SPRINGFIELD — Garvey Communication Associates Inc. (GCAi) announced that James Garvey, a digital marketing analyst with the company, has recently earned a digital marketing certificate from Cornell University’s online certification program.
“I viewed it as a retreat of sorts where I could isolate the tactical and focus on overall strategy development,” Garvey said. “In turn, our emphasis has now become working with our clients to identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) prior to planning the tactical considerations. It sounds simple, but tactical is always the shiny object. Which platform to use and what creative often takes precedent over what the actual objective is. That tendency underserves the client and the potential of digital marketing, and is something we are working hard to avoid.”
According to Cornell University, the objectives of the program are to learn and implement proven frameworks, assess opportunities and strategies associated with leading channels, and create integrated digital-marketing plans based on priorities and resources.
Garvey suggested there are other takeaways GCAi is now using in its digital-marketing approach. “We are really ramping up our framework for measuring and reporting success metrics — something that is more attainable and accurate given our concentration on front-end KPI setting. Two focuses that I found most thought-provoking were the potential to leverage owned media and the benefits of A/B testing on digital platforms.
“On the other hand, one thing that I was not enamored with was the push for the one-platform-serves-all digital-marketing emphasis,” he went on. “Having worked in digital marketing since basically its start, we have seen management platforms come and go and believe to this day that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and direct platform management is the most powerful and generates the best results.”
Underscoring a key component of the eCornell program, Garvey spent last winter researching and writing some of his coursework from Santa Monica Pier, not navigating the frozen Ithaca campus.
