Question

Topic: E-Marketing

The Right Structure For Web Marketing

Posted by Anonymous on 10/5/2004 at 4:03 PM ET 250 Points
We currently have 2 full time people dedicated to all things online...both are technical HTML types. All marketing-driven web initiatives are owned within the business divisions (there are 3) and these folks have no real domain expertise in web marketing, best practices, etc. They are generalists and the web is not top-of-mind always. As a result, we have a website and web marketing that is not working hard enough for us.

I have the chance to rebuild this team. But what's the right mix of technical and marketing people for the web? And what should be centrally managed and what should be driven by the divisions of the business?

I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks...MM
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  • Posted by Inbox_Interactive on 10/5/2004 at 4:15 PM Member
    Without knowing anything about the size of your organization, I think what you need is one additional person who will be dedicated to Web and online marketing. This person should be a marketer first and a technical person second. (I find that if you're going to be a Web or online marketer, you have to have some idea as to what can be done using the Internet, even if you don't know how to do it yourself.)

    That person can then take the marketing goals from the non-technical people (the three divisions) and then work with the technical people to make them happen. And of course, so much of Web and online marketing has nothing to do with your own site or technology, so that person needs to have those skills, too.

    Best of all, because this is that person's only job, it won't be anything other than top of mind.

    If your Web presence is not doing all it can, this person should be able to pay his or her own way with improvements in revenue and profit or a reduction in cost. If your company can not risk the cost of a full-time employee, you can certainly hire a third-party to get you started with some ideas.

    For what it's worth, this happens all the time. I see countless "IT" groups that are tasked with handling Web marketing, when really what you need is a MARKETER, not a techno-guru.

    Good luck.

    Paul
  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 10/6/2004 at 4:16 AM Member
    Mariann, maybe you should consider outsourcing the web marketing expertise. It's such a new and turbulent area, and there are some small, talented firms that would probably treasure you as a client.

    A thought, at least!

    Shelley
  • Posted by sammykarij on 10/7/2004 at 8:39 AM Member
    Mariann,
    Today I was working on an article on the necessary skills necessary for successful internet marketing. There are such skills as copy writing, search engine optimization, content management, HTML etc. It is not a very easy to come across a person with all these skills but they are integral to your online business.

    You could motivate the team you have to learn new skills for example one person in the business division to learn about internet marketing. There are many tools on the net and in bookshops about this area.

    This person can then provide leadership in web marketing. This will be a person who is dynamic and able to manage all the necessary skills whether it is outsourcing or managing the one you already have.

    If you dont have any qualified person hire one who has a passion in this field.

    sammykarij
  • Posted on 10/10/2004 at 8:07 PM Accepted
    As noted by others, your problem is far from unique. It's become a common problem among many organizations, as there are not many really good marketing people who also have really good technical skills. The result: most commercial websites are not delivering the results they should.

    Fortunately, there are some very good "new media" advertising agencies, or full-service advertising agencies with talented "new media" technical support services. You'd probably be will served to interview a few of those to see if they can deal with your problem most effectively by outsourcing the whole thing.

    If your company is dead-set against outsourcing this kind of thing, your only option will be to essentially create your own in-house advertising agency to deal with this. Having a couple of good HTML folks doesn't make for an agency, any more than having a set of crayons makes you an artist.

    You need a strong marketing person, with the right kind of marketing skills and a good understanding of eBusiness. And that person needs to be able to lead/teach the technical staff how to create the web presence/environment to accomplish some specific objectives, articulated and agreed (by management) up-front.

    If you want to discuss this in more detail, let me know. I can also point you to a couple of agencies that I think do a decent job in this area. (Just click on my userid above.)
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