Marketers Must Integrate and Become Internet Experts to Survive

As business in general, and the internet space specifically, becomes more competitive, sophisticated and crowded, it is more critical than ever to understand and utilize integrated marketing principles, and consider the big marketing picture.

SEO (search engine optimization or organic search) and SEM (search engine marketing or paid search) have reached ever higher levels of sophistication in analytics, software, testing and benchmarking, and these have become well paid full-time positions in many companies. In fact, even those companies that outsource their SEO and/or SEM expertise are paying more and focusing more for the concerted efforts of these services.

Why? Because the web search space both paid and organic works from an ROI perspective, and it is becoming very competitive and professional. And all the research concludes that in order to create sufficient traffic and conversions in either paid or free listings, you must rank well. Which means in most search phrases you need to be listed on the first page of the SERP (search engine results page), as most search users do not venture past the first page or two of results.

Studies have found that if they do not find exactly what they are looking for within the first page or two, they are far more likely to change their search phrase and start again than they are to click on page 3 of the SERP.

So this brings up the topic of creating a comprehensive, integrated online and offline marketing strategy that encompasses sales, marketing, advertising, public relations, customer service, merchandising, packaging and collateral.

If you can think about every single customer and prospect contact point and impression, and use these existing opportunities to promote your website URL and drive traffic to it, you will create another, and often times more cost effective strategy for driving web visitors and conversions.

More and more however, I am observing the opposite. In other words, as internet marketing becomes more advanced and technical, it is increasingly being pirated by technical people working in silos, or the IT department, neither of whom are marketing experts, or interested in working with multiple stakeholders to integrate the campaign and messaging across multiple channels.

This means a loss of efficiency and effectiveness for the organization. So it is my battle cry to all marketers to become far more educated and skilled in all aspects of internet marketing, web design, web analytics, and web usability research, as well as integrated marketing philosophies and strategies, so as to better drive a synergistic and efficient marketing program for your company.

We can no longer afford to operate in departmental silos, and turn over the reigns of our internet marketing, infrastructure, navigation, metrics, tracking and reporting, site and file structure, authoring software, operating systems and server decisions to technical people alone. At least not without understanding ourselves how these decisions and tools interrelate, and hinder or support the overall marketing objectives, the user experience, search engine indexing and ranking, viral activity, site conversions, user feedback and more.

As marketing becomes more technical, marketers themselves must become more digitally focused to compete. My recommendations:

• Take the "Masters Certificate in Internet Marketing" course from the University of San Francisco. This $5,500 certification is an excellent six-month online advanced program to get you totally up to speed on SEO, SEM, internet marketing, viral and affiliate marketing, usability, analytics, content creation and web 2.0. I have taken these courses and personally recommend the program highly. Honestly I do. The staff, the support, and the online learning technology platform are all excellent, all being offered through and managed by the University Alliance, who manages the online learning for many of Americas top universities. And if you do take this program, I also recommend that you read ALL the recommended books. These are the top books by the leading experts on SEO, SEM, social media, usability and the like.
  
• For even more advanced and in-depth education and training in web marketing, look into joining the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) for $299. The SEMPO also offers a series of online training and certification courses in advanced SEO and SEM ($1,120 each), plus several other courses on such topics as social media, branding and link building, and copy writing for the web for about $320 each.

• If you want to become an expert in metrics, tracking and web analytics, join the Web Analytics Association (WAA) for $199. And definitely consider the certification test and online advanced program offered by the University of British Columbia, (about $2,700) offered in conjunction with, and co-created by the WAA. There is a discount for WAA members, so join the association first.
  

• Also consider joining the eMarketing Association for $175 and taking their "Certified eMarketer" courses and exams which will cost you a total of $739 for your membership, 4 courses (1 basic and 3 advanced) and final exam fee and your certificate. Which by the way is a very good looking certificate.
  
• As for learning about Integrated marketing Communication, I would recommend looking at the traditional brick and mortar Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) program offered by Golden Gate University in San Francisco, or the online Graduate Certification program. I completed the one year brick and mortar Graduate Certification program at the University of Utah and found it to be excellent. The U of U program is now being offered for $1,500 (I think I paid $2,200 several years ago), and it's a real bargain for the high caliber of content and instructors (Tim Larson and Ken Foster).
• A good place to start at no cost, to see if you even have an interest or aptitude for any of this online marketing stuff is to take the online certification courses offered by the Inbound Marketing University, a division of Hubspot, a web marketing services company. After completing the courses and watching the 15 online videos, you can take the exam, and if you pass, you receive a "Inbound Marketing Professional" certificate in pdf format online. I enjoyed this process and the material is very good, current and relevant. You have nothing to lose here, and the professors are absolutely top tier authors and experts in their fields, including David Meerman Scott and Chris Brogan.
  
• Recommended Books: "Search Engine Visibility" Second Edition by Shari Thurow. "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" by David Meerman Scott. "E-Marketing" 5th Edition by Judy Strauss and Raymond Frost.