Is your internet marketing system dumb?
If you were to drive your car wearing really dark glasses and earplugs with no dashboard instruments, how would that feel?
Apart from the jokers in the pack who might suggest “like a BMW driver”, when I’ve asked this question before the general consensus is “out of control”.
By removing or dramatically reducing the feedback mechanisms driving becomes more difficult and potentially dangerous. The lack of feedback in any system means that the system is passive or dumb.
Is your Internet marketing system dumb?
A lot of businesses take this approach to Internet marketing. They are running the most basic of systems with no method of confirming that the output is the desired output or indeed if it’s effective.
The dumb system
Every system has at it’s core three elements:
- input
- process
- output
In something as complex as a businesses or manufacturing plant, your TV or washing machine or the car you drive then there are lots of little systems all working interdependently feeding into each other to create an overall system. Every single one will have at its core those same three elements.
The intelligent system
For a system to work effectively and safely then we need to add a fourth element and perhaps the most important one, feedback. A system with a feedback loop is active or intelligent.
Information about the output is fed back and combined with the external input to better inform the decision maker at the centre of the process.
In the car you are the decision maker.
Remove the dark glasses, un-plug the earplugs and with an array of instruments in the dashboard all of a sudden you have relevant information at your disposal empowering you to make better decisions. This changes the whole experience, you feel in control and more confident, which makes the journey more enjoyable because you know what’s going on.
So it is with your internet marketing system. I’m not alone in stating that content is king but without feedback you have no way of knowing how effective your content is. Feedback will help you to shape your content for better results.
Implementing the feedback loop
Set up measurements, use tools like Google Analytics to monitor visitor behaviour to your website perform tests on different aspects of your Internet marketing – for example if you’re sending out an email use an email marketing tool like MailChimp, AWebber, Little Green Plane or Campaign Monitor, to name but a few, to manage your campaigns and obtain measurements.
Use the page insights tool in Facebook to obtain measurements about your Facebook activity.
When you see the array of measurements available you can plan your campaigns and even your whole website better so that they’re designed with measurement points. These measurements provide your feedback.
Take that information and adjust and adapt your message and content until you start to see the results that you want. Don’t leave it to chance. Don’t have let your Internet marketing system be dumb!
Join the conversation
Thanks for reading this far. I’d like to hear your thoughts on this subject so if you agree or disagree, please let me know in the comments below. Have a great day!
