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Aligning Retargeting with the Buying Process

Fri, 31 May 2013 12:27:00 GMT

When defining your retargeting strategy, it's vitally important to understand the buying process that your potential customers went through whilst looking at your website. Whilst analysing tracking cookies is helpful to determine which products they seemed most interested in, it's also useful to analyse the specific steps they went through in order to identify which stage of the buying cycle they may be in.

The first stage is generally a recognition that they have a need for a product or a solution to a problem, at which they become a prospect. If they already know about you, they will be able to go straight to your site for information, otherwise they will start a search for potential solutions, and may move from site to site. The ability to follow users and retarget back to your own site, by use of display advertsing is particularly invaluable at this critical stage of the process.

Once you have the prospect engaged with your site, you should aim to build a rapport by focusing on providing solutions to the information they are seeking. Ask yourself the following questions from the buyer's perspective.

How attractive is your site to use? Is it easy on the eye, without too many distracting images, or different fonts? It it uncluttered without looking drab?
How easy is it to navigate? Is it well signposted and does it have a search function? Is the buyer able to ask specific questions in order to provide potentials solutions to their problems?
Does it have clear calls to action and information on how to proceed with the next stage?

If all goes well, the rapport you have built, along with a good website, will persuade the prospect to continue through the evaluation stage to decision and purchase. It may well be that they will still visit other sites to qualify alternatives, prices and reviews before coming back to your site. You could aid this process, by continuing the tracking of activity and present your own alternatives.

Once a decision has been made to purchase your goods and services, there should be a clear and easy process to take them through the closing stage. Many purchases fail to complete due to complicated and time-consuming forms to complete, or unexpected additional charges.

Should the buyer decide to purchase elsewhere, it would still be useful to conduct a short survey on their buying experiences, as part of the post-evaluation process. Assuming a successful sale, is there a facility for the buyer to review the product or service? This will all help to provide a more effective future marketing process and more enjoyable buying process.

Leverage remarketing and retargeting from your Display Ads

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Web technology now offers you the option of continuing to engage with customers who may have moved on to other sites after visiting your webpage. Two key trends that are making waves and providing immense benefits are remarketing and retargeting.

Retargeting

Few users are likely to convert on their very first visit to your website. Most will continue searching other sites for more information. The retargeting method can be used to try to engage prospects who visited your website once but did not check out. Their visit to your website ensures that they know about your brand.

Now you leverage that familiarity to continue serving display ads about your business on other sites they visit. This continuous exposure to your brand across multiple websites increases brand recall and reinforces your credibility. All you need to do to enable this is to place a Java script within your HTML coding.

Some retargeting best practices include:

Ensuring a clear call to action in all your ads
Serving ads based on clear visitor segmentation Focusing a single product or service line through each ad
Understanding the criticality of the service being researched and accordingly adjusting the frequency of display

Remarketing

Remarketing goes a step further. The third party information you gather via the cookies is dropped into various systems to track the online behaviour of your prospects. Now, with remarketing you take advantage of first party information you may have gathered about those users to conduct focused digital campaigns.

You can leverage direct marketing mechanisms such as email to target customers who come to your website but leave without completing an action. Remarketing attempts to convert such prospects through marketing mediums that extend beyond online behavioural tracking.

This makes it imperative that you make remarketing an integral part of your overall digital campaign. It can help you:

Analyse online insights and combine it with existing data to reach out to customers
Deliver targeted display ads
Convert prospects who are still unsure about taking a purchase decision
Localise your campaigns to win new customers in your area
Ensure high brand recall by leveraging multiple media
Improve brand credibility and customer loyalty

The advantage of Display Advertising

Wed, 08 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Unlike the traditional form of display advertising, which tends to be static, and mainly text and image based, the online version makes use of various other elements including audio and video. It may then be presented to the consumer in the form of a banner ad or rich media.This opens up various possibilities for you as an advertiser.

You can now also leverage the audio-visual medium in a cost-effective manner to provide prospects information in far greater depth. This could include a product demo or an interactive format such as games, which may be more effective in converting prospects into paying clients.

Additionally, display advertising offers the advantage of being delivered to a targeted market segment. You can ensure that your ad is placed only on websites that are relevant to what you are selling. This increases the possibility of a prospect viewing your ad being interested in obtaining more information about your product. Once again, the potential conversion ratio is higher.

How to Use Display Ads

As mentioned earlier, display advertising can be used to create all types of ads. The biggest advantage however, is the ability it provides to closely monitor the performance and outcome of your ad campaign. This enables you to manage and track your budget, and make investments in areas that provide maximum benefit.

Segmentation: A lot of groundwork needs to go into your strategising to ensure your brand recall remains high. The first question you need to carefully consider is what will be the focus of your campaign. In case you have multiple product or service lines, you need to decide whether you want to focus on any specific unit or spread your campaign across multiple product lines. In case of the latter, you need to ideally create individual campaigns for each product or service line. This will enable you to manage and track your account much more effectively including fine-tuning a campaign midway based on regular analysis of reports received. This includes identifying the latest consumer trends, online properties your target segment regularly visits, and keywords that seem to be attracting maximum traffic.
Search and Display: If ensuring maximum eyeballs for your product or service is the key then you can opt for the impressions option wherein you pay whenever your ad is displayed as a result of matching a search query criteria. This method enables you to reach a prospect based on the point they have reached in the purchase cycle. This is also a more proactive approach since your ad is being displayed to customers who are searching for related information. For instance, an increasing number of customers conduct an online search prior to purchasing from a store.
Targeted display: These could be around aspects such as a specific demographic you want to target, or behavioural aspects based on their recent online activity. If your business is local in nature you could ensure that your ad is served only in that specific geography. In case you want to have tighter control over your spend you can opt for the CTR or “click through ratio” option. This ensures you only pay when a likely prospect has clicked an ad and visited your website. More importantly, you can set a daily budgetary upper limit and thereby gain control over your campaign budget.

Are you Socially Legal?

Fri, 03 May 2013 16:16:00 GMT

Within the last few months there have been announcements from several high profile employers who have dismissed employees for inappropriate use of social media. January saw the announcement of 11 civil servants dismissed, with several more facing disciplinary action, and a more recent announcement in April from the Metropolitan Police Force. Whilst the private sector may not be as high profile, they still face similar risks with employee use of social media, with damage to brand reputation being their biggest concern.

With so many risks, it is surprising that only around half of organisations have any kind of social media policy. Of these, only a few have a policy robust enough to cover all the the above risks, and even fewer perform a periodic audit to ensure that the policies are updated to cover new risks.

It's not enough just to develop a policy preventing people accessing their personal social media accounts during work time, as it has become an integral part of marketing and customer engagement for most organisations. It's even becoming increasingly embedded into other core processes such as recruitment and employer branding. When developing a policy, it would be prudent to consider the following points, at a minimum.

Responsibility and ownership. There should be clear guidelines as to who is permitted to post on behalf of the organisation and parameters around the level of dialogue they can engage in. The employer should ensure that the guidelines are understood by the employee and adhered to. It should also extend to use of personal accounts and whether they are permitted to talk about the company online. It is advisable to incorporate it into the induction process and part of the employment contract.

Company-wide. Whilst social media may be mainly the remit of the marketing department, all employees have a responsibility to present the best image for the company and their customers.

Focus on protection. Whilst protecting brand reputation is vital, it is also important to consider intellectual property. Again, this should extend to all employees.

Regular reviews and audits. Developing a policy doesn't mean that the work is finished. It also needs to be implemented and regularly reviewed to ensure that it is being understood and adhered to. In addition, there may be a requirement to update it from time to time. Therefore, incorporating a social audit into the process from the outset would be time well spent, not just to identify the risk areas in the first instance, but to identify ongoing risks.

How to be a successful online community manager

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 23:00:00 GMT

The last few years has seen a new role emerge - that of Online Community Manager. So, what is an Online Community Manager, and what is their role within the organisation?

We've been managing communities for a very long time, through various work groups and in our home environments. Whether this be within a church, village society, school or organisation department, they all have one thing in common. They want their views to be heard and taken into account, whether this is offline or online. The availability of social media and other technology-related tools should make it easier to reach our communities, but it doesn't take away from the fact that we still need the human interaction to listen to them. The key lesson we need to learn in order to be a successful online community manager is that people and not technology must come first.

There are several things we can do as to be successful in the role, some of which are highlighted below

Create a sense of identity. All human beings need to feel that they belong, so it's important to create a community that people can relate to. This will give members the confidence to participate on common ground Start small and the members will support it to grow. As the group evolves, so will the requirements of its members, and you may need to transfer members from one community to another. Maintaining a community at a manageable size will ensure that it keeps a sense of identity.

Create interesting discussions. People like to be stimulated and are attracted by snappy headlines. Make your discussions lively, relevant and thought-provoking. It doesn't need to be always about your products or services, and should include items of trivial community interest. Our role as facilitator is to encourage people to openly express their views, so that we can listen and respond.

Create a sense of empathy. It's vital that your community trusts you and feels that needs are understood. Demonstrating how you can relate to their problems and are seeking the right solutions for them will help to foster a positive relationship. If people feel that we understand their needs, they will turn to us first when they have a problem which needs fixing.

Create an appropriate communications strategy. With the vast range of communications technologies at our fingerprints, there is no excuse for not using the right one for each of our different communities. As we segment our customer base, so we should segment our various communities according to how they like to communicate. Start off by trying a range of discussion forums and social media platforms and monitor which ones are most successful. This is likely to vary amongst your communities, so you'll need to use the most appropriate communications for each. You will also need to factor in a mix of different discussion types and frequencies for each community.

What do you want your customers to do? Landing Pages must be action orientated

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 23:00:00 GMT

What is the goal of any marketing campaign? The obvious answer would be to generate leads. Whether it is organising an event or advertising on television or in the print media, the end goal is to generate leads that can be converted into sales. Every branding activity that a business engages in has to support this objective. So what is a Landing Page?

Simply put, a landing page is a web page that helps businesses capture leads. It is different from a Home page, which usually serves as the doorway to generic information about the various products, solutions, and services offered by a business. As such, a typical Home page has too many elements vying for the visitors’ attention. A targeted landing page works towards compelling a visitor to take a specific and desired action.

When to use a Landing Page

There are several ways a visitor can be directed to your landing page:

Search engine results link when someone runs a query for your keyword
Clickable links in your pay per click ad or other online advertisements
Links pointing to this page incorporated in social media posts
Email campaigns providing links to this page
Organic search engine optimisation (SEO) campaigns throw up links to this page during relevant keyword searches

The impact of your landing page can be measured by analysing the number of visitors who convert. Tools are available to measure the number of visitors. These tools will also provide you information on the means by which they landed there – was it your SEO strategy or your PPC campaign or your social media activities or even your direct mail campaign.

If your campaigns are attracting a lot of visitors but none are converting into leads then the problem might lie with your landing page. The solution lies in enhancing and optimising your landing page to maximise conversions.

Types of Landing Pages

Depending upon the objective you want to achieve, your landing page can be of two types:

Informational landing page: If you want to present yourself as a thought leader then you can create an informative landing page, which displays content that is relevant to your visitor. Ideally, the information should center around the keyword that brought the visitor to your landing page in the first place.
Action-oriented landing page: This is a landing page with a clear call to action. It could be oriented towards convincing a visitor to buy a product or capture contact information through an online form. If making a sale is the objective, you have to ensure that previous interactions with you provided the visitor enough compelling reasons to do so. If capturing information is your goal then you can do so by offering valuable content.

How to Optimise Landing Pages in 2013

A good landing page needs to target a particular action. Leading visitors to your Home page, for instance, can prove confusing. The visitor might have been searching for information on a particular keyword. Now unless your Home page immediately offers information related to that keyword it is likely to leave your visitor confused. More often than not, this will result in a quick exit from your website, and thereby, a missed opportunity for you.

You need to be very clear about what you want your visitor to do once they land on your website. Only then can you increase the possibility of converting your traffic into actionable leads.

Here are a few measures you should take to optimise your landing pages:

Singular purpose: You need to be absolutely clear about the targeted traffic and the action you desire from them. Minimise distractions. Eliminate unnecessary copy, graphics, form ﬁelds, and links. Provide clear and simple call to actions. Do not confuse your visitor. Make it easy for them to focus on your call to action.
Short lead form: Visitors hate filling forms, so the longer your lead form the more the number of visitors who are likely to drop off. Keep it short. Capture only information that is necessary to stay in touch.
Relevance of content: Ensure that the content on your landing page is relevant to your keyword. Highlight the benefits of engaging with you for business. Ideally, your landing page headline should match the link your visitors clicked to get there.
Call to action: Make sure your call to action (CTA) is clearly visible. Use directional cues to direct attention to your CTA. Have CTA links spread across the page in order to make it easy for visitors to take action whenever they are ready.
Responsive design: Think like a user. Test your page to check whether it provides information that is relevant to the keyword they used. Is it visually pleasing? Is the messaging consistent throughout?
Transparency: Visitors will always be wary about sharing their contact information. Clearly state what you intend to do with the information you collect. Ease any concerns they may have about the information falling into wrong hands. Highlight your contact information such as phone number and address. Provide links to your social media handles at the bottom.
Test thoroughly: Creating a landing page is only the first step. Use real-time A/B or multivariate testing to continuously test the various elements on your landing page and determine what resonates best with your visitors. Improve your page accordingly.

Social Media and Blogging go Hand in Hand

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:26:00 GMT

Blogging can be the heart and soul of your search engine optimisation (SEO) and social media marketing campaign that can help you get top results. Once you understand how blogging integration works, you will know exactly why it is so valuable to your campaign.

With your blog, you are basically feeding the search engines with new content every time you publish a new blog post. If you publish a new blog post once a day, it means one new page will be added to your website as every blog post is seen as a new page. When you publish a new blog post, it pings out the new post to many services that will help your new content get crawled. This helps that your new content is indexed within hours of publishing the content. Do that a few times a week and you ultimately increases your SEO footprint.

But that is not all that your blog can do for you. It has many other characteristics that static website pages doesn’t have. Interested readers can comment on your blog posts and you can reply, making it a useful platform to start engaging with your target audience.

Generate traffic with your blog

With the buzz of social media everywhere on the web, you have many ways to generate traffic to your blog other than just Google. Since all sales and marketing is about building relationships, you can start building valuable relationships with your customers through the use of the social web, then send your network/friends back to your blog posts for more discussion. In fact, encouraging sharing of your blog is one of the most powerful ways of improving SEO. This is becoming increasingly more important as Google are planning to put more emphasis on social signals and user engagement.

Face it, blogging works hand in hand with your other internet marketing strategies. A match made in heaven. If you haven’t started to integrate blogging in your campaign yet, jump on the bandwagon and get started.

Speed up your Online Lead Generation with PPC

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Pay per click (PPC) advertising offers a solution to allow SMEs to compete with the bigger players in your industry. It levels the playing field by allowing healthy competition for the more generic keywords. Google is following the trend where more users now search for information using multiple devices such as tablets, desktops, and smartphones, and other search contexts, i.e. time of day and location. With Enhanced Campaigns, the search giant’s recent update to its advertising product, Google AdWords offers to reduce some of the complexities involved in managing multiple ad campaigns.

Google AdWords – Enhanced

Separate campaigns for each digital device will soon be a thing of the past. You can now integrate campaigns across all devices, based on parameters such as a prospect's location, time of day, when a query is run, and type of device used. The ability to run contextual, multi-device marketing campaigns that can be measured to a granular level can add significant value to paid ad campaigns. Key benefits include the abilities to

Integrate and run a single campaign across multiple devices
Create targeted ads based on device used and location of search
Measure the impact of various ads across devices

This will make paid campaigns much more flexible, easy to launch, less time consuming, and best of all, more cost-effective

PPC: How does it help Deliver Qualified Prospects?

Most of us have been front row witnesses to the evolution and development of the PPC model, and especially Google’s AdWords tool. It has definitely changed the way we view display advertising. Having to pay only when someone clicks on an ad gives you some assurance that you are meeting the core objective of driving qualified traffic to your website. PPC helps you to

Generate quality leads quickly: Ads are delivered only to web surfers searching for information related to your keywords. This is good indication that the visitors are more likely to be interested in what you have to offer.
Ensure real-time impact: You no longer need to wait several days or even weeks to understand the impact of a campaign. With PPC, you can roll out a campaign within hours and watch the results rolling in almost immediately. If required, you can even pause the campaign or experiment with a different creative format based on reports generated.
Target by Location: Local businesses can automate the delivery of ads based on search location and time of day. This enables quicker lead conversion as the target audience is in close proximity to your business location.
Measure your campaign effectiveness: One of the biggest advantages is the measurability of PPC, in real quantitative terms. PPC offers insight into:
- Conversion Rate (CR): Calculate the number of leads that took action after clicking your ad - made a purchase, registered on your site, filled a form, etc.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): Measure the relevance and impact of ad campaigns. A low CTR means you need to improve the quality of keywords and/or the creative.
- Quality Score: The sum of relevant keywords, CTR, quality of your pages used by Google to measure ad rankings, and effectiveness of PPC. A good quality score indicates highly optimised use of ads, keywords, or campaigns.
- Negative Spend: This indicates that your ad is appearing in searches that are not relevant to your business. You need to identify a set of negative keywords to avoid appearing in irrelevant listings.

Integrate With Other Tactics

To get the best from PPC, don't look at it in isolation. You need to make it an integral part of your overall campaign and ensure consistency in messaging and positioning across both paid and organic channels, and particularly to ensure your website conversion is strong, to ensure it will deliver a return on the investment that you make in it. Consider also:

Your SEO Strategy: Don’t run your PPC campaign isolated from other tactics like Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Consistency in the message you deliver through the ads and your organic search results landing page will have a measurable impact on your overall strategy.
Competitive Search and Visibility: PPC campaigns help capture keywords that actually aid conversion. You need to invest in extensive and ongoing research to identify keywords that will increase your visibility.
Data Analytics: Compare data gathered from both your organic and PPC campaigns to understand your buyers’ behaviour and optimise campaign effectiveness.
Targeted advertising: Link your landing page directly to your ad. Ensure that the call to action is visible on the first click.
Your Digital Marketing Budget: Determine the maximum cost you are ready to incur per lead since it plays a key role in determining your advertising cost. You can either pay a flat rate for each click or opt for a bid-based program.

Simply investing in a PPC campaign and not supporting it properly will not help, it will only run up your account on worthless clicks. Assess your business case with our free calculator.

Is your Blogging Effective?

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Writing your blog blindly may mean you’re missing out on an important aspect of a functioning social media strategy – blog analytics.

If you have been blogging for a while, how do you measure if your efforts are successful? What topics on your blog are read the most? Following your blog stats is important to the success of your blog, and gives you an idea of the direction to take your blog. You can use Web Analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Statcounter, Awstats and other analytics software to give you these answers.

Purpose

Before you can start measuring how successful your blogging is, you need to have a purpose for your blog. Blogs that address a particular subject and audience are the ones with the largest readership. Interested readers will return if they like what they read. If you usually write about a wide variety of subjects, then you won’t have a chance to develop many repeat visitors.

Feedback

If what you write is interesting and informative, your visitors will give you feedback on what interests them, even if they don’t leave comments. You will see an increase in the number of visitors and comments if you write something interesting. You can listen, watch and then use this to deliver more of the content that your audience likes.

You can use your analytic stats to measure the following:

Number of Unique & Returning Visitors: If nobody visits your blog then your blog is not effective. If you write blog posts 3 times a week, which of those created yields the highest number of visitors? Research and review what you did and create more of the same blog posts. Return visitors are also important. Are they returning to read more?
Comments: Which of your blog posts have the highest number of discussions and comments? Was it the subject of your blog post? It may have been your writing style or the questions that you asked your audience.
Length of Stay: How long does your average visitor stay on your blog? Were they on your blog for 30 seconds or for a couple of minutes? The goal is to keep people reading and to stay on the page for longer periods of time.
Entry Pages: What blog posts attracts the most visitors over time? These are the blog posts that your visitors found on the search engines long after you have written them. These are your blog readers’ favorites.
Location: Where are your blog readers coming from? Google Analytics allows you to view not only the country and state, but the city too. This is important if your blog geared specifically for local businesses.

There are other tools that you can use to measure how successful your blogging is, but the first step to look at is the blog analytics. This can paint an important picture of where your blog needs improvement.

Content is the Lifeblood of Online Marketing

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Businesses looking at content marketing as a means towards increased online credibility should put on a publisher’s hat. You need to create roles such as ‘chief content officer’ or ‘content strategist’. This function will work with your sales, solutions, and marketing team to understand what your customers want and how you can make your content standout.

Embrace Integration and Develop a complete Content Strategy

Look at ways to:

Create an editorial calendar and prepare a strategy to update your content regularly
Integrate your strategy across all content dissemination mediums including print, digital, and social media
Create an inventory, identify and close gaps, and prepare a plan to reuse relevant content
Prepare a strategy to improve your reach across social media channels. The larger your network, the more likely it is that your content will reach the intended recipients.
Measure and analyse the impact of your content. Understand which content is driving the highest levels of engagement with your prospects and customers, and then plan to optimise in this direction.

Integrate SEO, Social, PPC and other Digital Tactics

Develop a consistent message across all your content assets. Use social media to promote your content across multiple channels. Leverage its growing importance in search engine optimisation (SEO). Visually express ideas and populate your LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook, Google+, and Instagram accounts.

Convert your text content into interesting presentations that can be uploaded on SlideShare and other similar sites. Then share the link through your social media channels and blogs. Integrate social sharing across all your online marketing assets.

Content is the Lifeblood of Online Marketing

Readers will only visit your blog or website or video channel if your post fresh and compelling content on a regular basis. Reuse your content across all channels. Convert multiple blogs into an ebook or vice versa. Articles and white papers can be converted into multiple blogs. And all of these artifacts can be re-purposed into an audio-visual format or a podcast or webinar. This will help you reach various types of audiences and increase your online visibility.

How can I ensure that my content is interesting and valuable to my target audience?

Whether your content is on a web page, a blog, a Facebook update, or in a tweet, always write your content with strategic intent. If your goal is to inform or persuade, here are 3 top rules that will help make your content sizzle with your readers.

Be genuine As in any other relationship, sincerity is important. And your marketing efforts are exactly that: the goal of creating a mutually beneficial relationship. Being honest is generally a good rule of thumb to follow, and it should always be your intent to earn your readers’ trust! Be conscious of your voice, your message, and your corporate brand.
Be relevant The information you’re sending out needs to be interesting to your readers, so make it relevant. Know what you’re writing and understand what is useful to your readers.
Educate. Teach your readers something they didn’t already know or write about something that resonates with them. Offering your reader something new and providing value will make your company a worthwhile source.

7 techiques to get your content noticed

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

We all know that “Content is King” but how do you go about getting the content out there so that others will engage with it?

The key is to make sure you have a concrete digital marketing strategy for developing new content. You will then be ready at all times to entice new visitors and business acquaintances to your web pages.

Here are a few techniques to consider:

Start a company blog
A business blog is one of the best opportunities to build a community of people who are looking for your product or service, and to provide them with information. Start by providing the answers to the most frequent questions that you get from prospects.

Publish a White Paper
Professionals love cold, hard facts with plenty of detail. A white paper provides just that. You can offer it as a free download and collect email addresses of those that download it, then add them to your mailing list.

Create an email course
Subscribers will be able to learn on their own time, and you’ll establish credibility in your field as a knowledgeable educator.

Use video for demonstrations and creative knowledge-sharing
Videos are more accessible than ever. Harness the power of moving images to engage and captivate.

Conduct a live online seminar/webinar
Build your reputation as an authority in your field by leading others.

Host an audio podcast, with guest interviews and topical discussion points
Audio is popular because people can listen to it in the car, at home, and while they’re exercising.

Use Flash animation for demos, walk-throughs, and product training
Flash may not be appropriate for an entire website but, for short media components, it’s an attention-grabber.

Make sure that you plan carefully, keeping your target audience in mind and always staying focused on your goal. Prepare to Inform, Enlighten Entertain and Persuade

Google continues to drive us in Content Marketing

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

2012 saw an increased focus on Content Marketing, with a marked rise in the number of small and medium businesses adopting integrated Content Marketing strategies to engage with customers and prospects. We also saw increased adoption of trends such as responsive Web design, geo-tagging, targeted content distribution, propensity for visual content, and emergence of integrated content marketing tools and techniques. What's new for 2013?

Content Marketing in 2013

In 2013, we are likely to see these trends gain traction. The increase in the number of customer touch-points has introduced several new complexities for marketers. Content strategies will need to accommodate the multiple devices that consumers are using to access content.

Irrespective of the device used, marketers need to develop content structures that enable optimal viewing experience to content consumers. HTML5 is still a year away from its official launch. In the meanwhile, website design needs to be more responsive to the viewer’s screen size.

Stay Updated on Content Marketing

Five trends to track, and take advantage of, in 2013:

The increasing demand for audio-visual content and the easy availability of devices that enable anytime access to video content will make it necessary to invest in this content format.
The increasing popularity of Pinterest among consumers is an opportunity to re-purpose your existing as well as new content as a visual medium.
Look at ways to use Instagram and make your consumers your content generators and gain maximum marketing mileage.
Advancements in marketing automation systems, their integration with social media platforms, and complexity of measurement tools have enabled the ability to understand content effectiveness. This has made it possible to make your content marketing strategy more targeted.
Integrating content marketing mechanisms with your CRM system can provide insights that will enable you to develop contextual content. This can enable greater interaction with potential as well as existing customers.

Keep Up-to-date with Google – They are Driving the Conquest for Content

Google is undoubtedly steering the content marketing ship, as it has done in past years. The latest Panda updates give a glimpse into what we can expect in this direction. Not only has it clearly indicated that only quality content will work but it has also highlighted the growing prominence of social media in the larger scheme of things. Search experience optimisation (SXO) is the new SEO. Ensure you stay updated about developments in the Google world to stay abreast of the latest trends in the content marketing space.

Google is also your best friend if you want to know what your competitors are publishing or to be alerted about newsworthy events in your industry. You can use these as idea sources for your own content development.

The Expansion of Application Driven Web (HTML5) and Video Marketing

Predicted to be the future of the Internet, HTML5 may prove to be a game changer. The growing preference for the audio-visual medium is likely to receive a surge with HTML5’s built-in video support capabilities. The ease with which HTML5 enables content sharing will only give a fillip to this growing trend.

Science, Froth and Dancing Kangaroos

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Does content attract prospects? A question often asked by our clients, no matter which business sector they come from they all have the same issue in common - how do they decide on their content 'strategy'? What to say that will appeal. Generally, we find that most businesses buy into the concept of developing a good content strategy, but very few know how to go about creating one.

There are several key elements involved in developing a good content strategy:

Relevance. Prospects are more likely to read your content, whether it is a blog, whitepaper or promotion, if it's of relevance to them. There is a great deal of information on the internet and people browse looking for solutions to problems they may have. Therefore, it is important to ensure that your content is posted in the forum most relevant to the topic and the type of customer likely to be searching for it. There would be no point in writing a technical blog about a new hotel bookings system in a forum for solicitors, for example.
Persona. You have to speak the same language as the prospect you are trying to woo, and use the most appropriate medium to convey that message. There is a world of difference between the methods of communication preferred by that of the Baby Boomer era to that of the Gen Y era. However, as well as this, they will respond to different types of language used in your content. Take a look at this video clip by Proctor and Gamble to see how they focused on the proud mother and main buyer of household products, during the Olympics.

These simple, but highly effective commercials were duplicated around the world for their various products. This interview with Paula Radcliffe's mother was targeted to UK mothers to promote their Fairy and Pampers products, whilst interviews with the mothers of other olympians promoted Olay, Gillette, etc.

Engagement. Your content needs to keep the attention of the person reading it. The challenge is to persuade them to move from viewing the conversation to participating and, ultimately, taking action by buying your products or services. People respond differently to different media. However, they also want variety in the content you provide. At times they'll want technical information, sometimes your opinion, and sometimes they may want something a little bit light hearted or humorous. It's about striking the right balance between technical expertise, froth and 'dancing kangaroos'. However, even with the froth and dancing kangaroos, it's important to point out the science behind it, so that you still maintain credibility.
Positioning. There are so many social media platforms that we can afford to be selective about where we post our content so that we can differentiate between our different styles and personas, For example, you may want to use your blog to showcase technical expertise, LinkedIn for opinions and professional recommendations and Facebook for the more lighthearted content.

To ensure that all these elements are included, you need to identify your target audience and then segment them according to profile and where they might sit within the buying cycle. When you do, the challenge of delivering meaningful content becomes more manageable.

We all know Content is King. Don't we?

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:00:00 GMT

I'm sure you'll know the maxim that ‘Content is King’, but what exactly is Content Marketing? Content marketing is a technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.

Basically, it is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling. Instead of just promoting your products or services, you are educating your buyer so that they are better informed to make a decision when they are ready to buy.

The premise of a good content marketing strategy is that you will demonstrate sufficient knowledge to position yourselves as experts in your field, thus building the credibility and trust that you will deliver a quality product or service. Furthermore, by maintaining a consistent flow of relevant and valuable information to your buyers, you trust that you will ultimately be rewarded with their business and loyalty.

So, why do you need content marketing? Because sales are going down and traditional marketing initiatives are no longer as effective as they were. How many of you record a movie just so you can fast forward through the advertisements, or put spam filters on your email, or even respond to cold callers? These tactics no longer work, which is why you need more inbound marketing tactics.

Furthermore, if you’re not on social media and you don’t have the social share buttons on your website, you’re not giving your content the opportunity to be shared and distributed online.

A good way to write relevant content is to keep an eye out on the news and relate it to your business. Another thing you can do is follow the thought leaders – find the CEO’s, the people who are breaking news etc. As well as sharing interesting information, it’s also a good idea to search for topics that cover problems that your buyers might be experiencing, and write articles that propose solutions to these problems. Most internet browsers are searching for a solution to their problems, and they may well find you.

The same thing goes for your existing customers and prospects, and your content will become more relevant to them when they are searching for solutions. The key is to be there at the right time and only then can your content marketing strategy begin to engage, inform and influence the buying decision, eventually leading to increased business.

The Digital Landscape: An Evolution Progressing at a Phenomenal Pace

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 16:39:00 GMT

The digital landscape comprises of a mix of different channels - social networks, websites, email, mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, videos, widgets, kiosks, and gaming consoles. These media help marketers to build relationships with consumers, publicise their brands, and also sell their products or services.

Digital Marketing arrived on the scene more than 15 years ago, but has evolved most rapidly in the last couple of years. Let’s take an in-depth look at how digital marketing has evolved over the years and how understanding it can help you influence buyer behaviour.

The Evolution of Digital: A Convergence Story

Digital media has progressed rapidly due to the convergence of technology and easy availability of consumer technologies. This has paved the way for interactive mediums that engages the audience, something that traditional media did not provide.

It commenced with advancements in Internet technology that led to the launch of thousands of websites. This was still a passive communication medium since sites were not interactive. Then came email, the first dynamic medium that enabled direct communication between consumers and businesses in a cost-effective and meaningful manner. The revolution finally took off when ‘search’ became a part of the user experience.

It was the arrival of social media, however, that made the digital landscape ‘interactive’ forever. Social media has significantly transformed consumer behaviour. It has facilitated sharing of information with prospective buyers like never before through online advertisements, videos, blogs, tweets, and more.

The digital space has clearly caught the fancy of savvy marketers thanks to factors such as its:

Huge impact on brand reputation
Potential to quickly launch online campaigns
Interesting mix of marketing technologies
Ability to engage prospects in dynamic exchanges that influence buying decisions
Measurability and cost-efficiency
Creative potential of platforms such as rich media, gaming, and mobile applications

The success of social media sites such as Facebook, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter indicate how well connected today’s users are across multiple geographies. The digital experience has switched the role of users from a passive receiver to an active participant, circulating relevant, useful information and influencing buying decisions. The convergence of mobile technologies with location-based services and smart devices has now made real-time interactions a reality. Consumers are spending more time and money on these devices for their personal and business consumption. This means an increased opportunity for sellers to create interesting mobile applications that engage users.

Marketers can now gain insight into the nature of information being accessed and shared. Since consumers are interacting through various digital channels, they play a critical role in building or demolishing a brand’s reputation. This makes it imperative to identify the most relevant consumers and understand their behaviour in order to target the right audience and deliver the intended message.

The Reality of the New Digital Landscape

Digital media has emerged as a reality that is continuously challenging marketers. Adopting and promoting an apt digital strategy is easier said than done. It requires a shift in the way marketing functions approach digital media. Here are some guidelines to help you successfully navigate the digital landscape:

Clearly define your business goal – is your focus brand building or lead generation or both?
Identify the channels that will help you achieve your goals
Define your target audience
Set the right expectations with stakeholders about what a digital strategy can achieve
Integrate your offline and online strategy
Provide engaging and consistently valuable content
Engage with the right agency that can tailor digital solutions to suit your customers’ needs—and it is okay to start small!
Implement the right analytics and automation tools to understand your target audience behaviour
Review your plans over a defined period to measure progress and results
Have a backup plan: the biggest boon of digital media could be its biggest bane as well. On one hand your customers can be your brand ambassadors, but on the other they can damage it irreversibly. Ensure that you have a backup plan or team to respond to crisis situations.

Since the digital landscape is vast, success lies in having a consumer focused strategy and clear business goals. An effective integration of both with an overall marketing strategy can help organisations reap benefits and develop strong relationships with consumers.