Tim Goudie
Graduate, UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics
When Tim Goudie set out to educate himself in web analytics, he went straight to the top. He found out who the leaders were in the field and immersed himself in their books. In fact it was while reading a book by Jim Sterne, president of Target Marketing of Santa Barbara and one of the biggest names in the business, that Tim took the next step. He emailed the author.
"I introduced myself and told him what I was doing," Tim says, "and he invited me to meet with him in person." Tim took the first plane he could to Santa Barbara. "When I presented him with Coca-Cola's business objectives and outlined my thoughts on the data I thought we should track, he helped guide me through the process of converting business objectives into KPIs (key performance indicators). And when I asked him how I could learn more of what I needed to know, he recommended the UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics."
Coca-Cola Ltd. had appointed Tim to their global interactive marketing team, whose goal was to launch one global coca-cola.com web presence across multiple markets (and in many languages) so they could deliver a consistent brand message to all their consumers while still maintaining a unique local appeal (enabling them to activate local sponsorship of cricket in India, for instance, or rugby in Australia). "I've been involved in brand management from day one," Tim says, "but I was relatively new to global interactive marketing, and I was the sole bastion of interest in web metrics and analytics at the time."
Managing brand health is a top priority for Coca-Cola Ltd. ("Coke" is the second-most-recognized word in the world - the first-most-recognized word is "OK.") A key to knowing how your brand is doing lies in how well you understand who and where your customer is - something that Coca-Cola takes very seriously and does exceptionally well but which, Tim was convinced, could be even further enhanced through the tools that web analytics offers. "We know that the media landscape is changing," he says. "Teens and young adults spend increasing amounts of time online and on their cell phones, and a lot of this behaviour is trackable. It can be converted into a relationship that works both ways, but if you can't measure it, you can't manage it."
Tim tackled the online courses with energy and enthusiasm, and quickly began putting his new knowledge and techniques into action. "I really can't say enough about the UBC Award of Achievement in Web Analytics program," he says. "One thing that really stood out for me was the practical nature of the course material. Every time I would do another reading over the weekend I'd get about five or six new ideas that I could take back and implement. The learnings were immediately applicable, which was important to me. The course was well-structured, starting out simply at the beginning and then ramping up, so it took me at the right pace and began at the right level. Taking the program grounded me as the go-to guy for web metrics."
"I would definitely recommend the UBC (Award of Achievement in Web Analytics) program," Tim says. "It is critical that people who are moving into the web analytics field should take it in parallel with their role to understand search engine optimization marketing and analytics - how you can apply it, leverage it, and understand metrics in general. It's very practical and very educational, so it's great for those making the transition into the discipline for the first time."
"It's very practical and very educational, so it's great for those making the transition into the discipline for the first time."
Find Out More
Read about others who have also taken the Award of Acheivement in Web Analytics:
