| LED Digest 2558: Marketing Training & Development |
|
|
|
==================================================
The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" Data > Information > Knowledge > Wisdom www.WillMaster.com/Master : the LED's Key Sponsor Master Series Software - Get Connected with Your WebSite www.SEOToolSet.com/training/ : the LED's Premier Sponsor Bruce Clay's Search Engine Optimization Training & Certification ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam, led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com .............................................. December 19, 2007 Issue no. 2558 .............................................. .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== --== Marketing Training & Development ==-- ~ Barry S Mills ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Paid Search Foolishness ==-- ~ Nathan Holley --== Affiliate Manager Wanted ==-- ~ Greg Watson --== International SEO ==-- ~ Al Toman --== Marketing Trends ==-- ~ Al Toman ~ Michael Linehan ========= NEW ===================================== From: Barry Mills Subject: Training & Development I imagine we're not alone in that we have difficulty at the moment recruiting new staff of the right skill levels. We've taken on a lot of people over the last year, and I'm very happy with the calibre, but boy they took some finding. We still have vacancies, even quite junior ones, where we haven't had a credible applicant in 2 months. We probably need to do more promotion aimed at potential employees, and we're planning to move to a city centre location (Leeds), mostly because we think that will help with recruitment. But the underlying issue is that demand for digital skills has grown rapidly, is still growing, and there just aren't enough of them to go round. I want to develop a much better program of personal development for our people, both to give the people we have a faster development path, and to reduce our reliance on recruiting experienced staff in the future. I'm very interested to know how other agencies, or anyone working in digital marketing, are dealing with personal development and training. Reading stuff on the internet seems to be how most people got to be knowledgeable about digital, but that doesn't suit everyone and there has to be more to it than that. Raining in the space, certainly in the UK, is pretty limited and very expensive, I don't think much of it represents value. So I'm looking for a new angle or two for 2008, something that not everyone is doing. One thought I have had, and something which this community could help with, is that maybe we could establish a network to facilitate some secondments or short visits where we work with similar companies in different parts of the world. I couldn't do this with another agency on my doorstep, but an exchange visit with someone in the US might be very interesting. We've all learned a lot from first principles and experience in this industry, and there's no institute or formal qualification to ensure every professional has the same grounding, so I suspect people could gain a lot from comparing notes with others doing similar jobs elsewhere. Agency people would benefit from spending a little time client-side too, and probably visa versa. And it could also perhaps be a way to address over and under capacity by seconding people where the work is for a while. Maybe someone would even fancy working for us for a while just to get to spend some time in England for a change of scenery. Does anyone think there might be some mileage in this? Any other ideas? Barry S Mills Chairman Netstep Corporate Communications http://www.netstep.co.uk ======== CONTINUING =============================== From: Nathan Holley Subject: Paid search foolishness (?) > I have come to the conclusion that anyone > who is using PPC to any degree is foolish > not to have a keyword tracking system in > place. Not doing so is almost like tossing > a coin. You have no idea what is actually > producing a profit. - Dean Wright, LED Digest 2557 - http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1972/190/ I think we agree, Dean, but I'm not sure what you mean by keyword tracking system. Are you talking about analytics to see which keywords produce low conversions or poor quality traffic (eg, low bounce rates and high average time on site and pages per visit). Or are you talking about monitoring fraudulent click activity? On the click fraud site, that ruckus (fracas) has really quieted down hasn't it... yet it's more important than ever to monitor. So I agree. The problem isn't so much the major search engines -- Google, Yahoo and even MSN have been proactive about refunding suspicious clicks for me personally -- it's on the minor networks. It's not my habit of naming names, so I won't, but be warned: verging off main street is dangerous, and many burglars hide in the alleyways. There are some good tools to help with this, but honestly I'm more concerned with applying my time to keyword conversion data. I want paid search campaigns returning solid ROI, and if they are, I'm not too worried about much else (including click fraud). That means I stick to main street and primarily Google, Yahoo and MSN (with some dabbling on other networks). Apathetic? Perhaps. Passive? Probably. But if I feel happy at the end of the day (which is 1:00pm most days, and I sleep in) with money in my pocket to go buy my friends a pint, what do I have to worry about? That some of my clicks are fraudulent? Don't think so... as I raise a glass of Chimay White to my lips. Happy holidays to everyone! And thank you for the LED. Cheers, Nate Holley ========= Begin Sponsor Message ========= More tips for you- # - Bontrager CGI is your next stop for free and frugal software http://bontragercgi.com/LED # - Stay in touch! Subscribe to Possibilities Ezine http://willmaster.com/possibilitiesLED Watch this space for more great tips! ========== End Sponsor Message ========== -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Greg Watson Subject: Affiliate manager Jaffer Ali from PulseTV posted an ad seeking an affiliate manager [ http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1971/190/ ] and Mark Welch replied to him [ http://www.led-digest.com/content/view/1972/190/ ]. If Mark's assumption is correct that you want to hire an agency to create and manage an affiliate program - then on the surface I would agree with much of what he wrote. However, if your intention was to outsource the job to a contract employee who would essentially work full-time or almost exclusively for you ... then I want to tell you that you absolutely can do it ... In your question, you write "we need someone" which tends to imply that you are thinking in the context of an individual. But then you write "They" - which is where I think Mark (perhaps legitimately so) assumed you were thinking about outsourcing to an "agency" ... However ... if Mark's assumption was not accurate and you indeed were thinking about an individual ... this is done all the time. In fact, the latest internet marketing "hype" is all about "brokering" - bringing affiliates and merchants together. That's the hype ... the reality is that contracting for services has been one of the fastest growing aspects of marketing online. I have five writers who I hired to write for me "in-between" other jobs - they now essentially work for me fulltime. My graphic artists are in New Zeland and Chile. My programmer project manager is in Ireland and he manages contract programmers for all of my projects.. My customer service are three stay-at-home moms in three different states. And more specifically to your question. I work with two different individuals who setup and manage my affiliate programs. They create the ad copy, promotional material, specifications for graphics (which we then send to our graphics guy), promote the program, review and approve applications, and write regular affliate communications newsletters to communicate with affiliaties. I suspect that this is the type of individual you were expecting when you wrote "We need someone to create and manage an affiliate program." There are dangers - they may not perform up to your expecations - and if they are not physically inhouse, it may be more difficult for you to objectively evaluate whether their performance is coming up short or whether your expectations may not be reasonable. Your "job description" was high on expectations and short on details - so it is impossible to truly offer any specifics ... You also did not mention compensation. Anyone who can bring 10 affiliates to the game (and yes, there are people who can do that) is going to deserve to be very well compensated. And they are going to know what they are worth. You may find that they will spend more time interviewing you to find out whether you, your product, and your customer service are up to their standards. An affiliate manager at that level is also going to want to know what your sales conversion ratios are, not just for your entire site, but also by traffic source. An affiliate manager at that level is also going to want to know what your customer service track record is like. Before I turn an affiliate program over - I have already split tested my sales copy, tested sales conversions by traffic source, done preliminary tests on ezine ad copy, ppc copy, and email copy. I create a program budget and compensation plan. Only then am I ready to begin to talk with an affiliate program manager about how to best create an affiliate program. Changing affiliate programs in mid-stream is both expensive and disruptive. So take the time to establish your goals and objectives. Do the testing so you have the data to optimize the program and also effectively recruite affiliates at the level that you want. And build a budget and a compensation plan that is approrpriate to the goals that you have established. So you absolutely *can* find someone to create and manage an affiliate program for you ... but do you know what you want and are you ready? Best of luck ... Greg Watson -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Al Toman Subject: International SEO > I'm sorry if this came across as > arrogant, or as a personal view. - Barry Mills, LED Digest 2556 Barry, I took it totally opposite. I couldn't agree more with your (original) post. Most "Citizens" of the United States don't even know the name of their own country. "Where do you live?" "In America." "Oh, really?" Last looked, the name of the country is United States OF America. But ALL that apparently is too difficult for 'mericans to spit out. Dang the BIG word, OF. Last looked, the Americas extend from the tippy-top of Canada down to the tippy-bottom of Argentina. "We Americans" cover a lot of territory and cultures. Some american's primary language is a form of Spanish, some Portugese, some French, ..., and some "American English". I personally do not speak English. I speak Americanized English, American for short. My grandmother spoke americanized Slovak. People over the World buy "buzz". Not language, not spelling. Heck, today, everyone creates their own words~! Wii. The World bought into the Beatles regardless of their language. Good marketing that crossed language. Al Toman studio9 web design -------- new post - new topic -------- From: Al Toman Subject: Marketing trends > Web designers/SEOs are going to need to add > a new aspect to their services to remain on > the cutting edge... - David Spahr, LED Digest 2556 As a web purveyor, I've the equipment to produce, mix, edit audio-video since I was a wee bitty boy web designer back in the early 90's. Done a few. It's listed on my "old" business card. I've done the net-video thing from NY and NC with engineers in California and businessmen in Australia for years. W2.0? Multimedia for websites? No small business venture ever inquires about it. I've watched business audio-video presentations. Zzzzzzzzz. I've watched SEO seminar videos sponsored by Big Names. Zzzzzzzzzz. Who watches this stuff? What is the value of it? What is the "pure" sales dollars generated? Who has the time? W2.0 is nothing new. It is pure "marketing", period. The "buzz" brought the technology to the point of making "it", the Internet, accessible to every fool out there. Today, everyone can produce, mix, and edit audio-video no matter how bad (or good). Everyone can edit W2.0 web pages. Everyone can W2.0 whatever else is W2.0'd or W2.0 accessible. > I find it interesting that on Myspace about > every aspect of questionable design ... MySpace is pure marketing, nothing else. Users are marketing themselves, good or bad, and businesses are throwing marketing at this pool of fools. That simple. It's all numbers. This is why W2.0 is buzzed by marketers. Because now they have a pool of fools in one place, the World of W2.0. Can't wait for W3.0. Al Toman studio9 web design -------- new post - same topic -------- From: Michael Linehan Subject: Marketing Trends > Suggesting that video is going to go away > is like saying global warming isn't > happening. - David Spahr, LED Digest 2556 How does stuff get this distorted? In all the recent postings about video, no-one has remotely suggested that video is going away --- or that it should go away. As one of the people maybe being perceived by David as speaking "against" video, I'm not. I am speaking against investment of time, thought and effort in any tactic (online or off) just because it has been designated as "cool" or "the latest thing" or "astoundingly powerful or "the best marketing tactic since we developed speech". Any and every marketing initiative should be judged against the strategic goal and strategic marketing plan of *each particular business*, and, for maximum effectiveness, should be an integrated part of that plan. Just one other point, kind of for fun. One of the most successful marketing tactics is direct mail. Why aren't we talking about direct mail and how everyone should be doing that? Answer --- because video has been designated as coooool; direct mail has not. To emphasize again, I think video can be absolutely wonderful, powerful, inspiring and profitable. And yes, I know things are changing (constantly!). But don't ever think you have to be in on something because it has been designated as the latest cool thing. And beware of the tempting implication in the hype that "the #1 cool tactic" is a shortcut past the real work needed to build your understanding of marketing principles and take care of the fundamentals. Michael Linehan, Marketing Alchemy www.marketing-alchemy.com (c) Copyright 1995-2007 Orange Wheel, LLC. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "What makes you think the whole world revolves around you?!" my mother said, as I slowly rotated to maintain eye contact." - John Alejandro King |
