Parry Malm says, “We’ve all done it – perhaps early in the morning when putting off waking up, or perhaps when at work putting off… erm… work. Maybe you won’t admit it to your friends, but we’ve all done it. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s ok. I do it too. Maybe it’s a “wisdom of the crowds” thing, or a “wikinomics” thing. Or maybe just a lazy way to make sense of this crazy online world in which we live. In this post, I undertake some serious investigative online journalism to find out what the internet actually thinks about the internet, using... [...]

Kelvin Newman says, “Recruiting the right talent for your team is tricky no matter what industry you’re in, but people working insearch marketing face some very particular challenges. There aren’t a lot of experienced and talented people to go around. Equally, experience doesn’t always correlate with talent. There are a lot of excellent search marketers with only a few years experience and others who’ve done the years but don’t have the skills. Lots of people are responding to this by taking on trainees, this can work a treat but does eat into one of your most precious... [...]

Glen Hartman says, “Consumer concern about data privacy has shifted over the past decade. More than ten years ago, consumers were concerned when companies such as Amazon analyzed their data to provide them with a recommended list of products they may be interested in based on their purchase habits. Fast forwarding to today, many consumers now expect companies to mine their data through the use of analytics to provide them with relevant offers and products to improve their shopping experience”. Spotlight on data privacy: three steps to building consumer trust ‘Econsultancy’... [...]

Steve Masters says, “When we suggest that marketers should think like journalists, we don’t mean you should start hacking phone calls and selling kidneys to get the next big scoop. Trust me, having worked as a journalist in some capacity for more than six years, I can tell you that not all journalists are like that (and besides, I no longer have the technology for that line of work. Or any kidneys, for that matter). What we mean is that marketers should adopt the same practices that great magazine journalists do in order to produce engaging and sharable content. This involves preparing... [...]

Kelvin Newman says, “Recruiting the right talent for your team is tricky no matter what industry you’re in, but people working insearch marketing face some very particular challenges. There aren’t a lot of experienced and talented people to go around. Equally, experience doesn’t always correlate with talent. There are a lot of excellent search marketers with only a few years experience and others who’ve done the years but don’t have the skills. Lots of people are responding to this by taking on trainees, this can work a treat but does eat into one of your most precious... [...]

Rachel Serpa says, “Coined in Joseph Heller’s classic satirical novel of the same name, ‘Catch-22’ is a term that refers to a situation in which a person is trapped by completely contradictory goals or circumstances. In Heller’s book, the only way for a pilot to escape his WWII flying mission is to request psychiatric evaluation due to mental instability, and be deemed insane. However, awareness of his own insanity is considered proof of a rational mind, thus making it impossible to escape his mission, a total and complete Catch-22″. Privacy and personalization: a marketer’s... [...]

Graham Charlton says, “We’re pretty big on measurement on this blog, and we use analytics to identify key topics, improve our content, and prove our effectiveness.  To this end, we’re big users of Google Analytics, supplemented by paid tools from Moz and others. We use a bunch of custom reports, segments and dashboards for measurement but I’ve only recently come across the Google URL builder, thanks to our Head of Social Matt Owen”. How to use Google Analytics URL builder to track campaigns ‘Econsultancy’ Blog  [...]

Graham Charlton says, “Analytics produces insights which drive business improvements, though more companies need to provide the staff and resources to make the most of this technology.  Our Measurement and Analytics report, produced in association with Lynchpin, found that there is an analytics skills gap which is holding back implementation. Skills shortages are most apparent in the use of digital analytics tools, statistical modelling andConversion Rate Optimisation (CRO). This infographic summarises some of the findings from the report”. The era of data-driven marketing [Infographic] ‘Econsultancy’... [...]

David Moth says, “All digital marketing activity is measurable. Right? It’s nice to think that’s the case and there are a lot of people who believe it, but unfortunately it’s simply not true. The reasons for this are numerous, not least that companies are struggling to keep up with the constantly shifting digital landscape. In the past digital analytics mainly focused on desktop activity, but now businesses have to employ a broader range of analytics products to measure activity across relatively new channels such as mobile and social”. Which analytics tools do marketers use?... [...]

Jeff Rajeck says, “All marketers are short on time and find it hard to prioritise tasks. Spending 15 minutes on analytics can help a lot. Here’s a simple how-to guide to help you get started… Marketing is a tough job these days. It feels like we are never done with our work. There’s always something that we could be working on, improving. And it often feels like we’re jumping from one thing to another all day long. We’ve all been there: fixing the layout of a web page, writing headlines, changing button colours. Things which should be a quick fix suddenly end up taking... [...]