e-Marketing can’t be done by computers

Posted on the 3rd October 2011

It’s one of those odd things…e-marketing, (or internet marketing, e business or e-commerce), whatever you call it, is all about computers. No computers; no need for e-commerce. But because we are marketing to human beings it is a job that cannot be solely carried out by computers and computer systems.  In other words; as long as we are selling to human beings, we’re going to need humans to handle the marketing.

However, although you cannot automate it…It’s measurable. If you aren’t measuring each click, sale, interaction and citation for you and your business, you’re losing a lot of data. And as we all know – data is king. It’s the stuff you interpret, in part, to develop a strategy. Without it, you’re doing seat-of-the-pants marketing, which isn’t bad, per se. It’s just not as targeted.

Internet marketing takes time. A lot of time. There are aspects of it that can feel like a real slog if you’re new to business. But, Internet marketing is the most accessible form of marketing ever. You can reach more people, faster, for less money than in any other type of marketing.

One must also realise; access does not imply expertise. Anyone can launch a web site and try to sell something. That doesn’t mean they’re qualified to do it, any more than my access to a sharp knife means I’m qualified as a brain surgeon…or even a butcher.

And here’s a good tip that they never taught in business college when it came to e-commerce; One-year plans are doomed. You can’t write a detailed step-by-step plan describing how you’ll be spending money from now until next year. Well, you can. Just be prepared to chuck it through a shredder in a month. Your audience is too dynamic to fit that kind of plan. In fact the whole medium is too fluid to make super long plans. Long term guide lines are probably more suitable.

And finally – If I had to add anything it’s that results are never guaranteed. Just because a technique worked in one niche doesn’t mean it will work in another. You have to test, measure, and tweak to figure out what works for you.

Luckily, there are internet marketing professionals around to help you.