strategy.

I have found five areas where consulting related articles, books, webinars, training, particularly with the how, fall short:

• They do not provide the expertise needed to execute a marketing effort.
• They fail to understand a client’s needs, goals, capabilities and finances.
• They offer no way to understand a client’s interests and marketing hot buttons as they relate to their customer/s.
• They fail to integrate the different elements of a marketing program. As a consequence, consultants do not offer guidance to the client so that the weakest link in a client’s marketing program does not ruin its overall marketing effort.
• They do not help a client determine goals and the measurement parameters necessary to help them improve their efforts for success.

Expertise

There are unlimited materials available to help businesses with website development, content, blogging, SEO, social media, PPC, e-mail, presentation, etc.  Most take less than a few hours to understand or start you with generic programs to get your specific effort off the ground. Their biggest advantage is they’re easy and cheap. They do not, however, offer expertise. As one writer said,

“…if you think a professional is expensive, then try an amateur.”

Similarly, Malcolm Gladwell has become famous for advocating that it takes over 10,000 hours of practice to become good at something. He cites examples, the Beatles, Mozart and Bill Gates.

Stated simply, why should we, believe we can take a two hour course or read a book and be an expert in developing new marketing ideas.

Understanding the Client

Virtually all of these programs offer little understanding of an actual client’s needs, budget, goals, capabilities, etc. Finding solutions to a client’s needs or problems is not a Chinese menu – one from option A and one from option B. Each client has different goals, experience, competition and reputation. Consultants need to foster a keen understanding of each client’s specific needs and not rely on standardized approaches or techniques.

Understanding the Customer

Not only does a project need to relate to the client, but it must relate to the ultimate customer.  Customers typically spend less than 1-2 minutes on a site before they leave.  The saying,

“Yup…we all know the adage….features tell, benefits sell.  Then how come so many of us still speak in terms of features and not benefits?”

Must always be remembered.

Each business must understand the needs of his/her target customer, special features and the competition.  It is not in a business’ interest to rely on generic programs for executing marketing tools.  In particular, each business needs to understand and consider its customers’ need for branding, special pricing, service, etc.

Integrating a Program

The greatest problem characterizing these quick solutions is they tend to be separate. While there are presumably experts in social media, web development, SEO, advertising, etc., as a general rule, they are separate.

To execute a full blown Internet Marketing campaign, a business needs to worry about websites, content, SEO, PPC, P.R., Facebook, LinkedIn, mobile, Amazon, YouTube, social media, google analytics, analysis and measurement of results, and possibly other factors depending on one’s industry.  If execution takes 1-3 hours a week on each topic, that comes to 10-20 hours a week just on Internet Marketing alone.  The time allotted diverts from developing and running one’s business.  To complicate matters, best practices in each of these areas are changing every month.

Measuring and Adapting To Results

Many of these experts/consultants will not commit to results.  Why should any business develop, test or commit to programs with no expectations of results?  Besides the issue of measuring, there is also the time required.

One big advantage of paid search is it is quick and results can be measured.  Other tools can be more complex but still require consideration and comparison.

There are two other factors that account for measurement’s criticality:

One, you need to evaluate the factors that affect success within a program and vary components.  Keep in mind that simple price changes, word changes, videos, and graphics can significantly affect the success of a program.

Two, one needs to determine which programs work and then focus one’s energy on those specifically.

Conclusion

In short, one needs to develop efforts that focus on great execution and not just what to do.  In general that means you need help and need to focus your time and energy on what you do best.

 

Brian Weinberg is the principal behind SCALIT, Inc. (www.scalit.com)  SCALIT provides IT (information technology) services specifically designed for small businesses.