It's an obstacle I run into all the time as a source for businesses to consider for their Web marketing and building an online presence, plus maintaining their reputation in this fast electronics communications world.

You know what's buzzing now, though, don't you? Analytics!

It seems that, first businesses were sold on the idea that they need a Web site (usually by Web site designers!). All the orders would flow in from that!

But then they realized that a Web site needed more when they found that the site alone was not creating the demand for their services, and they needed content writers to saturate the Internet with articles, press releases, and pay-per-click advertisements.

That helped a lot, but, just finding a source that might get a company's site to the first page of Google with an "expert" doesn't guarantee any return on the investment. So now, businesses are searching for individuals with the abilities to analyze Web site data and help their marketing team with insights and recommendations for enhancing their efforts.

Now they want a person who can research their site's data, and convert visitors into customers. They require an "expert" analyst, marketer, designer, programmer, and copy writer.

Whew!

That's expecting a lot, don't you think?

Maybe there are individuals (like Clark Kent?) who can be everything to everybody, but the piece of the puzzle that is missing is the synergistic approach, and how all of these tactics work together in a complimentary strategy.

In a time when people are tweeting how they are learning more from tweets at a CES show than the actual conference or an exhibit, why wouldn't the smart entrepreneur use the most effective mix of all of the above, and put together a team of specialists?

Or, if that is too expensive for the small business owner, coordinate a team of these specialists each with excellent skills and abilities, through one person who can dedicate themselves into combining their efforts into a cohesive plan that truly generates the best bang for the buck, like I do.

I believe the truly honest people in this business are those who can own up to their limitations and work with a client to ensure the best value for the investment, and make a proposal based on utilizing the right mix and proportions of the marketing tactics available to them, and allocate their funds in a way that will do the most with the clients' budgets in mind.

There is definitely a place for social media, but there are also good reasons to use a certain amount of various traditional and other methods of advertising, marketing, and public relations to build and maintain a brand.

It still comes down to knowing the customers; their behaviors, wants, needs, desires, preferences, and habits. Yes, that speaks a lot to demographics and database marketing, and analyzing the data and how it is collected. Yes, that takes time and energy, and someone willing to dedicate their time to justifying expenditure for the company. But just because a new technology becomes available, does that mean that it is the best way to communicate?

Those of us old enough to remember citizen band radios and their popularity in the mid-1970s may see the resemblances to emailing, and lately, instant-, and text-messaging. So many school children (and way too many drivers!) are seen talking on the cell phone or other devices wedge to their ears, I have to ask, "What could possibly be so important that they can't wait to get to a phone to call that person?"

Social media has become, I am sorry to say, an avenue to broadcast rather than to share, to many businesses. It was originally intended to be used as a conversational piece, but is now a target for spamming.

Because this new age of communications is changing so fast and the software and devices used to exchange information continues to evolve, perhaps the best thing to consider is whether the client is ready for the time and learning that they will need to experience, with the right people who will help them understand how to use part, or all, of the technology available to them.