If Digital Marketing is So Easy, Why is Everyone So Bad at It?
Reason #6/45: Digital Marketers Write Checks their Calendars Can’t Cash

Digital marketing program atrophy is one of the greatest challenges facing digital marketers.

Digital Marketers consistently underestimate the time and resources required to develop and maintain successful Digital Marketing programs. Digital marketing programs, though easy to start, are time-intensive to optimize and taxing to maintain. Most digital marketers focus on the “start” aspect of their online activities and largely ignore or significantly short program optimization and maintenance.

Examples of aging and stagnant digital marketing program components include:

• Broken links
• Dated copyrights
• Expired promotions still promoted as active
• Abandoned and neglected blogs, news sections, social media channels
• Dated / expired content not deleted and still available through search engines and websites

Of the last 100 Web properties analyzed through NorthPage Research’s Digital Marketing Insight service:

• 16 had minimal or no content atrophy (content was up-to-date)
• 60 had moderate levels of aging and stagnant digital marketing program components
• 24 had significant dated content issues

The amount of outdated content in leading companies’ digital marketing programs highlights the lack of proper follow-up by digital marketers.

Summary

“Set and forget” is a formula for digital marketing program failure and brand damage. Aging components and assets diminish digital marketing program appearance and performance while serving as a visible and omnipresent sign of neglect. Make the time to maintain your public digital marketing content.

About this Series

The experience, data and insights gained through the development and delivery of our Digital Marketing Insight service form the basis for this series of posts. More information is available about the “If Digital Marketing is so easy, why is everyone so bad at it?” series.

Thank you,

Andrew Dennis
Southbury, Connecticut
Reach me directly at andrew at northpage dot com

If Digital Marketing is So Easy, Why is Everyone So Bad at It?
Reason #5/45: Executive Management is Not of the Digital World

Much as with information technology, C-level executives have a limited grasp on the complexities, realities and challenges present in digital marketing. However, unlike information technology, these executives believe, as nearly all business people do, that they know how to perform the function – “Everyone thinks he can market.” This combination of limited grasp and false belief present significant challenges for digital marketers, often impeding the effectiveness of digital marketing teams and programs.

Executive-related challenges in digital marketing include executives:

• Suggesting new programs, campaigns and capabilities – with little regard for their applicability, relevance or value.
• Applying pressure to ensure the company and its digital marketing programs appear modern and stay competitive.
• Have little understanding of the large, growing, complex and changing nature of digital marketing.
• Periodically directing core digital marketing projects and resources to non-marketing organizations such as IT.

What to Do

• Educate management on the nature and value of digital marketing
• Make a concerted and persistent effort to educate and update senior management on your digital marketing programs
• Provide compelling examples of digital marketing programs (and results)
• Keep it simple, results-oriented and non-technical
• Benchmark your digital marketing programs against those of your competitors (don’t be caught unaware by your CEO)
• Know your digital marketing weaknesses – and have plans to address them
• Document and demonstrate progress, impact and results

Summary

C-level executives have a limited grasp of digital marketing but must buy into a digital marketing strategy, plan and team to allocate appropriate resources and corporate support. Proactively inform and engage senior management to keep them current and enthusiastically supportive of your digital marketing programs.

About this Series

The experience, data and insights gained through the development and delivery of our Digital Marketing Insight service form the basis for this series of posts. More information is available about the “If Digital Marketing is so easy, why is everyone so bad at it?” series.

Thank you,

Andrew Dennis
Southbury, Connecticut
Reach me directly at andrew at northpage dot com

If Digital Marketing is So Easy, Why is Everyone So Bad at It?
Reason #4/45: Digital Marketers Confuse Activity with Results

“Generating digital marketing activity is easy. Generating results is hard.”

Digital marketers all too often fall into the trap of believing that activity is on par with results.

New content, Web pages, list building, online promotions, social media activity, website template tweaks, email blasts, advertising campaigns, site surveys and blog posts are great. But, they are worthless if they don’t directly and positively impact your key performance indicators, including the quantity and quality of visitor traffic, site activity, user participation, opportunity generation, sales conversion, average order value, revenue per visitor, sales results and profitability.

Successful digital marketers track activity but measure outcomes. Come monthly or quarterly digital marketing program report time, one slide on results is worth ten on activity.

ACTIVITY: “We just made our entire website available in Spanish, French and German!”

RESULTS: “We increased targeted traffic by 42%, generated 36% more registrations and increased our conversion rate by 9%.”

Summary

If the desired digital marketing program results aren’t there, work diligently to identify and implement the top enhancement opportunities that will materially affect your programs’ performance. Measure twice and cut once.

About this Series

The experience, data and insights gained through the development and delivery of our Digital Marketing Insight service form the basis for this series of posts. More information is available about the “If Digital Marketing is so easy, why is everyone so bad at it?” series.

Thank you,

Andrew Dennis
Southbury, Connecticut
Reach me directly at andrew at northpage dot com

If Digital Marketing is So Easy, Why is Everyone So Bad at It?
Reason #3/45: These Are the Early Days of Digital Marketing

“Not fare well, but fare forward, voyagers.” – T.S. Eliot

Although large and complex – and ever changing – digital marketing is in its infancy. Unlike mature professions and disciplines such as manufacturing, politics, education and management, digital marketing has no rich, multi-generational history. Further, there exist no lifetimes of experience from digital marketing experts. As Peter F. Drucker was to Management, there are no such enlightened guides for Digital Marketing.

While standardized digital marketing processes and best practices exist, the vast majority of digital marketing implementations lack effective design and optimization. Examples of consistently deficient digital marketing program components include:

• Content marketing
• Keyword advertising campaigns
• Search engine marketing
• E-mail marketing campaigns
• Website analytics

Advanced practices, including digital marketing integration and mobile marketing, are even less well understood and rarely addressed by digital marketers. Digital marketing’s “newness” provides career advancement opportunities for digital marketers, but this newness handicaps the digital marketing profession due to the shallow reservoir of digital marketing history, knowledge and lessons learned.

Summary

To advance the state of their craft, successful digital marketers must identify and tap diverse sources of knowledge and guidance. Now past the “wild west” stage of development, we are in the “early days” of Digital Marketing.

About this Series

The experience, data and insights gained through the development and delivery of our Digital Marketing Insight service form the basis for this series of posts. More information is available about the “If Digital Marketing is so easy, why is everyone so bad at it?” series.

Thank you,

Andrew Dennis
Southbury, Connecticut
Reach me directly at andrew at northpage dot com

If Digital Marketing is So Easy, Why is Everyone So Bad at It?
Reason #2/45: Digital Marketing is Ever Changing

“Change is constant.” – Benjamin Disraeli

In addition to being large and complex (Reason #1), digital marketing is in a state of perpetual change. And, far from being linear, digital marketing change is multidimensional, rapid and unpredictable. Examples of digital marketing areas that experience continual change include:

Maintaining awareness of these changes, determining if and how they apply to your digital marketing programs and knowing when, where and how to make them productive components of the programs is critical to your digital marketing success.

Summary

Change is a constant for digital marketers – and the numbers, types and frequency of changes continue to accelerate. Standing still in your digital marketing knowledge and capabilities means falling behind. When embraced, these changes can enable powerful and differentiated digital marketing programs.

“Control over change would seem to consist in moving not with it but ahead of it.” – Marchall McLuhan

About this Series

The experience, data and insights gained through the development and delivery of our Digital Marketing Insight service form the basis for this series of posts. More information is available about the “If Digital Marketing is so easy, why is everyone so bad at it?” series.

Thank you,

Andrew Dennis
Southbury, Connecticut
Reach me directly at andrew at northpage dot com