Tools of the Trade

As the old adage goes “Work Smarter, Not Harder.” You can apply this rule of thumb to your online marketing initiatives by taking advantage of technology that can help you become a more effective marketer. Your web analytics program should serve as the foundation that makes it possible for you to leverage various types of online marketing tools more effectively and efficiently. This month, I am going to discuss the interrelationship between web analytics and the various online marketing optimization technologies, and then take a look at two unique approaches for how to select technology within the world of online marketing optimization.

In order have optimal online marketing performance it is critical that you effectively leverage the full breadth of marketing technology available including the following areas:

  • Testing and Optimization
  • Organic Search Engine Optimization
  • Email Marketing
  • Affiliate Marketing Management
  • Enterprise Marketing Management
  • Paid Search
  • Onsite search
  • Ad Serving
  • Site Auditing
  • End-User Experience Auditing
  • Surveying Platforms
  • Customer Relationship Management

You likely already have a web analytics technologies in place, but it’s important to note that these web analytics tools are not the “end all, be all” of your online marketing program. In fact, these tools should act as a gateway for the integration of other supplemental data sources and help optimize the effectiveness of all the technologies within your online marketing technology stack.

However, it is the relationship that web analytics plays with these respective technologies that seems to be the point of confusion for many in this emerging industry. To truly optimize the effectiveness of these technologies it is critical to have a fully mature and integrated web analytics practice in place because although these technologies are performing vastly different functions, your analytics practice serves as the foundation and link to enable them to work in conjunction with each other and maximize the value created.

Many organizations run into roadblocks while attempting to integrate the data provided by all of these various tools. The important question to ask is “Based on your business needs, what level of integration do you require?” Some companies can work very effectively with a minimal amount of integration, while other businesses require extensive integration due to the need to develop a unified analysis of data from various areas of the business and create a full 360 degree view of the customer.

Another common roadblock that organizations face is that they have all of these technologies working as isolated islands of data. Rather than evaluating the isolated data separately, the analytics technology should be providing a bridge to integrate this data to be analyzed as a whole in order to get a more seamless view of the online marketing activities.

Web Analytics Program Bridges the gap between data

 

Marketing Technology Selection Methodologies:

There are two main methodologies that are followed by organizations as they select marketing technologies and it is important to make a conscious choice about which is the best fit for your organization:
  • Obtain Best of Breed Technologies from Various Vendors and Integrate Yourself
  • Obtain an Integrated Suite of Technologies from a Single Vendor

Obtain Best of Breed Technologies from Various Vendors and Integrate Yourself

This method can be beneficial since you are using the best of the best at each island of technology; however it may be difficult to integrate this data. Using this method, you may have more advanced technology but must be ready to spend additional resources on the integration of data between systems and on the process of selecting each individual component of technology.
 

Obtain an Integrated Suite of Technologies from a Single Vendor

In contrast to the above mentioned method, this method often allows for a streamlined integration of multiple data sets within the suite of technology and often limits the amount of resources that need to be devoted to technology selection. However, with this method you may be sacrificing some of the advanced functionality that you can utilize with the various best of breed technologies. Certain vendors, such as Unica, Omniture, and WebTrends, are in the process of creating comprehensive suites of technologies, however no vendor has yet to develop a suite so comprehensive that it incorporates all of the necessary online marketing tools.
 
In choosing a methodology it is always best to consider the needs of your organization in a comprehensive fashion to lower the risk of investing in a technology platform that is not the right strategic fit for your organization.
 
Josh Manion
Josh Manion
Chief Executive Officer
Stratigent, LLC

For more information please call 877-427-2900 or email info@stratigent.com.