Multichannel Marketing: Book Review

We live in a multi-channel world today. Customers are everywhere Online, Print, Mobile, Email, TV etc. Marketing efforts in one channel have an impact on the other channels. Customers interact with various channels before they take the final action i.e. to buy from you.

Mutli-channel customer behavior poses a problem for marketers who need to analyze impact of various marketing efforts and decide how to allocate their budget. It is one of the biggest challenges that face the marketers today. Akin Arikan provides a very practical approach to Multi-channel marketing measurement and optimization in his book Multichannel Marketing: Metrics and for On and Offline Success.

This book shows how to effectively measure and optimize the multi-channel marketing efforts using web analytics. Akin looks at multichannel measurement methods from web analysts, brand marketer and direct marketers point of view. He then takes these various methods to create cross channel analytics.

I highly recommend this book to all the marketers and web analysts. Great Job Akin!

Have you read this book? What do you think? Chime-in.

Here is a list of other books that web analysts recommend.

Fishing From Barrel: Only Book on Behavioral Targeting

I came across "Fishing From A Barrel" by Rob Graham, Director of Training and Founder of LearningCraft. I think this is the first and only book on Behavioral Targeting (if you have seen another one then please let me know). I am halfway through the book and will post my review when I am done. Based on what I have read so far, I would recommend this book to those are interested in Behavioral Targeting and want to learn more.



According to LearningCraft.com Fishing From A Barrel takes an energetic and foundational look at how behavioral targeting is changing the face of advertising as we know it and introduces readers to the fundamentals of behavioral targeting technologies and how advertisers and publishers can use BT to achieve greater campaign and ROI results for their online advertising.

While still in its infancy, Behavioral Targeting is filling in many of the holes that have been part of the direct marketing landscape for over 100 years. Fishing From A Barrel brings readers on a journey that introduces them to concepts such as:

The future promise of Behavioral Targeting
Why Mass Marketing isn’t the best way to reach an audience
How to target and market to ‘individuals’
How to plan for and create highly targeting ad campaigns
How publishers are using BT to turn a huge profit
What you need to know about ‘Customerization’
How new targeting data goes well beyond demography
Why contextual targeting often falls short
Understanding and using ad networks
Using BT with traditional media channels
How to collect and use relevant web analytics
Understanding new definitions of Reach, Acquisition and Conversion
How to create targeted audience segments
The importance of privacy to consumers
What makes consumers consume?
Meeting consumer needs and expectations with every campaign
The Foundational Communications Model
Communicating Interactively
Who’s who in Behavioral Targeting

You can buy the book directly from LearningCraft.com. Let me know what you think about this book.

Additional Reading: My Blog Posts on Behavioral Targeting

Hot off the press: Actionable Web Analytics

Actionable Web Analytics by Jason Burby (my boss) and Shane Atchison (CEO, ZAAZ and my boss’ boss) is released today. I got my copy from Shane today, I will write my review after I finish reading the books.
I expect this book to be a great resource for marketers. I am not saying this because I report to them but because I know how passionate both Jason and Shane are about web analytics and have years of experience helping companies unleash the power of web analytics.

Visit Amazon to Buy Actionable Web Analytics.

Books Recommended by Web Analysts

In past two months I have interviewed a few web analysts. One of the questions that I asked all these analysts was about the web analytics, SEO and marketing books that they have read or are planning to read. In this post I compiling a list of books recommended by these web analysts.

If you are starting a career in web analytics or are already working in this field but are looking for some good reads then this list is for you. Please note that this is not a list of recommended books by me, these are from the analysts I interviewed (except for Competing on Analytics). I have not even read most of these books yet.

Here is the alphabetical list of books:

Actionable Web Analytics: Using Data to Make Smart Business Decisions	Jason Burby and Shane Atchison
Big Book of KPIs	Eric Peterosn
Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant	W. Chan Kim , Renée Mauborgne
Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results	Bryan Eisenberg, Jeffrey Eisenberg, Lisa T. Davis
Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning	Thomas H. Davenport, Jeanne G. Harris
Drilling Down: Turning Customer Data Into Profits With A Spreadsheet	Jim Novo
Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data	Stephen Few
Measuring the Success of Your Website: A Customer-centric Approach to Website Management	Hurol Inan
Search Analytics: A Guide to Analyzing and Optimizing Website Search Engines	Hurol Inan
Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site	Mike Moran, Bill Hunt
Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten	Stephen Few
Submit Now: Designing Persuasive Websites	Andrew Chak
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More	Chris Anderson
Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing	Bryan Eisenberg, Jeffrey Eisenberg, Lisa T. Davis
Web Analytics Demystified: A Marketer's Guide to Understanding How Your Web Site Affects Your Business	Eric Peterson
Web Analytics: An Hour a Day	Avinash Kaushik
Web Metrics: Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success	Jim Stern
Web Site Measurement Hacks: Tips & Tools to Help Optimize Your Online Business	Eric Peterson

As per Apurba’s recommendation I just ordered <>Blue Ocean Strategy. I also ordered Competing on Analytics, this was recommended by a friend of mine. I am also going to order Actionable Web Analytics: Using Data to Make Smart Business Decisions and Web Analytics: An Hour a Day when they come out.

Have you read any books that you would like to recommend? Send it to me and I will include them in my next update.

Here are all the interviews if you missed them
Interview with Web Analysts
Web Analyst Interview: Julien Coquet
Web Analyst Interview: Adam Berlinger
Web Analyst Interview: Michael Notte
Web Analyst Interview: Thomas Carrillo
Web Analyst Interview: Joel Collymore
Web Analyst Interview: Apurba Sen
Web Analyst Interview: Pere Rovira
Web Analyst Interview: Scott Baldwin