Create an Analytics culture
The first and foremost requirement of any marketing campaign will always be "Effectiveness". Measuring effectiveness lies in the process of Data accuracy coupled with the willingness to track. Brands in this ever-evolving world of Digital marketing, should identify the roles a Digital medium should play inorder to get near to effective effectiveness !
Currently, there are only a few Brands which use quantitative analytical techniques to create decision making campaigns. Generally marketing budgets are spent on the weight of the medium rather than the effectiveness of the medium.
Also, most marketers are used to subjective conclusions and thereby see a particular digital medium in light of qualitative aspects with only a few quantitative ones.
This has resulted in improper derivation of ROI of the Digital medium itself. Agencies, on the other hand, play a role of 'media seller' largely causing more problems for the brand to judge the effectiveness.
One more reality is that Online & Offline campaigns go hand-in-hand. Its time marketers realise that Offline campaigns contribute significantly to Online and vice-versa.
So, the challenge is to overcome the barrier to quantify campaigns by establishing an Analytics culture. Unless this is addressed, Digital Marketers will not be able to fully judge the true potential of the Online medium. The results will also bridge the gap between Offline and Online campaigns.
Once a campaign goes live, results from both the worlds will help judge the true effectiveness.
Once, the culture is established, brands will be more confident in using newer digital avenues like Social Media, Apps, Widgets, Wikis and the likes.
Overall investments on Digital/Online campaigns will eventually grow higher than Offline considering the time spent on this medium.
It then boils down to how effective was the campaign, a question which can be answered by Analytics.
A good example of usage of Web Analytics
a. DELL
