The Next Wave of Web Marketing Truisms

I had the good fortune to attend the LevelTen sponsored Results Oriented Web (ROW) Summit last week at the Curtis Culwell Center in nearby Garland. As a first-time attendee to this annual event, I was impressed with the diverse array of informative sessions the LevelTen team had put together. At various time slots throughout the day, it was tough to decide which session to sit in on. Breakouts focused on web content, architecture, creative tactics, and social media engagement, all taught by clearly well-seasoned veterans. It was an experience not unlike a good old-fashioned revival tent event combined with a mosh pit – but in a good way.

As the day progressed, the volume of tactics and technology information I took in reminded me of the old adage, “Just when you know all the answers, they change all the questions.”

I consider myself a fairly savvy marketer – at least one who strives to keep up with trends in marketing via traditional and web-delivered tactics. Yet with each session came another epiphany. Along with learning the latest ways in which the web-marketing world continues to evolve, tactics I believed to still be current were shown to be woefully behind the times. Kind of a “that’s so last month...” perceptual expansion.

In reflecting on the outlook suggested by these new learnings, some truisms for thriving while living on the thin, thorny edge of this new and constantly changing frontier emerged:

Embrace the pace – to be sure, it’s not easy staying tech-current, while melding in the content elements needed for measurable client success. Especially at the dizzying pace tactics continue to evolve daily. However, playing it safe by relying on tactics for the masses is the surest way to let the success train leave the station without you. And once it’s gone, it gets harder and harder to catch up to it. Much better to be on board, or better still, up front and driving.

Build your cadre well – the need to surround yourself with tried and true specialists is more acute than ever these days. True experts in areas such as SEO tactics, social media mix definition, and audience-aligned content strategy. Depending upon size of organization, you may have some of these roles on staff. Even then, it’s really helpful to get an outside expert’s once-removed vantage point as a check-mark of validation.

Press the edge – when developing a new concept, it’s pretty natural to go with the first reasonable idea that presents itself. The truly portfolio-worthy and reputation-building work comes from extra effort invested in pressing through the “common response zone” and getting to the really good ideas no one has thought of yet. Once those are defined, also commit to not shying away from finding the answer to the inevitable question, “Yeah – but how are we going to do that?” Where there’s a will (shared by a motivated team) there’s a way. Developing a coherent set of repeatable processes is a good first step.

Foster strong community – akin to how quality of content has become critical to assuring web-marketing success, so too has building a strong sense of community for users. The more you can encourage dialog and sharing of opinion between a like- minded user audience, the more your reputation will ripple outwards naturally. This demands a mindset dedicated to attracting and keeping the people who make up the community, versus a focus on just numbers (likes, followers, click-throughs, etc.). It also means that once established, that community has to be fed regularly with a steady diet of inspirational content and sincere dialogs infused with authenticity. Customer interaction is part of the marketing golden bullet, helping audience members shape their own perceptions via involvement. 

The best take-away of the day was a sense of tranquility coupled with fiery passion. Even in budgetarily tighter times, this industry remains exciting, vital, and growing at a clip that shows no signs of abatement. The designers, writers, developers, designers and marketers who co-produce together all seem crazy-passionate about what lies ahead, even if it’s hazy on what’s out there in mist dead ahead of us. I opened this post with an adage about change; it seems appropriate to end with one a lot more upbeat.

Ultimately, the world is what we make it – the global connected community and beyond.

The above guest post was authored by Dane Miller - an inspired attendee at the Results Oriented Web Summit 2013 this past weekend. Dane's expertise is in creative design and marketing. Connect with him on Linkedin.