I have been known (on occasion) to absolutely love web analytics (yes I know how that sounds) and the wealth of information it provides enabling marketers to make smart and timely tactical decisions to guide their marketing strategies. As marketers, we are living in a world where we are getting paid less and less for our great ideas…and rather…getting paid for the performance of our idea. In fact, I read this week in a column in Advertising Age (thanks Bobby for sending it to me) that many large companies are reevaluating the way they are paying their marketing agencies as they are able to get more and more granular with their return on investment (ROI) analysis using web analytics and other online marketing tools. Companies hiring agencies like Earthbound Media Group are demanding some “skin in the game” and asking the agency to include some performance metrics into their pricing model so that their payoff for success is not only for the company, but also the agency. This puts an agency in an interesting position as they must not only come up with creative ideas to market products and services, but also tweak the ideas real-time to enhance the ongoing performance of the campaign in order to meet performance goals. This “new marketer” is a creative and a data cruncher and carries in his or her pocket a sketchpad and a calculator (or rather…just an iPhone!).

Recently I read about a website called www.wheresgeorge.com where a simple database and algorithm track dollar bills and their migration around the US – hence the name “Where’s George.”

This website is being used by market analysts as well as the Center for Disease Control as researchers try to understand purchasing and monetary migration patterns within the US. This granularity in the capabilities of tracking offline materials (a dollar bills) in the online world is something marketers years ago did not have access to. Times have changed…and so to have marketers.

I know as many agencies struggle with this shift in marketing analysis and optimization, Earthbound Media Group has embraced marketing intelligence and how it is shaping our ideas, campaigns, and our clients’ business. Using tools such as web analytics, multivariate testing, and social media listening (to name a few), we are able to better serve our clients and provide ideas that are grounded in research, data, and results.