I attended a webinar yesterday presented by MarketingExperiments called "2008 Internet Marketing Strategy: Are you prepared". I've really been impressed by the quality of information given at MarketingExperiments webinars, and also with the enthusiasm and energy that they are presented with.
MarketingExperiments is an online laboratory with the purpose to discover what really works. They provide research reports and education (free and paid). They are part of MECLABS, which also owns MarketingSherpa and MECLABS also recently purchased InTouch. I am very happy for Brian Carroll who started InTouch (and who authors B2B Lead Generation Blog and the book - Lead Generation for a Complex Sales) because it is nice to know that his thought leadership, passion, enthusiasm has been fully valued and recognized. Brian mentions on his blog that he will be continuing his blog, so make sure you visit his blog - it is hands down one of the best B2B blogs.
Anyhow, back to MarketingExperiments, from what I understand...they invest millions of dollars into research so I suggest that you take advantage of some of their free content such as webinars, their journal, and other information on their website . It is exciting to know that there are folks out there doing solid academic-style research and experimentation in online marketing using live data.
In this particular webinar they outlined what they thought were the 6 most important steps you need to take in your 2008 marketing plan. They consisted of:
1. Implement truly reliable metrics
2. Improve your capacity to test
3. Reorder your marketing priorities
4. Conduct a thorough competitive analysis
5. Explore and test new media
6. Revolutionize the way you communicate
Some of these may sound like the usual rehash of ideas/advice, but the key points presented under each section were dead-on, presented with a fresh perspective (not to mention backed by research findings). The research that was presented at this webinar will also be included in a briefing, so sign-up for the MarketingExperiments Journal and look out for their next briefing.
Here is a litte bit of information on those 6 steps (until you can get your hands on the briefing):
1. Implement truly reliable metrics - put tools in place to evaluate your current condition, track response to your campaigns, and measure progress towards your goals. Schedule time to keep score, watch for patterns, learn from mistakes and improve on your successes.
2. Improve your capacity to test - ensure that you have the right tools, talent, and resources to perform useful tests.
3. Reorder your marketing priorities - focus first on optimizing your product and value proposition, then focus on communication of your value proposition. You need to have a good value proposition, but you also need to present it effectively (in landing pages, email copy, sales path). Finally drive as much traffic as you can to your website.
4. Conduct a thorough competitive analysis - this of course is understanding your competitors, and doing a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats). This information is critical to your value proposition. If you search for competitive analysis on their website you will find related briefings in this area
5. Explore and test new media - mentioned here was that we can't ignore some of the trends and changes happening in this area.. and social media, mobile marketing, impact of blogs, changes in PPC, and PPC engines. It is important to engage, to explore the relevance, and test.
6. Revolutionize the way you communicate - the points presented here really drove things home for me...and it relates to how we interact with our prospects...this section was so well articulated and will solidify what I think smart marketers already know, or at least have good intuition about. Instead of summarizing here, I would rather direct you to to the actual notes called: The Prospect’s Protest (A Problem) and
The MarketingExperiments Creed (A Response) or see the video below:
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