I guess what I'm trying to say is, start today and don't let ROI keep you from moving forward, but know that you'll eventually need goals and a plan to optimize your online presence.

To answer your question, though, ROI is probably the biggest pushback I've found. Other common concerns are lack of control over the brand message (which I argue is the point…), concern that people will talk negatively about a product or the company, and concern that somehow a unique customer base isn't online (ok, maybe true of some products).

I think there are lots of good rebuttals for these concerns out there. The next step is just convincing the people who have the power to make those decisions…

Yeah I agree reading growth is important. However dont let that stop you from getting started. Plus I dont think you should necessarily abandon something just yet as this space is just too new. If businesses are honest they cant tell you the ROI on many marketing things they do. Whats the ROI on their phone? or Whats the ROI on the “branding” event? or The joint marketing relationships they have? etc etc. I think everyone is so quick to jump to ROI proof for online that they use that as the default reason they aren't involved.

That to me is a BIG mistake. By the time (and I think its already here in many areas) someone figures out concrete ROI measurements it may be too late to jump into the mix.

What push back do you see from companies? What are their expectations? Is ROI something thats thrown at you often?

Great post. I completely agree that we need to think about farming rather than manufacturing (or hunting) online.

The struggle for some is that they don't know how to read the growth of their crops (i.e. they don't know how to measure if their initiatives are working, and they don't know when it's time to abandon something that isn't working).

So just like a farmer has a plan when to put fertilizer on the crops, and when to weed, etc, I think we're prudent to plan how we're going to measure and tend our networks.

Thanks for this.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, start today and don't let ROI keep you from moving forward, but know that you'll eventually need goals and a plan to optimize your online presence.

To answer your question, though, ROI is probably the biggest pushback I've found. Other common concerns are lack of control over the brand message (which I argue is the point…), concern that people will talk negatively about a product or the company, and concern that somehow a unique customer base isn't online (ok, maybe true of some products).

I think there are lots of good rebuttals for these concerns out there. The next step is just convincing the people who have the power to make those decisions…

Yeah I agree reading growth is important. However dont let that stop you from getting started. Plus I dont think you should necessarily abandon something just yet as this space is just too new. If businesses are honest they cant tell you the ROI on many marketing things they do. Whats the ROI on their phone? or Whats the ROI on the “branding” event? or The joint marketing relationships they have? etc etc. I think everyone is so quick to jump to ROI proof for online that they use that as the default reason they aren't involved.

That to me is a BIG mistake. By the time (and I think its already here in many areas) someone figures out concrete ROI measurements it may be too late to jump into the mix.

What push back do you see from companies? What are their expectations? Is ROI something thats thrown at you often?

Great post. I completely agree that we need to think about farming rather than manufacturing (or hunting) online.

The struggle for some is that they don't know how to read the growth of their crops (i.e. they don't know how to measure if their initiatives are working, and they don't know when it's time to abandon something that isn't working).

So just like a farmer has a plan when to put fertilizer on the crops, and when to weed, etc, I think we're prudent to plan how we're going to measure and tend our networks.

Thanks for this.