eMarketing: a Strategic Approach
- 1. eMarketing, a strategic approachRob Stokes
- 2. Something to think about
- 3. South Africa has more internet users than:Belgium
- 4. Ireland
- 5. Denmark
- 6. SwedenIn the UK, the internet is now the biggest marketing channel in terms of spend
- 7. Zappos will sell more than $1 Billion worth of shoes online this year
- 8. Are we giving eMarketing the respect it deserves?
- 9. So what is a strategic approach?
- 10. Strategy is about the bigger picture: goals, objectives and success criteria
- 11. Ultimately strategy is about the decisive allocation of resources
- 12. Tactics are the actions we take to achieve the success of the strategy
- 13. “Without strategy, tactics are simply the noise before defeat”Sun Tzu
- 14. Understanding your customers and competitors is vital to not only guide your strategy, but also your relevant tactics
- 16. Once you’ve figured out your strategy
- 17. You need to establish which tactics are going to get you there
- 18. Here’s how they might all fit together…
- 20. But eMarketing is NOT just a list of tactics
- 21. It achieves its true potential when these tactics work together
- 22. And it’s NOT about “synergy”
- 23. The tactics need each other
- 24. They feed off each other
- 25. They are substantially less effective without each other
- 27. Currently this great site is a lonely islandIntegrate with FB page and Twitter efforts
- 28. Channel the link benefit to the brand site for SEO
- 29. Integrate send to friend with email marketing efforts Let’s get back to basics…
- 30. It all starts with a website
- 31. A hub to drive traffic to
- 32. A medium through which you can communicate and build a relationship with your audience
- 33. But it can’t just be any old website
- 34. You MUST add value to your user’s experience. Before, during and after their visit
- 35. Websites are no longer just brochures
- 36. They should be built to attract, convert and retain customers
- 37. The average website has about 10 seconds to capture a user before they get bored
- 38. Is your website THAT good?
- 39. Our web development priorities
- 40. 1. Usability and conversion oriented design
- 41. Understand the goals and priorities of your site and design for your users above all else
- 42. Make sure they can find what they want quickly and easily
- 43. Drive them towards YOUR desired goals
- 44. Copy style:
- 45. Allow the reader to get the gist of your message in a few seconds by merely scanning the page
- 47. Break up text with bolding, bullets, highlighting, crossheads and contextual interlinking
- 48. Have consistent Calls to Action
- 49. Don’t make them think…
- 50. Tell people to take the exact action you want them to perform in order to get the best response
- 51. Keep navigation basic, consistent and standardised
- 52. Think about persuasive architecture
- 53. Don’t distract users with Christmas treesblinking images
- 54. flashing lights
- 55. automatic sound
- 56. scrolling text
- 57. unusual fontsUsing Personas for large sites
- 58. 2. Search Engine Friendliness
- 59. Primary goal:Site must be fully indexable and optimised around a set of well researched key phrases
- 60. Blend 2 or 3 carefully chosen key phrases into a minimum of 250 words on each page
- 61. Also integrate keywords into your:Meta tags
- 62. Title tag
- 63. Headings
- 64. Alt tags
- 65. Internal and inbound linksOther SEO Considerations for your siteThe age of the domain
- 66. Links to the domain
- 67. Key phrases in URLs
- 68. Add regular fresh content
- 69. Text navigation is better than images
- 70. Offer RSS feeds (AND RSS to email)
- 71. Well indexed
- 72. XML sitemapBe remarkable - make your site a resource!
- 73. 3. Look and Feel
- 74. Very important, BUT the least important consideration in web development
- 75. That doesn’t mean ugly sites are OK
- 76. Sites must look professional and demonstrate your credibility...
- 77. If these two goals are met, the user will be satisfied.
- 78. Remember, they are looking to achieve a goal – not look at a piece of artwork.
- 79. A quick review of a few of your sites
- 81. No attention focused on the menu or CTANot enough text formatting
- 82. Initial ObservationsPlace breadcrumbs higher up on the page (currently at the bottom)There is no search function on the siteMeta Data is identical for every pageThere is no .xml sitemapCanonicalisation is not set upMore content-rich, optimised pages
- 84. Logo should direct homeNot enough attention drawn to menuGood attention drawn to conversion goalMove this higher up and state benefits
- 85. There is no use of Meta Data & Title tagsThere is no html sitemapThere are no breadcrumbs in placeThere is no .xml sitemapCanonicalisation is not set upNeeds more content-rich, optimised pagesError page not customised
- 87. Logo does not redirect homeMake this conversion goal more obviousPlace this higher up and state benefits
- 88. The ‘Open an account’ link appears broken…Store locator map is not interactiveNo Meta Data and Title tagsThere is no .xml sitemapCanonicalisation is not set upNeeds more content-rich, optimised pagesError page not customised
- 90. Logo does not direct home‘Sale now on’ appears to be a link but is not.State benefits of the newsletter‘Apply’ and ‘careers’ link brokenNo attention placed on menu
- 91. There is no user sitemapSome images/text appear to be links but are notMeta Data is not used at allTitle tags are not usedThere is no .xml sitemapDuplicate sites running on different subdomains
- 92. Monitoring your website’s performance
- 94. Top stats to keep an eye on
- 95. Above all else, conversion rates!
- 96. Unique users (not HITS)
- 97. Traffic Sources (and their conversion rates)
- 99. Bounce rate
- 100. Repeat users
- 101. Pages per user
- 102. Time spent on site
- 103. OK, now we have a site that looks good and hopefully converts its visitors, but how do we get these visitors?
- 104. There are many options, but the most important is…
- 105. Search Engines
- 106. 1 Billion searches each day
- 107. Lots of volume, but why is this important?
- 108. Searchers are looking for what your are offering
- 109. They WANT to find you!
- 110. And if they don’t find you, they will find your competitor
- 111. And if they don’t find you, they will find your competitor
- 112. Some data insights…
- 116. So how do we make sure we are found?
- 118. SEM = SEO + PPCOrganic and Paid
- 121. You don’t need to be a guru to get the basics
- 122. Firstly make sure you select the right keywords
- 123. Select keywords based on the following:Search Volume
- 124. Competition
- 126. Potential value per conversionThen decide where you want to be…
- 130. Make sure your site is optimised around your keywords
- 131. Then build plenty of high quality, keyword rich links
- 132. And this isn’t easy
- 133. The best sites inevitably win
- 134. So grow links organically
- 135. Build a website that offers so much value that people talk about it and link to it naturally
- 136. Pay Per Click
- 137. But first: Why you can’t ignore SEO:
- 139. www.quirk.biz
- 140. You choose how much you want to pay per click
- 141. And how much you want to spend per day
- 142. If you manage your campaign properly, you can’t lose money!
- 143. www.quirk.biz
- 144. Don’t burn your budget early on: Test!
- 145. Look for long tail key phrases
- 147. Have a solid call to action in each advert
- 148. Don’t send your traffic to your home page, use highly targeted landing pages
- 149. Test, test and test these landing pages
- 151. The process of making your website and eMarketing activities as efficient and effective as possible resulting in a direct increase to your ROI
- 154. Test individual pages and paths
- 156. Calls to action
- 157. Font size
- 158. Headings
- 159. Text length
- 160. Copy style and tone
- 161. Offers
- 162. Pricing
- 163. Credibility itemsSearch marketing will bring a lot of traffic to your site, but you can’t stop there…
- 164. You should be looking to build communities around your business
- 165. Social Media can play a big part in this
- 166. But what is Social Media?
- 169. A few tips…
- 170. Be strategy lead. The medium is not the message
- 171. How will social media deliver on your business goals?
- 172. Push for critical mass quickly
- 173. Discover and target influential individuals and communities
- 174. Identify and fill content holes – don’t echo
- 175. Consider social media’s impact on your other eMarketing tactics
- 176. Write with your keyword strategy at your side
- 177. Create a social media culture internally, it will reflect externally
- 178. Remember: social media influencers are uniqueShort attention span: they get info served to themSelfish: ‘What will I get for sharing this?’Affluent and urban
- 179. There is someone Twittering about you
- 180. Jokes
- 181. Rants
- 182. Customer service?
- 184. Are you making the most of it?
- 187. 12 million people search for “Ryan Air”
- 188. A Ryanair employee comments on a blog…
- 190. Followed by the official response
- 192. Then the online community got hold of it
- 194. Then the newspapers got hold of it
- 197. These powerful sites often linked to this site…
- 199. And we know how important good links are…
- 201. “ It takes 20 years to build a reputation, and 5 minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you will do things differently. ”Warren Buffet
- 202. How is online reputation different?
- 203. It spreads faster...
- 204. … and the evidence lasts longer
- 205. Why is this important?
- 206. Because peers are the most trusted source of recommendationEdelman Trust Barometer 2008
- 207. People are talking, are you listening?
- 210. What to track?
- 211. Brand names
- 212. Important staff
- 214. Track outgoing communications (PR) by monitoring a piece of unique text
- 215. Use the data you gather to build profiles of influencer’s who you can target for future campaigns
- 216. Monitoring your online reputation helps you…… avoid a reputation crisis by informing you quickly… discover quick and effective new marketing opportunities… improve customer service through engagement … understand your customers’ needs and wants better … identify powerful influencers to target with WOM campaigns
- 217. OK so you’ve got a good site with lots of traffic and a thriving online community. What’s the most effective way to build long term relationships with these people?
- 218. Email Marketing
- 219. Use it to build relationships
- 220. Not to acquire them
- 221. Successful long term customer relationships are built on mutual trust and respect
- 222. Do your email newsletters foster relationships?
- 223. Or do they treat customers like marketing targets?
- 225. But go beyond the name
- 226. An email newsletter should be a totally customised experience
- 227. Allow users to manage their information and subscription preferences
- 228. …and then personalise accordingly
- 229. Rather send less often with more relevant content – people will be more likely to listen
- 230. Nurture your in-house list
- 231. But make it easy to unsubscribe
- 232. Optimise your subscription touch pointsBenefit statements
- 233. 2 stage process
- 234. Don’t gather too much info
- 235. Confirmation pages and emailsAnd make sure it actually works
- 237. The biggest challenge: Deliverability
- 238. Bottom line:Ask yourself what YOU would want from the newsletter as a reader
- 239. Does it speak to you?
- 240. Or does it speak AT you?
- 241. In conclusion: eMarketing fundamentalsGet your website right, make it remarkable!
- 242. Drive qualified traffic to it.
- 243. Optimise the conversion of that traffic.
- 244. Build a relationship with your audience.
- 245. Test, test, test.Thank Youwww.quirk.biz/foschinigroup