Digital Marketing AcademySession 1: Bootcamp

Phil Blything – Glow New Media

Welcome

• Intro & Domestic Brief• Case study discussion – Chatham house rule• Timings for today

– 09:30 – 12:00 Part 1– 10:30 - 11:00 Lunch– 12:30 – 14:00 Part 2

Principles of Digital Marketing

Principles of Digital Marketing

• So what is Marketing anyway?

Digital Marketing is the practice of promoting products and services using digital distribution channels to reach consumers in a timely, relevant, personal and cost-effective manner. [Wikipedia]

The Rise of Digital

• Phenomenal growth of digital channels• Ubiquitous broadband• Entry of Gen X & Y into decision making roles• Measurability & Accountability• Rapid R.O.I.• Google vs. Channel 4

The Holy Grail of marketing – Measurable R.O.I.

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.”

John Wanamaker

The promise of Digital

• EVERYTHING IS MEASURABLE

• So measure everything• Including R.O.I. and Conversion• Find out what works• Do more of what works• Stop doing what doesn’t!

Pull vs. Push

• Search: The empowered customer• Digital: Direct marketing is far from dead

Pull Methods Push Methods

Websites Direct Email Marketing

Blogs RSS Feeds

Pay Per Click SMS / Text Messages

Search Engine Optimisation Social Media (most…)

Bluetooth Marketing

Viral Marketing

The Digital Marketers Toolkit…

Search Marketing (SEO, SEM)

Summary: “Nice work if you can get it, but everybody else wants to be No.1 too…”

Pros Cons

Huge potential Often underperforms

Low ongoing cost Complex and difficult

Residual effect Long lead times

Highly targeted Time intensive

Easy to view competitors strategy

Competitors can see your strategy

Search Marketing (SEO, SEM)

On Site Factors (Google uses over 200 factors…)

Positive Factors Negative Factors

Keyword presence Text in graphics

Keyword location: location (Title, URL, Tags, H1, H2, H3, Links)

“Keyword stuffing”

Keyword Density Linking out to “link farms”

Keyword Proximity Use of “Meta Refresh”

Site Structure FLASH

Accessibility & Build Quality Single Pixel Links

Age of Page Doorway Pages

Freshness of page Duplicate Content

Site Size

Search Marketing (SEO, SEM)

Off Site Factors Positive Factors Negative Factors

Pagerank* Zero / low inbound links

Inbound links Link buying

Anchor text of inbound link* Cloaking

Keyword density of referrer Content theft

DMOZ listing*

Site age*

Page selection rate

Time spent on page

Search Marketing (SEO, SEM)

General Advice

• Know what you want to achieve and focus on it• Write down your keywords – an imaginary list is no good• Put some time in the diary (even an hour a month)• Create useful content• Good for humans = good for search engines• Long tail keywords are ripe for the taking• Google local

Paid Search or Pay Per Click

Summary: “…Google doesn’t make 24 billion dollars a year for nothing…”

Pros Cons

Instant Increasingly competitive

Controllable Complex

Pay only for clicks “Click fraud”

Easy to be average Difficult to be good

Reach user when they are interested

Passive

Paid Search or Pay Per Click

Providers• Google Adwords (Market Leader)• Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture)• Microsoft adCenter

Paid Search or Pay Per Click

Paid Search or Pay Per Click

Paid Search or Pay Per Click

Paid Search or Pay Per Click

Paid Search or Pay Per Click

Paid Search or Pay Per Click

Paid Search or Pay Per Click

General Advice

• Paid search is not for everybody• Approach with caution• Start small• Do set daily limits and regional targeting if appropriate• Always, Always use analytics with paid search• Do your keyword research – Google get paid whatever• Long tail keywords / Buyer keyword sets

Metrics & Analytics

Summary: “…In the land of the blind, the one eyed man can have some serious fun…”

Pros Cons

Cheap Er…

Effective

Market intelligence

Identify what’s working

..and what's not

Metrics & Analytics

Google Analytics• De facto standard analytics package• http://analytics.google.com

Metrics & Analytics

Summary & Tips• Use analytics• If you have goals, measure them• You can measure actual cash• “Network Location” - pre-empt opportunity• Spot trends and capitalise on them

Email Marketing

Summary: “…unrivalled success if done right, disastrous if done wrong…”

Pros Cons

Instant results Needs some level of skill

Highly targeted Stringent legal requirements

Rapid R.O.I. Many pitfalls

Direct response Possible –ve brand impact

Measurable

Market intelligence

High volume broadcast

Email Marketing

Case Study: Liverpool Chamber of Commerce• Exemplar of best practise• Membership organisation• 6000+ Email List• Relationship building• Valuable content• Personality• Positive brand reinforcement• Measure, Improve, Measure, Improve

Email Marketing

Email Marketing

Since upgrading:• Doubled click-through rate (from 19% - 50%)• Created revenue stream from advertising• Reduced print and mailing costs• Gained info about which events are popular• Achieved R.O.I.• Modernised and built on an established brand• Bookings for adverts 3 months in advance

Process & Conversion Optimisation

Summary: “…all the prospects in the world won’t help you unless you can actually sell…”

Process & Conversion Optimisation

Pros & Cons

Pros Cons

Big payoff Difficult to get right

Residual benefit Painstaking A/B Testing

Increased turnover

Increased profit

Process & Conversion Optimisation

What can be optimised?• Contact forms• Order forms• Press releases• Navigation• Automated emails & sms• Newsfeeds & RSS• Layouts• Website copy• Offline copy

Process & Conversion Optimisation

How can it be optimised?• Contact forms – required fields only, pre populate• Order forms – required fields only, pre populate• Press releases – calls to action, links, keyword rich copy• Navigation – pay attention to how users use your site. Modify accordingly.• Automated emails & sms – calls to action, links• Newsfeeds & RSS - calls to action, links• Layouts – split test, usability testing• Website copy – keywords, calls to action, links• Offline copy – keywords, calls to action

Process & Conversion Optimisation

Pro Tools: Sneak Peek

Social Media

Social Media

Pros & Cons

Pros Cons

Free / Cheap Can be a Time Sink

Manage a wide social network Not very measurable

“Narrowcast” PR

Social Media

Types Facebook Great for managing and growing a large contact list, keeping up with business gossip and organising events.

Twitter Immediate, good for disseminating short, time sensitive snips of info.

LinkedIN Good for looking up specific contacts you might need and finding people who can introduce you.

Flickr Very busy, source of traffic for anyone with good images.

YouTube Great for “narrowcasting” presentations

MySpace Good for Bands / Musos / Clubs

Social Media

General Advice• Social media isn’t evil...• …but it can be a time sink• Focus your efforts• Use social media wisely• Consider two profiles• Use the right tool for the job

Mobile Marketing

Summary: “…an inbox in your pocket – Mobile marketing should be approached with caution…”

Pros Cons

Wide reach Limited

Personal Invasive

Gets attention -ve brand impact

Immediate Low trackability

Can be offensive

Expensive

Mobile Marketing

SMS marketingBluetooth marketingMobile internet

Viral Marketing

Summary: “…wouldn’t it be great if… our customers all told their friends about us!...”

Pros Cons

Can be amazingly successful But rarely is

Grow contacts list Needs seeding

“Link bait” Risky

Reach audiences otherwise not accessible

Viral Marketing

The Threshers Voucher

Viral Marketing

The Nokia Cat

Viral Marketing

Tate Liverpool: Glenn Brown Game

Viral Marketing

Liverpool Vision: Skyline

Guerrilla Tactics

Six things you can do today• Use an email signature, for all staff in every email. Link to your site VISIBLY• Add a call to action into your email sig: Offer / Promo / Download• Get analytics. If you have it, find the last three customers who visited• Write a short article about one of your products / services• Make a list of key metrics. Are you measuring them? What are they telling

you?• Find conversion points for your site. Could they be more effective? Fix

them.

Open Forum

Glow New Mediawww.glow-internet.com

Phil: phil@glow-internet.comLinkedin: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/blything Twitter: @phildrus