Multichannel Marketing

So, Akin has written (and had published) a book on his favourite subject; Multichannel Marketing and how to effectively measure and optimise it.

From Akins site:

This book’s aim is to provide a missing key for unlocking the most anticipated marketing strategies of our days. Namely: Integrated Marketing Metrics and Methods for On and Offline Success.

Why? Because customer-centricity has become more challenging than ever!

The rise of “customer-centric marketing” (where the customer, not the product or marketing campaign, is the focus) places a premium on marketers having a deep understanding of their customers. Yet, just as companies were beginning to figure out how to turn “customer-centricity” into reality, the goal posts for achieving it have been moved further away.

For crying out loud! As if it had been easy earlier! What is to blame for the new hurdle?

It is the multichannel revolution, i.e. the constant birth of new avenues for interacting with companies and their marketing messages, especially online. While many marketers are still stunned with the plethora of new channels that have sprung up in recent years, customers have long since integrated them into their relationships. Therefore, customer-centricity now asks of marketers the ability to understand customer relationships that span online and offline channels.

Multichannel metrics are the missing key for overcoming the Online-Offline chasm

Without overcoming the chasm between multiple channels, marketers cannot understand true ROI of their marketing initiatives, will miss opportunities for improving their results, and will certainly fail to achieve customer-centricity. This book aims to provide the key for overcoming the chasm, namely practical methods for integrating marketing metrics and actions across online and offline channels.

Buy it from Amazon.co.uk:

Multichannel Marketing: Metrics and Methods for on and Offline Success

SEO Book review

Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day - a book by Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin. This is based on the 2006 edition of the book. As I write this I can see that there is a 2008 version due in a couple of months that will probably improve on some of the points that I mention.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a website, typically using natural (non paid) methods.

I acquired this book in the office as part of a pattern of background reading hoping to acquire come cool/new knowledge and to a certain extent I wasn't disappointed.

The book presents a methodology that would allow a time-constrained person to take a poorly performing website and turn it around into something more successful.

I am sure that the general techniques presented could be fitted onto a single side of A4 paper, but the arguments, examples and explanations make each point crystal clear.

Examples of strictly white-hat methods are made throughout, with pointers to common pitfalls that search engines may perceive as black-hat methods that an inexperienced SEO'er may fall into

The introduction to the use of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) as a viable alternative to, or in conjunction with more 'organic'/'natural' methods is important; and while this isn't 'typical' SEO, it's a sensible way to top-up traffic when other methods are under performing.

From a web analytics standpoint, some space was given to Google Analytics, with a few mentions of other products. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - especially when doing analytics 'properly' is pretty-much a full-time job in its own right.

For myself, having most of the methods described to most of the sites that I'm responsible for already in-play the most useful aspect was the methodology. Detailed record keeping, measurements before and after making changes (duh!) as well as 'selling' your efforts within an organization will be of most use.

All in all, this can either be a cheap, quick read, with information that may come as common-sense to many or, when used as a workbook over a course of months, add real value to online efforts.

Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day