What Should an Internet Marketing MBA Program Look Like?
Today’s internet marketing environment is a far cry from what it was just 12 months ago. I can’t imagine we’re going to see as dramatic changes in the next twelve months as we did in the last twelve months but you can’t rule it out. We’ll talk about some of those changes in a little while but the question we asked above was what should an Internet Marketing MBA program look like. Given my website domain name and my own personal experiences on the topic you’d imagine I might have an opinion or two on the matter.
I think most online marketers know what the obvious things are when it comes to internet marketing training. On the other hand there are certainly some skills and techniques which institutions are not as likely to teach but which come in awfully handy if you know them.
The obvious programs which should be taught in an internet marketing training program are
- SEO – Search Engine Optimization
- Social Network Marketing
- Video Marketing
- Article Marketing
- Audience / Demographics Research
- Email Marketing
- Analytics
- PPC Marketing
- Return on Investment
I think MOST internet marketing pros would agree (with some fudging of semantics) that these are the core concepts / skills institutional internet marketing training will / should offer in the classroom. The problem with this curriculum is that it truly ignores the competitive environment that our field is. In other words it’s only teaching or dealing with the “clean water” of what truly has become a deeply polluted river.
Google Acts to Clean Up Its Image
A little over a year ago Google began a massive overhaul of its AdWords (PPC advertisers) accounts, which amounted to a purging of a couple hundred THOUSAND AdWords advertisers. I think Google must have seen the writing on the wall – determining that accepting money from anyone (under the, “Hey, as long as it’s green money it’s good money” theory) was not in its shareholders’ best long-term interests.
Why do I bring this up in a blog post about institutional internet marketing training? I bring this up because the most important LESSON from the Google AdWords purge of 2010 is ETHICS. There is a large river of money pouring through the internet marketing stream, and big chunks of it were spent by unethical individuals and companies determined to make a buck by any means necessary. One of the least understood and talked about areas of the internet marketing field is that of ethical internet marketing and combating UN-ethical internet marketing tactics.
For Future Development – A Module on Combating and Beating Unethical Internet Marketing Techniques
One of my goals for 2011 is to write and publish a ebook on the topic of unethical internet marketing tactics and defeating them. I think others in my field would simply turn the other cheek and look for easier markets to compete in – and as individuals I would have to agree: that is in the best interests of individuals in the field. On the other hand institutions with larger budgets really should be taking up the yoke and developing curricula on uncovering unethical methods and teaching tactics to expose and hurt unethical internet marketing professionals. In a recent story major retailer JC Penny got busted by Google for using unethical internet marketing techniques. They had the gall to proudly proclaim their online holiday sales results last month to shareholders and the investment community but quickly changed their tune when this story broke – saying, “we didn’t gain that much…” Well then which is it? Did JC Penny clean up in online sales or did it just do ok?
The answer is neither: the answer is they did wrong and got a short term reward for it. We won’t know for how long the Google search ranking slap will be for JC Penny but the example should not be lost on institutions preparing curricula for internet marketing training. Combating unethical marketing behavior needs to be on the required course list.
