There’s a very poignant story circulating right now, “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. 

The video of the lecture  is inspiring and I also recommend the book which has some additional material and perspective.  If you’re not familiar, it’s literally the last lecture of a Carnegie Mellon professor afflicted with terminal cancer (who has since passed away) where he reflects back on lessons learned. 

One particular anecdote I’ll paraphrase is his experiences with a youth football coach he describes as “old school”.  The first day of practice, the players quickly notice that the coach has arrived without any footballs.  When asked, the coach retorts, “How many players touch the football at any given time on the field?”  When someone answers “one”, the coach continues “We’re going to focus on what the other 21 players are doing…. the basics”. 

As I continuously monitor topics related to integrated marketing through the digital toolkit, I am struck by the same lesson…focus on the basics.  There are a lot of new digital tactics emerging in both B2C and B2B some will win and proliferate others will fade, but it’s important not to lose focus on the basics.  For most marketers, their web site is the media channel garnering more customer interactions and engagement that any other media channel.  Ensuring the right information awaits the right person in the right place on a website is an exercise in content management which isn’t the hottest of topics, but critical to the credibility of a brand. 

And, the movement of customers from one stage to the next in the purchase cycle is intrinsically tied to not only the right information, but also the basic taxonomy of the website and effective calls to action.  It’s an exercise in basics that takes internal fortitude and discipline.  Similarly, the most efficient means by which many companies can bring people to their interactive experiences, their most prolific media channel, is search engine optimization.  Again, an exercise in ongoing discipline and institutional focus as SEO is a journey not a destination. 

The ongoing evaluation of keywords, copywriting, tagging, taxonomy, urls and other algorithm affecting variables is roll-up-your-sleeves, basic marketing. 

Just as in sports, a strong foundation in the basics of digital marketing will make the rest of the mix more effective.