Since I built my first commercial web site in 1995, I've been fascinated by the digital landscape. It's a difficult landscape to map, however, its features constantly changing. In those twelve years of constant involvement in online marketing, I've learned the only reliable compass is an analytic approach and a data-driven decision making process.

I've spent the last two years in a client-facing role working with adCenter, Microsoft's search advertising platform. Search is becoming the gatekeeper to web traffic, whether it's paid or organic search. It is simply too important to do badly. When driven by web analytics, however, it can become a competitive advantage.

 

Beyond Barnstorming
Search engine advertising is evolving beyond the barnstorming stage. As the bid environment becomes increasingly competitive, PPC management must closely align with business objectives, integrate with web analytics, and continually improve its understanding of customer behaviors in order to improve the return on marketing spend. The same is true of email marketing, display advertising, even offline channels.

I passionately believe that we are entering an era where companies will compete on analytics. One of the first arenas of that competition will be digital marketing. Decisions will be driven by data; hypotheses will be proven - or disproven - by analytics, by measuring and understanding the actual behavior of web site visitors; and performance will be incrementally improved by testing.

This marriage of advertising and analytics requires people with an eclectic combination of skills, the ability to span the often disparate realities of business, marketing, and IT. It requires people willing to take responsibility, people with a passion for data-driven decisions, people with an intense desire to win in a very competitive game.

I am one of those people.