Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has had quite an impact on the ad market since its subsidiary Google launched Google Analytics in 2005. Part of that impact has been the failure by tech firms to observe the difference between channels and strategies.

Most marketers in the high-tech sector use various jargon such as content marketing, social media marketing, and Facebook marketing. Unfortunately, they fail to distinguish the difference between marketing content, marketing strategies, and marketing channels and Google Analytics is partly to blame for this. Most technology marketers ignore these differences and end up registering lower returns than traditional channels. They also tend to think that direct responses are the only useful metrics to gauge their return on investment.

These tech marketers should instead view social media as a combination of different marketing channels instead of viewing content marketing and social media marketing as things. In this case, content should be considered as a tactic rather than a strategy. Content is made when strategies are being executed. Some of the best examples are publicity, SEO, and advertising. These terms are vital because they are used to highlight the assumptions that people make when determining their market approach. Wrong assumptions often translate to poor marketing and this is where the audience ends up viewing them as spam.

Most online marketers fail to understand these basic principles and this trend began to take root when Google introduced Google Analytics thus giving rise to wrong terminology and poor assumptions in the current market. Traditional marketing campaigns have always entailed the creation of a message which is then incorporated into content. The latter is then transmitted to an audience via a channel. Marketing should thus not be divided into traditional marketing and digital marketing.

Marketers should revert to using the simple term “marketing” despite the differences. Being that Google is responsible for transforming the marketing industry, its influence has caused marketers to divert their focus towards channel rather than focusing on strategy.