#MarketingTitbits – Google Analytics, Virgin’s vacation policy, email marketing

1. Seven Google Analytics tips for beginnersGoogle Analytics is an invaluable tool for businesses to use to understand their websites and its engagement with visitors. The level of insight it can provide is staggering; however, for those unfamiliar with it, it can be slightly daunting when you first visit the page. Luckily we have some tips to help you plough your way through and make the most of this useful tool.

Setting goals around session duration, pages viewed per session and customer events is a great place to start. You can also receive email alerts just so you don’t miss a thing that happens on your site. And don’t forget to connect to your AdWords account!

To find more tips click here.

2. Virgin’s Unlimited Vacation policy: PR ploy or new employment paradigm?

Richard Branson is known to be an innovative, forward-thinking and publicity savvy business leader but last week he took things to a new level with the idea of unlimited vacations.  Although this may seem like a dream situation for employees it also raises some interesting questions about how to make it practical.

On one hand it empowers employees with the flexibility to holiday whenever they wish, which potentially makes for a happier work force. Equally, it demonstrates Virgin’s trust in their staff. However, it also raises lots of questions around the practicalities of the initiative and the stress the rest of the team are placed under when a key team member is away.

So is this just another clever publicity stunt, designed to get people talking about the Virgin brand, or is it an example of an enlightened employer looking to do the best for his employees? For more information on the unlimited vacation, click here.

3. Why is email seen as the poor relation in digital marketing?

Since the email was created in 1972 by Raymond Tomlinson, it has been a vital tool used by marketers to reach out and engage with their customers and target audience. But as ‘digital marketing’ becomes ever more complex, questions are being asked about how effective email marketing is for companies?

According to a recent Email Marketing Industry Census from Econsultancy, the percentage of organisations that are sending over 1m emails has increased from 15% to 22% in the last 5 years but the survey showed that average annual e-marketing spends had stayed fairly static at £5,000. The survey indicated there is a perception that e-marketing is a cheap, but low value marketing tool and not particularly valued as highly as other digital marketing channels. However, when analysing the ROI from e-marketing, the survey found some surprising results.

To find out more, click here.