The document discusses various online and offline marketing communication strategies and tactics that can be used by an innovative internet marketing agency, including search marketing, social media, email marketing, online partnerships, link building, affiliate marketing, advertising, public relations, and direct mail. It also mentions how the agency Altex has helped clients accelerate their learning to gain a competitive advantage through training.
5. ÄRIPÄEVA JUHTUMIUURING “ Tõenäoliselt on ainsaks tõeliseks konkurentsieeliseks ettevõtte võime õppida kiiremini kui teised. Altex aitas meid selles, nad võimaldasid meil "kiirendada". Most probably the only real competitive advantage of a company is the ability to learn faster than others. Altex helped in this area, they ‘accelerated’ us”. Rain Väät Innovative Internet Marketing TM Internet Marketing
20. KEDA ALTEX ON TREENINUD? Innovative Internet Marketing TM Internet Marketing
Notas del editor
Intro 4 and a half years ago the only internet marketing agency in town was altex. Happily demand has grown and continues to grow so we see more and more competition. Digital marketing services are now available from web developers, advertising and even media agencies and internet marketing specialists But you know what- you don’t really NEED any of us.
Thats a radical thought when you consider what is needed. This slide identifies most (but not all) of the roles you might expect to see in a large internet marketing department. I mean digital is at the core of everything we do as marketers so surely you need expert services to take full advantage of the e-landscape? No you don’t. But you do need skills and knowledge.
Let’s briefly look at this (slightly out of date) view of online customer acquisition. I can confidently say that no agency in Estonia is an experienced expert in all these areas. Thats not to mention area the areas of strategy and proposition development, conversiona nd retention, technical operations. So surely you need expert agnecy help? Well no, not necessarily.
You need practical skills and reliable knowledge inside your organisation. Self tuition and experimentation are how many people have learnt internet marketing And ask yourself this. Are you really happy to pay agencies to experiment on you? Because thats what we see a lot. If anyone is experimenting then shouldn’t it be you? Do it yourself.
Äripäev contracted creative strategy, search engine marketing, web analytics, email campaigns, website evaluations and testing and general consultancy. For about a year, they were largest client but now they spend very little. The recession is not the only reason, some sensible decisions were happening too. They made the wise decision to switch to training in a number of areas Now they have in-house ability. We got our juice for a while, they acquired skills. Win win. We innovate so we are pleased we still have a couple of project we collaborate on.
So if you are going to learn internet amrketing then what do you need to learn? Well, these are the main areas. BTW these slides come from one of Dave Chaffey’s books. C-H-A-F-F E Y. At altex we know a lot about acquisition and strategy and a reasonable about about conversion and retention but even though some call us market leaders we absolutely admit even we still have a lot to learn. Continous professional development is the issue.
So ok, you need to acquire knowledge and skills but where from? Slideshare is great. There is a tonne of good stuff. Just on the altex account we have over 70 valuable presentations –most by us but also from speakers at our events so some competitor presentations are there too. Also the altex website we have Estonian audio files of a large number of presentations too. Just search for eturundus.
We dont tag enough but even so we have bookmarked almost 1500 e marketing resources. Case studies, tips, specialists, forums, news sites etc. There is enough there to keep you busy for years. Just search for altexor in delicious and start checking through.
Books are great of course and substantially cheaper than “white papers”. Search for internet marketing and you will find lots. David Phillips, a member and shareholder of altex, is the ONLY online PR Professor in Europe (maybe even the world) and he recently launched the second version of this book. If social media interests you (and lets face it thats the fashion at the moment) then buy his book at amazon or direct from altex
This old classic is great. To think its over 25 years old is shocking but then again..how long have I been doing this stuff? Mmmm Anyway Drayton Bird is one smart guy and his views on didgital marketing should be read, especially by people coming from traditional marketing backgrounds. BTW altex is launching a library soon, subscribe to our newsltter (on our stand) if you want updates or follow us on twitter. Twitter.com/altexor
There are so many resources out there but another good one is Squidoo. It was founded by Seth Godin and nasically is a place for use generated content. Currently there are just under 1000 lenses (sections) related to marketing. This one above is especially good if you are interested in tools for mobile internet marketing.
You can also read the websites and get the newsletters of experts. Lets take Eric Ward who I first spoke to back in 1997 – even way back then he had already been in the game for 4 years. I feel like a junior when i compare my 12 years experience to his 16! Anyway Eric is the number one expert on link building- no-one comes close.
Many people claim to be SEO experts and as its one of my specialities I have read most books and newsletters etc. Frankly I am shocked by just how much crap is written, here in Estonia too. One “expert” says something and everyone follows but only a few people actually take the time to test. This is where social media sucks – spreading false facts. The blind leading the blind. But IMHO Bruce Clay is one search marketing expert you can trust so check out his excellent website.
At altex we have 3 Qualified Google Adwords professional and we handle over 50 accounts in Estonia. We are training two more and currently have the capacity to handle campaigns in 6 languages. You can take the exam too. There is self tuition course online but you will need to guarantee a minimal level of spend to get qualified.
And then you have events. There are our own e!Turundus events (the first internet marketing events in Estonia) but we are happy that now there is much more going on. We feel proud to have kick started this area and we have exciting plans for 2010. Shhh. Just last week we had over 160 people attend Tallinn Blogfest There is Best Internet and other specilaist events by Hando's team. Tallinn Council and Äripäev also offer seminars.
But a word of warning. Just like its easy to find bad seo information its also to find information thats not releant in Estonia. This is not America so donöt believe that techniques that work in US will work here. And even if brits and americans say something wont work (or they dont even discuss it) it might be brilliant in this market. So you must get REALIABLE LOCAL information.
This is our core Tallinn team but we in toal we are 11 employees and we use about 5 freelnacers regularly. Together we have over 50 years internet marketing experience. We are old hands (or old fish as you say in Estonia) and whilst we would love to sell you services we are more than happy to share our skills and knowledge too. We feel responsible for sharing and we will continue to do so through our blog, twitter and events etc. We like and want strong competition and an educated marketplace.
Well, it had to come. There is always a catch isn’t there? There is perhaps one service that altex can offer you. Training. But its not just available from us. EBS, BFM and Tallinn and tartu univeristy all of offer excellent training and education so check them out. In fact we actually have lectured at all of these and will continue to do so in 2009 and 2010. Our own trainings are short intensive sessions designed for busy people who want hands on practical experience and guidance rather than theory.
So we are launching, here at Best Internet, a certification program for internet marketers. From altex you can learn about search marketing, social media, web analytics, email marketing and more. You should have some information in your hand outs and more information is available if you speak tyo us on the stand outside in the breaks today and tomorrow.
The certification is new but our trainings are not. We have been training individuals and organisations, publicly and privately for over two years and the logos above are just some of the organsiations who have attended. Looking at it I can see SEB, Äripäev and a number of others are missing. There was not enough space... So thankyou. Our advice: get learning, experiment inhouse, get trained and only buy services when you really have to. Good luck.