Get With the Program

I've been an interactive geek now since 1991 when email was introduced to me in college. The first person I emailed was one other guy who signed up immediately as I did and we would email each other in the same computer room. When I attended NYU in the early 90's, I started stalking my classmates and fingering them via the PINE system. Then, I became addicted to message boards and became an online beauty expert actually quoted in Vogue Magazine in 1995 about my love for the Chanel nail polish color VAMP. I had my own site on Geocities and signed up for blogger immediately because it was easier to manage than Geocities. I created a podcast before iTunes even hosted them. I used to track down old boyfriends using Dogpile and I still won't date anyone unless I can Google him. My profile has been on social networks since the early inception of Classmates. I've made a career out of my addiction to the net without any formal training or a degree. My mother always says, "Rachel just loves the computer." So, my tolerance for those in the corporate world who don't understand the basics of how to navigate the internet is somewhat low, especially at large billion dollar corporations which are transferring funding to digital marketing initiatives because it's cheaper to acquire customers through these channels than through traditional advertising channels such as TV and print. I'm not bragging and believe me, my love of the "computer" has cost me dearly especially after the dotcom crash when I had to waitress for two years as I worked on my geocities site and looked for a new job on monster. People still think I work in IT and call me at least once a week to fix their computer for them and I'm always happy to help. Now, however, my loyalty to the net is finally paying off and my expertise is valued. So, please allow me the following courtesy when I invite you to a meeting to include your thoughts into any digital marketing opportunities.

1. If I invite you to a meeting with Google, don't wait until the end of the meeting to ask, "What is this this thing you call a link?"
2. Don't ask me to invent a new computer that turns into a mirror.
3. Don't think that every website is a destination site. Think about your business objectives as you brainstrom about online opportunities. Where are you driving your customers and what are you selling? How do you shop online? How do you search for information? Do you open every email you get that is not personal? Trust your own online behavior and realize others use the net in similar ways that you do.
4. Understand that we don't cut and paste things on the Web. We have to build sites and tools which takes time, money and resources.
5. Show me the money. You can build the most beautiful site but if you don't invest in driving traffic to it, it's a waste of time, money and effort.