One of the clear cut advantages to online marketing, sales and communications is the ability to measure the actions taken. Any well devised strategy must include a way to measure results and more importantly, interpret those results to help understand how well the advertising is working and if you are reaching your key constituents. At our agency we surround all of our strategy with several key pillars, least of which is metrics and analytics.
Google has been leveraging online metrics for years, leading them to the top of the mountain in online search. Google knows so much about the different audience segments that use their tools and Google knows how to help their clients reach these audiences. Google offers a free product to web developers named Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/). This tool brings an enormous amount of data to those individuals responsible for driving traffic and awareness about a particular site across the World Wide Web. Essentially, Google has provided the keys to the kingdom to individuals that come from an analytical slant, but as with any strategy it is not just the data but how the data is synthesized and understood.
Analytical data and metrics are key in understanding who comes to see your site, where they came from, where they are located, how long they stayed on the site, what did they see while on the site, etc., etc. Capturing this information is the first step in massaging messages and advertising presence. Often time’s clients are looking for “hits” or “page views” but these statistics do not provide the holistic view of how a page is found and viewed.
As analytics and metrics are extremely important to measuring activity on a site, understanding the targeted segment and researching the market are equally important. Content is extremely key when marketing online. Understanding what attracts visitors and keeps them engaged on your site is at the core of the majority of online strategies. This is accomplished through online research about the targeted audience and what will drive them to your site.
A popular example today of an audience that highly sought after and targeted is the Mom segment (also known as mommy bloggers). This highly influential group is very selective in the material that they read and often rely on recommendations from peers and other bloggers. Communicating to this group is extremely important as Mom’s online are making many decisions for their family and now more than ever are doing their shopping, errands and research on the computer. To be able to market correctly to these Moms means that an agency needs to perform very solid research to understand how to reach them. Research about particular trends, chatter and perception are extremely important if a company intends to package an online marketing strategy to a group that is very sensitive about what they read and see. Today’s online marketer understands the importance of reaching groups like Moms, whether it is through contests, giveaways, influencing blogs that they may read or by packaging the information in such a way that it hits right at what is important to this group. All information needed to strategically communicate with this group and others must be obtained through thorough online research about what is important to the targeted group.
When developing on line strategy, it is important take a heuristic approach that supports all of the work with highly valued metrics.
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Very interesting commentary. And, it certainly reflects an informed and experienced perspective. Google analytics is embraced by many in the marketing field and adds to the power and influence of "Big G." They are a real force! And, I know that cpg firms share your interest in "mommy behavior."
ReplyDeleteYour blogs have been consistently interesting and informative. You obviously benefit from your professional role and valuable experience base. One area that was somewhat neglected: I never was quite sure as to which articles you read or videos you viewed--unless they were the subject of your posts. But otherwise, a very enjoyable reads!