Digital Marketing Balancing Act

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Greg No Comments

I often comment that digital marketing is like balancing a 16-legged table. There are so many legs upon which an effective marketing campaign stands. And balancing everything requires constant adjustment.

Continuing with the metaphor… the most important part is building the table and deciding on how many legs it needs. Let’s say the table represents your overall digital marketing campaign. Adding more legs is relatively easy once you get started. But, just like a table, there’s probably an optimum number of legs. If you’ve got a large table you can add more legs. But putting too many legs on a small table is awkward.

What does your table look like? How many legs do you have on it? How do you keep it balanced?

While it’s tempting to look to one digital marketing tactic as a “silver bullet” the truth is there are multiple facets to a successful campaign. Thankfully, digital marketing can be measured and constant testing is a great way to discover how to balance to the multiple-legged table. If something works, keep doing it. If it’s not working, move on. Ultimately it will be a mix of digital marketing that works. And testing new tactics will keep it fresh. Getting the table to balance may take a number of smaller adjustments, not one big change.

I always encourage my clients to make sure their tactics are aligned with strategy. And both the strategy and the tactics must be aligned with business goals. So it goes with any of the “table legs.” Adding more legs can get out of hand and make it more difficult to balance. Each leg of the metaphorical digital marketing table should have purpose.