The marketing world is in a near state of panic. Online Q4 sales growth is projected to be smaller or negative, depending on the analyst – not good in the historically overachieving online world. Layoffs are abundant, Google’s stock is at its lowest price in 3 years, and the Consumer Confidence Index is at an all-time low. Given this economic environment, it is more imperative than ever that we start to understand our consumers at a deeper level – and learn how to leverage that data in creating the most effective online campaigns possible.
The greatest advantage and pitfall of internet marketing is that it is measurable at a depth that is historically unprecedented. The amount and complexity of data that is available today is enough to overwhelm even the most sophisticated database marketers. We know who you are, where you are, where you’re going, what you’re doing, what you’re searching for, where you’re clicking, what you’re buying, and so forth. And we’re learning more each day, thanks to sources such as the Big G gradually become less secretive.
In the face of this mountain of data, we fall back on what seems to be the logical way of dealing with it: math. We calculate clickthrough rates, conversion rates, viewthroughs, and other key metrics and then call it a day. While the metrics are absolutely essential to an effective digital marketing campaign (and the key selling point to clients, who are starting to realize that they don’t have a clue whether the person who saw that TV ad even remembered their brand name, let alone purchased), metrics are not and will never be the entire picture. Every single one of those numbers represents individual people, and human behavior is far more complex and unpredictable than what can be expressed by tables and graphs. Therefore, to be truly digital-minded we must learn to understand the driving force behind all of those clicks and conversions: the human brain.
While this is a general online marketing blog, and will comment on the various issues that our industry faces, the focal point is combining the historically technical-oriented viewpoint with that of broader branding and consumer behavior theories. By understanding our consumers, we can bring greater value to our clients and customers. And there has never been a time where doing so has been so important.
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