This week in the Client Spotlight is Web Marketing Therapist, Lorrie Thomas. Lorrie and her team of Wild Web Women (myself included) offer their clients “a full-service marketing agency – a team of ‘wild web woman’ marketing specialists with web, business, and creative expertise. [They] serve organizations and professionals as a virtual, ‘Think-Tank,’ bridging the art and science of the web with strategic expertise and execution.”
Lorrie is a true wealth of knowledge when it comes to web marketing, and along with her team bring huge success to their clients.
What do you wish you’d known about creating an online presence before you started?
I wish I would have known (and I hired my first web designer in 2004) that there were SO MANY shapes and sizes of skill sets when it came to “web designers.” I learned very quickly that many graphic artists are simply “artists” (not web marketing talented) and that does not mean that their artistic abilities translate into web marketing best practices. Now that I know that, I ONLY hire web designer/developers that can take my web marketing direction for my sites or my client sites (like Kate!). My ideas are only as good as the people that execute. I will not work with amateur web professionals, it wastes my time and my client’s time.
What’s the most important thing you learned about online marketing along the way?
Just ONE THING?? Come on! I run an online marketing agency, I learn something new EVERY DAY!
Seriously though, the one thing I learned about online marketing (years ago) is that online marketing work always requires WORK! I know, buzzkill… but it’s true. Web marketing requires management. Online Marketing is an ongoing process, web marketing rules change, the need to make optimizations, test, evolve, tweak and adapt is always there, and new channels (like social media, online PR, etc) will require education, testing and staying current with trends.
What’s the best advice you have for someone just getting started now?
Educate yourself! Read blogs, ask questions, start small and snowball. If you do not understand a piece of online marketing, DO NOT DO IT until you understand if it makes sense for you and your company. Online marketing is still the wild, wild west… there are a lot of options, self-educating helps you make smart choices. Our rule at Web Marketing Therapy is STRATEGY FIRST, EXECUTION SECOND.
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