I ran into an interesting case study in online marketing that was outlined in "Metrics Insider" that had some points that can help our clients see that online marketing is not just a one-trick pony and that it needs to be integrated with other marketing to be maximized....
"Here's a recent real-world example. A fashion house created a sharable high-resolutioncatalog of its new spring clothing line. A user could flip through the entire catalogright from within the box unit. The content was distributed in multiple ways. First, the catalogs were served into online display ads. Second, a member of their social marketing team sent emails to fashion bloggers notifying them wherethey could find the units if they wanted to use them for coverage. From both the adsand blog pick-ups, brand fans could then share the catalogs to their Facebook pages (a.k.a. social media).
The results were illuminating...
"The implications here are important. First, paid, earned, and social media are very powerful when deployedin combination. Much as we plan and buy online media based on whichplacements work best, online marketers can now track and optimize their content and spend across channels.
The second implication is that brand content needs to move to the center of the marketing enterprise. Developing brand content that consumers want toengage with and share is paramount when conceiving new mediacampaigns. The good news is that often this content is already being generated in the form of catalogs, promos, and other marketing materials. It's just a matter of moving that content online.
With a content strategy in place, marketers can open windows to deepbrand experiences where consumers want to spend their time."