If I had a litmus test for marketing technologists, it would be this: do you use Firebug?
Firebug — in case you don’t know — is an add-on for the Firefox web browser that gives you a wealth of tools for peeking at, poking into, and debugging HTML, CSS, Javascript, and the underlying network activity going on in your web browser. If you’re a web developer, this is almost certainly already in your toolbox.
But it’s not just for web developers.
Every marketing technologist should be proficient with Firebug. Why? Because digital marketing manifests itself through the web. Almost all of the 8 things every marketing technologist should know — or at least be familiar with — are connected through the web.
Firebug gives you an insider’s view of how those technologies are working (or not) from the perspective of the web browser. For instance, you can use Firebug to:
- make sure web analytics code is properly installed, firing correctly
- quickly verify page structure and link best practices for SEO
- understand page load time and caching, which elements are slowing you down
- peek at tracking cookies managed by your application or third parties
- verify that integration of social media widgets are working correctly
- see how your software-as-a-service marketing applications are performing
- examine dynamic advertising code and monitor its data exchange
- profile your web site performance — including client-side Javascript
- peer under the covers of web services and analytics competitors are running
- and more (check out all the great Firebug Extensions…)
Mastering Firebug, even if you’re not a web developer or CSS designer, gives you the power to know what’s actually going on with so many web-based marketing applications. Once you learn how to peer inside the black box of the browser, you’ll turn many marketing technology mysteries into quickly identifiable answers.
