Keeping up with Online Marketing

September 12, 2008 | Posted by: Mary Knebel

In today's fast-paced business world, how do technology marketers keep up with the latest and most effective tools in online marketing? When one is focused on execution, who has the time to lift his head up, take a breather and really observe the many changes taking place?

Below are just a few suggestions of how I keep up with the fast-paced world of online marketing:

1. It may sound old-fashioned, but I talk directly with customers and prospects and ask them:

• how they make their purchasing decisions
• which sites they visit to find and learn about products
• if they read online product reviews or participate in online forums about products they are considering
• do they write or read blogs and if so, which ones, etc.

Online customer surveys are valuable and provide quick and useful information but nothing takes the place of a real-time conversation with consumers to better understand their buying behavior.

2. Talk with your employees in every department, not just marketing and sales. Besides asking them for their ideas on how to improve your company's product or customer experience, you might consider asking them how they make their online buying decisions. My office is right outside the cube area where our young and talented engineers toil away. I enjoy listening to their witty and light-hearted banter, but more importantly, I learn from them. They tell me why they like or use Facebook, Twitter (most think the novelty of Twitter wears thin pretty quickly), etc. and what online tools they use to communicate, obtain their information and make purchases.

3. Invest some time to read recently published business books. I just finished reading Groundswell, which was published earlier this year. It helped me to better understand how I should prioritize our online marketing efforts. The book is written by two Forrester analysts and through their Social Technographics Profile methodology, they explain online consumer behavior by categorizing them into six groups: Creators, Critics, Collectors, Joiners, Spectators and Inactives. The book includes interesting case studies of companies that span from big brands like Best Buy to newcomers like eBags. Take a look at the Groundswell blog to get a taste of what the book covers.

I welcome other suggestions as I am interested in hearing what my marketing colleagues recommend for ways to keep up. Looking forward to the next TMA lunch event on September 24th.