MKT 6321 - Exam 1
40/40/20 rule
Creative or Design 20% (in AdWords takes place in the ad and landing page) Offer 40% (product, incentive in ad and the landing page) Target market 40% (takes place in campaign settings and keywords)
What is a DMP?
Data Management Platform • DMP is a centralized data management platform that collects, categorizes and analyzes data • This allows to target audiences based on a behavioral and demographic data from both indepth first-party (e.g., Walmart) and third-party audience data (Axciom, Experian) • Allows you improve ROI by: 1. Retargeting 2. Prospecting 3. Website optimization 4. Audience Intelligence
Decline in B2C (especially with frequency of use with those >16 yo). Higher usage in B2B. However, email still a key component of digital marketing - especially with customers but great for prospecting if opted in Forrester's wave identifies top email vendors based on current features, functionality and strategy like leveraging other platforms like CRM, etc.
PPC - Bid Strategy (Step 2)
Define your acquisition cost/LTV and also your funnel goal (conversion or awareness)
Where to get ideas for copy?
Search ads in your & especially in competitive categories Direct Marketing books ; Reference books (Yahoo), Create swipe file; magazines for target audience
Importance of links
Search engine algorithms use DA and PA, the more a website is linked to, the more likely it is that the community considers it an authority.
Site link's showing up in organic search results
Search engines decide what and if to show-submit xml sitemap of your website
PPC ads can run in
Search, Display, Video, Mobile app, social media posts, tweets and/or combination of properties
Hummingbird
was the most significant algorithmic change in search. Now looks at combination of things including context, content, location, time, etc. Instead of one keyword now there might be 5-10 variations. Context and topic of that web page matters more
Website usability
website ability to accomplish goals of the user easily
Phrase match
"formal shoes" Also matches black formal shoes, formal shoes for men
Impressions
# of times you ad is shown usually expressed as per thousand (mille) No cost unless you bid on CPM -cost per thousand basis (e.g., .75 cents cost per thousand impressions)
Click thru rate (CTR)
(Clicks/Impressions) * 100 5 clicks per 1000 impressions= 5% CTR
Target Return on ad spend (ROAS)
(Revenue goal/ cost) *100 If goal is $5 in sales ÷ $1 in ad spend x 100% = 500% is your target ROAS
Modified Broad Match
+formal +shoes Also matches frmal shoes, formal evening shoes formal +shoes Also matches evening shoes, black dress shoes
Buying lists from 3rd parties is a big risk!!!! Why?
- Cannot know accuracy and if truly acquired by opt ins -Appears spammy - Brand reputation
Cons of PPC
- Cost per click increasing - Know operational intricacies & best practices - Click fraud - Monitoring
Digital Experience Journey
- Sometimes companies may create an "experience" only journey vs. buying stages
Pros of PPC
- Start immediately - Track every cent - Hyper-Targeted - Can track offline - Ability to split test
The Customer Journey
- This data comes from surveys of current customers data from online tools (e.g., Google Trends) and your own online/offline data-may need more than one journey if different buyer personas - Audit each step, see where problems are occurring, decisions being made & where opportunities may exist
What is a Strategy?
- To be effective it cannot be "All Things to All People" Should address these questions: 1. What do we do? 2. Who is our customer? 3. What business are we really in?
Semantic search
-is looking for the users "intent"
Authority
-links, engagement (time on site), content shared, traffic to website and repeat visits
Short tail (1-2 keywords)
-more top of the funnel & often not practical given how competitive it's likely to be-but check - In the long tail, the sum of the low-volume searches matches the high-volume searches
Average CTR - Facebook Ads
.90%
SEO Funnel
1. Always make sure your Brand Name is in a top SERP position(s)-Macy's, etc. 2. If a small to medium sized business, focus on both localization and longer tail keywords that still can contribute to your revenues/profits based on decent local search volume
Why is SEO important?
1. Approx. 70% of users click on organic vs. ads. Thus the higher up on the SERPs, the more traffic you will get to your site 2. Being above the fold is key, being on 2nd page is like being on page 20... 3. A website doesn't pay for each click (as you do with paid search)
Facebook Audiences more robust than Google
1. Core audiences 2. Custom audiences 3. Lookalike audiences
3 Key factors to consider when designing a website
1. Design - brand colors, what functionality is needed, templates to use for different types of pages (ex: ecommerce) 2. Search engine friendly - some websites have out of the box user friendly features such as urls that are not dynamically generated 3. Usability - but with conversions as the end goal; design for key user personas
Using the phone camera to search!
1. Download e.g., Google Lens Photo App. 2. Snap picture of object you want information on and submit 3. The app searches image database for relevant findings 4. Getting very accurate and sophisticated due to use machine learning 5. Technology also getting very good with facial recognition; matching to what is known about that person-Facebook already using it-very advanced
PPC Trends
1. Higher costs 2. Growth of Audiences (e.g., Facebook ads) vs. just keywords 3. Decline split testing for PPC ads due to ML provided by Search engine platforms 4. Programmatic advertising-ML 5. Growing & sophistication of campaigns due to the Machine learning and API scripts-easier to manage accounts-more automated-conversion
Typical Campaign
1. How much budget do we have? 2. Usually it's about targeting a generic sector such as women 25-40 making over $50k 3. Campaign: create and place display ads on FB and Google, spend $37k 4. Hope for the best. If it fails, blame the economy, the competition, or the manager Result: if you get a 0.2% response rate you might be out $37k
Planning your SEO strategy
1. Identify and prioritize the top 10-50 keywords/topics based on key metrics such as your sales volume, profits and conversion rates 2. Determine the search volume for those keywords, maybe eliminate those with less than 100 searches per month -you might need to focus on longer tail keywords 3. Determine your current rankings on SERP for these keywords vs the competition 4. Determine your Domain & Page authority vs. top 1-3 ranks and see how realistic it is that you can beat them 5. Create a compensatory model to decide which keywords to pursue
Steps for a ROP campaign
1. Know your current customer defection rate and share of wallet - maximize and/or improve this first 2. Don't choose target segments based on your instinct - conduct market research and look at your data then select a highly responsive and profitable segment 3. Know both your CAC and CLTV to determine how much you should be spending to acquire a new customer
Return on Promo Campaign
1. Retention analysis 2. Make sure your target segment is actionable and profitable. Strong positioning 3. Perform a return on promotion 4. Design campaign: score leads 5. Test before spending large amount 6. Analyze results: adjust and test, larger volume or cancel the campaign Result: if you get a 0.2% response, you might be out $700 because of limited placements
7 Components of an email
1. The "From" 2. Subject line 3. Header 4. Personalized greeting 5. Body 6. Footer 7. Unsubscribe link
Email Categories
1. Transactional (Ex: order confirmation or shipped) 2. Newsletters - informational 3. Commercial - reminder to renew, offers Two types of sub categories of commercial emails - promotional emails and retention based emails
Best Payback in Digital-General Rule
1. Usability-UX 2. E-mail, SMS & Push 3. SEO 4. PPC 5. Social Media Considerations: Is it owned, earned or paid? ... where do conversions occur?
How does "customer match" work?
1. You upload a data file e.g., text or csv with customer contact information (e.g., emails, phone #'s) 2. You create or update a campaign to target your Customer Match audience — customers from your uploaded data file who are Google users and also can look for "similar" audiences 3. When those users are signed in to their Google account, they see your ads as they use the Search Network, YouTube, and Gmail. You can automatically bring in data all the time via an API
A SERP website listing shows:
1. page title - have important keywords in the page title 2. Your website url with keywords in url 3. Metatag description - number of characters changes over time
Average CTR - Bing
2.83%
Average CTR - Google AdWords
3.17% on search network 0.46% on display network
Chatbots
A computer program that can talk to humans in natural language. Can replace a human for monotonous jobs of answering queries, e.g. ehelp desk. Chatbots are easy to create with wizard type software that walks you thru, you do need to create questions.
Components of the Offer
A. Product or Service B. Pricing/Payment Terms C. Call to action/Offer Incentives D. Time Limits
Where do website visitors look?
Above the fold 80% of their time. Below the fold 20% of their time. make sure CTA is above the fold
Company Site
All digital initiatives should include a core goal of getting the user to the company website. The company site should fulfill business objectives. This strategy will allow you to get the most out of each initiative, as well as your company site.
Marketing automation
Allows marketers to create workflows based on triggers and/or behaviors Used mainly for B2B but also in B2C markets if larger order sizes and/or renewals involved (Ex: college, insurance) These workflows allows you to automate and deliver predetermined messages and communications so they are time sensitive, 24/7/365 and trackable
PPC best practices
Always put the specific keywords that will trigger the ad in the headline, but also add or some variation in other parts of the ad, like in the display URL Make every first letter uppercase Use incentives in other parts of the ad
Secondary Data
Authoritative Blogs e.g., MOZ Google Trends & Correlate Platforms: e.g., SEMRush, AdWords Keyword Planner Syndicated Market Research e.g., eMarketer White papers e.g., Nielsen
Cost per click (CPC)
CPC = Cost to an advertiser / number of clicks. Say you had 10 clicks across several ads and total cost was 5 dollars your CPC= .50 cents Every time someone clicks on your ad
PPC - Analysis (Step 1)
Conduct a full online and offline analysis of the customer, the industry, and PPC competitors including word cost, conversion rates by industry/platform-use same compensatory for SEO with some tweaks-Domain & Page authority not relevant in PPClanding pages are but not PA
How to get Links
Conduct competitor analysis for ideas of what links they have you could approach Write excellent, valuable content that others want to read-blog hosted internally for example create videos, tools (lead magnets) & podcasts that users will want to use and share Ask your suppliers/vendors to link to your website Online Public relations— Web PR
Mindset for tactical success in digital marketing
Conversion focused - regardless of weather it's SEO, PPC, social, you must quantify the initiatives contribution to sales and ROI Key metrics - There are many metrics in digital marketing when doing web analytics, however the overarching metrics is make sure you know your breakeven points, cost to acquire a customer and CLV. Split selling - Many initiatives especially when doing website or app usability/conversion optimization or PPC must be decided after conducting split testing
Discussion of Short vs Long Copy
Copy = words on your page, article Longer online copy allows you to foster a relationship with a reader - needs to be somewhere on your site - very important for SEO, for that reason alone good to have With longer copy able to establish a voice and a personality to make your copy more convincing and personal
Ratio of CLTV to CAC 4:1
Could be underinvesting in promotions, might need to be more aggressive and be close to 3:1 so you're acquiring as many customers for healthy growth
Porter's Generic Strategies 22 -Company level
Differentiation Low Cost Focus-Segmentation
Brand advertising
Display network - CPM
Digital Strategy—the End Game
Earned- not paid-organic Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, SEO, etc. Paid Media Search or Display ads (e.g., be it on AdWords, Facebook, Twitter, website banner ads, etc.) Owned E-mail, Blog, SMS, Push notifications *Sending them once on your website, back to "earned" platforms a big mistake
Common Reasons for Poor Search Results
Every ecommerce platform is different so you need to know which data fields are used by your platforms internal search engine and then make sure that every product gets tagged/classified accordingly.
Broad Match
Formal shoes Also matches formal footwear, evening footwear, men's dress wingtips
Subject lines
Get ideas from vendors with studies and benchmark then conduct a split A/B test
Augmented Reality & VR : Fad or Trend?
Growth Forecasts for Virtual and Augmented Reality Market in USD billions-could match Smartphones
How to Design an Experiment - Split Test
Have a control and test A/B or multi-variate (need a lot of traffic for this type of test) Randomization Statistically valid sample size
Navigation Best Practices
Horizontal and/or left hand vertical Avoid clutter - clean design, user must get it in 3 sec Breadcrumbs
Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC)
How much should I spend to acquire a customer? First step is to calculate your CAC = MCC/CA
User testing: human
Human testing is always needed but more so when a website is new, doing poorly or if scarce web analytics data Don't make customers think when on your web 1. Users in the test must match your target market 2. Use checklist - rehearse/proof 3. Give them a task list with key actions 4. Observe - don't help them while doing a task 5. Ask why when the task is completed
Direct advertising
search and display - CPC, CPA
Google AdWords: Third-party audiences
In-market audiences Custom affinity audiences Affinity audiences
Amazon Alexa
Intelligent personal assistant Amazon's cloud-based voice service Provide capabilities/skills - play music, answer general questions, set alarm/timer, read the news, play audible books
Generate reports with key metrics (Email mkt)
a) Deliverability (e.g., disabled email address)-bounce back b) Open rate c) Click thru rates d) Conversion rate-buy something? e) Unsubscribe./opt out rate f) Pass-on rate-shared
Credibility Test
Key cues visitors use to determine the credibility of a website: Are phone numbers/addresses visible? Informative and personal about us. Feature genuine testimonials. Feature logos of associations and awards. Keep content fresh and updated. Ensure that your site is free of errors including grammatical/spelling. Include a portfolio of past work.
Lead magnets - a UX tool
Lead magnets are configurators or tools which either you create or leverage from 3rd parties The objective of lead magnets is to offer very customizable info to help prospects stay longer on your site, thus not going elsewhere to look up info and this are more likely to convert
What Strategy Is Not...
Let's do a viral YouTube campaign...or everyone is using Instagram, Snapchat etc.-we need to jump in Let's be the Apple of toothpicks, staples, etc. Launch now... we will figure out how to make money later Make it free....
Primary Data (user)
Listening Labs/UAT Surveys Panel data Testing-split A/B Transactional data Web Analytics
Ratio of CLTV to CAC <1:1
Losing money at an accelerated rate
Ratio of CLTV to CAC 1:1
Losing money, maybe breakeven
Why do sliders/carousels/static images hurt usability?
Low CTR images push good content below the fold - have to scroll down Increases the website load times - large images People don't click on big sliders because they are seen as banner type ads - intrusive, probably not what they are looking for Exception: if you have a major sale/CTA on the slider, however still not good for SEO
Domain authority
MOZ created a proxy to Google's secret DA using mainly backlinks, website's popularity-MozRank, MozTrust, etc. Uses a logarithmic scale which means its easier to grow your score from 20 to 30 than it is to grow from 70 to 80.
Ads can be generated by
Machine Learning
Ratio of CLTV to CAC 2:1
Marginal returns
PPC - Test/Optimize (Step 4)
Measure, analyze, split test, landing pages, optimize, & determine attribution
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
NPS = % promoters - % detractors represented as an absolute number, not a %. If 25% promoters and 15% detractors score is +10
Analysis & optimize results (Email mkt)
Once the reports have been generated, analyze what the numbers are revealing and use this information to improve the next e-mail sent out
Ratio of CLTV to CAC 3:1
Optimal level
Mobile First Emphasis
Pages should render well in mobile devices (responsive design) and load in <2 second, free and paid tools tell you why they load slowly or do not render correctly
7 p's of Services marketing
People - customers, employees, social interactions, roles & scripts, relationships Physical evidence - facilities, equipment, uniforms, symbols Process - In today's tech environment, the process aspect will play an even larger role, ex: marketing automation Promotion Product Price Place
Google AdWords First-party audiences
Remarketing Customer Match Video remarketing
Writing for Online
Research and understand target audience If writing for a client - understand their corporate "personality" and customers Online copy is judged first and foremost on its layout, regardless of the content It should be easy for users to skip and skip the copy effortlessly finding the parts that are most relevant to them Use reverse type very sparingly Good font size (12+) and good spacing between characters Write for online, not for print: subheaders, CTA above the fold, bulleted lists, short paragraphs, simple writing style and defluffed language devoid of acronyms and hype such as state of the art
In PPC planning --you can use by default the categories that were not feasible or practical with
SEO
PPC - Setup (Step 3)
Set up Campaign budget/bids & ad groups, research key words and audiences and write or create the ads
Problems with email
Spam and clutter - over 30% of incoming emails spam-blocking Images in email often clocked Poor content - poorly written, no benefits, just features Poor contact strategy - i.e. several emails per week
Steps to Executing an E-mail Campaign
Step 1: Strategic planning around the goals you want to achieve (e.g. grow home delivery business) Step 2: Identify email list of those subscribers who have agreed to allow you to send them e-mails with marketing messages (permission based marketing) Step 3: Creative execution-- E -mails can be created and viewed as HTML or as text e - mails Step 4: Integration of campaign with other channels -i.e. Video, Blog, podcast Step 5: personalized/dynamic content Step 6: Deployment-e-mail marketers Step 7: Generate reports with key metrics Step 8: Analysis & optimize results
Facebook's Custom Audiences
Targeted with a combination of your customer data (pages viewed, emails, app activity, numbers) and Facebook data (age, interests, activity, connections, likes)
Tips when Testing the Offer
Test only one feature at a time; if multivariable, the marketer needs to be experienced and also have a large volume of data/traffic when different types Code your test so you can measure results - urls, special toll free number, match codes, different coupon codes
Facebook's "Core audiences" are very detailed unlike Google's. Why?
The reason is that they have a lot of data captured from behavior on Facebook and also when logged in but not on Facebook and from partner companies but policy changing due to privacy issues
Use cases BlockChain with Marketing implications
The sharing economy - direct interaction between parties Crowd funding - crowdsourced VCs IoT - make automation possible NeighborhoodMicrogrids - enables the buying/selling of renewable energy Data Management - manage and sell your data
Benefits of email
Tool for customer relationship management - one of the best performing digital options Extremely cost effective due to a low cost per contact Highly targeted Customizable on a mass scale Completely measureable
Robust search best practices
Top part of each page Label with magnifying glass or "go" Autocomplete feature - key for mobile users Allow refinement - see Home Depot example next page Test it! Many ecommerce platforms and website can generate bad or incomplete results if not set up correctly
Informational Conversions
Types of companies: CNN, Wall Street Journal, Blogs (often they are free to users and sell advertising); Some mainly Fortune 500 type companies are purely informational not even for leads such as Exxon, GE, Caterpillar Main conversion types: Number of unique visitors, time on page, number page views, clicks on ads. A few like WSJ have subscriptions to access certain content
B2B Lead Gen Conversions
Types of companies: Sometimes they also do ecommerce but more often due to high dollar amount its to get leads - NEC. Some use it to get leads then referred to their distributors like Lennox, Carrier Main conversion types: Form completion so they can be contacted
Ecommerce conversions
Types of companies: e-tailers such as Amazon, Walmart, eBay, etc. Main conversion type: purchases (can be physical or virtual products)
CLTV
Unfortunately, many different ways to calculate CLTV. Some models are poor in that they do not look at key variables. Stay away from simple formulas. At the minimum, make sure the CLTV model includes: average gross profit per customer, retention rate, present value over some long time period Snapshot customers who started Year 1 then follows them plus referrals Exclude delinquent or inactive customers
What do digital marketers test?
Usability Market segments Product A vs B Form submissions CTAs Offer A vs Offer B Compare media vehicles (SEO vs PPC vs Twitter vs FB) Timing (Weekday vs weekend, AM vs PM) Look for insights in web analytics data, then test your hypothesis
Step 1: SEO
Use Sales data to pick your most profitable and high converting products Use online (web and social media analytics) and offline data, market research However, you need to see how realistic is it that you can achieve a good SEO ranking may need to do PPC
Cost per view (CPV)
Used for videos based on some length of video a person saw Can often choose to bid on CPM basis or CPA
UX
User experience beyond usability, creates that customer connection. Ex: Those who bought x also bought y
Emulators
Users have different operating systems and browsers (devices-tablets/phones)
Referral-Viral Coefficient
Viral coefficient is a referral metric on steroids, but difficult to achieve Used by SaaS, gaming, and mobile app marketers Coefficient must be greater than 1 for viral growth Pros: If little to no marketing budget and in one of these businesses - very important! Cons - Not changed by promotional efforts; driven mainly by products/service and how satisfied customers are
Responsive Design
Website renders well in any type of device and browser Avoids needing a separate website Endorsed by Google WebMaster tools Downside - sacrifice user experience, image problems and extra coding Sometimes hard when thousands of skus, but coding gotten better HTML5 CSS3 Avoid Flash, excessive JavaScript, frames
Keyword idea generation techniques
When people search they tend to do it based on different approaches, you need to get into their "shoes". Some apply, some may not depending on the situation-use different "verticals" (e.g., video) 1. Problem: water leaking dishwasher; lack car insurance 2. Symptoms: flooded kitchen; not really applicable to car insurance 3. Product: leaking Maytag Model XC3; Allstate car insurance 4. Solution: Plumber in Richardson TX, car insurance quote Richardson TX)
Tactics
Who is responsible - Mid to lower level managers Time frame - Shorter Tools - Email, PPC, SEO, Social media, UX, mobile, web analytics, conversion optimization, SMS, etc. Activity type - More operational-execution Competitive risk - Easier to copy Traits - Process oriented-the "how to achieve"
Strategy
Who is responsible - Upper management Time frame - Longer Tools - Market Research, customer and market data analysis. Then use of strategic techniques such as Porter's Generic Strategies, Ansoff & GE matrix Activity type - Mainly planning/monitoring Competitive risk - Harder to copy Traits - More high level-the "what"
Cost per acquisition (CPA)
You need to have calculated your target CPA based on the 3:1 LTV to CAC ratio. The CAC is Marketing costs/customers acquired Connect your account to web analytics to register a conversion
Exact Match
[formal shoes]
Marketer skills needed
a) Data analysis-leverage A.I.- predict & understand needs b) Understand processes & flowcharting c) Creating customer & experience journeys
Two keys to ensure your website appears in Knowledge Graph/direct answers results
a) Implement structured data and rich snippets. This gives your site top rankings b) Claim your Google+ (individual or company) and Google Places for Business pages. This gives you greater control over what the search engine reads and displays to users, such as images, hours, current menus, rates and promotions.
In market consumers
actively researching or comparing products and services across Google Display Network sites and YouTube. Takes into account clicks on related ads and subsequent conversions, along with the content of the sites and pages they visit and the recency and frequency of the visits
Page authority
also a logarithmic score but based on a specific web page within a domain-includes link counts, MozRank, MozTrust, and dozens of other factors such as content etc. BUT at the page level
Vertical search
analyze if opportunities with shopping (paid), images, videos, maps
Social content can
appear in SERPs and is growing increasingly influential in search rankings for some categories. • Links from social sites are used as signals of relevance. • Closely tied to localization
In digital you are always split testing however with brand ads you're mainly focused on
creative and message (e.g., impressions) while "direct" is all about conversions
heat maps
eye tracking or clicks use it to guide your layout Lower right of screen seldom looked at
Trust
factors e.g., how long with web host, how many years domain registered 1 vs. 3; links to trusted organizations (BBB), SSL
Sliders and carousels and large static images do not
have good conversion rates
Facebook CPC lower than Adwords search but
higher in display than AdWords but converts better
Robotics
human form or industrial type--increasingly driven by AI. Until recently industrial repetitive robots preprogrammed, no AI • Use cases: Manual labor repetitive tasks Hazardous: making dangerous goods, military, security, agriculture, electrical grid repair, mining, etc. Customer service Healthcare-Senior care, Alzheimer's patients
Native advertising
improves CTR & conversions Native ads match the editorial content- some as in this example are a bit obvious
Custom affinity
is combing several affinity groups and demographics
Link Juice
is how Google determines which links are more relevant and authoritative
Facebook converts better than AdWords thanks to
its audience data
Keywords
key driver in PPC but somewhat less after Hummingbird
Make sure to optimize for
keyword density - neither too much nor too little
Match PPC headline to
landing page
Being above the fold is critical in PPC but even more so with
mobile
Long tail (2> keywords)
more bottom of the funnel--the more competitive your category--the longer it may need to be but a trade off with volume. Also the entire site may need to be optimized for local
Virtual Assistant or Agents
more complex-usually tied to multiple data sources e.g., credit card transaction for Bank
Contact strategy
need to determine your optimal point by experiment with different frequencies
Good usability/UX
not always equal to a high converting website but is a prerequisite
Page relevance
of the keyword (or topic) the user enters (or shows interest in)
Personalized results are influenced by your
online social and browser search history • e.g., If you are logged in to Gmail while searching for blogs, you are more likely to see a blog a friend goes to • In fact, results by default are always customized to your browsing history and location, so if doing SEO need to use tool or directions to remove
Identify relevant review sites for your business
optimize for keywords and good reviews!
Real-time search results rely greatly on
social media and what is trending. e.g. Twitter has more impact due to the fact more public (and also not direct competitor to Google as FB perceived by Google) Use social media properties to dominate brand SERPs
What does AdWords Keyword Planner do?
tells you approx. search volumes at national or local level and how competitive (although this is for PPC but applies to SEO)
(NLP) Natural Language Processing
the "ability of machines to understand and interpret human language the way it is written or spoken".
Black hat SEO
those websites trying to game or manipulate the search engines. Aims for massive short-term traffic but this can be penalized by search engines to the point you don't show up for any result!
Affinity audiences
those who have certain interests or lifestyle who may also be interested in your product (e.g., gardening and home décor).
When picking a keyword consider the
tradeoffs of long vs. short tail keywords. Longer tail keywords have better conversion rates and usually less competition but the downside is that they tend to have less traffic
Website design best practices
websites should use standard conventions - for links, menus, colors, and layout The layout of a site is crucial to usability and should follow product and/or information hierarch and categories Easy to determine what is clickable Don't make contacting you difficult if you're selling something - put in a visible place Clear CTAs Fast load times - 2 sec is the current standard As few clicks as possible for checkout Skeleton screens Inform users on steps pending and time left
Popularity
websites with more traffic, if website url shared on social media, low bounce rate, etc
The allowable and return on promotion determines
what conversion rate you need to break even on that promotion. Allowable somewhere between GP and NP. Formula is Total selling price - cost of order
White hat SEO
works within the parameters set by search engines-you must constantly check search engine rules, their blogs and monitor your Google or Bing Webmaster accounts. Aims for long-lasting success
PPC without web analytics conversion data equals
you're not getting the best ROI and might be a waste of money
Content is King-Hummingbird
• "Thin content" a sign for search engines of a low quality and maybe even "spammy" website • We previously spoke of long vs. short copy for conversions from a user perspective • No clear formula as to ideal number words per page but MOZ and SEMrush in studies say depends on your category look at top ranked- be safe content over 1,000 keywords ranks better than less; 500-700 words of content on every page is minimum
Explore new markets, combine with other technologies
• A company can operate and service a remote location fabricating spare parts (e.g.., for a tractor part) using 3D printers that would otherwise take time to get or have to carry in inventory. • With drones, you could also deliver parts to remote locations • Business savvy: identify parts not frequently replaced but which are expensive and can be urgent • Have agreements with owners of technology-patents or focus on nonpatented parts
AR Use Cases
• AR will probably have more business & marketing use applications than Virtual Reality • AR Business use cases in: Main industries: Healthcare, Mfg., Military Repair assistance: home, car, machines, appliances DIY market Retail shopping Gaming Smart Cities
Geo-tagging
• Adding 10 digit coordinates to pictures, video, websites, SMS, push notifications • With images you usually have to manually tag but many smartphones automatically tag • Websites may ask visitors if they can know your location -geotag maybe offer local content e.g., desktop search and no GPS information
What are audiences in digital marketing?
• Audiences are an attempt to target real time segments (given the volumes of data digital can deliver) of potential and/or current customers so you can advertise to thein many different places and ways beyond keywords • Audiences takes into account cross device and multichannel including offline activities • Companies, advertisers partner with Data Management Platforms (DMP's)
"Linkless mentions"-Brands
• Bing & Google have both stated that if a person or business has high quality content that is highly cited or shared on the internet -e.g., mentions on social media and reviews -then a factor for SEO rankings e.g. Klout score type measure • Easier for search engines to do, thanks to their use of Artificial Intelligence
What is AI (Artificial Intelligence)?
• Broad definition - it typically includes Machine learning & often Natural Language Processing (NLP) when designed for user interaction (e.g. Siri) • Businesses have a keen interest due to the large volumes of data not leveraged (mainly mobile) and a lack of talent to analyze this data real time • Advances in processors, storage and tools to process (e.g., Hadoop) • Big Impact on marketing • Google & Amazon leaders in A.I.
3-D printing
• Can convert a virtual 3-D blueprint model into physical objects • It usually uses plastic resins but can be other materials such as metal. Plastic one's are relatively inexpensive. • In 3-D printing typically an object is created by laying down successive layers of material after previous one hardens. • Flexibility, clean, with low waste, can do complex shapes. Easy to use, inexpensive
Poor landing page practices
• Cluttered page • Sending prospects to the homepage • Too much text • Too many choices • Asking for to much information • No call to action
Search in the Age of Virtual Assistants
• ComScore forecasts that by 2025, 60%+ of searches will be voice activated. Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Baidu- -all racing to dominate • Why? Knowledge & Control-get a 360 degree view of the consumer- expressed needs but more importantly, predict their non-spoken needs • Because driven by AI, hard to predict exact factors or even if companies/marketers will even have any control/sway in the future--Voice search may circumvent websites, traditional search results, mobile apps, or ads if the Virtual assistant doesn't have a stake in it
Deployment-e-mail marketers
• Create valuable content and consistency with landing page • Test the e-mail for display and deliverability issues, spam scores • Establishing the correct contact frequency
State of Mobile Search
• Currently >60% of searches in the US are on mobile (overall volume) • BrightEdge (SEO software vendor) reports that 79% of all keywords and 47% of keywords in positions 1- 20 rank differently in mobile vs. desktop SERPs. • Mobile ad spend has surpassed desktop and now over 70% of total digital spend vs, desktop • Usage varies by usage/intent as the chart below shows
personalized/dynamic content
• Customer opts in • Then fills out profile page of what they are interested in, variables such as zip code, gender, age, preferences • Company then sends them customized content • Personalization vs. dynamic content
PPC Cons
• Expensive and getting more so, in some product categories, the cost per click can be >$10 per click • If not in top 1-2 positions, very low CTR
Search (direct)
• Google • Bing • Baidu (China) • Partners: Yahoo, AOL Search
Search is ever changing. How?
• Google launches many different types of algorithm changes and there are different versions for each over time. • Their goal is UX --detect both Black hat but also identify and "demerit" websites with poor content and reward those that have good practices • If responsible for SEO need to constantly stay up to date with relevant SEO resources-mobile a big factor
Rich Snippets
• Google, Bing and Yahoo announced joint support for the schema.org semantic markup standard. • Snippets with images or video attract & generate 2X the average CTR • Google supports rich snippets for these content types: Reviews People Products Businesses and organizations R Recipes Events Music
Landing Page Optimization Best Practices
• Grab attention • Focus • Trust-testimonials • No extensive navigation-stay on that page! • Benefits • Call to action
Re-marketing (or re-targeting)
• Great way to increase conversions-intent shownthey visited your website! Different types: a) Those who visited your website-shows them ads afterwards-- when they are on email or other websites b) Custom and look alike audiences of customers c) Email-usually means sending email if they did not do or did a certain action on your website - e.g., abandoned cart
SEO Cons
• Hard to measure ROI • Takes time see results-months • Ongoing effort • In some products categories where you compete against large companies, it is hard to rank well
Buyer Personas using primary research
• Iconic representation of a target segment with a symbolic user-usually fictionalized aggregate. They are research-based (web analytics and transactional data), grounded in data, facts and actual interviews with customers • Benefits: - Personalize your messaging/offers - Improve your web/social content • A buyer persona development process will typically take about six to eight weeks to complete
Images playing growing role
• If images are correctly labeled, search engines can index them. • Important for image search and the visually impaired • Optimize images and video with the relevant keywords as well. • Tag for local (e.g. Plano cardigan sweater)
Goals of Copywriting
• In PPC- usually space constraints in the ad itself but NOT on the landing page • Create a mental image of what the product can do for the customer (e.g., save time) • Translate each feature into an advantage-benefit • Write for your audience-tone (scientist vs. surfers)
SEO is getting harder. Why?
• In some categories (e.g., restaurants, medical) it's almost impossible to be above the fold • Often PPC, maps, reviews and structured data pushes organic placement below the fold • Why? Google claims user experience but it also happens to help their ad revenue $$$ • There have been declines in traffic from organic even if you maintain your current position ~10% past few years (i.e., studies Wordstream, MOZ, etc)
Bing-do not completely ignore for PPC
• In the US approx., 30% market share (Bing powers Yahoo) • Default Search engine for Windows PC's-older demographic and/or non-tech savvy users--keep Bing as their default search engine • Some verticals do better on Bing such as careers & employment and financial services • CPC tends to be lower than AdWords
Conversational search example
• In the past, a company would insert in a website's pages keywords like "sweaters" many times, still do but al not too much. • Topics more than just keywords-- Post-Hummingbird-looking for underlying intent so good to also add additional synonyms, word variations or common contexts like "tips when buying a sweater" in your content on a page • As a result, the role of "audiences" (your target market) has a bigger role- has not replaced keywords but another factor-more on this in the PPC module
Drones & business use cases
• Issues with FAA, TSA--need an application--wider adoption depends on final government regulation. Typical caveats: not able to fly over densely populated areas, near airports, out of line of sight, no higher than 400 ft., etc. • Some can carry >250 lbs., battery life, reception transmission issues • Example of potential use case: expanded home deliveries in rural areas, which is currently very expensive & inefficient Proven use cases for drones in military (also gas powered), agriculture, ranching, real estate, photography, construction, and monitoring of all types
Black hat -penalties
• Many companies try to "game' SEO by purchasing links off shore-link farms • Google has cracked down, penalizing websites severelysome sites now do not rank at all after the penalty. Disavow spammy links to your site • Google threw in a lot of resources to create an algorithmPenguin- that amongst other things tries to determine if an inbound link is probably paid sometimes easy to get caught up
Backlink analysis
• Number of unique domain links vs. total # links, this example ratio 1:7 -ideal is 1:2 • # of Followed links-counts for SEO • Anchor text-variety • Link quality-Page and Domain authority • Some tools (e.g., MOZ) indicate if you have inbound spammy link-which you would want to get rid of
Research Now
• Online Panels-like an offline focus group or 1:1 personal interviews • Specialized panels by Vertical or by Category-you can then design your own questions • Main benefit is access to hard to reach target market (e.g., physicians)
Machine learning (ML) and PPC
• Platforms like AdWords, Bing & Facebook are providing automated bidding strategies powered by ML • Smart bidding: Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions, and Enhanced CPC (ECPC) are all driven by ML. Attribution reporting also being optimized by ML • Can also leverage Machine learning API's to import PPC campaign data to get insights: e.g., what variables predict purchase ? Perhaps geotargeting by zip code and age has better conversions • In-market audiences for Search which was previously not available
Example of semantic search
• Pre-Hummingbird if I searched on my mobile device "where can I buy shoes here in Dallas"—the focus would be on "buy shoes" only and the SERP would show online stores even if no physical stores in the Dallas area. • Post-Hummingbird—the SERP because of the intent "here in Dallas" would prioritize stores selling shoes with a physical location in or near Dallas
PPC Pros
• Quick, can be up in minutes • Optimization easier thanks to A.I. • Leverage more variables-e.g., weather • More measurable, can bid for conversions
3D Printing - Use Cases for Business
• Rapid Prototyping: Can quickly turn concepts into working 3-D Models • Spare parts, food in intricate shapes, houses, human cell reproduction... • People in remote locations can fabricate objects that would otherwise be expensive and with long time delays to get
Programmatic--Behavioral & conversion driven
• Replacing humans via automated buying-driven by algorithms see what works best • Demand (advertisers) and supply side (publishers Forbes, CBS)-you can pre buy specific publishers • Can also target those who have never been to your website • Real time ad auction which determines: which publishers (websites), frequency ad should be shown, ad variation and which timing works best. • Mainly larger advertisers: it can take 6 weeks and some $15,000 in spending before it identifies best performing ads and publishers • Looks at converting vs. non converting consumers
Retargeting Best Practices
• Segment your visitors (e.g., people who looked at women's vs. men's shoes) • Customize the retargeting ads- don't show the same ad many times to the person-give it some variation • Risk of too much/too soon- e.g. abandoned shopping cart coupons • Determine the "look back period" and frequency cap for ads - is it impulse buy (Daily deal), travel (short time) or long purchase cycle (6 months for BB products)-trial and error-look at conversion data
Weather & PPC
• Some product or service categories can be impacted by weather events (temperature, snow, etc.) • Some are obvious (beer & ice cream on hot days) but also cold, rainy days can positively impact restaurants, clothing, indoor entertainment-movies, etc. • If in such a category, you can use weather changes to show certain ads based on certain geolocation, and/or bid more or less
Case Study: TopTable -contact strategy
• Two groups: test (1/week) & control (2/week) • Conclusion: sending too many emails leads to long term damage: those receiving only one email a week had made 14% more bookings than those receiving two emails over that three month test period!
Landing Page Testing
• Unlike SEO where content matters, in PPC best to keep it very simple and split test constantly • You can create special landing pages for PPC that are campaign, and even adgroup specific • Software vendors that makes job easier-provide templates & reporting • Careful with duplicate content issues for SEO-can solve by stating robots.txt to block indexing on PPC test page or canonical
Directories for localization
• Use SEO tools (e.g., MOZ) to identify directories which contribute to local SEO Listings must be: a. Complete b. Consistent c. Not duplicated-several accounts
Ways to Currently Optimize Results for Voice-Activated Searches
• Use all the mobile optimization factors mentioned in lectures - speed, responsive design, directories, authority, SSL, etc.. • Remove data obstructions (e.g., Flash Graphics, pdf's, Javascript) • Implement structured data/ schema tags that allow site to incorporate relevant microdata • Adopt Chabot's, which could through an API.AI allow sharing of information with these Virtual Assistants from Amazon & Google
Negative keywords
• Use negative in broad match type BUT think of all situations (i.e. Free and free shipping). May need to use exact match type for negative • Helps cut down impressions • CTR (Clicks/impressions)x100 If you cut impressions down by 30% your CTR improves by 42%
SEO for Image searches
• Use structured data on website • Add descriptive text to images (alt tags) • Use optimized images on your website e.g., Image of product barcode and close up of label AND add a text description • Create Geographical Cues-geotag e.g., in the 'About Us' page - Use a Picture of a landmarks - Tag picture with location "Dallas" • Assign keyword-rich filenames to images
Google Trends
• Used for SEO but mainly for PPC and social media-topics/keywords • Seasonality information • Filter by location • Identify related keywords
What is a Business Use Case?
• Used to validate a business idea or proposal of a new technology, business or process • Based on data analysis, market research and describes how the product or service is used by consumers • Usually consists of diagram of personas and process (sort of a customer experience journey) • Some have financial & market projections: market share, breakeven, etc. • Proposed vs proven business use cases
SEO Pros
• Usually more clicks-trusted more • No cost per click but the expense of time spent optimizing for SEO • Better conversions? Not always
Programmatic: where ads go is based on performance
• Vendors assign a Unique identifier using an anonymous token • Users tracked across the web-logged in to FB, Gmail, etc. • This token shared by many publishers and data providers
Primary research: Online Surveys
• Vendors have templates w/typical questions for certain situations, (e.g., customer satisfaction) they can be edited • Paid versions have advanced functionality such as skip logic, validation, chart analysis & statistics •Response error: Sometimes results might not be representative of your overall customers (e.g., if 80% of customer buy in brick-and-mortar stores but only online customers are surveyed)
Structured data
• What is it? SERP brings in and highlights data from website that has data structured in a certain format • Downside- content is scrapped--some people may not click on website as they get answer they need. Especially publisher/informational websites. 10%> of all results
Display Network: Brand or direct
• YouTube, Vimeo, Daily Motion • Mobile apps (e.g., games) • Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. • Display partners- e.g., Ad Sense
Augmented Reality (AR)
• a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data overlaid • They can be 3D images or simply information tags about a location overlaid on the image displayed. • If used on mobile phone, you need to download an app and it will use your camera. Some AR more sophisticated applications (e.g., medical) require eye wearables
Virtual Reality (VR)
• an artificial, computer-generated simulation or recreation of a real life environment or situation. Can use pictures as the basis and then add movement • Stimulates users vision and hearing • Usually requires a headset for viewingOculus, Vive, PlayStation—there is a cardboard version by Google that can use a smartphone • Use cases in Gaming, Healthcare - Therapeutic, Training, Selling - showcasing a product (Car, Realtors)
Key Localization drivers
• huge for mobile •Company listing in local directories • Proximity- GPS localization • Local reviews (e.g., Yelp) • Inbound links and on page signals matter -tags for images, urls if some local keyword (www.sample.com/blouses-dallas), local keywords on page e.g., "Voted Best restaurant in Dallas, Texas" • Behavioral (mobile clicks, social signals (friends local)
SEO (Organic)
•Process to improve the visibility of a website in a search engines results page (SERP) through 'organic' or un-paid search results. • Search engines use complicated algorithms to determine relevance and ranking -but always changing. • Algorithms now driven by machine learning-RankBrain, Cortana • Black-box algorithm ~200 factors per Google but different levels of importance
