Let’s face it most people by now get it, they get the concepts behind media and creative optimization. They know all about multi variant testing, advanced targeting and eCRM. They understand how to better assess ROI, they sometimes get some of the interdependencies between channels, and some even know how the technology behind some of this stuff works.
What’s surprising to me is how few of these smart people actually practice any of this on a regular basis. I have some thoughts why they don’t … it’s hard work.
The operational aspect of this new marketing world is a bitch. It took people years to learn how to get an ad in the paper without screwing it up. Back in the day I remember type setting by hand, then came film, line screens, separations, blue lines, crop marks, bleeds, and registration marks. Then it got easier for us, but you still needed to learn about Postcript, Syquest and Zip Disks, and don’t forget to embed those fonts. With direct mail you had to lean a bunch of rules around, weight, insignia etc.
In hindsight that was all child’s play compared to what it takes us to pull off a campaign today. Just walk through all the steps, vendors, and technologies you would have to involve to trigger an email offer to a customer based on what they were browsing for on our website in real time. If you could answer that I’m impressed, if you could pull that off in less than 3-4 days in your organization you should win a marketer of the year award.
That should actually be easier than it is today for most marketers, and it can be if you focus on getting the plumbing right. What does your marketing technology ecosystem look like? Have you focused on the data that these investments can potentially empower you with, or have you also thought though the operational workflow for you and your team? What good is knowing that if you changed this message TODAY it could yield another million bucks in revenue, to then learn it will take you three weeks to make that bloody change?
Optimizing thru spreadsheets is so five years ago.
Comments (1)
Couldn't agree more. Getting the details right is additionally burdened by the fact that those unfamiliar with what's required assume that it's as easy as 1-2-3. "Why can't I get it in seven minutes?!" Funny how people outside the fence seem to think that a simple web page (5-10 pages) should take less than fifty hours, soup to nuts. But once you bake in concepting, SEO, not to mention basic consideration for future builds ...
It's complicated stuff, this interactive marketing business.
Great post.
Posted by ANP | October 26, 2007 12:30 AM
Posted on October 26, 2007 00:30