Good Online Marketing is an Art, Not a Science.
In the world of online marketing, we are obsessed with metrics - page views, time spent, landing pages, keywords, click through ratios and cost per acquisition - the list is very long and complicated. To track it all, we have tools from Google Analytics, UTM Codes, Call Tracking, and Google Tag Manager. All are essential tools to analyze efforts and make good online marketing decisions. The science of online marketing is valuable, no doubt, but sometimes we need to step away from the spreadsheets, reporting tools, and lines of code and remember that we are ultimately in the business of marketing.We use a lot of sophisticated tools to measure our efforts, but marketing is still the key. Marketing is an art, not a science. When we take a step back and look at the “10,000-foot view” of what we are doing, our marketing, while guided by science, transcends the bonds of numbers and ratios, and becomes truly great. OK, that might be a bit over the top, but I want to share a quote from Albert Einstein that does a much better job than I can of illustrating this point:“After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved science and art tend to coalesce in aesthetics, plasticity, and form. The greatest scientists are artists as well.” -Albert EinsteinNow that I have one person, who clearly passed away long before search engines were a part of our society, to agree with me, here are 3 ways that I apply the art of marketing to online marketing plans designed for clients.
1. Put yourself in the shoes of your potential clients.
Any successful brand is designed with the customer in mind. In conceiving of keywords that potential customers may use to find a brand online, we must consider the needs and problems that a potential customer is trying to solve. If you are marketing for a car wash, what is more relevant to your potential customer, the keyword “car wash” or “wash my car?” The volume of search says “car wash” is by far the more popular search terms, and the branding of that car wash as quick, easy, fun, affordable and convenient will bring those customers in. But “wash my car” is a way to get out of having to spend valuable leisure time in the driveway scrubbing brake dust out of your custom wheels, and that is the viewpoint of your customer. “Car Wash” has higher search volume, but “wash my car” will most likely enjoy a higher conversion rate and deliver a customer that is more likely to utilize your services long term. When the campaign is created, you must keep the point of view of your customer in mind.
2. Look at the competition.
I have been guilty in the past of focusing on the client, the campaign, the content, the creative, and not what is happening in the real marketplace with competitors. As I ascend to the lofty view from 10,000 feet, I start to see how the campaign, the creative, even the entire approach may have flaws. I may be getting double and triple-digit traffic increases, and clients may be converting at acceptable ratios, but if our approach mirrors that of the competition, the client has become just another option. Real growth is outstripping the growth of the market that you are competing in. Real growth is achieved by identifying the uniqueness of the client and their approach and making sure that the campaign, creative, and content all put that uniqueness on display. A great resource to learn what makes a business unique is client online reviews versus the reviews of the competition. Online reviews are typically written by those who are really happy customers and really unhappy customers. A great deal can be learned from both of those customer types. Looking at reviews of competitors v. client business will help to point out the strengths and weaknesses and identify opportunities to point out competitive advantages. Identify opportunities that the competition has left open for you and be sure to shore up any weaknesses in your own game. The numbers that define the science will then have the potential to be great, not just good.
3. When analyzing the metrics, use common sense.
Online marketing is not one-dimensional. Website performance, as measured by key metrics like bounce rate, pages viewed per visit and time spent per visit along with stats on landing pages, exit pages, and behavior flow can definitely help to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a website. If visitors bounce around, never focusing on one type of information or product, then common sense would say that the keywords or other targeting are not appropriate for the best customers for that site, or users are becoming confused and bounce around looking for information that is never found. An exit page can mean that the page is confusing and led a website visitor to leave, or it could be that page gives the visitors the answer to their questions and they leave, impressed with the information that they have found. The best approach that I have found is to use the science of analyzing the website metrics to identify the trends and then work with members of your team or others to get their impression of how the site is performing and to help to identify strengths and weaknesses. Stay out of the rut of over-analyzing the numbers, and use the science to point out the areas to let the art do its magic.There are as many approaches to online marketing as there are online marketers, and many “playbooks” employ methods that do not include the artistic approach. I understand how the “black and white” of the science is tempting. It is real, measurable, and quantifiable. Rigorous application of tracking and analysis will lead to good online marketing. Being open to the art of marketing will make your online campaigns great.