The increasing awareness of tools such as Google analytics and website optimser have made people focus upon the importance doing something they have done subconciously for years – Experiential learning.

From an early age we have all learned from our experiences i.e. doing something expecting a certain outcome, reviewing what actually happened and then refining our thinking and ideas. This Do-Review-Refine (or Kolb’s learning cycle) process is in built.

However how many companies actually embed or institutionalise this process in their ongoing business development activities. The web has thrown up lots of information but to (mis)quote Albert Einstein “not everything that can be counted counts”. 

• How many executive hours and reams of paper are being focussed upon management information reports but without addressing the “So What” question – So what are we going to do.  
• Even if the infomation is being reviewed how many companies have an ability and robust processes in place to easily refine and adjust their digital activity to reflect the insight they have drawn from their analytics.    

The British Army’s Special Air Service (SAS) have an approach that

1. You should always learn from your mistakes
2. It’s quicker, cheaper and easier to learn from other peoples

Even organisations such as the British Standards Institute in PAS 124 recognise the need that your digital presence should be in a continuous state of beta – But in order to profit from this companies need to be aware of what they are trying to achieve, what they are achieving and then reacting to benefit from their learnings.

Without putting in the regular disciplines of validating experience against expectations many companies are not benefiting from Learning from their mistakes – The definition of madness is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result!

As the economic downturn continues, 2009 will lead to a more companies focussing on how they recruit and retain their customers. 

The 2008 Christmas retail figures highlight the increased dependence consumers place upon the internet and it’s importance in any companies marketing communication mix. Whilst the internet and the digital space have provided companies with a wealth of data and enhanced capability to communicate directly with their prospective market has this capability been reflected in the experience of consumers ?

For example email marketing has evolved over the past few years and whilst companies have adopted it have they really embraced and using it effectively

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) National Benchmarking report 2007 proposed the value of £9.11 for each (permission) email address – http://econsultancy.com/blog/2148-9-11-the-value-of-an-email-address 

In 2008 monitoring the promotional emails from 24 UK businesses across a range of companies recieved in 2008 has highlighted a range of email practice. Some companies adopting an ad-hoc send now and then whatever the outcome, with others believing the shout load and often to ensure submission approach 

Despite not opening 105 emails from them over 2008 one company is optimistic if they believe the 106th is going to be the clincher ! Is this a case of “never mind the quality Feel the width” and begs the question has relevance actually evolved beyond just a buzz phrase.

At number 5 in recent Revolution article http://www.brandrepublic.com/Revolution/News/872526/12-things-need-know-2009/ the value of £20 per email was put forward – 2009 being the year of Retention!

On the basis of an email list of 25,000, are organisations really managing this £1/2 million Asset effectively ?

Without recognising, valueing and treating their data as an asset rather than a list companies will continue to spray and pray. The companies who Recognise, Understand and most importantly develop their email equity are the ones who will suceed in the Customer Crunch.

Sometimes holding a mirror up to your organsation helps to identify where you are on the spectrum and most importantly what you can do about it. http://www.6sm.co.uk/why_companies_use_us.html

 

 

 

 

As we enter 2009 there are a number of articles / posts that look forward and try to predict the new developments that will drive business forward in the coming months. Whilst new technologies develop it’s also a time to take stock on where we’ve come from and re-emphasise established laws and practice.

“The time has come when advertising (insert marketing) has in some hands reached the status of a science – It is based upon fixed principles and is reasonably exact” – The opening words from Claude Hopkins book Scientific Advertising published in 1923.

Published over 85 year ago the book is slightly dated in terms of language and examples but still provides a great guide into the value and principles underlying effective marketing strategies. Now available in the public domain have a look at it yourself and make up your own mind  http://www.6sm.co.uk/read_our_weblog.html

Whilst technology has (and continues to) rapidly evolve one of the main keys to sucess moving forward is making sure that marketing is managed effectivelyand implemented well – If you are a bad driver in a Mini putting you in a Porsche only means that you will crash alot quicker and when you do the repair bills will be higher!

Let us know what you think.

Barack Obama’s recent election success was built upon a robustly defined & well executed digital strategy. To find out more see our video – The First Internet President

The election result could have been predicted by the engagement shown on the candidates own web pages

Webpage Monthly Unique Visitors

or on social network sites e.g.

Facebook - Election Night 2008

that highlight how the Obama digital campaign performed and delivered.

Having a quick view of the UK main political parties current web presence http://www.conservatives.com, http://www.labour.org.uk, or http://www.libdems.org.uk/ highlights that they are all at different stages of digital adoption. 

(Ongoing see how the sites develop by looking at http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.conservatives.com, http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.labour.org.uk or, http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.libdems.org.uk/)

With UK broadband penetration, developing technology e.g. iPhones etc opening up the web, and the UK population becoming more web proficient, will the web become a key battleground in the next general election ? Whilst our election system is not meant to be “presidential” the ability of Messer’s Brown, Cameron & Clegg to engage with and be embraced by the UK Digital community will be critical.

To see if / how this pans Six Serving men have set up our election/web monitor http://www.6sm.co.uk/ukwebelection.html & will update this post regularly. Let us know some ideas of the key metrics we should use and we’ll add them as appropriate.

Welcome to the Six Serving Men blog.  We aim to post new articles on a regular basis

I hope you find the articles posted here interesting and valuable.

Please feel free to comment upon them and share them as you see fit

Stef