By Ed Mahony –
spotlightideas.co.uk – 2011
The following is a guide
to digital marketing: what the chief components (or tactics) are, how the chief
components so often form part of an overall approach (or strategy), and how
important it is to approach digital marketing, creatively as much as
analytically.
CONTENT
Cliche: ‘Content is
King’ – but true! Attract relevant audience to your business/brand by offering
it quality content on your company website (hence the term, “content
marketing”). This could be in the form of, for example, formal articles,
informal blog posts, video and audio content, general interactive-website and
mobile content, resources, and so on). That the content is relevant (of use /
interest) to the audience. And content that is original (above all for the
engagement of audiences, but, also because search engines, in particular
Google, are quick to spot content that isn’t). All of this will result in your
pages ranking higher, overall, in search engines, as well as people engaging in
your content with increased loyalty and recommending your content via social
media and word-of-mouth in general.
PPC / ORGANIC SEARCH /
SEO / WEB ANALYTICS
- PPC. Pay per click
advertising (i.e. Google Adwords) for attracting traffic to your website. Particular reasons for using
PPC, for example: accurately target key words and geographical locations,
useful for campaigns, quick return on investment, straight-forward ROI
assessment, assist in organic search.
- Organic Search. Organic search is about
being found in search engines’ free listings. It involves various general
digital marketing approaches (in particular, the creation of quality content,
but, also, SEO, keyword strategy, and more). Although free, it takes time and
skills to rank highly. And can take time for a new site to rank highly. But
useful for general, long-term search results.
- SEO. Search engine optimization. Traditionally, SEO
is about optimising websites for search engines, i.e. creating unique and
accurate page titles, description met tags, url structures, site navigation,
and more. Increasingly, SEO is seen as more than this – that it’s an important
part of other areas of digital marketing i.e. social media, PPC, online PR. A
key approach to SEO is not to overdo it. To be cautious so that your SEO is clearly
seen by search engine companies as being legitimate (white hat SEO – as opposed
to black hat SEO). That the real focus is creating quality content (with SEO
just being a tool – one of a variety of tools – to help bring that content to
audiences).
- Web Analytics. Web analytics tools can be used to find out
which parts of your site are receiving the most and least amount of attention
from your audience. Web analytics is a big subject, and there are many
different types of tools. Good place to start is Google Analytics (Google Analytics education).
SOCIAL MEDIA
- General. Social media is about
creating closer ties with your audience, getting people to talk about your
brand in general, drive traffic to your website. These activities are achieved
by connecting with relevant audiences via social media channels. “Connecting” involves
general, informal industry chat and interaction. As well as specific tasks or
projects, for example: passing on useful and interesting links and information
for a particular topic, running a competition, customer service.
You might want to achieve social media buzz or a sustained social media
presence (or both). “Buzz” involves a social media campaign that gets people
talking quickly, en masse. But attention that often quickly peters out.
“Sustained social media presence” is about interacting with loyal customers on
a day-to-day basis, building up a steady presence and loyal audience. These two
approaches can co-exist within a particular social media channel (with some
channels better at one approach over the other, for example, virals for quick
buzz, and blogging for building up a sustained social media presence).
- Blogging. Is blogging worth it? The old format (i.e. informal, jotting down
of ideas etc ..) still works. But there’s lots of competition now. Instead you
could consider, perhaps, joining up with another group of bloggers – strength
in numbers. And, certainly, introduce new types of content on your site (for
example, formal and well-thought out articles as opposed to just informal
sketchy blog posts, resources, research stats, infographics, videos, podcasts,
microsites, games, and so on – depending on your industry), and focusing on
your content being found in search engines (in other words, having an organic
search and keyword strategy).
As long as you have sufficient following, the blog is, also, a useful tool for
online PR.
- Twitter. Microblogging. Twitter is a useful tool for keeping abreast of
industry news (by following lists), building up a social media presence (by
tweeting relevant content, retweeting, informal industry chat, competitions,
and so on). You can use Twitter, for example, to promote a blog article, carry
out research, customer service.
- Facebook. Why Facebook as a marketing tool? Facebook has
more than 800 million users – professionals, students, and people in general. You
can create a Facebook page (with content) in order to build up a loyal audience
and promote your brand. But only consider getting involved in Facebook if
you’re prepared to commit to it, properly.
- Google+.
Social networking and identity service. Debuted:
2011.
- LinkedIn. A strong social networking
tool, in particular, for people in senior management
- Other. Lots of other ways of marketing via social media:
photosharing (i.e. Instagram, Flickr), video sharing (i.e. YouTube), social
network aggregation (i.e. FriendFeed), and more.
EMAIL MARKETING
Email is still an
effective marketing tool as long as your emails are relevant to your audience
(and you don’t over do it). If not, forget it (backfire).
AFFILIATE MARKETING
Affiliate marketing can cover a wide area of activity
(search engine marketing, email marketing, display advertising, and more) and
be time-consuming. For that reason organizations often turn to specialists. But
remember, you know your product, best, and market place as well as anyone else,
so there can be important benefits in doing it, or part of it, yourself.
CONSUMER GENERATED
CONTENT
Consumer generated content is about getting audiences
to create their own content on your site. This could lead to increased traffic,
as well as building up loyalty with your audience. Remember that audiences
aren’t always experts in a particular subject. So consumer generated content
can be hit-and-miss.
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Customer experience is about the overall experience
that a customer has when visiting a site (and in particular, but not
exclusively, for an e-commerce site). Customer service is an important part of
it. Although large companies and / or e-commerce sites are more focused on this
than others, it’s still something that everyone should be thinking about, to a
degree, in general.
USER EXPERIENCE /
FUNCTIONALITY OF WEBSITE
The look, feel and functionality of a website (and
mobile site) can affect a number of things, chiefly: sales, brand impressions,
social media interaction, whether people explore the site and find new content,
and organic search (affected by factors such as amount of time on a page,
bounce rate, and so on).
ROI
Return of Investment is important when you’re
investing money in software, hardware and services. Research, before spending
money, is key, as well as analysis of performance and results once the
investment has been made.
DIGITAL MARKETING
STRATEGY
- Having a good marketing strategy has, always,
been important. And now in the digital environment, more than ever. Firstly,
marketers have to follow their audience: Internet usage in the US is now 70-75
% of the population (source:
1+2). Secondly, the way people use the Internet, and interact
with other people on it, is getting more varied. This adds complication, but
also, creates opportunities to come up with smarter strategies in general.
- Which Part of Digital Strategy Should
You Focus On? Broadly speaking: the
Internet (and depending on your products / marketplace: static websites,
interactive websites, e-commerce websites, and more; social media; search;
banner ads; email; affiliate programmes; video and audio content; and more).
But digital, also, covers: mobile phones (mobile marketing hasn’t really taken
off, yet, but it may over the next while), digital signage (digital screens in
shops etc ..), and more.
- What Are You Trying to Achieve in Your
Digital Marketing Strategy? Think about
what it is, exactly, you are trying to achieve. Digital media can be used in
very different ways for different purposes (i.e. sales, developing customer
loyalty, creating and maintaining general brand awareness, online PR, driving
traffic to a site, and more).
- Who Are You Trying to Reach in Your Digital
Marketing Strategy? Think quality versus quantity. You might have lots of
traffic. But is it relevant traffic? Are these people going to buy your
products or pay for your services? And (/or) are they going to recommend your
products and services to others?
BRANDING
Is branding a component
of digital marketing? Some think so. Others not. It’s certainly connected to
digital marketing. Here are a few things to think about.
- General. Are
different pages on your site consistent in the overall impression (visual and
written) they create? On the other hand is the overall impression you create
overwhelming and intrusive?
- Authenticity. Focus on things that will gain your audience’s trust. For
example, case studies, awards, recognition, and so on. Show, don’t just tell.
- Brand Story. You’ve got a great looking website that, also, works well.
But does it capture the interest of the audience? Is there an interesting story
to tell (i.e. about how your online work began / developed, and so on?)
CREATIVE AND ANALYTICAL
APPROACH
Data has always been key in marketing. Whether it is
data for understanding your audience, the competition, the market place in
general, and so on. However, the digital environment provides marketers with
the ability for even stronger and more powerful analysis based on the wide
variety of tools available to them.
A creative approach has always been key in marketing.
But even more so, owing to the elaborate nature of the digital environment.
Even with a particular digital marketing channel, for example blogging, a
creative approach is essential (i.e. creating interesting content, being
creative about how you find fresh and original subjects to discuss, and so on).
And because so many different digital marketing channels and tactics are inter-related,
so a creative approach is essential, at a strategic level, as well.
Introduction / Intro /
Guide to Digital Marketing – spotlightideas.co.uk – 2011
