Have You Peaked as a Marketer | Force0six
Have you peaked as a marketer and want to become a marketeer? From content marketing to native ads and everything else thrown into a discombobulated unknown Google owned universe of advertising matrices….none of that makes sense, exactly what I’m getting at.
There’s so many different avenues, one ways, and turns when it comes to advertising. I’ve been in the industry since early 2005, the ad networks raped clientele and now they’re dead, SEO use to be about back linking and now it’s all about content marketing, and when I say content marketing I mean relevant content meaning title elements, meta tagging, and placing keywords where they should be; while not overdoing it.
The word Google scares people, they make changes and don’t tell you what exactly was changed in their interface, you have to work and put in the time to learn the correct route to take. Back to avenues, one ways, and turns, let’s face it, you have to stay ahead of the curve if you don’t want to be that Tom, Dick or Harry. “You” can do so by experimenting with failure and learning from mistakes. My generation (Y) still has that work ethic, you have to work at digital advertising to become successful, whereas a lot of the younger millennials think they know everything about social media, content marketing and programmatic...let me tell something. You don’t have a clue. I’ve worked for Agencies, advertised in every vertical, launched startups, laid the framework for multiple marketing departments, and targeted every channel. I’ve been in the trenches and spent client budgets poorly and wisely. Companies that outsource their marketing budget because they’re scared to dig into analytics and get their feet wet haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg and really don’t know what their target audience is. You can spend blindly, get all the open ended promises in the world, but were the results you wanted delivered? Did you have insight into your ad spend? Was your funnel filled and your sales team happy? I would take a wild guess and say maybe 50% of you out there were and are satisfied, but were you really impressed?
Taking marketing to the next level involves knowing every channel from organic to paid. Your strategy is volatile just like the industry, it changes on the fly. Do you really know who your audience is, just because you capture audience insights through Business Intelligence doesn’t necessarily mean you’re measuring the correct KPI’s. Maybe you’re looking at abandonment rates vs. conversion rates, that’s all great but what’s the lifetime value of your user/ customer? Did your ROI net you a happy customer? Are you doing everything you can to retain that customer? All of these questions I have for you as a marketer are open ended and everyone has their opinion. What I want to get to the bottom of here is how can we work together to make this all happen? I really don’t have the answer for you, but what I can tell you from a consulting standpoint is you’re not doing everything you can be doing, there’s a lot more to just opening up an Ad Words account, writing ad copy and praying that someone clicks on your ad and you get what you’re paying for.
Programmatic media buying is upwards to 15 billion dollars a year, it’s a clouded, regurgitated market, but with all the correct tactics in place and a sound marketing plan (for now) anything is attainable in any market, but you have to want it and be confident that you’re taking the right approach in doing so. Don’t be shy in this arena, it’s feast or famine, expand and reach out if you have questions, retain knowledge and explore the unknown.
About Steve Bastien, President of Marketing and Analytics at Force0six
With almost a decade of Ad Agency experience under his belt, Steve’s been in the trenches and knows how to find that niche audience and help you generate that golden lead. Whether you’re looking to hyper-geo target by location, demographic, or interest, he can help put your sales team in front of the zero’d in audience of your choice, while teaching you the ins and outs and what to be looking for when you’re spending advertising dollars. His knowledge will guide you to spending wisely in an effort to achieve your target ROAS, CPI, or CPA.
