How to measure online marketing success

I was recently asked the question "What are the best ways to measure online marketing success?"

Measuring online marketing success starts with defining what success is for you. This will be very individual to the organisation, project or artist. We cannot measure success until we have determined how that success looks.

Thinking strategically about email

Email marketing is not just a matter of sending out occasional emails promoting your latest show. In order to extract real value out of email as an online marketing tool, it is important to take the time to think and plan strategially about your use of email.

Getting started with Google Analytics data

The free web analytics tool, Google Analytics provides a wealth of information about the behaviour and characteristics of your website visitors. It's encouraging for me to see how many arts organisations have now implemented this tool. The key, however, is to not become overwhelmed by data or find yourself spending hours preparing and delivering meaningless reports to colleagues and management who don't read them or utilise the information.

Is search engine optimisation something we can do ourselves in-house?

If you are a typical arts marketer in a typical arts organisation, or you are a one-person business, then I have to say you are being quite optimistic by expecting to be able to manage SEO on your own. I've never succeeded yet. This is because in this industry we have so many competing priorities and are required to be Jacks (or Jackies?) of all trades.

Still debating the value of social media?

I still hear some arts managers express doubts about social media and online social networking and their value. Whilst they are ruminating issues around effectiveness, control and the investment of time, others are just getting on with it and having hugely positive and very tangible results.

Panicking about online marketing?

Every week there's a new online tool, and it seems we've only just got our heads around email. How do we ever catch up?