Finding the right recipe

More and more frequently I’m reading articles titled, “Top 10 online marketing trends for 2010”. Authors promptly go onto describe how these ‘must have’ activities are essential for building an effective marketing strategy. I however, tend do disagree.

Any business, be them b2c or b2b will always find certain channels more responsive than others. Email, mobile, search, social, viral, affiliate, all have their place, but finding the right combination or ‘recipe’ to form the core elements of your digital strategy can take months, even years of trial and error. What’s important is that once you find what works – be prepared to tweak, refine, prune, pamper and polish, until you can step back and bask in the light of your efforts.

Many sales and marketing folk are not effectively exploiting digital channels, which their key clients/prospects have adopted. Be sure to research where, what and how your target audience is currently using social media platforms, such as LinkedIn and Facebook to share and communicate online. The chances are if they're not on there - it's not worth doing.

Once you've established what works best, the key thing to remember is to never work in vacuum. Anything you do should aim to benefit another. For example, when running several email campaigns, be sure to tie in your company blogs and social communities. This will go a long way to keeping your audience engaged with your brand and content, but also help to circulate user traffic around your online presence.