Book Review: Web Analytics 2.0 By Avinash Kaushik

Source: Google ImagesI decided to commit the entire month of October to essentially study Avinash Kaushik's latest book called Web Analytics 2.0. It is a follow-up to his previous book Web Analytics: An Hour a Day; however, if you have not read his previous book don't worry because he covers the essentials in his new book.

Overall, I think this book is simply a must have for any digital marketer, regardless of their position within an organization. In this book Avinash covers quite literally everything to do with Web Analytics and essentially teaches you how to become an analytics ninja! (A word he particularly enjoys using and I particularly enjoyed reading). One of the greatest things about this book is the fact that Avinash has chosen to donate all the proceeds of this book to two charities (The Smile Train and Ekal Vidyalaya). Once I read about his choice I realized that this book was going to be truly meaningful simply because Avinash did not write it for the money. Instead he wrote the book because he has a passion for analytics  that he wants to share and that truly shows in his writing. The book is full of little tips and tricks that he has acquired over many years of experience and contains many examples that highlight concepts in order to better educate the reader.

Here are three reasons why I think this book applies to any level of digital marketer:

1. The entry level marketer - Great overview into true analytics and highly actionable takeaways that you can start doing today.
2. The middle manager - Instructions of how to pick an analytics vendor and how to hire the right analytics employee.
3. The senior digital marketer - Insight into what kind of analytics reporting you would want to see.

Finally, here are my three takeaways for digital marketers out there:

1. Think simple - Avinash's blog is titled "Occams Razor" which is a principle that essentially means the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. It is quite easy to fall victim to data overload, this book can Source: Google Imagesshow you how to actually extract value from various metrics and help you understand how to avoid drowning in data. Lots of data is great but sometimes, less data with more value... is greater.
2. Set goals, even if they are not about money - Without goals, a presence on the web is pointless. Simple as that. The goals do not have to be monetary in nature, they just have to be measurable.
3. "Evolution, not revolution" - A brilliant quote by Avinash. I find this applies directly to any project on the web. Small iterative changes as opposed to a gigantic transformation, can generally be more effective. I think companies that constantly make small changes to stay relevant to their consumers are truly ones to be admired (Starbucks is a good example).

Final thoughts: I think it is inspiring to read anything written by someone who is so passionate about what they do. This is a truly great book and I highly recommend it. Thanks for being an inspiration Avinash.

How will we react to choice?

Picture this: You're watching your favourite TV show. Let's just say it's an hour long, which means that (so long as you're watching it live), there are roughly eighteen or so minutes worth of commercials aired. Now normally you would not have a choice of what these commercials are and normally you would simply change channels or walk away from the TV during them... but..what if you had a choice of which commercials you wanted to see (or not see)? Would you spend eighteen minutes interacting with ads or would you simply choose to see no ads?

Although this situation is hypothetical and refers to a traditional marketing medium, this is slowly becoming a reality online and I think will soon become a reality offline as well. A few weeks ago, this Google blog post talked about what the future of display advertising will look like. The post mentions a very interesting ad technology that Google has been testing on YouTube called, "TrueView." According to the post: "These ad formats give people the option to skip an ad if they don’t want to watch, or to choose from multiple ads the one they want to watch. Importantly, advertisers only pay if the user chooses to watch their ad."

I had to take a minute to fully digest the potential of this technology. It gives consumers a choice. Can we finally say goodbye to the days of interruptive marketing? I think the very interesting question now becomes... if we have the choice to say no.. then in what situations do we say: yes, market to me, I am looking to engage with your message? For a while, Facebook ads have given you the choice to close them (marked by a small x in the top right corner). If you choose to close an ad, Facebook will ask you why you didn't like it (options are: Uninteresting, misleading, offensive, repetitive or other) and follows up by saying "Thanks for your feedback. Over time, this information helps us deliver more relevant ads to you."

Choosing the view a relevant ad is the ultimate win-win action a consumer can take. Marketers win because consumers give them permission to engage and consumers win because they are actually finding value in the message being delivered. With the launch of the Google TV platform earlier this week, I am sure we can expect to see the blurring of traditional and non-traditional media and we may see TrueView appear on our home TVs at some point in the future. Although it has not been launched yet, I think TrueView is going to be a very interesting technology to watch. How will consumers react when given a choice? Will we actually choose to consume ads or have we become so conditioned to be annoyed by them that will we completely ignore them?

Final thought: I think having the option to choose is always better than not; however, psychologists (More specifically Sheena Iyengar and her colleagues) have proven the paradox of choice is that when we have many choices, we ultimately find it harder to choose anything. So when the future of display ads arrive...how will we choose to react? 

Book Review: The Next Evolution of Marketing by Bob Gilbreath

I will try my best to review a book that I am reading at least once a month, so consider this to be the first of many to come. I felt this book would be a great one to review first because of how applicable it is to modern marketing. I came across this book about a month ago and primarily became interested in it because of the reviews it had received (more specifically because, the people who wrote these reviews are people that inspire me).   

A brief overview of the book: 

Bob presents a new model of marketing that is the next step up from Seth Godin's idea of permission marketing (which he conceived 11 years ago but is still highly relevant today). Bob's new model is something he calls 'Marketing with Meaning.' He defines this type of marketing in two ways: 1. It's marketing that people choose to engage with and 2. It's marketing that in itself improves people's lives. In order to help the reader understand the basic premiss of the model, Bob presents it comparatively to Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The underlying principle behind Bob's model is that a marketer must truly understand the needs of the customer and create marketing that appeals to those needs. He categorizes these needs in 3 successive levels: The need for meaningful solutions (akin to Maslow's survival needs), the need for meaningful connections (attachement/social needs) and finally the need for meaningful achievements (esteem needs). The book is basically broken down into two large sections. In the first section he defines the new model and in the second section he explains how to use the new model through various examples. 

My thoughts on the book and 3 reasons why marketers should read it:

I have read many textbooks that contain theoretical models of marketing and present them in ways that are sometimes confusing and not very easily applicable. The similarity between this book and a textbook is that both present a marketing model, the difference.. this one does a phenomenal job. One of the biggest reasons I enjoyed this book is because the author has experienced so much of the real world that he is able to fill theBob Gilbreath book with plenty of examples that drive home the idea of meaningful marketing. Bob is a very genuine writer and I know that may be a strange adjective to describe an author but I believe that his humility shows through in his writing. This is the ideal book for someone on the agency side of marketing; however, Bob's experience at P&G helps him to convey the benefits for pure play marketing companies as well. Here are my three key takeaways from this book: 

1. In an age where interruptive marketing is dying, customers are seeking meaningful marketing solutions.
2. You don't need money to create meaning, you just need to understand the customer.
3. Think about how you can satisfy a customer higher-order needs and the marketing will take care of itself. 

In summary, Bob Gilbreath has truly inspired me with this fantastic book and I highly recommend it to any marketer out there. 

My first post: Defining your personal brand.

This time of year is when most Undergraduate students are hot on the hunt for jobs after graduation. Companies are going around to various schools, touting themselves to be best employers around and trying to recruit the best future talent. A year ago, I remember being one of those students. I remember being Roland Garrosfascinated by all the different offerings of various companies, the thought of earning some good money and most importantly the distinguished nature of some job titles... Assistant Brand Manager of this... Assistant Marketing Manager of that. It's safe to say that there were many carrots being dangled before me and I was a sucker for every one of them.

Little did I know, this was all a big trap. It is a common trap that most Undergrads fall for. The beauty of the trap is how it can fool you into making you think you are someone who you really aren't. The idea is pretty simple: A company comes along and advertises a position. Naturally this position will have a short description, some responsibilities and then some traits/experience that the ideal candidate should have. A foolish student like me, would look at the position being offered (the carrot being dangled) and consider all the benefits of getting the position - the status, the money... possibly the responsibility - then, essentiallyWimbledon transform him or herself into the ideal candidate. This is done by finding a few specific lines in the job description and merely tailoring your cover letter/resume to match those lines exactly. The problem with this method... is that it's an entirely backward way of approaching any job application. It is the clearest sign that you have fallen into the big trap.

There is a way to avoid the trap. Having fallen victim of the trap myself and after having experienced a fair amount of failures in the hunt for a job, I have found myself in a position where I can offer advice to someone who is just starting out. It's simple... you have to define your personal brand. Regardless of whether or not you are considering marketing as a career, you are already a brand manager... the brand you manage is your own. I challenge you to define who you are. Understand everything about yourself - strengths, weaknesses and competitive advantage. I don't really know if I'm making this  souUS Opennd easy, but if I am... I'm saying something wrong, because this is not an easy thing to do. However, the beautiful thing about it is that, once you have defined your own brand... then you are ready to match yourself with another brand. This makes the task of identifying with a company much easier. The approach is the right way round now, the company is not recruiting you... you are in fact recruiting the company.

You have probably noticed that I have a few pictures of Rafael Nadal scattered throughout this post. The reason for that is because in my eyes, Nadal is a brilliant example of someone who re-defined his personal brand this year... and was very successful as a result. At the start of the year he made a statement about how his goal was to win the US Open (having never done so in the past). Many people still saw Nadal as a clay court player and didn't really think a hardcourt surface would suit his game. On Monday, September 13th of this year.. he did it. Not only did he win the US Open but he also won the French and Wimbeldon titles earlier in the year as well. Nadal re-defined his personal brand and developed himself into a truly dominant all-surface tennis player.

Final thought: Understanding who you are today, is the the biggest step towards becoming the person you will be tomorrow.