One of my first jobs in digital marketing was to manage analytical reporting of the traffic to clients’ websites. At the time this all seemed very sophisticated with talk of ‘hits’, ‘weblogs’ and ‘webmasters’ hinting at scientific precision. However, in reality, our analysis in monthly client meetings often amounted to no more than showing that the overall traffic was increasing, with accompanying charts showing steep lines pointing northwards. Of course, this impressive data was merely the result of a rising digital tide lifting all corporate websites that, at the time, were a new phenomenon along with talk of the information superhighway exciting headline writers and stock markets around the world.
That was all very much when digital marketing was a niche player – and sometimes eccentric relative – in the brand marketing world. Twenty years on, such views look positively quaint. Today, digital analytics is much closer to financial modelling using powerful systems such as those from Google, IBM and Adobe – among many others - that can digest information from any digital source be it online, offline, in-app, in-store, onboard, in-home or out-of-home. A vast swirling ocean of signals that individuals are...
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