Marketing Management Research and Analytics

When was the last time you stopped and evaluated your marketing campaign ? Did you evaluate the results against your own goals, or your client or employer’s goals?

It is very easy to fall into the trap of targeting the same keywords as your high-ranking competitors. We all get caught up in the race, jockeying for position so that we can come out a nose ahead in the final stretch. But before you focus on the finish line, or the top ranking on Google for your keywords, you may want to make sure you and the company paying for your services are on the same page.

If your reaction was something a kin to “Um, top rankings on Google are exactly what the company wants,” you might be very surprised to realize your running your horse in the wrong race. Maybe even at the wrong racetrack, or worse, the wrong side of the country!

Ask yourself this: is your client or employer looking to generate leads, revenue or ranking?

Each of these requires a much different approach to managing the online campaign. It is easy to get stuck in a pattern of research, analysis and implementation that seems to work, only to yield the wrong type of traffic.

If the goal is to generate leads or revenue, it’s imperative to slow down and understand the target consumer. Landing on the first page of Google is great, but if you’re missing out on valuable sales because you aren’t optimized for the terms shoppers use when they want to buy no one is going to make any profits.

If your goal is simply to increase rankings, then saddle up and jump in the race. If your client or employer only wants to see that first page link, then your job is easy. Focus on your competitor’s keywords and knock them out of the lead.

If it’s leads or revenue, or even targeted traffic, you need to do a lot of extra homework. Some helpful hints:

• First, you need to be certain that you fully understand your client’s business.
• Listen to their sales pitch to potential clients
• Read their traditional marketing collateral
• Examine their sales trends
• If the business you are representing does not use focus groups, convince them to do so. You would be surprised how much you can learn by asking the buyers what terms they would search for if looking for the company’s products or services.
• Research the competition, and find out who is successfully running similar campaigns, and how.

Being a successful online marketing manager involves a lot more than rankings. It is your job to make your employer or client’s business goals a reality. If you fail to understand what those goals really are, you are taking a short cut that no one can afford, and ultimately will result in your horse pulling up lame.