Before KPIs, CRMs and micro-moments, before the Internet was a part of our everyday lives, there was marketing – effective marketing that built brands. Good marketers did their homework, researched the target audience, studied the psychology of the demographic, put their best thinkers and designers to work and launched campaigns that promised to fill a need. Successful marketers used professional strategies that had been developed over many decades by the best creative minds in the industry to create campaigns that moved the needle. They were based on strategy, content, channels and the traditional marketing mix. Maybe they weren’t easy to measure, but they worked for Nike, Coke, Volkswagen and Calvin Klein – and they worked for smaller companies, too. And then one day with the help of technology, analytics was born. Through the use of metrics, marketers could test their campaigns and measure success in clicks, follow customers through the sales life cycle and with some degree of accuracy determine the effects of their marketing efforts. And companies cheered.

Today, marketing is an industry in transition.

We’re learning that metrics are important and they help us do our jobs. They should inform marketing, but they will never replace it. Digital marketing with all of its strengths should never stand alone. When you’re looking for a marketing company to help you meet your goals remember that great marketing still begins with inspired ideas developed into comprehensive campaigns delivered through strategic channels to engage your target audience. Does your digital marketing agency do that? Creativity still builds brands and sells products. Isn’t that what marketing your company is all about? At HenkinSchultz, we understand digital media, in fact, we think it’s an important part of the marketing mix. But we haven’t forgotten the importance of basic fundamentals. We make the metrics matter by using them to make inspired creative even better, to support strategic campaigns that build brands, and to get results for our clients. If the Internet didn’t exist, we’d still be marketing. Can your digital marketing agency say that?