My approach

Dave Chaffey of Marketing Insights has has an established approach to consulting and training for E-marketing developed over ten plus years of Internet marketing experience.

My approach to digital marketing consulting

The essence of my approach to consulting is that it is:

• Results-oriented – I prioritise all recommendations according to their potential value and ease of implementation, so you can focus on implementing the quick wins initially, but will have a roadmap of future strategic priorities
• Insight-based – I am competent in data analysis, so I identify Quick Wins based on insights from a range of specialist digital marketing sources including market analysis, customer data, campaign data and web analytics. This will be help you since my advice will provide you with a more integrated approach than specialist advisors who don't understand the best way
• Process-based – I use the most appropriate strategic analysis frameworks for strategic analysis which you can use to explain strategy to colleagues. For implementation I also have developed detailed checklists for different E-marketing tactics for analysis. I am very thorough.
• Integrated – I have expertise in many areas of E-marketing from strategy development through to detailed knowledge of best practice in the most important tactics including search engine marketing, email marketing, web site design and web analytics.

Internet marketing strategy process

Taken from Chapter 4 of my Internet Marketing text, this framework gives an overview of the stages of Internet marketing strategy that are reviewed in a consulting assignment.

WebInsights metrics framework

This model, taken from Chapter 9 of my Internet Marketing text and developed and refined since 2000 is the starting point for evaluating the effectiveness of digital marketing channels

My approach to digital marketing training

My process for in-company training follows these steps to make sure the training is tailored and makes an immediate difference to the company.

The learning process

I use an established approach to deliver effective training. The key elements of my approach are:

• Global best practice. – we incorporate concepts from a range of e-marketing commentators and best practice is illustrated from examples from in-sector and out-of-sector companies
• Do make me think! New thinking is prompted by relating in and out of sector best practice to current organisational practices to identify new ways of working.
• Practical. The training content gives practical insights about developing and executing plans and campaigns which can be applied as soon as the participants are back in the office to increase campaign response.
• Applied. Example campaign plans, creative and metrics from HSBC campaigns will be used within the presentation and activities to illustrate best practice and areas for improvement.
• Knowledge sharing. It is recognised that much good practice already exists within your organisation. The workshops are interactive and will facilitate sharing examples related by experienced staff.
• Action-oriented-active learning.Each participant will be encouraged to develop a personal action plan.

The training development process

These are the stages of an "active learning" in-company digital marketing training project.

1. Training needs analysis. For the programme as a whole, the programme will be distributed to each delegate for a particular training session to get feedback on required topics / areas of interest / weakness.

2. Pre-training preparation. Pre-reading and learning activities can be used to establish a common level of knowledge.

This will also highlight the importance attached to the training by management and will enable the 1 or 2 day workshops to cover more advanced topics rather than introductory material.

3. Training delivery. A detailed programme for training is given in Appendix 1 and 2. This is based on 8 core sessions which are key areas of knowledge required by online marketers. Each session is built around an activity to ensure there is a lot of interaction.

The workshop will be practical and interactive. Best practice will developed through review of e-marketing from other leading organisations. Activities will focus on previous company campaigns to learn from these for future campaigns.

Delegates will be encouraged to make notes on action points that they can apply when back in the office. The workshop leader will facilitate exchange of best practice within the marketing team.

4. Training evaluation. After the workshop, brief evaluation questionnaires will be used to assess the quality of the training.

5. Changing practice. Individuals will encouraged to prioritise their future actions in the workshop through an action planning sheet which will be reviewed by the trainer and colleagues.

6. Post-training input. This is intended to ensure marketing practices actually change and to enable further learning from changes made since training. A 3 or 6 month teleconference is sometimes also used for this. Informal questions to the trainer are welcomed and there is no charge for this.