Online Marketing: Analysis Vs Paralysis

All companies big or small are moving towards the ROI(Return on Investment) and revenue. No channels spared and online marketing has the maximum effect as every penny spent is tracked and attributed at most times.

While its all ‘success’ mantras while everything is going well and while seasonality and economic condition (you can say market condition as well) is with you. All analysis and deep dive analysis if not done earlier gets started when results don’t come as expected. Those who do a regular – what is working and what not – analysis, generally are in a better position than those who analyze after a Crash Land.

Various factors which are crucial in Success or Failure of a Online Marketing Strategy are discussed below:

Too Many Cooks spoil the recipe:

The phrase suggests if there are multiple minds and multiple directions, the roadmap and plans might go nowhere. Chances are a single direction way ahead may not be achieved as stakeholders and experts share their own agenda and try to emphasize how essential their view is. Based on experience, latest read article, friend’s suggestion or reference, those ideas which used to work some years back etc. are some sources of inputs.  More often things are compromised to keep someone happy or to respect relationship which ultimately dilutes the success percentage.

Solution to this problem is to allow freedom to those who really know. For example: SEO/SEM experts know better about their domain and they should be supported. Ideas can always be welcome, however, its the ‘Priority’ that defines the outcome in time with desired effect.

Fear of Google:

The Hidden fear Factor – What will Google do? is the root of all assumptions which delays or halts big changes / innovations on the web. If you are concern about latest Panda or Penguin updates from Google or if someone in your team has read somewhere that by doing certain change

Half knowledge is dangerous:

The most difficult situation to be in and the most dangerous if you are serving clients. Online marketing experts, whatever may be your specialization – SEO, SEM, Social Media, Email Marketing, Brand Building etc, MUST be in touch of the latest happenings on the web. Search engine updates like Google Penguin or Google Panda are something which needs constant monitoring and one update missed can lead to ‘outdated’ implementation of SEO.

Show of suprimacy:

Healthy competition is good, the issue comes when personal Ego takes over accepting realities and move ahead. A search marketing expert with a particular skill set if faced with a situation of truth, needs to understand what is good for the business and move ahead. If required accept that he / she was wrong.

Focus on either Google or the visitor:

The ever green debate on focus can come to an end if – Business goals and common sense are put to use. Why bother about Google? Why not focus on the visitor and the conversion funnel instead? Well, in both cases the opinions are partially right. There is a thin line between usability, optimization and SPAM. Only experienced marketers know where it is 🙂

Not looking at Future:

If the website and business is going through a transition phase, or a new technology platform is being introduced or a change which can cause significant impact in the recent future, such changes have to be anticipated as well as considered. Design changes also have an impact on SEO after all, while shopping cart changes can lead to a drastic change in the user experience (both good or bad)

Ignoring internal searches:

What are people doing after coming on to your website / landing page? Do you have a searchbox, anything that might help them understand what to do next? If you are collecting the touch point information  – Good, if not please start doing that now. The reason why I said Good and not Excellent is, it’s still a half way done. How to use the collected information is the key to success. Segmentation has solved many business issues over the time, Analytics software can be of great help if your internal database is not providing any answers.

Following competitors blindly:

This is a trap, beware. You should be confident of what you are doing. Following has less benefits, while innovation has its own sweet rewards. From SEO point of view, most of the times, it appears that copying metas, few content ‘ideas’, structure, linking patterns etc. will help you give a quick fix. Well in that sense, your competitors must be really intelligent enough. If you run an SEM campaign and want to get it lightning fast, copying keywords and ads might appear a quick solution, however, it has its own disadvantages of quality scores, first impact and so on.

Outdated ideas, absolute concepts:

The wisest mind has something yet to learn. ~ George Santayana
Everyone is a student for life and professional online marketers are no exception. Those who want to excel and grow need to learn, observe, ask and experiment. There is no shortcut to digital Evangelism. All those who claim to be the Guru and Authority in digital marketing arena have gone through the sad days of setbacks, non-result or blunders!