Digital Marketing & Analytics: Five Deadly Myths De-mythified!

Hello In a recent set of keynotes and consulting engagements in the US, UK and Canada, I've had an overwhelming feeling that in very fundamental ways some companies make imprecise choices when it comes to their digital strategy. Not because they don't have enough money or opportunity or people. But, simply because their broader framing of what the problem was, and what their chosen solution would deliver.

The heartbreaking part of these, often innocently made, choices is any lack of meaningful progress in digitizing their companies. It saddens me deeply that they are not being able to take full advantage of all the new product, marketing, customer relationship opportunities in front of them. Because, I'm sure like you, I'm humbled by the immense opportunity digital presents.

This post covers five of these heartbreaking misses in the broader framing. My hope is that 1. You'll understand what's wrong in terms of the strategic choice being made and 2. Get an extremely clear sense for what the right choice is in each case. I've suffered enough bruises on the front-lines from trying to re-imagine the current and revolutionize the future across multiple industry verticals, countries, opportunity sizes. Consider this to be a collection of wisdom from those tough lessons – from wins and losses.

Since in almost every case the imprecise framing is strategic, the true consumer of this post is your boss's boss's boss. Sadly, we can't get to them here. But, at least you and I can get on the same page and perhaps I can convince you to take our message to her/him.

Here are the digital myths that are leading us down a profoundly sub-optimal path:

You're welcome to jump to the one that is most pressing for your organization, though I recommend reading them sequentially as I've grafted connective tissue from one story to the next which will help you see how each of the five is a part of a grand story. You'll understand better how it all comes together into one piece at the end.

Ready? Let's go!

1. Programmatic platforms are a panacea.

Programmatic advertising is all the rage. Per our friends at Wikipedia, Programmatic encompasses an array of technologies that automate the buying, placement and optimization of media inventory. Instead of ads being placed by human-based methods, machines can do it so much better at scale.

Google's Adwords is perhaps the simplest example of programmatic advertising. You input your keywords, text ads, bids and other elements, and the platform intelligently assesses the best fit user intent and delivers your ad.

Today's primary use of the word programmatic refers to the use of ad exchanges, real-time bidding (RTB), Demand-side Platforms (DSPs) etc. to deliver display ads. Yes, the banner kind (in many ad formats, sizes, and dynamism).

I love this programmatic trend, it is undeniably the future. I love it because of the technological coolness and scale it brings. I love it because of the slow death of demographic and psychographic targeting it is delivering. I love the shift to intent-based targeting (I cannot stress how massively important to the future of advertising and marketing).

programmatic buying ecosystem

But, I'm distressed that programmatic is thought about as panacea by CMOs and other CxOs. "Just buy a programmatic stack, and all our problems will be gone! Our advertising will rain down massive revenues! !"

There is one important, hugely important, foundational element they are not accounting for.

Like you, when I went to MBA school I was told my marketing class that the ultimate nirvana state for a Marketer was to be able to deliver the right message (RM) to the right person (RP) at the right time (RT).

While it made a ton of sense, no sane person would say that we could do anything close to that using the media platforms of the time. Can you do RM+RP+RT using TV? How about magazines? Yes, you can get some weak demographic or, a bit better, psychographic signals from surveys TV channels or magazines did. Then you would just spray and pray (a strategy the continues to date and reduces the glory of TV!). The best we could think about RM+RP+RT is what Direct Marketers (people who sent you all those letters in postal mail!). For their existing customers they could mine the CRM/ERP systems and the letter would switch from Dear Sir/Madam to Dear Stephanie Byrd. The content of the letter could be customized to Stephanie's data/behavior.

The internet today is a fundamental paradigm shift. RM+RP+RT is finally possible. In large measure that is because of the rise of programmatic buying. Fewer guesses. More technology. Leveraging consumer behavior and intent signals.

Fly in the ointment?

Programmatic simply solves for the ability to find the right person (RP) at the right time (RT).

It does not solve the RM problem!

You still have to come up with the right message.

If the platform identifies See intent, do you have the capability to deliver a See message? Or, are you counting on your Do message to do the job? What if the platform tells you that this is the right time to deliver a Care message to the right person, have your fed that into your programmatic system so that the right person can be delighted?

[Bonus read: See-Think-Do-Care: An Audience Intent Centric Business Framework.]

Programmatic platforms are (sadly) sold by vendors with nary a word about RM. Programmatic platforms are bought with nary a thought given by companies to the RM challenge.

Do you know then what happens when these platforms are implemented?

Today you suck at delivering relevant messages to your desirable audiences with our current platform. Tomorrow your programmatic platform's technical savvy just helps you suck at scale, faster.

And, make no mistake. You, your boss's boss, and the boss's boss's boss will blame the platform. But, of course it was not the platform. It was your oversight of the importance of the RM all along.

So, if you want to win with programmatic (and, you SHOULD want to!)… Figure out how to also re-imagine your RM strategy.

questions

Here's a head-start with the questions you'll have to answer to create a fabulous RM strategy: Who is going to create all the See-Think-Do-Care content for your desktop website, mobile website and mobile apps and deliver it on your owned and rented platforms (more on this below)? Is it going to be in-house or out-sourced? [In the long run it has to be all in-house.] Who is going to be responsible for all the creative assets that need to go into your programmatic platform to power your advertising to bring people to all this magnificent See-Think-Do-Care content? How often is it going to be refreshed? Who is going to ensure that the company moves away from years and years of legacy demographic and psychographic limited thinking and move to using your programmatic platform to leverage the hundreds of intent signals thrown off by your See-Think-Do-Care audiences? Who is then going to ensure that S-T-D-C thinking drives content, which drives ads, which are delivered to audiences who, because now you don't stink, deliver brand love and company revenue?

These are non-trivial questions to answer. But, answering them with immense thought and care is absolutely critical.

Programmatic comes down to RM. All that technology and real-time bidding and trading desks and brilliant algorithms and ad exchanges, everything comes down to… right message.

If you don't believe me, go to www.yahoo.com right now. Look at the ads and their massive irrelevance to you right now. This despite the fact that Yahoo! (even if you've never visited the site) has access to tons of intent signals from you right now, tons of third-party cookies that litter your browser right now, and immense Big Data and algorithms. Does Yahoo! suck? A little bit, yes. Most of the blame rests on the advertiser whose ad you are seeing right now. [Scratchers lottery for me. For someone who has never played lottery, has no intention of doing so, and has never visited any site that could remotely signal any interest in partaking in something even slight math savvy would warn against! :)]

Go visit any major website right now (and, please turn off Ad-Block if you are using it). You'll see the same irrelevance and shouting. [Farming tractor on foxnews.com! Cisco UCS Servers on theguardian.com!!]

The RM problem.

Don't let this be you. But programmatic. Create an awesome S-T-D-C RM strategy first.

data collage

2. A data-first strategy is a winning formula.

This has to be bizarre coming from an author who's only minor claim to fame is data. Look at the right nav on this blog, two best selling books in 13 languages! As all of my proceeds from the books go to charity, this passion for data has allowed me to donate $350,000 to charity since the first book was published.

All of that to simply say that I think data is really important, and I'm a passionate believer in a data-driven product development, marketing, employee hiring, stocking the pantry at your office, and so much more.

Data. Is. Magnificent.

Yet, I believe that if your company has a "data-first" strategy you are likely doomed. I was heart broken at the number of companies I've met recently that are executing this strategy.

A data-first strategy is defined as data before everything else.

It is the quest to implement systems (usually massive) to collect data of all shapes and manner before all else. It is an investment in numerous report writers or data (puking) automation or hiring a small army in India or Philippines to do that, before investing in any smart Analyst. It is being hyper-conservative when it comes to creativity and experimentation because of quant-issues. It is represented by 90% of the data budget invested in Agencies and Consultants driving implementation and re-implementation and hyper-customization of the code. It is represented by the act of creating crazy data thresholds for any initiative to get off the ground. As in, "You have to prove store sales from a See or a Think strategy before we invest in smart marketing." Put another way, it is the constant judging of fish by their ability to climb trees!

Data is important. I believe it can help drive your business strategy smartly. But, a data-first strategy, defined as above, is nuts. It will only slow down your progress and allow your competitors to crush you like a bug (even if you are a top player in your market today!).

You should reject data-first.

You should accept data-with strategies.

Assuming you have a great product and/or service first, in our context the most important thing to do is to focus on content next. That will quickly be followed by amazing, incredible marketing (owned first, earned next and paid as the final piece of the puzzle). Along the way, rather than over-indexing on a data obsession before everything, use data as an aid to keep getting smarter. For how to go about this, use the wonderful Analytics Ladder of Awesomeness .

digital analytics ladder of magnificient success[1]

From a tools/data collection strategy perspective, you'll invest in a free tool first (and there is a free tool for pretty much everything, and free data is everywhere – for example you don't need any tool to tell you that Esurance's Facebook strategy is a dud, just scroll through their public posts, the average amplification rate is a tiny 20, two and a zero!). Exhaust the free tool, take the initial steps in the ladder of awesomeness, make the organization smarter. Then, move to a paid one as you deal with more complex challenges. Make sure this comes with a commensurate 10/90 investment in smart, really smart analysts (and not report writers). Climb up the ladder some more. Rinse. Repeat.

You are going to drive your organization to use data to make smart quantitative and qualitative decisions along the way. You'll execute a data-with strategy. Perhaps it is best to think of it as a data-with business success first strategy.

Please don't have a data-first strategy. It is the kiss of death. And innovation. And people. And anything amazing.

Oh, and before I forget. Definitely buy my data books! :)

[Bonus: If you want to know the three phases that help you create a great digital strategy: The Complete Digital Analytics Ecosystem: How To Win Big .]

3. All we need is Facebook, forget our website.

Of all of the things on this list, this one is the hardest to understand. It is so wrong, on such a colossal scale, it is hard to believe that it could be real. But, it is.

There are, broadly speaking, two types of digital existences. Those that you own, and those that you rent.

Own existences are usually your desktop and mobile websites and your mobile apps. You own everything about them. You own the domains. You own the content and you can present it exactly the way you want (you can be as weird as you want). You own the relationships with the customers (or, just the visitors to your sites/apps). You own the macro-outcome, you can have as many micro-outcomes as you want. You own the data. You own privacy. You own everything!

rent own terrible balance with social-3[1]

Rent existences are usually your Facebook page, your YouTube brand channel, your Twitter presence. You own very little about them. You own the content – you are limited in the creativity you can express, it has to be in the bounds set by the platform. You don't really own the relationships with the customers. You have lots of freedom with Subscribers to your YouTube channels, on Facebook you are limited to what Edgerank determines it will expose to your Like'ers, on Twitter everything's in the timeline – you just have to make sure you are still there when your followers read their timeline. You own very little, if any, of the data about your customers. You don't control the privacy (it is up to each platform). And, you are dependent on the strategy executed at the moment by the companies who own these rented channels – if they zig and you've always zagged, tough beans.

The best digital strategy in the world is an Own + Rent strategy. Own because it is the best destination for Do and Think audiences (it would be silly to dump them on rented channels). Rent because it is where your See, and often Care, audiences already are (YouTube and Facebook each have over a billion active humans on them!). It is very smart to use each, own and rent, for what they are respectively good at.

But.

If you only have money for one, do own.

Why?

Scroll back up slowly. Read the paragraph that starts with "Own existences are usually…"

Convinced about how bizarre it is to invest in rent rather than own?

You have no freedom on creativity, content, data, privacy, relationships, post-platform engagement (email!), ability to execute Think and Do strategies that actually make you money (!), and so much more.

Yet.

There are companies actually executing just rent. They have no own strategy. In fact if you search for the brand by name on Google.com or Bing.com, you'll see links to their site in the first couple organic search results, and if you click on them you get to their site and auto-redirected to their Facebook page!

Where, for these big companies, the average Amplification Rate is under 25. They are taking thousands and thousands of people looking for their brand (easy to check with Google Trends/Keyword Tool) and dumping them on a See channel where on average 25 human beings engage with their limited outcome existence!

Many, many companies are doing this. In the last few weeks for me it has been a massive beverages company, it has been a couple of consumer goods companies, it has been an entertainment company, and it has even been a non-profit. I had to cry myself to sleep every single time.

I implore you. Own first. Then rent. Rock both. If you can only do one. Do own. For the sake of your business, your employees and the almighty (/Jesus/Krishna/Allah/Sun God/your favourite).

rent own site social great balance[1]

First Bonus Recommendation: Your New Facebook Strategy: Facebook's organic reach for brands is now broadly under 5%. If you actually stink, as is the case for most brands because they are executing a Do strategy on a See media channel, it is even lower. You don't have to believe me, just look at the little number at the bottom of your Facebook posts. It is a profound waste of opportunity give your Agency gobs and gobs of money to create non-engaging, not-being-viewed content. Save that money immediately. Facebook does have a massive audience, and you should want it. But, it is important to realize that you'll need to have a paid strategy and not an organic one. That is where Facebook shifted when it comes to brands a year ago, you should just catch up. Invest money first in a See right messages strategy for Facebook, because it is a See channel. Then, pay Facebook money, lots of it, to deliver that content, via their advertising options, to audiences in the See intent-cluster. Oh, and don't be silly and replicate your offline demographic and psychographic targeting on Facebook.. If you do that you'll still lose, even with a paid strategy. Use the intent signals Facebook's ad platform provides. The opportunity is there, you get to decide if you want to win big or keep wasting time and money on Facebook.

Second Bonus Recommendation: Thomas Baekdal is my friend. He inspires me. I learn so much from him about digital and marketing. Hence, I'm a paid subscriber to Baekdal Plus. For $9 per month, you get knowledge that will increase your salary by 100x of that every month. It has done that for me. For just one example, pay and read his recent Is it time to rethink social post. If you think the above is eye-opening, just wait until you read Thomas' pov. Go, subscribe!

4. The web is dead. Mobile web is dead. Apps are the past, present, future.

This will definitely get me on the wrong side of many thought leaders in the mobile space, indeed even in the digital space. But, by now I have lots of practice with making career limiting moves so what the heck!

It is an undeniable fact of life that mobile phones have become the platform we use the most when it comes to digital. If you look over the last five years, the change is astounding. Here's a slide from one of my recent presentations where I created a visual to represent data that came from eMarketer…

average time US media channels evolution

Amazing, is it not? In such a short time mobile platforms represent greater than 50% of the time we spend with digital. Desktop is shrinking slightly. Other is going up (wearables FTW!). My surprise was that orange box, Video, but that's a story for another day.

A big chunk of the time on mobile is spent on mobile applications. It is also increasing with each year. Hence, the hypothesis goes, that you should only invest in/develop mobile applications. That is where the present and the future is, you should pause all investment in mobile sites or desktop sites.

I buy the first part of it, mobile apps are important. In fact, smart mobile application are a strategic imperative.

But. It is an act of ill-advised bravado to say that mobile apps are all there is to digital, simply because of what people are doing when they are using mobile apps and what intent clusters they are in.

When people use mobile apps they are in two of four intent clusters. See and Care.

People are spending time on social apps, sharing parts of their lives (or their entire lives!), they are playing lots of games, and they are consuming other types of info-snacky content. All, See. You can, as a Marketer, identify your Largest Addressable Q ualified Audience and then engage with them in this See stage. But, that is all.

People are also spending time on individual apps of companies they frequently do business with. For example, for me, the United Airlines, Chase Bank, Amazon apps along with my Toyota EV app. I already know these companies. They already know me. They already have my business. I'm deeply loyal to them. I'm in the Care audience cluster. They have simplified the environment in their apps so that I can do repetitive things easily. If you are a Marketer at these companies, I'm in your Largest Addressable Qualified Audience in the Care cluster. You can do amazing things with me, deepen brand loyalty for example.

But, the thing you'll notice from all of the above mobile behavior is that the all important Think and Do audience clusters don't really exist on mobile apps. If you want to actually grow your business, actually acquire new customers, engage with audiences who are not already deeply loyal, you are going to have to use Think and Do marketing channels (Search, YouTube, Email, Affiliates, Display) and Think and Do audience platforms (desktop sites, mobile sites).

If you abandon the latter, desktop sites, mobile sites, you are deciding to bet your business on See and Care, that is an extremely regretful choice (as you'll discover soon enough when sales and business growth are harmed).

mobile apps

I'm sure you noticed I also mentioned Amazon app above. I'm in the Care audience cluster for Amazon but using the app, I'm most definitely engaging in Do behavior as I buy like crazy from Amazon. I find it extremely convenient to be able to order on the go. This behavior complements my family's purchase behavior with Amazon, which is still primarily desktop based. For an entire segment of your audiences in the Care stage, there will be a lot of Do behavior. But, even the simplest report you run, using any analytics platform you have access to, will show you that the mobile app Do behavior is an AND for your deeply loyal customers, along with you rocking your mobile site and desktop site.

Mobile apps will continue to grow in usage. See audience intent will power most of this growth. You should absolutely take advantage of it. At a smaller pace, Care audience intent will power some of this growth. You should invest *a lot* in creating apps that take advantage of this opportunity (after all, they are the people that love you the most).

Mobile sites and desktop sites, will continue to grow in usage, and they will solve for a complex set of Think and Do type intent. It is where almost all of your new customers and lightly-connected current customers growth will come from. They will have a very diverse set of needs and wants. And, their instinct won't be to download your mobile app as the thing number one to do – without knowing what you can solve for! You will continue to find them on desktop and mobile site platforms. Invest in those platforms for marketing and invest in those channels to create amazing experiences.

This AND strategy will drive a global maxima for your business.

At the very minimum if you listen to someone (your boss!) who is driving you down a mobile apps only path, realize that it is simply solving for See and Care. Knowingly abandon most of Think (Largest Addressable Qualified Audiences with some commercial intent) and most of Do (Largest Addressable Qualified Audiences with lots of commercial intent). It is always better to be consciously wrong, than to be unconsciously wrong. Simply because when things most likely go south, the organization will learn important lessons.

Desktop Site + Mobile Site + Mobile Apps = See + Think + Do + Care = #winning #tigerblood

[Bonus: Magnificent Mobile Website And App Analytics: Reports, Metrics, How-to! < /A > ]

cookies

5. Cookies! Cookies are all we need!

If you think about items one through four above, the one thing you'll overwhelmingly realize is that they are driving a deep emphasis on two things: A. People. B. Their intent.

You can't have B without A.

Yet, every single day in almost 99.9999% of analytics implementations are cookie based. This is even worse when we shift away from website analytics tools, which, except in flawed implementations, use first-party cookies, to analytics tools that come from advertising vendors (Facebook, DoubleClick, Microsoft Et. Al.). These vendors use the more fragile third-party cookies.

The net result of this cookie business is that data from ad networks does not allow us reliably track a human across multiple digital interactions over time, even if they use the same browser on the same computer for all those interactions. Additionally, even with first-party cookies, which last a bit longer and are more persistent, we can't track the human across multiple devices, across intent clusters.

This is a big problem today, and it is going to become worse with every passing day as the devices humans use multiply, and human behavior on those devices – old behavior, and lots of new behavior – becomes ever more fragmented.

If we rely on just cookies, we are going to make poorer and poorer decisions about our products and our marketing with every single day. Even when we work very hard, and move away from absolutely silly things like last-click attribution modeling , our insights will be harmed and won't be reflective of what is actually happening in the real world with your real customers.

I'm a bit freaked that not enough people are worrying about this problem, and all of us in the space are not making enough of a ruckus about it.

My slogan for you is simple: Pivot On People!

POP your site and ad platforms analytics implementations. Today.

pivot on people

The good news is that you don't have to wait for the technology to be invented. With, to use the technical name, User-ID Override in Universal Analytics from Google, and similar features from other platforms, you can execute a pivot on people strategy today!

The challenge you'll have is entirely marketing/business based. What can you do to do to incentivize people to self-identify, and keep doing it across platforms and digital engagements (and for the very best amongst you, across online and offline!)? We have never thought of a fair exchange where you can ask me to raise my hand and self identify. We never had to, the problem was not that bad. Every disrupted myth in this post suggests that the problem is big, and getting bigger.

So, what content or value exchange can you deliver to your users? Are you solving for just the macro-outcome, that you want? Or, have you also built micro-outcomes tied to See-Think-Care so that you meet user needs, and create an excitement in them to self identify? Higher order bit… Have you invested in understanding each audience intent cluster across See-Think-Do-Care ?

These are important questions you'll have to answer from a business and marketing perspective in order to follow my passionate recommendation that you pivot on people. The technology to actually do this exists already, has for the last couple of years. Perhaps there was a smaller sense of urgency in the past, it is a burning platform now. Obsess about solving the business problem.

Once you do… You'll be so beautifully placed to understand one human's behavior across devices and real-digital world existences. You'll be able to understand their intent a million times better. You'll be able to create right messages for them which you can deliver at the right time to the right person.

And, that my dear reader, as they say in the business, is golden!

Please be more aware of these five digital myths, and do your very best, with the alternative solutions outlined above, to spread the light of wisdom.

As always, it is your turn now.

Do you agree that these are the top five myths when it comes to digital? Are there others that you bump into more often? What is your experience implementing your company's programmatic strategy? Has a Do or an organic only strategy worked for your company/clients on Facebook? Is your company executing a data-first or a data-with digital strategy? Do you agree that apps are going to dominate and everything else needs to get de-prioritized? Are you, in every way possible, pivoting on people?

Please share your feedback, critique, wisdom and war stories via comments below.

Thank you.

Comments

  1. 1
    Kharlamov Anton says

    Hi Avinash!

    Thank you for a brilliant article (as always)

    Everybody talks about UserID and implementation it with Universal Analytics, but is there any similar tool in Omniture? :)

    • 2

      Kharlamov: Yes, there is something similar.

      Please reach out to your Adobe account representative and they'll be delighted to walk you through how to implement it, and if there are any impact on your contract size (depending on the tools you have currently purchased).

      Avinash.

  2. 3

    I do agree with pretty much everything you wrote (in another great post).

    Of course you can basically take every trend in digital marketing and overstate its impact. And sadly some so called strategy consultants proclaim their field of expertise to be the only way to go – as if it was the holy grail of digital marketing.

    At the end it all comes back to being relevant by delivering the right message at the right time by whatever channel or tactic is suitable to do so.

    BTW I will definitely quote your “Go to yahoo.com and look at the ads and their massive irrelevance to you right now” in pretty much every meeting from now on….

  3. 4
    Tom Willcox says

    Avinash,

    First off – thanks for the interesting read! You're always writing great content.

    I have a question for you, though. At the end of #3, on your first bonus recommendation, you say the following:

    "Oh, and don't be silly and replicate your offline demographic and psychographic targeting on Facebook. If you do that you'll still lose, even with a paid strategy. Use the intent signals Facebook's ad platform provides."

    I'm hoping you can elaborate on that. Are you saying we shouldn't use the different targeting features to narrow our audience toward our target demographics when creating ads?

    Thanks, again!

    Tom

    • 5

      Tom, I believe that sentence is aimed at over-reliance on demographic targeting. The TV advertiser of old targeted 18-34 year old males with xyz income. With the wide breadth of better targeting options available to us nowadays, don't fall into that antiquated mindset of targeting. Demographic targeting can be used to further narrow down a target, but really shouldn't stand on its own with a platform with as much rich data as Facebook.

    • 6

      Tom: Thanks for this lovely question!

      I strongly believe that in the old world we did not have a choice, we had to target you by your age or income or salary or gender etc. etc. Demographics and psychographics.

      Now, though, on the web, Facebook, people are throwing off so many other signals that indicate their intent. Commercial, non-commercial, if they are in your largest addressable qualified audience, etc. etc. Use these to first create ad content that will be relevant and then target the right audience.

      Doing the latter, it is a better way to deliver more relevant advertising that users find useful, which in turn delivers a better return for your business. Don't use the former. Unless you have no other choice.

      Avinash.

  4. 7

    Gold. :)

    I agree with your point about baekdal.com as well. I believe I first saw him from one of your previous posts, subscribed and never looked back.

    Just as I was reading your point about Facebook and owned I thought about the very post you then went on to mention.

    With regards cookies though, what strategies have you heard of? Or would recommend? To get a uid I mean.

    Thx
    S

    • 8

      Steve: At the moment the most credible alternative to cookies is User-Id.

      But there are others that might develop over time. For example, in some applications your phone number is your identifier and you share it across apps and things. Email works the same way. Your unified Facebook login across tons of things can do that job.

      So, there are many ideas. There isn't one that is quite as completely owned and controlled by you like User-ID, but I expect this space to continue evolving when it comes to possibilities.

      Avinash.

  5. 9

    Avinash, love you hitting this topic. All 5 are things I encounter all the time. Here's some thoughts:

    #1 – Akin to your 90/10 rule for people vs. technology in analysis, same applies here. I think we've had a conversation before that the technology far outpaces the broad market's ability to wisely use it. I just wrote a huge blog post about retargeting and this quote really sums up how I feel about programmatic: “The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.” –William Gibson

    Its funny you hit this topic, we just published a blog post & whitepaper aimed at closing the gap between retargeting capabilities and marketing understanding. Check it out if you're interested: http://www.ripenecommerce.com/blog/guide-to-retargeting-ads

    #2 – In marketing and in science there's 2 critical parts. Theory and experimentation (or the collection of data for the express purpose of understanding). I think there's this trend to try to downplay how important having good theories is to functioning as a great marketer. A great scientific example is Einstein was a brilliant theorist, but poor at experimentation.

    The true progress was made by combining Einstein's theories with the broader scientific community's ability to test them via experimentation. I think the same applies to marketing, data and context need to live together, not independently.

    #4 – Another one that strikes a cord. Apps for the sake of apps needs to die, very often a well done responsive site can accomplish the same thing for less cost and less user hassle.

    Mobile strategy needs to be replaced by an everywhere strategy that fits the device/time/place that people interact with your brand.

    #5 – Funny that you mention the limitation of cookies in the same post as the programmatic buying. I think one of the core advantages of Facebook & Twitter's custom audiences is that it's tied to an account that follows you to every device. Making programmatic buying for custom audiences device agnostic.

    Great read.

    • 10

      Dave: Wonderful quote by William Gibson. We need to plaster it all over the place as a healthy reminder.

      I thank you for adding your thoughts on each of our myths, much appreciated.

      On the last point, as small challenge we have to accommodate for is for when people might not be logged in across devices and what about behavior across apps and mobile browsers. Not a deal breaker, just something to consider carefully and deal with.

      Thanks again!

      Avinash.

  6. 11

    Hi Avinash,

    Wonderful inspiration as ever, I'll talk to René to get a subscription to https://www.baekdal.com/plus ;-)

    You can imagine I particularly focused on the last bit about cookies and more specifically appreciated the "incentivize people to self-identify, and keep doing it across platforms and digital engagements (and for the very best amongst you, across online and offline!)".

    Like you, I love analytics and think the User-ID override function in GA is a wonderful feature (again, only for Simio, I love analytics!). What worries me from a Privacy perspective is the retroactivity of the functionality (and here i might be wrong so please, more technical people, don't hesitate to correct me!).

    The important thing to remember about Privacy is the notion of choice: if I choose not to log in on a certain device, please respect that. One of the main reasons I would tend to avoid logging in is today due to varying pricing strategies also. And to be honest, i'm not fully happy with my (data) trail/history being totally re-written because I clicked on a link in a Newsletter on one of my devices. Thoughts?

    Another point i'd like to raise is segmentation vs. intent signals. Do you think we are abandoning "old ways" of segmentation to move towards intent signals or should they complement one another? I'm currently struggling with the idea. Does that make sense?

    Kind regards from Istanbul, great post as ever.

    Aurélie

    • 12

      Aurelie: I join you 100 million percent (seems like enough!) in stressing completely and clearly in the policy what data is being collected and what is happening with it. No alternative to this transparency should be considered!

      Then, the choice is the Users (yours!). If you do not perceive to be a value exchange in your favor, you won't login, and that is a problem for the company to solve.

      With regards to retroactivity, I believe it is limited (only certain small time period, and then only in certain scenarios). There is more detail on this, clearly explained, here: https://goo.gl/ZVOYcr

      Thank you so very much for sharing your thoughts, they are always extremely welcome.

      Avinash.

  7. 13

    Hi Avinash,

    Thank you for this post. It's like 'the voice of common sense'.

    Over-measuring, tons of data sheets (data puke), automated / dynamic / real time bidding and ad creating platforms and all other nice stuff, is pretty much useless without common sense, accurate measurement and right KPI's.

    Sometimes I really feel CxO's use the fancy stuff to hide their incompetence, or to buy an excuse for future failure (insurance policy).

    • 14

      Mvarga: I join you in your wish that common sense were more common. :)

      On CXOs… I'm sure there are some cases of incompetence, but in most cases I feel that our CXOs are making incompletely informed decisions. Hence, the stress in each case was to try and complete the perspective they should consider. I hope that then they would make different/better decisions.

      Avinash.

      • 15

        I believe that the CXO's cannot comprehend the complexity that data driven Marketing is offering. A complexity that is a chance if you rely on the right expert. Or it is just a waste of energy and resources if you don’t have the expertise to gain valuable target group insights from this data.

        It’s these insights that you need to develop a relevant messaging. Its insights, then message and then targeting then channel (aka technology). This hasn’t changed. Just that today analytics and data can assist you to gain insights way better and later target on an incredible level to increase relevance.

  8. 16
    Rafael Galante says

    "Does Yahoo! suck? A little bit, yes."

    Very funny!!

    People often forget there are human beings at the other side of the screen and let the algorithm do their jobs! Is like offering sand for someone in a desert instead of water.

    I don't know if it's a lack of creativity or they're just lazy but is very common to see the very same ad through different steps of S-T-D-C framework, such an inefficiency…

  9. 17

    Hi Avinash,

    I do agree with the 5 myths you mentioned. We all encounter with these things often. Thank you for this brilliant article.

    Best Regards
    Miraj Gazi

  10. 18
    Saint jose says

    Great Avinash, thanks for sharing very helpful information on your blog.

    I love digital marketing and your guidance on this blog has become a constant source of inspiration for me.

  11. 19
    Edward Kaznowski says

    Hi,

    Great article, as per usual.

    One question I struggle with. We have began the journey on the see-think-do-care framework for marketing analysis. Each channel now has a couple of relevant metrics to its objective and we are making steps to improve efficiency.

    The question now is how much marketing £ do you spend on each of the areas? Presumably it depends on the stage of growth a business is at. As a start up, should you concentrate just on "think/do?" stage. Once established, is it time to invest more in "see" and "care" channels?

    Thanks,
    Ed

    • 20

      Edward: Regardless of the size of the opportunity, you have to figure out the right priority order for your unique situation. There won't usually be a best practice you can use from some other person (because you are special!).

      For a recent client my recommendation was Do, Think, Care, See. In each, Content first, Marketing second, Measurement always. For a second client it was Think, Do, See, Care. You can work with a consultant to figure it out for yourself.

      My way of allocating media is to first do the above, because as you'll see in at http://www.zqi.me/seethinkdo, and then identify the business impact. For example, and this is so straightforward, first pour money into what drives macro conversions, next what drives micro-conversions, and then build others from there. Compute business impact, use that to prioritize media spend.

      Avinash.

  12. 21

    Avinash as usal a great article!

    I would like to ask you if there will be a new Web analytics book anytime soon?

    Thanks so much for you data genious sharing :)

    • 22

      Nicolas: You are so kind to ask.

      I desperately want to write another one because I have so much content ready to go. I probably just need an editor to help me out. :)

      I hope to write a new book soon. Thank you.

      Avinash.

  13. 23
    Rafael Galante says

    About number 5, the challenge here is to make users log in. If I don't have something in exchange that triggers that will of logging in, people won't log in, hence no User-id.

    Avinash, do you think Google could help us here by providing user-ids for the users that are logged into Chrome? I would see some customers journey over devices without having to deal with tagging!! Is it possible some day, like a new report on GA!!

    • 24

      Rafael: It is an interesting suggestion.

      But, it might not happen any time soon because this crosses corporations, sites, privacy policies, data storage/retention/sharing issues, government regulations, and so many other complex rights and legal challenges.

      At the moment, our only option is to use the feature-set in Universal Analytics to do this for our business ourselves.

      It will be an incomplete view, but as we've discussed in the detailed post on UA, if you solve that marketing/customer value exchange challenge, you will be set for many more things than just single person analysis. If you have nothing to offer in exchange, I'm afraid you are out of luck. You just have to think a lot harder! :)

      Avinash.

      • 25
        Rafael Galante says

        “Device Graph” coming soon and I realize I asked for that 3 years ago! Google sharing knowledge about my users!

        • 26

          Rafael: I am glad you are happy about what you are going to see.

          User identification is subject to numerous laws and user concerns. A permission based transparent to user environment will likely drive the ability of every company to make the type of connections you are alluding to.

          It is also important to note that anonymized connected user level permission based data is already being used, for example in data-driven attribution, to help you understand cross-device behavior better.

          Avinash.

  14. 27

    1. Programmatic platforms are a panacea. – I agree with you. I love RTB's. They are great for both the advertiser and the publisher. The advertiser can fill un-bought ad space and the publisher can buy discounted impressions.

    2. A data-first strategy is a winning formula. – Data can provide you with the necessary information you need to make logical decisions about how to grow and scale your business. It should be used as a tool (Not the end all be all)

    3. All we need is Facebook, forget our website. – UHHHGGG. Facebook again is just a tool you should use to get users to YOUR site!. Facebook is great for finding your ideal client/buyer but you have to get them to your site.

    4. The web is dead. Mobile web is dead. Apps are the past, present, future. – Web is not dead, Mobile is not dead, Apps are useful but again not the end all be all. You should have a comprehensive advertising system that included Desktop/Mobile/Apps/Social/Video…. You should also (if you can have a strong organic presence as well as a paid advertising strategy)

    5. Cookies! Cookies are all we need! – Retarget Retarget Retarget

    Thanks for the post Avinash

  15. 28
    Anthony Centeno says

    As usual, great post.

    2, 3, and 4 resonate with me.

    I prefer the term data-informed but data-with sounds catchier :) It seems everyone is becoming data obsessed but data combined with the domain expertise of a experienced professional equals the best approach, in my humble opinion.

    Marketers' obsession with Facebook is omnipresent as they spout the billions of audience reach number but I've found even their paid advertising option doesn't drive significant enough results to warrant big investment.

    As you said, the web is not dead, it's the place where you own the complete experience and it should be the place where your customers prefer to interact with your brand because the user experience provides so much more than anything you can do in a mobile site or app.

    Keep the great blog posts coming!

    Anthony

    • 29

      Anthony: If we execute a Do strategy on Facebook (or even Think), then you are right that doing a paid advertising option is likely going to show extremely poor results.

      Facebook is good at See, and a bunch of Care. If our company is ready to have marketing strategies that solve for that, then a paid investment in Facebook is going to do well (of course, as measured by See and Care metrics!).

      Else, it would be a sub-optimal use of time and money and people.

      Avinash.

  16. 30

    Avinash:
    In the RM section, regarding content creation, you say "in the long run, it has to be all in-house". In B2B, I just don't see it.

    Marketing budgets for fixed costs keep going down. My experience suggests core content and editorial oversight must/should/can be in-house, but versioning, riffing, expanding, continuing … 'plethorizing' … given budget structures and financial analyst preferences needs to be variable.

    At succeeding companies, good content marketing represents a shift of paid media back into owned and from there towards earned. (Even if it is the RM at the RT, consumption must be earned).

    Do you really believe companies will in-source the majority of this stuff?

    • 31

      John: (Also see my reply to Paul S below.)

      Thanks you for asking this lovely question, I appreciate the thought.

      My question back to you is simple: Are you saying that someone outside your company is going to have more expertise in creating content your Largest Addressable Qualified Audience needs in context of your company?

      It is a difficult thing to imagine.

      It is easy to execute that out-sourced strategy, but the materials inevitably add a lot less to your brand and a lot more to the source.

      Remember, I'm not talking about generic content that almost no one wants specifically but is spewed by the B2B ecosystem every single day. I'm simply referring to content in context of your company.

      It is possible you want to outsource that initially, but overtime it has to come in-house, if it is a serious effort with serious investment and a desire to have a serious impact on the business.

      To your last point… I concur with you that it has to be Owned AND Earned AND Paid. To put an OR anywhere there is to place limits on your success. I do recommend executing it in that priority order though.

      Avinash.

      • 32

        Avinash:

        I think we have to be clearer about what we mean by "content".

        I use it to mean market-ready material; you seem to mean something else, more like source material. Having struggled with the dross written within companies of all sizes and the headcount issues that prevent the in-sourcing of qualified writers, I can't believe that B2B companies will begin to maintain adequate staffs of quality writers.

        I contend that content finalization will remain a variabilized expense for the most part.

  17. 33

    Ladder of Awesomeness is just awesome :)

  18. 34

    Avinash,

    Nice example of showing the big picture especially with mobile not being part of the Think and Do cluster. Currently working with the Financial industry our last step is step 5 Cookies and being able to implement the user ID override and improving our attribution modeling, of course with GA Premium. Always a pleasure reading your latest post thanks for this.

    Your Friend and Driver from "Analytics that excite Cincinnati 2014" ;o)

  19. 35

    Hi Avinash,

    My understanding from reading this post and the associated links within it, is that one should follow a work flow that looks similar to the following:

    Digital Marketing & Measurement Model -> See-Think-Do-Care, as it seems that you can't develop a framework around how to enhance engaging customers across different channels, without establishing the purpose and measurement framework of your site itself.

    Is my logic sound?

    – Evan

    • 36

      Evan: I consider See-Think-Do-Care to be a business framework that is centered on audiences and their intent. It deeply helps us figure out what we want to do from a business strategy perspective, and what components (amongst Content, Marketing, and Measurement) we have or are missing. We can also use S-T-D-C to create business execution priorities.

      The Digtal Marketing and Measuremernt Model, then becomes a way in which we understand how to execute the specific business priorities and what KPIs, Targets and Segments will help measure success.

      You can use the DMMM without S-T-D-C originally, but for savvy companies you do the latter first and then the former.

      Avinash.

  20. 37

    Thanks for the post, really informative!

    The RM problem intrigues me the most. My biggest question is 'is it solvable?' It's almost like the RM problem needs to pass the Turing test before it works. As in here are these 10 pieces of information about me (from my surfing behavior), can you recommend things for me/understand my intent in a way that makes me believe you know me, makes me believe you aren't a machine?

    I don't think that's doable right now. We can't even come close!

    • 38

      Paul: Think of the problem a lot more simply.

      Every business does not have to figure out how to get every little bit of message you would ever need (from your surfing behavior or otherwise). All they have to do is 1. Define their See-Think-Do-Care audiences in a very crisp manner (with an emphasis on intent, of the magical Q, qualified) and then 2. Create the content in context of their products and services for each audience cluster.

      Let me give you one of my favorite examples. I love staying at The Standard in New York. If you go to their website, http://www.standardhotels.com/high-line, you'll see S-T-D-C content created by a hotel for its audience clusters – in context of what they do.

      Avinash.

  21. 39
    Xavier Petit says

    Like you Avinash, I am baffled at point 3.

    I have seen so many local businesses switching off their websites and losing all hard gained credentials over the years because… their customers are on Facebook and they have a face indeed, one they can recognize in the shop or the streets even – am talking local here. But they went for rental, when they had ownership.

    I wonder if there is a chart of new website launch vs facebook business pages. Would be interesting to see.

  22. 40
    Shuki Mann says

    WOW the Baekdal Plus blog is the best recommendation you ever did!

    This is a HUGE resource of life wisdom, innovation and inspiration in one place.

    Thank you Avinash!

  23. 41
    Rosemarie says

    Quite a thought-provoking read! (emphasis on provoking) I super agree on not favoring your Facebook presence over your own website. I don't want to have to scroll through your company timeline to find what I'm looking for. Most of the time, I use the FB page to see what people say about your company (which takes me about 5 mins) then off I go to check your info page to see your website for infos (which takes longer– up to 10 mins) Biz owners, it's not an either/or binary decision. Maintain both web presences!

    Just a quick note about mobile web being dead, though. Not everyone's an app person. Facebook tried to separate the Messenger app from the main Facebook app, but not everyone's on board with adding another resource hogger on their phones. Since last year, out of 1.25 billion Facebook mobile users, only 800 million installed Facebook Messenger. Are we effectively declaring 450 million users "dead"?

    • 42

      Rosemarie: I completely support your position of AND rather than OR when it comes to owned sites and social sites. But, if you can only do one, do own!

      Regarding Messenger, it is a bit out of the context of this post but… 800 mil is a huge success. It was very clever of Facebook to separate it (and then pick up Instagram and Whatsapp to so totally monopolize mobile communication!). This, though, is another case of AND. You do want to solve for both the 800 and 450.

      Avinash.

  24. 43
    Pawan Yadav says

    Thanks Avinash!

    One more article of yours in Bookmarks.

  25. 44

    Really appreciated this article. Great insights into the difficulty navigating today's martech when everyone is telling you that they have everything that everyone else does. Certainly doesn't help that people trademark things like "first click" to make it even more confusing. It's been interesting to talk to people who have been told that they're running the right tech, but it completely dominates their time with maintenance and updates. Seems like it should be easier (hint: it is…at least for most)

    I think what's needed is a cookie that doesn't expire, and something far more elaborate than "first touch" (not actually first touch with most models, actually *most recent* touch (almost useless)), give multi-touch and campaign level attribution as well as automating the labor-intensive side of marketing without automating the human component. The great thing is that it already exists, but it's new, and most haven't heard of us yet.

  26. 45

    Loved the ladder; although FB & Youtube have a lot more flexibility to show creativity; even though they are rented and cannot replace your own portal/website.

  27. 46
    Siddartha says

    Hey, Avinash as I am expecting and I found here a ton of information. Really, it's a great article.

    But I am still confused that how to find out Bounce Rate?

    Can you please explain..

  28. 48

    Avinash – I really like this post, especially the parts about the "right message" (RM) and importance of owned media (i.e., your website). Invest in putting out the RM someplace that you own, and people will find it; and lead other like-minded people there as well.

    As you say, that isn't the entire answer; and focus on RT, RP, and rent can yield ROI, but if you don't own original content, seems at very weak foundation.

    — Mark

  29. 49

    Great post, actually am new to your blog but your postings are awesome…

    Keep posting.

  30. 50

    Hi Avinash – there's so much in your post here it will take some time to fully digest, but it is nourishing. :)

    I'm most drawn to your insights about being "data-driven". As if we could put data in the driver's seat to make all our decisions for us. As you observed, data requires a strategy and I would add, judgment. Data alone, no matter how accurate or complete, is rather helpless. We love data, but it isn't an auto-pilot system. I agree with Anthony, another commenter, that "data-informed" is a better term.

    The Ladder of Awesomeness is a great resource! Thanks for sharing it.

    • 51

      Jerry: I agree with your on the value of experience, judgement and context. But, informed seems to be such a passive term. :) And, there are so many who have experience, judgement and context and mistake the combination of three as all that is required to make a decision. "I don't need data, pah!" :)

      Hence, I think let's give this driven thing a little more time. At its core, we are in complete agreement.

      Avinash.

  31. 52
    Eva Thomsan says

    The whole blog is very informative, and useful in increasing page rank or improve traffic.

    Thank you so much for sharing this post with us.

  32. 53

    Great article with plenty of food for thought for this budding digital marketer.

    Most of the previous comments and your responses cover the many things I will take away.

    The Ladder of Awesomeness and UID issue are things I will definitely use in my work.

    I am also so glad that the penny is finally dropping about the reality of social media on business' bottom line (or lack of it). I am working on creating a blog post based on your comments about the folly of over-reliance on social media at the expense of your own responsive website.

    I look forward to more great articles from you.

  33. 54
    Emilia Lopes says

    Hey Avinash

    I have blog and a website, the user don't login to see the content and… that don't increase value to user. So… I don't have a user-id to GA.

    The Cross Device reports are only available in User ID views … I really really sad!!

    So …

    Can I Connect multiple devices, sessions, and engagement data to the same visitors otherwise?

    Thank you

    • 55

      Emilia: I'm afraid if you don't use User-ID, or equivalent functionality, you can't link sessions across devices because you need to have a primary key.

      Think about your own use of the web across your desktop, laptop, phone, tablet (or whatever device you have). If the website you visit across those machines does not have a way to know it is you, how would they know?

      You have to figure out how to solve this problem if you want to track people and not just siloed cookies.

      Avinash.

  34. 56
    Puneet says

    So, I'm more interested in the mobile app mentions in this article.

    I believe that the app eases out the core functionality of any business e.g. Amazon app take care of ordering from your mobile without much hassle. I think bringing users to the app is the stage where you should be more focused on care your customer part.

    Given that all the companies are suffering from a high uninstall rate (I'm not very sure about Amazon) it makes more sense to advertise on app which is the most commonly used medium after desktop which is going down steadily (do we say that something is going down steadily? I couldn't think of any other word).

  35. 58

    Very informative post, Thank you so much for sharing.

  36. 59

    A data-first strategy is a winning formula- a well written post, data is really important specially for digital marketers, and this data should or must be authentic.

    The challenge is, you have to take action out of this data and of course show the results. If the result is not effective, do it again, take alternative action, and show results just do it in an iterative process.

    I believe that being data driven is one of the keys for digital marketing success.

  37. 60
    Aakriti says

    Good job in helping reveal the underlying complexity in our business…

    Described very neatly…

  38. 61

    Hello Avinash,

    Completely unrelated but I really need to write to you about the hiring process for consumer insights jobs at google. I believe that google is full of "analysts" who really have limited experience and in a peer interview situation -they lack depth and breadth of experience.

    I recently had a "peer" interview with a gentleman at google , and he lacked the experience to understand where I was coming from. I came prepared with "game changing" ideas for google which will apply for google, and I was questioned on media research design- schoolboy stuff.

    Is there anyone I can write to, to explain and feedback on why I think Google may not still be able to hire the best talent in consumer and digital insight, because of limited understanding of the basics in hiring for the function.

    I apologize once again for the abruptness of this post but my experience was nothing short of a rude shock from what seems like a very basic hiring process at Google.

    regards

    • 62

      RS: I'm sorry our experience was sub-optimal. I don't have any specific names to share with you. But, I do know people in this space at Google and on your behalf I'll be happy to forward your email and details to them for review.

      Thanks, and all the very best!

      Avinash.

  39. 63
    Matt Roberts says

    Completely agree with your comments on renting vs owning.

    Funny how even as FB is pretty open about the fact that they're trying to better monetize their platform, people would still double down without contemplating building an audience on a platform they have complete control over..

  40. 64
    Aakash Sharma says

    Great Read.

    Is it also possible that one of the reasons that RM is not executed contextually has to be the lack of understanding of brand by those executing/implementing it?

    Automation while the need of the hour seems to be becoming an excuse for those chasing empty numbers. Digital offers a unique opportunity to customize/personalize, can an automated & templatised digital strategy ever work to that end??

    • 65

      Aakash: It is certainly a reason, close to the main reason!

      Most marketers have not made the pivot to intent, they are still stuck on demographics/psychographics targeting – which results in shouting. I.E. Not RM.

      Marketers are starting to understand the value of intent, and starting to use the See-Think-Do-Care framework (http://zqi.me/seethinkdo). It makes it infinitely easier to come up with the right message (RM!) at scale.

      Avinash.

  41. 66
    Chris Fugiel says

    This is the 3rd blog post I have read on your site — and I plan on continuing to read on a daily basis.

    Thank you for all the extra time and effort you put in to share such valuable information. Your insights into these myths will change our strategy.

  42. 67

    I fully agree to this, especially the Facebook (or Twitter) part.

    Some companies focus on 1 or 2 popular social networking sites just because everyone is on it. They do not understand trends and they don't see how easily these sites go down after another site gets popular.

  43. 68
    Pratap Kumar Pattanayak says

    Hi Kaushik.

    Being a fan of urs I have little concern over your comments on Programmatic. Agreed that Programmatic is not the panacea. It's true that CMOs may be thinking Programmatic is all an all that they need to solve their targeting problems. I agree and I disagree. It depends what do we mean by programmatic. Because if we see a single programmatic platform operating for targeting then the success rate could be less. But if we see the entire programmatic blueprint with platforms for data management, testing, analytics,profiling, and targeting then our programmatic efforts success is very high. I think the programmatic stuff should never be started with assumptions. Again I believe RM is possible. What about Dynamic Creative Optimization. We can target the right content optimized to the right target audience at the right time through the right device. So lets add RD also which is possible through Programmatic. Print and TVs are not entirely covered under any programmatic platform, however smart tvs are very much in the range. For Yahoo example is it the problem lies with Yahoo, or the advertiser or the agency who failed to configure the right persona. And what if it is the premium inventory selected where the advertisers objective only to have maximum reach. And what if the advertiser purchased the media directly from Yahoo.

    • 69

      Pratap: I think of programmatic as an approach, and not so much as a monolithic platform. I appreciate the opportunity to clarify that.

      Dynamic Creative Optimization is still solving for RT and RP, it does not solve for RM. You do. So far, until AlphaGo takes over the world, a human has to understand enough about clients, products, offers, intent, and more and then feed the DCO things it needs to work. It does not magically create content. Right?

      I personally do not believe in old style strategies like "get me premium inventory" or "get me maximum reach" (they are the reason for the Yahoo! example disaster, and many others). I believe in "find me my largest addressable Qualified audience", what is their intent, let me match it. It drives a focus on the human at the other end and not just the content around your ad / premiumness of the site. More on this in my See-Think-Do-Care business framework.

      Thank you for your kind and thought provoking comment!

      Avinash.

  44. 70
    Pooja Gupta says

    Well, Social Media has become one of the vital aspect to grab traffic.

    Facebook is generating lots of traffic but I am not completely agree with the thing that forget website because website is one of the important part which generates lots of traffic.

Trackbacks

  1. […]
    I believe that the CxO’s cannot comprehend the complexity that data driven Marketing is offering. A complexity that is a chance if you rely on the right expert. Or it is just a waste of energy and resources if you don’t have the expertise to gain valuable target group insights from this data. Being relevant isn’t all about targeting. It’s all about Messaging! I have to quote Avinash Kaushik from his great article “Digital Marketing & Analytics: Five Deadly Myths De-mythified!”:
    […]

  2. […]
    Avinash Kaushik is the Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google, and he talks all about digital marketing and analytics on his blog, Occam’s Razor. His detailed & in-depth posts that are highly actionable, and we love his enthusiasm & passion (just check out how many post titles end in exclamation points!). Here are some recent posts we enjoyed: Digital Marketing & Analytics: Five Deadly Myths De-mythified!
    […]

  3. […]
    Even though it is a bit emotionally hard to see critical feedback. However, it can help you to see you service or product differently, so you can turn it into a useful information for your company. To read more: Digital marketing &analytics: Five deadly myths de-mythified
    […]

  4. […]
    Favorite Post: Digital Marketing & Analytics: Five Deadly Myths De-mythtified! This is a great post where Avinash really digs into some of the digital marketing and analytics misconceptions. I’m a fan of myth posts, but simply pointing out the myth only does half of the job. After Avinash highlights these myths, he outlines what to do next.
    […]

  5. […]
    This applies just as much in the world of marketing in which I work, where everyone from the entry level college kid to the top Chief Marketing Officer is tempted to point to numbers to prove their biases, or who simply do not have the wherewithal to evaluate numbers in a way that pushes them outside their comfort zones.
    […]

  6. […]
    Data is important. I believe it can help drive your business strategy smartly. But, a data-first strategy, defined as above, is nuts. It will only slow down your progress and allow your competitors to crush you like a bug (even if you are a top player in your market today!).” Avinash Kaushik, entrepreneur, author and public speaker, (Source)
    […]

  7. […]
    Avinash Kaushik is the Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google, and he talks all about digital marketing and analytics on his blog, Occam’s Razor. His detailed & in-depth posts that are highly actionable, and we love his enthusiasm & passion (just check out how many post titles end in exclamation points!). Here are some recent posts we enjoyed: Digital Marketing & Analytics: Five Deadly Myths De-mythified! Data Visualization Inspiration: Analysis To Insights To Action, Faster!
    […]

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