“Industry Leaders” Speak – BtoB’s Interactive Marketing Guide
One of the things that I like best about the online industry overviews such as BtoB’s Interactive Marketing Guide 2006, are the quotes from “industry leaders” who reinforce what many of us have been saying for years. We really like these quotes because they concisely and accurately say what many large consulting companies will not tell their clients for fear of reducing the flow of fees into their bank accounts. For example:
“Ask yourself what the primary goal and objectives are for your Web site and indentify the corresponding metrics that point to success or failure.” Terry Suppers, Sr. VP-interactive marketing, General Electric’s Corporate Financial Services Business
“A blog is a medium, period. But the intent– to develop a community of people with a common or shared interest– is very applicable for b-to-b companies.” Martyn Etherington, VP-marketing, Tektronix Inc.
“Busy business people have stopped saving brochures and advertisements because they can look up the equivalent information on the Web.” Jakob Nielsen, Principal, Nielsen Norman Group
The first quote on metrics tells the audience that not all metrics are important. Rather organizations should focus on specific metrics that demonstrate success or failure. We’ve been helping our clients understand these “success metrics” for years. Forget the hundreds of basic traffic metrics that your WebTrends or Omniture or HitBox package presents. Concentrate on how your organization defines success using Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which can be measured using metrics and metric ratios.
The second quote is important because it tells the audience that it is not the tool (blogs) but the intent of the effort that matters. Too many teams get wrapped up in the latest and greatest tools discussion without moving towards the overall goal of what the organization wants to achieve online. Launching podcasts and blogs may be the cool thing to do, but does it work for your audience? Concentrate on visitor expectations and needs first. Then offer these visitors the fastest way to find information they require to buy your products. It’s not always the most talked about new feature that works best for your audience.
I really like Jakob Nielsen’s quote. It echoes a bullet point from our case study on our engagement with SAP. Business decision makers do not have the time to review multiple collateral pieces. They will search your web site, find what they want and move on. They will skim your message and push the work down to their subordinates. Therefore, you must make your site easy to navigate and full of online collateral that can be found quickly and easily.
So where does your organization stand? Are you working with clearly defined success metrics, tools that meet the needs of your visitors, and providing current relevant information? Are you getting the results you want? If you are unsure, please contact us for a free consultation to move your online efforts forward.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006 at 3:47 pm and is filed under Best Practices, Social Media Trends. Both comments and pings are currently closed.