Bett-zi

Connected Marketing v The Silo Approach August 13, 2010

Posted by andrewbetts in Behavioural, Cross Channel Attribution, Digital Agencies, Marketing and Demand, Sales and Marketing, Search, Search Agencies, Social Media, Talent Management, Uncategorized.
comments closed

I have been talking a lot recently about connected marketing. Maybe it will become one of the numerous over-used industry phrases.

I hope so as it’s bang on the money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fragmentation within disciplines

Yes, yet another new buzz word in the industry, is a challenge that many marketers face:

For example;

• Fragmentation in SEO – content and link strategies, black/grey/white hat, universal search, and social media optimization
• Fragmentation in PPC – localization, personalization, universal search, cross channel attribution
• Fragmentation in Display – Audience networks and Ad networks

Fragmentation in the Industry

Brands have a difficult choice to make in vendor selection. Is it?

Tier One/Full service agencies, larger specialist digital or search specialist, the pure play SEO, the pure play PPC and SEO company, the ‘boutique agency’, the freelancer, the technology provider and agency, the consultancy, the in-house team, or a combination of some/all?

Fragmentation within the Digital organization

Basically this relates to discord between;

• Sales and marketing functions
• Marketing, sales and operational and the specialist departments who are the knowledge backbone of the company.
• (The ‘Snake Oil Salesman’ v the ‘non commercial technical specialist’ -that’s another post on its very own!!)
• Discord and Alignment between emerging media teams, social media teams, search and display teams, media planners and buyers, technology and consultancy, affiliate, rich media and so forth

The list goes on…..

The Challenge

The common challenge marketers now find is how to ‘connect the dots’ and ensure that any search or digital discipline is not viewed in a silo. Clients want to see streamlined search and digital solutions.

Many practitioners tend to focus solely on their field of discipline (be it search, seo, display, email, or affiliate).

That’s fine as clients and in-house departments want to learn about specific domains of specialism. However – If you ask them would they like to see a little bit also on how this fits in their marketing mix and with other channels I bet most say yes.

Insights into a solution
If you are in the US and you agree, then you need to get to Connected Marketing week in San Francisco next week; 

It will be the biggest gathering of interactive marketing events aiming to educate marketers on every aspect of the digital industry. Participating events include SES San Francisco, Online Marketing Summit (OMS), Jeff Pulver’s 140 Characters Conference, Email Experience Council, IAB and Tim Ash’s Conversion Conference.

http://www.connectedmarketingweek.com

“With ClickZ’s Connected Marketing Week, we’re launching a new vision of marketing – one that incorporates not just search but the reality that a successful marketing program has to incorporate an understanding of just how audiences are connecting and sharing vital information,” said Mike Grehan, Global Vice President of Content, SES, Search Engine Watch and ClickZ. “We’ve lined up the top organizations in the marketing industry to present, share and mingle with marketers during our festival.”

I am very interested to see how many speakers will just do a one product presentation.

Even just one slide on how it connects with other media would be nice, No?

The solution

In a follow post I will report on the key takeaways and show you how marketers can work closely in a matrix type structure to meet the changing demands of clients and their audiences. This will include;

• How to build better relations with their prospects by not just focusing on their core product in a silo and showing how their product and services ‘connect’ with the rest of the digital marketing mix.

• Giving insights into what clients want, how they like to see information shared, and how they view connected marketing.

For example – Search Marketing needs to connect the dots between;

Search management
Search optimisation

Crosss Channel Attribution
Digital optimisation
Onsite optimisation
Behavioural and re-targeting

• Provide examples as to how agencies and search/digital providers alike can build better relations with their in-house peers (marketing and product specialists) by sharing insight, avoiding conflict between domains of specialism, share knowledge on the different audience type profiles across their digital disciplines and win more business

If you’re a marketer, brand, consultant, specialist, or full service agency….We are all in it to win right?

Hence we should be ‘connecting the dots’ between our products and services and between our company colleagues and specialist departments (internally) to build an even brighter future for Search and Digital

Watch this space on how to begin to ‘connect them dots’