Marketing department in IT companies and performance indicators
Recently faced with an interesting situation. Some companies take only one person to the position of Internet marketer, believing that a good specialist will do all the marketing work in the company. Unfortunately, good and fast multi-punch machines are too rare.
Now in the IT sector, the emphasis in marketing is not on brand management or PR, as it was before, but on Internet marketing. Internet marketers are already considered synonymous with SEO, directors, content marketers, email marketers, SMM managers, PRs, analysts, brand managers, mobile marketers, designers, layout designers and creators.
I did not write enough texts for websites, but I spent many hours doing analytical work, so "please forgive my clutch" (© Pratchett).
As in the correct scientific article, we first give a definition of my favorite position. It would seem that it’s difficult: “An Internet marketer is a person who uses all the channels of marketing communications through the global Internet.” Now we put “four” for inaccuracies in the definition from the university textbook and move on to the realities.
In my opinion (the person who has worked in marketing for the past 5 years and has not stopped learning), an Internet marketer really should have a concept about the 4P complex (and more), which the list of specialists mentioned at the beginning deals with. But he may not be the only marketer in the company. Only if you are not a small online store or a startup of several people. If you still have a small IT company (up to 50 employees), for some employees there will be a maximum of 1-3 hours a day. In this case, for the development of the company you need at least three marketing specialists:
You also need a high-class content marketer / copywriter, but instead, several freelancers are often selected. The above team makes them TK. Keeping these on staff is very expensive.
I believe that to begin with this is more than enough. As the workload grows, the number of needed specialists will increase and it is better to take people with a narrow specialization into the company (again, see the list at the beginning). Everything seems to be pretty obvious. But it turns out that the problem with this still exists, and will not be redundant.
Now let's move on to the indicators with which an effective marketing department should work.
The other day I found out that my company had not previously evaluated the activities of an Internet marketer with reference to business results. To put it mildly, it struck me. Let's go over the indicators of Internet marketing that my colleagues came up with not for beautiful reports.
It is with the tasks that it is worth starting the creation of OMiR (marketing and advertising department) in an IT company. I think they sound close to “increase our sales of software / applications / equipment / services” (underline as necessary). I would replace it with “increase profits”. This is what your marketers demand. And magic numbers ROI, costs / lead and the number of leads will help you with this.
PS Order corporate gifts in the first half of October, otherwise you will have to receive them after the New Year.
Now in the IT sector, the emphasis in marketing is not on brand management or PR, as it was before, but on Internet marketing. Internet marketers are already considered synonymous with SEO, directors, content marketers, email marketers, SMM managers, PRs, analysts, brand managers, mobile marketers, designers, layout designers and creators.
I did not write enough texts for websites, but I spent many hours doing analytical work, so "please forgive my clutch" (© Pratchett).
As in the correct scientific article, we first give a definition of my favorite position. It would seem that it’s difficult: “An Internet marketer is a person who uses all the channels of marketing communications through the global Internet.” Now we put “four” for inaccuracies in the definition from the university textbook and move on to the realities.
In my opinion (the person who has worked in marketing for the past 5 years and has not stopped learning), an Internet marketer really should have a concept about the 4P complex (and more), which the list of specialists mentioned at the beginning deals with. But he may not be the only marketer in the company. Only if you are not a small online store or a startup of several people. If you still have a small IT company (up to 50 employees), for some employees there will be a maximum of 1-3 hours a day. In this case, for the development of the company you need at least three marketing specialists:
- Department head
- strategy building;
- determination of ROI (return on investment in marketing) and its improvement;
- market and competitor analysis, other analytics (both in Internet marketing and mobile marketing);
- coordination of tasks within the department and involvement of employees of other departments (in this case, programmers and web designers) for some tasks;
- search for new communication channels;
- idea generation (in other words, creative for banners, commercials, viral marketing);
- communication with customers, partners and contractors;
- full reporting for the work of the department and its performance indicators.
- Internet marketer (SEO + context specialist)
- website promotion analytics;
- work with internal optimization (optimization of layout, linking and other factors);
- work with external optimizations (social signals, high-quality links, if you still have non-commercial requests);
- content marketing;
- generation of ideas;
- contextual advertising and improving its performance;
- reporting on your job site.
- PR manager
- direct marketing (mailing out on a sound strategy);
- SMM (not just maintaining groups in social networks, but also tracking returns from them);
- establishing contacts with thematic media;
- preparation of presentations and other promotional materials;
- generation of ideas;
- organizational activities (exhibitions, conferences, webinars, etc.);
- reports on your job site.
You also need a high-class content marketer / copywriter, but instead, several freelancers are often selected. The above team makes them TK. Keeping these on staff is very expensive.
I believe that to begin with this is more than enough. As the workload grows, the number of needed specialists will increase and it is better to take people with a narrow specialization into the company (again, see the list at the beginning). Everything seems to be pretty obvious. But it turns out that the problem with this still exists, and will not be redundant.
Now let's move on to the indicators with which an effective marketing department should work.
The other day I found out that my company had not previously evaluated the activities of an Internet marketer with reference to business results. To put it mildly, it struck me. Let's go over the indicators of Internet marketing that my colleagues came up with not for beautiful reports.
- The number of leads
Lead is a potential client from Central Asia who contacted us because the marketer was able to interest him (the client saw contextual advertising, the site had cool and useful text, the product was clearly and concisely presented at the exhibition, etc.). Not so long ago, even the lead generation service appeared. An expensive, but great marketing feature. It keeps customers a lot of nerves and money in the short term, but a rare marketer is ready to provide it 100% with high quality.
Another important thing to note: when calculating all the leads, you need to segment all applications by communication channels (you do not need to appropriate other people's merits). Here, as twice as two, it is clear - the more customers, the greater the company's profit. - Cost of 1 lead
This is the amount of money spent on attracting 1 application from a potential client. This figure first appears with a marketer when launching an advertising campaign or purchasing other paid communication services. As a last resort, if you have too tight an advertising budget, you can calculate this figure by dividing your salary by the number of clients you have attracted to the company. Having identified the costs of a lead for the first time, a marketer is obliged to reduce it by all possible means: choose more effective channels, achieve economies of scale, launch viral ads, etc. Here is a very wide field for creativity.
This indicator and the total number of leads are your personal performance indicators. - ROI
The most important indicator in marketing is the return on investment. This indicator indicates how valuable you are to the company as a specialist. For example, you have excellent website traffic, good conversion, high CTR of contextual advertising in your niche, cool reports on the level of brand recognition, etc. I don’t care about all these indicators until I look at the ROI - if your marketing expenses exceed the amount of income from customers who came thanks to you, I’ll ask you to improve.
It is with the tasks that it is worth starting the creation of OMiR (marketing and advertising department) in an IT company. I think they sound close to “increase our sales of software / applications / equipment / services” (underline as necessary). I would replace it with “increase profits”. This is what your marketers demand. And magic numbers ROI, costs / lead and the number of leads will help you with this.
PS Order corporate gifts in the first half of October, otherwise you will have to receive them after the New Year.