The Internet’s Hierarchy of Needs | vortexdna

Why you should be interested: An interesting set rationale and a good read. As a cautionary observation, I fundamentally disagree that the internet is changing people’s needs. Digital experiences are changing habits & expectations of how the needs are fulfilled, but the basic needs as defined by Maslow remain true. i.e. people have the same needs, but are just using different tools to fulfill them. On a similar note, we need to be careful not to create unnecessary jargon that potentially complicates issues and alienates stakeholders in the marketing approval process. In general, jargon increases perceived risk. Hence, creates counter-productive barriers to digital adoption and integration. 

Web 2.0 Control Moves From Marketing to IT | eWEEK
Why you should be interested: There has always been confusion and an internal political battle over who controls company web sites. Although, I think the loose reference to web 2.0 here confuses the issue. People naturally resist a change that appears to reduce their perceived domain of responsibility (particularly when it comes to such a high profile topic such as `digital`). A move of web site control simply reflects the need for increasingly sophisticated technology infrastructure e.g. information / database management. In my mind, the function of a web site needs to be divided into two areas: Strategic and executional. Marketing departments should be less worried about executional control and more worried about messaging / experience strategies, analyzing the data supplied by the technology, and fine tuning the content. Sure, any innovation agenda and interface R&D should be a shared responsibility, but leave the executional technology part to core competency specialists who do it best.

5 Immutable Laws Of Marketing Measurement | Mediapost

Why you should be interested: Measurement is one of our greatest mid-term challenges in marketing. Defining relevant and measurable KPI’s and setting a measurement infrastructure to measure cause and effect is an iterative transitional process.

Generally, metrics can be divided into three broad groups: Transactional, Experiential & Executional. Each of these three should evolve in sophistication as your marketing structure evolves. We must remember that metrics and KPI’s are all about establishing relative performance expectations. It’s nice to be leading change, but we don’t get rewarded for setting goals too high / too sophisticated and not achieving them.

The biggest trap is to get seduced by metrics that provide no clear conclusion / implication (because we can now measure them). Granular metrics are a distraction unless they clearly cascade to contribute to overall Personal / Brand / Product KPI’s.

Emarketing pure-plays are the metric trailblazer because they have a lot more control over their ecosystem.  Hence, they can confidently draw correlations between cause and effect. Measurement is much more difficult when the purchase decision is affected by less measurable offline factors.

The secret is to know your infrastructure limitations. Sure, set stretch goals, but keep metrics focused and simple until you build a more sophisticated infrastructure / capabilities.

Employee Brands Must Be Part Of Your Search Marketing Strategy | Mediapost

Why you should be interested: Employees can be the strongest brand advocates and in consumers minds often represent brand / corporation values.

Will Brick-and-Mortar retailers ban the iPhone (and other mobile phones)? | Customer Experience Labs

Why you should be interested: The dynamic and empowering nature of online price comparison is a powerful disruptive tool and poses a threat to traditional retail pricing practices.

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