Lee Odden posted a fascinating list of results from the TopRank Reader Poll which reached out to a large group of business marketers. Lee received 400 responses to the question “What 3 Internet marketing tactics will you emphasize most in the next 6 months?”
… the results were fascinating.
* Search engine optimization (36%, 149 Votes)
* Blogging (33%, 134 Votes)
* Pay per click (26%, 107 Votes)
* Email marketing (22%, 89 Votes)
* Social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn) (21%, 86 Votes)
* Blogger relations/blog PR (14%, 56 Votes)
* Microblogging (Twitter, Plurk, Jaiku) (11%, 47 Votes)
* Affiliate marketing (11%, 47 Votes)
* Advertorial (NewsForce, AdFusion) (10%, 40 Votes)
* Video marketing (7%, 29 Votes)
* Corporate Website (7%) (This pattern was echoed here)
Why do so many who call me want to just spend their entire budget on their website but ignore Social Media and blogging? (I’m wondering if my business name needs to change soon) I think a lot of company decision makers are confused about the benefit from trackbacks or RSS subscribers on blogs or the methods needed for effective social media relations, even though marketers seem to be whispering it in their ear more loudly now. Some know it’s important but are unwilling to take the leap to doing it right.
But that doesn’t hold a candle to the level of confusion out there about SEO. Executing a well-thought out SEO strategy requires an immense amount of education for most clients.
One question I have…Where is testing on this list? Isn’t offer optimization part of marketing? What about post-click analytics and focusing on finding the right offer to roll back into the SEO, Blogging and PPC engine? I think it would have been interesting to learn who, if anyone is doing this with any regularity.
I guess in the minds of the participants testing and optimization are simply part of the activity itself.
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That study was interesting. I just don’t get how blogging could even be up there with SEO. My intuitions track with your experience with clients and prospects. Corporate blogging, after all, has been pretty slow to lift off and it’s already fallen lower on the hype cycle. Other social media, by contrast, are now at what Gartner calls “the peak of inflated expectations.” The business case for these things remains the biggest challenge. I suspect it’s a mistake to treat social media and blogging as separate categories from SEO when presenting to a client. I would thin it makes more sense to treat them as intertwined tactics designed to generate awareness and leads.
Britton Manasco
Illuminating the Future