By Katharina Scholtz
If you are interested in this topic, take a look at our University of Cape Town Internet Marketing course.
Marketing still faces a few critics and challenges in that place we
at the QuirkStation like to call – the outside world. We realise that
not everybody has a forward thinking boss who’s willing to listen to
new ideas (I have faced this problem; Rob is yet to introduce “bring
Kat a bag of money” Fridays). I thought some insight here would come from the people in the trenches
– digital strategists tasked with getting non-geeks (gasp) to implement
online tactics. I was interested in learning what should go into every
eMarketing strategy proposal, what challenges are faced and what works
best when it comes to convincing your boss/superior/colleague.
I learned that there are a number of things you have to consider
when you are convinced an eMarketing strategy is the right way to go:
1. While not true as a rule, people sometimes prefer to stick to the things they are comfortable with.
“The concerns I faced were when people hadn’t done things this way
before and know about Social Media and digital but not as a marketing
tool” – Lisa Steingold, National Marketing Manager at Vega: The Brand
Communications School.
2. Know How your eMarketing objectives meet the overall objectives.
Robert Keip, the CEO of Premier Banking at FNB (who is the man that
needs to be convinced) says he has seldom said no to an idea. He does
need to know however, what “the amount of money involved is and if
there is enough business opportunity…I want to know the how and the
why”.
3. How your chosen tactics meets specific goals.
As Andy Hadfield, The Internet and Social Media Guy, Personal Banking
at FNB pointed out, “Not every idea is good for every digital marketing
client, that’s where some go wrong because they believe a blog is a
solution to everyone’s problems”.
4. How you will be measuring the success of your campaigns.
“A good idea is to start thinking about your cost per acquisition, for
example how much is a name and number on a database worth” – Scott
Gray, the Interactive Marketing Manager at BMW South Africa.
5. A solid agreement on what needs to be achieved.
“If your campaign works you’re likely to get an increase in budget, as
long as you can show that you have achieved positive results” – Colson
Mothoagae, who is an Online Specialist in Sales and Marketing at Absa.
It’s worth noting that those I interviewed had varying experiences
depending on the team structure they find themselves in. The earlier
the geek gets involved, the easier it is to integrate the relevant
tactic into a strategy. “You’ve got to have that pool of knowledge from
the start”, says Andy. While this is most likely not up to the
strategist at the bottom, it’s clearly something to fight for. To do so
you need to prove the value of online marketing – it’s all about the
return on investment.
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