We’ve all heard the management adage: “You can’t manage what you don’t understand.” Unfortunately, digital marketing has gotten so complex, specialized, and fast-moving that it’s harder than ever for busy CEOs and entrepreneurs to understand what is really going on. Their digital marketing strategy often consists of hiring the best channel specialists they can find and managing them the best way they know how. But there are too many times in meetings when they think, “What is the meaning of [some digital marketing term or method] and why does it matter?”

My goal with this article is to clear up some of the confusion, while at the same time shedding some light on 1) what you can expect from your efforts and 2) how to manage them more effectively.