In the old days of the web we had to be the jack of all trades… there were no subject matter experts. New technologies emerged, eCommerce was refined, search engine marketing became more complex, online media took on multiple avenues, social marketing bloomed and mCommerce emerged. In a very short time it became clear to us that as an agency and media company we had to start developing highly specialized departments and highly skilled subject matter experts within our agency to research, test, innovate and execute on all these specialties.

Without these highly specialized experts an agency or in-house marketing department is “skimming the surface” of their integrated marketing and advertising program. In fact, they don’t even recognize the gaps in a plan because they don’t know what to look for from a specialized vertical perspective.

Agencies who are telling their clients that online media is all about display, or that SEOM is only about buying Paid Keywords are doing their clients a huge injustice. They may not know how to strategize or execute on other elements that are important, so they just don’t. If you don’t, hire a digital firm or subject matter experts behind you.

The case can be made that unless you have a group of subject matter experts on your team you are missing major opportunities and opening yourself up to lackluster results. In the worst case you are not building a sustainable program because competitors are passing you by.

Focus on the highly specialized areas of your plan that will make the difference short term and most importantly long term, and make sure that you have the right people making the right decisions for you as an organization. If you are an agency reading this, and I know many of you follow this blog, take a big step and fill in the gap. You will be executing for the client on all those things you do so well and you will be bringing to the table subject matter experts that can fill in the gaps WITH you.

Till next time,

Leah