John S. Wolfe

The final segment of the May 20 Online Marketing Summit in Phoenix featured this question to a panel from host/organizer Aaron Kahlow of Online Marketing Connect:

“If you had $10 million extra in your marketing budget to spend – but could only spend it in one area – where would you use it?

• Search-engine marketing
• Social media engagement
• Website development
• Email marketing

The response of the first panelist, Frederick Vallaeys, product evangelist for Google Adwords, surprised no one: Search.

Then it was Lauren Vaccarello’s turn. The senior search-engine marketing manager for Salesforce.com also selected search.

Next was David Hibbs, customer lifecycle director for Off Madison Ave, a Tempe public-relations firm: Search.

Finally, Al Maag, chief communications officer for Avnet, weighed in: Community relations.

“I’m a trouble-maker,” he joked.

The “Back to the Basics” panel at the conclusion of OMS Phoenix: from left, organizer Aaron Kahlow, Frederick Vallaeys of Google, Lauren Vaccarello of Salesforce.com, David Hibbs of Off Madison Ave, and Al Maag of Avnet.

The panel culminated a day of keynotes and breakout sessions on different facets of online marketing: B2B, B2C and social media integration.

Kahlow asked some questions and then opened the floor for more.

On serving the customer:

Vaccarello: Really consider custom pages. If you have a customer looking for a sneaker, don’t send him to a generic main page of products.

“Send them to a special sneaker page,” she said.

On prioritization:

Maag: Have a structure in place for information-sharing. He described Avnet’s use of annual meetings of employees, weekly meetings of teams and monthly meetings with global teams.

“We have 30 divisions and 13,000 employees,” he said. “We try to expose but not impose, in the sense of seeing what one group is doing and then showing it to others to consider.”

On immediate impact:

Hibbs: Look at your email list. Market to your current customers right away.

On change:

Vallaeys: Traditional marketing looked at wide markets. Search is more specific and more focused on behavioral characteristics, not demographics or segments.

On innovation:

Maag: Avnet has admittedly not been at the forefront of social media but it was committed to getting involved, even when the budget wasn’t there to do so.

The company envisioned differentiating itself as an industry thought leader. The solution, Maag said, was to create a video channel, Avnet OnDemand.

“We wanted to create an educational portal where we could aggregate our videos and the videos and products of our 300 suppliers,” he said.

On books to read:

Kahlow: “Social Media Metrics” by Jim Sterne and David Meerman Scott; “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug; and “One Hour a Day” by Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin.