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dffded34c968-0 | Digital Mark eting Str ategy | Page 1 |
6da08886c042-0 | Digital Mark eting Str ategy PIERRE- YANN DOLBEC MONTREAL | Page 3 |
57ffc20e7dac-0 | Digital M arketing Str ategy by Pierr e-Yann Dolbec is licensed under a Creative Commons A ttribution- NonCommer cial-Shar eAlike 4.0 International L icense , except wher e otherwise noted. | Page 4 |
da6fc3f35571-0 | Contents Introduc tion Pierr e-Yann Dol bec 1 Ackno wledgmen ts Pierr e-Yann Dol bec 4 List o f Figur es Pierr e-Yann Dol bec 5 Introduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting Pierr e-Yann Dol bec Overview 11 Creating V alue in the Digital A ge 15 11 Understanding the Dig ital Consumer Pierr e-Yann Dol bec Overview 23 Under standing Consumer s Thr ough P ersonas 23 Rethinking the Consumer J ourney 29 Under standing Consumer J ourneys 31 Zero Moment of Truth 36 Journey M apping 39 Exercises 41 23 | Page 5 |
871e5c03f074-0 | Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign Pierr e-Yann Dol bec Overview 45 SEO 46 Under standing H ow Consumer s Use Keywor ds 62 Using K eywor ds to A nalyze Competitor s 66 Exercises 70 45 Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy Pierr e-Yann Dol bec Overview 73 Inbound and Outbound M arketing 74 Paid, Owned, and Earned M edia 75 Objectives, Goals, and KP Is 76 Strategy and T actics 78 RACE Fr amewor k 79 From P ersona and J ourney to Str ategy 83 From a J ourney M ap to a Conver sion P ath 86 RACE for Competitive A nalysis 91 Exercises 97 73 Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors Pierr e-Yann Dol bec Overview 100 Reach 101 Landing P ages 101 Paid M edia A ctivities 111 Social M edia and R ACE 121 Exercises 129 100 | Page 6 |
722d5c5ede0b-0 | Act: Cr eating Con tent Pierr e-Yann Dol bec Overview 132 Creating Content 133 Structuring Content Cr eation 139 RACE and Content M arketing 143 Pillar P ages 147 Content Calendar 156 Exercises 157 132 Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing Pierr e-Yann Dol bec Overview 160 ACT 160 Leads and Lead Gener ation 161 Lead Scoring 168 Lead Nurturing 172 Exercises 183 160 Convert: Con version Optimiza tion Pierr e-Yann Dol bec Overview 185 Convert 185 A/B T esting 190 Conver sion-Center ed Principles 193 Remar keting and R etargeting 212 Exercises 216 185 | Page 7 |
973928714498-0 | Engage: B uilding Lo yalty and Co-Cr eating Wi th Customers Pierr e-Yann Dol bec Overview 218 Engage 218 Customer L ifetime V alue 219 RFM A nalysis 223 Net Pr omoter Scor e 226 Engaging Customer s in Co-Cr eation A ctivities 227 Exercises 231 218 About the Author Pierr e-Yann Dol bec 233 Versioning H istor y Pierr e-Yann Dol bec 234 | Page 8 |
71f4554d0262-0 | Appendix: T ext Descriptions o f Figur es Figur e 2.2 Types of Segmentation? 235 Figur e 2.3 R V Betty? 236 Figur e 4.2 KP Is Example ? 237 Figur e 4.3 A ARRR? 237 Figur e 4.4 RACE Goals ? 237 Figur e 4.8 Conver sion P ath – 2nd Ex ample ? 238 Figur e 4.9 R ACE? 239 Figur e 5.18 Longtail K eywor ds and Conver sion Rate ? 240 Figur e 5.19 F acebook A d Objectives ? 240 Figur e 6.13 Content Calendar? 241 Figur e 7.10 E mail A utomation? 241 Figur e 8.2 Funnel? 242 Figur e 8.20 Landing P age E valuation? 243 Figur e 9.2 Value Chain? 244 Table f or Ex ercises in Chapter s 4?, 5?, and 6? 245 235 | Page 9 |
0057751d6ef3-0 | Introduction PIERRE- YANN DOLBEC The in terne t has dig italized our liv es: w e no w cr eate and me et others in online c ommuni ties on w ebsites such as R eddit, Imgur , Facebook, or Nik eTalk. Our r elationships wi th our friends and families ha ve expande d to dig ital channels such as W hatsApp, Facebook M essenger , and I nstagr am. W e forge ne w relationships through da ting apps such as Ok Cupid and Tinder . We be come micr ocelebri ties on Twi tch and Y ouTube. W e consume other people ’s lives, w e talk to str angers, and w e project public personas on social me dia pla tforms. The in terne t has also tr ansforme d ho w businesses c onduc t their activities and ho w consumers go about bu ying pr oduc ts. W hole industries, such as music and tr avel, ha ve be en radically reshape d. In or der to be suc cessful dig ital mar keters, w e ne ed to go be yond simpl y transla ting the me thods and pr ocesses tha t use d to be successful f or tr aditional me dia. W e need a dr astic ally dif ferent way of thinking about appr oaching c onsumers and selling pr oduc ts. The obje ctive o f this te xtbook is to pr ovide a w ay o f conceptualizing ho w to do mar keting online and a str ategic framework to do so. Thr oughout, r eal-lif e examples, le arning exercises, vide os, and addi tional r esour ces ar e offered to c emen t and e xpand y our le arning e xperienc e. The fir st section of this te xtbook e xplains ho w the in terne t has transforme d the w ays f irms cr eate v alue and ho w c onsumers experienc e brands and pr oduc ts. In this f irst se ction, w e focus on understanding a | Page 11 |
0057751d6ef3-1 | oduc ts. In this f irst se ction, w e focus on understanding a shif t in ho w firms c ommunic ate wi th consumers: they ha ve mo ved away from talking about themsel ves, which w as predominan t in a pr e-interne t era, to wards o ften o ffering fr ee resour ces to cr eate value f or c onsumers. W e then e xplor e ho w the c onsumer e xperienc e has be en radically alter ed and wha t the implic ations ar e for firms’ str ategies. Introduc tion | 1 | Page 11 |
b6bc6e166b69-0 | More pr ecisel y, Chapter 1: I ntroduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting discusses ho w dig italiza tion is chang ing the e cosystem in which we conduc t mar keting ac tivities. I n this chapter , we explor e wha t marketing is and ho w value is cr eated online, and brief ly touch on consumer journe ys. Chapter 2: Understanding the Dig ital Consumer explor es ho w digitaliza tion is tr ansforming the journe y of consumers. We learn about mar keting tools (persona, c onsumer journe y, and journe y mapping) to help us understand c onsumer beha vior and cr aft dig ital marketing c ampaigns. In Chapter 3: P lanning For a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign , we cover basic notions o f search eng ine optimiza tion and then discuss how, when cr eating c ontent, keywords can be use d to r espond to consumers’ ne eds and goals. W e also discuss ho w keywords can help us understand ho w our c ompe titors ar e posi tione d online. Chapter 4: I ntroduc tion to Dig ital S trategy presen ts some k ey vocabular y associa ted with dig ital mar keting and the fr amework we are going to c over for the r est o f the semester , the R ACE fr amework. We explain i ts relationship to persona, journe y, and str ategy and how it can be use d to perf orm c ompe titive anal yses. The second section of this te xtbook pr ovides an in-depth presen tation o f a dig ital mar keting fr amework centered on conversion-base d mar keting. This fr amework echoes the w ork of man y dig ital mar keting agencies. I t is c ompose d of four stages through which f irms c an a ttract visi tors, cr eate le ads, tr ansform leads in to customers, and f oster customer lo yalty. Chapter 5: R each: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors discusses paid me dia | Page 12 |
b6bc6e166b69-1 | each: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors discusses paid me dia ac tivities. W e first emphasiz e the ne cessity of building landing pages and describe wha t landing pages ar e. W e then turn our a ttention to the online e cosystem, discussing elemen ts such as t ypes o f paid me dia ac tivities and e xpand on paymen t models and t ypes o f targeting tha t are available online. Chapter 6: Ac t: Cr eating Con tent covers some c entral ac tivities associa ted with content creation. W e discuss ho w content creation can be inf orme d by the R ACE fr amework, the dif ference be tween 2 | Introduc tion | Page 12 |
de473047a614-0 | gated and unga ted content, ho w to build topic al relevance, and how pillar pages c an help us do so. The chapter ends wi th a shor t presen tation o f content calendars. Chapter 7 : Act: Le ad Gener ation and Le ad Nur turing looks a t the basics o f lead gener ation and le ad nur turing ac tivities. W e def ine leads and le ad stages, pr esen t a f ew w ays to gener ate le ads and different types o f opt-ins, e xplain ho w to sc ore leads, and discuss email mar keting. Chapter 8: Con vert: Con version Optimiza tion examines wha t conversion is and ho w to optimiz e web pages to c onvert better. To do so, w e discuss c onversion r ate optimiza tion, ho w to iden tify wha t to optimiz e as pe ople mo ve from one w eb page to another , some conversion-c entered principles, A/B testing, and r etargeting. Chapter 9: Engage: B uilding Lo yalty and Co-Cr eating Wi th Customers deals wi th ho w to e valuate and enc ourage customer engagemen t and lo yalty and f oster c o-cr eation b y engage d customers. M ore pr ecisel y, we del ve into customer engagemen t, customer lif etime v alue, w ays to me asur e engagemen t, consumption c ommuni ties, and c o-cr eation ac tivities. Introduc tion | 3 | Page 13 |
434ef2c09c70-0 | Acknowle dgments PIERRE- YANN DOLBEC Pierr e thanks Alexandr e Bustaman te for the book illustr ations, Kelly-Anne Lema y for forma tting and e diting, and Chloe Lei f or academic suppor t, as w ell as the f inancial suppor t of Conc ordia Univ ersity and the Open Educ ational R esour ces initiative. 4 | Ackno wledgmen ts | Page 14 |
c223158c87e5-0 | List of Figur es PIERRE- YANN DOLBEC Chapter 1 Figur e 1.1 The Ev olution o f WOM The ory Chapter 2 Figur e 2.1 Persona Figur e 2.2 Types o f Segmen tation / Fr om Univ ersity o f Minnesota ’s Principles o f Mar keting / Text Description Figur e 2.3 RV Be tty / Cr edit: BBH Singapor e (@bbh_singapor e) / Text Description Figur e 2.4 Consumer J ourne y: The Funnel M odel Figur e 2.5 Consumer J ourne y: The Cir cular M odel Figur e 2.6 ZMOT Figur e 2.7 Four Types o f ZM OT Figur e 2.8 Journe y Mapping / Adapte d from nngr oup.c om Chapter 3 Figur e 3.1 Paid vs Or ganic Se arch Figur e 3.2 Top Ranking Fac tors Figur e 3.3 How M eta Tags Ar e Displa yed on Goog le SERP s Figur e 3.4 Cross-Linking Example Figur e 3.5 Top On-P age Fac tors Figur e 3.6 Types o f Search List o f Figur es | 5 | Page 15 |
2d7d47440497-0 | Figur e 3.7 Journe y and Se arches Chapter 4 Figur e 4.1 Obje ctive / Goal / KP I Figur e 4.2 KPIs Example / Text Description Figur e 4.3 AARRR / Text Description Figur e 4.4 RACE Ojbe ctives / Text Description Figur e 4.5 Journe y and Se arches Figur e 4.6 Conversion P ath Figur e 4.7 Conversion P ath – 1st Example Figur e 4.8 Conversion P ath – 2nd Example / Text Description Figur e 4.9 RACE / Text Description Chapter 5 Figur e 5.1 Examples o f a Clickthr ough Landing P age – Fi t for Lif e Figur e 5.2 Examples o f a Clickthr ough Landing P age – S potif y Figur e 5.3 Examples o f a Le ad Gener ation L anding P age – Fi t for Life Figur e 5.4 Examples o f a Le ad Gener ation L anding P age – Uber Figur e 5.5 Shopif y Ad Figur e 5.6 Shopif y Homepage Figur e 5.7 AR Con version Figur e 5.8 Shopif y Landing P age Figur e 5.9 Landing P age – A ttention Ra tio Figur e 5.10 Basic Elemen ts of a L anding P age – Shopif y Example Figur e 5.11 Banner Ad Figur e 5.12 Intersti tial Figur e 5.13 Pop-Up Ad Figur e 5.14 Floating Ad 6 | List o f Figur es | Page 16 |
2a9ecc32dd6e-0 | Figur e 5.15 Wallpaper Figur e 5.16 Map Figur e 5.17 Native Figur e 5.18 Longtail K eywords and Con version Ra te / Text Description Figur e 5.19 Facebook Ad Obje ctives / Text Description Figur e 5.20 Affiliate Mar keting Example Chapter 6 Figur e 6.1 Content Mar keting Figur e 6.2 Exemplar and Pr ototype Figur e 6.3 Gated Con tent Example Figur e 6.4 Unga ted Con tent to Ga ted Con tent Figur e 6.5 Topics Figur e 6.6 Funnel Figur e 6.7 Pillar P age Example Figur e 6.8 Traditional Appr oach Figur e 6.9 Pillar Appr oach Figur e 6.10 Pillar P age and Ga ted Con tent Figur e 6.11 Pillar P age and Ga ted Con tent Figur e 6.12 Pillar S trategy Figur e 6.13 Content Calendar / Text Description Chapter 7 Figur e 7.1 Lead Gener ation Fac ebook Figur e 7.2 Marketo Form Fields Figur e 7.3Scroll-Do wn P op-Up Opt-I n on Zoella.c o.uk Figur e 7.4 Bottom o f Con tent Opt-I n on fastc ompan y.com Figur e 7.5 Double Opt-I n on I nstagr am – P art 1 List o f Figur es | 7 | Page 17 |
f5f4b3094031-0 | Figur e 7.6 Double Opt-I n on I nstagr am – P art 2 Figur e 7.7 Double Opt-I n on I nstagr am – P art 3 Figur e 7.8 Drip Email Se quenc e Example Figur e 7.9 Drip Se quenc e Figur e 7.10 Email Automa tion / Text Description Chapter 8 Figur e 8.1 Conversion Ra te Figur e 8.2 Funnel / Text Description Figur e 8.3 Goog le’s Con version Funnel Example Figur e 8.4 A/B T est Figur e 8.5 A/B Dif ferences Figur e 8.6 Attention Ra tio W orks Figur e 8.7 Encapsula tion Example Figur e 8.8 Encapsula tion Figur e 8.9 Color Con trast Figur e 8.10 Directional Cues Figur e 8.11 Reading Flo w Figur e 8.12 White Space Figur e 8.13 Informa tion H ierarchy Figur e 8.14 Continui ty Figur e 8.15 Message Ma tch Failur e Figur e 8.16 Message Ma tch S uccess Figur e 8.17 Design Ma tch Failur e Figur e 8.18 Design Ma tch S uccess Figur e 8.19 Congruenc e Example Figur e 8.20 Landing P age Ev aluation / Text Version Figur e 8.21 Retargeting Figur e 8.22 Retargeting Example 8 | List o f Figur es | Page 18 |
8187c1856945-0 | Chapter 9 Figur e 9.1 Net Promoter Sc ore Figur e 9.2 Value Chain / Text Description List o f Figur es | 9 | Page 19 |
3295a3318db0-0 | Introduction to Digital Mark eting PIERRE- YANN DOLBEC Overview In this chapter , we discuss ho w dig italiza tion is chang ing the ecosystem in which w e conduc t mar keting ac tivities. W e star t by defining mar keting, v alue, and ho w value is cr eated. W e then go on to se e ho w the me dia e cosystem and dig ital channels ar e transforming the log ic w e use to cr eate value, mo ving a way from represen ting the c ompan y to r epresen ting the customer . To set up the ne xt chapter , we conclude b y brief ly discussing the c onsumer journe y. Learning O bjectives Understand tha t the main goal o f mar keting is to cr eate value and ho w the chang ing e cosystem is tr ansforming the ways w e can achie ve this goal. Introduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting | 11 | Page 21 |
983c2a0c6ae5-0 | What Is Mark eting? According to the Americ an Mar keting Associa tion—mar keting’ s top associa tion— marketing is “the ac tivity, set of insti tutions, and processes f or cr eating, c ommunic ating, deliv ering, and e xchang ing offerings tha t ha ve value f or customers, clien ts, par tners, and socie ty at large” (Americ an Mar keting Associa tion 2013 ). Our goal is to be tter understand ho w the c onsumer e xperienc e has be en tr ansforme d and wh y it has be come ne cessar y to adopt a dr astic ally dif ferent perspe ctive on ho w to perf orm mar keting online. Thus, as w e reconceptualiz e the e cosystem in which consumers and f irms oper ate, w e concentrate on the f ollowing elemen ts of tha t def inition: “ processes f or cr eating, c ommunic ating, deliv ering, and e xchang ing o fferings tha t have value. ” In other w ords, the r ole o f mar keting is to create value for a br oad range o f stak eholders. I n this te xtbook, w e concentrate on v alue creation f or consumers. W e concentrate on v alue cr eation be cause consumers “ do not bu y pr oduc ts or ser vices, the y bu y offerings which … cr eate value” in their liv es (Gummesson 1995, p. 250 ). Hence, our f ocus will be on understanding ho w firms c an cr eate value in c onsumers’ liv es—and ho w the y can do so online. Firms cr eate value f or consumers in man y dif ferent ways. If we rewind back a f ew de cades, w e find tha t our understanding o f value creation w as tain ted by the w ork of economists, and v alue w as mostl y thoug ht of as being base d on pr oduc ts’ utili ty. Utilitarian value , therefore, denotes the v | Page 22 |
983c2a0c6ae5-1 | on pr oduc ts’ utili ty. Utilitarian value , therefore, denotes the v alue tha t a customer r eceives base d on a task -related and r ational c onsumption beha vior ( Babin e t al. 1994 ). Since then, our understanding o f value has v astly broadene d to include other t ypes o f value, such as hedonic v alue —value base d on the customer’ s experienc e of fun and pla yfulness (Babin e t al. 1994 )—or linking v alue , which is base d on the cr eation o f interpersonal links be tween c onsumers ( Cova 199 7). This is impor tant for dig ital mar keters be cause i t me ans tha t ther e ar e numer ous a venues to c ontribute to c onsumers’ liv es thr ough value 12 | Introduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting | Page 22 |
f380d22f2228-0 | creation tha t expand be yond the use o f a pr oduc t by a c onsumer to achie ve a spe cific task. Another impor tant transforma tion o f our understanding o f value creation o ver the last de cade is the ide a tha t value is always co- created (Vargo and Lusch 2004 ). Value is c o-cr eated thr ough the meeting o f consumers, wi th their o wn r esour ces such as skills, exper tise, and e xisting possessions, wi th tha t of firms and their resour ces, such as br and c ampaigns, ser vice deliv ery models, and the pr oduc ts the y sell. Let’s see these notions c oncr etized thr ough an e xample: Bef ore, we would ha ve conceptualiz ed a c onsumer as bu ying a c ar be cause they wanted to e xtract the utili tarian v alue associa ted wi th the produc t (i.e., mo ving fr om poin t A to poin t B). Value r eside d in the c ar and w as tr ansferred to a c onsumer when the y put tha t produc t into use. N owadays, w e understand the pur chase o f a c ar as conceptuall y very dif ferent. First, c onsumers c an bu y a c ar for reasons other than going fr om poin t A to poin t B. Ma ybe the y want to belong to a c ommuni ty of other c onsumers, or wha t is r eferred to as a consum ption comm unity, and bu ying this c ar allo ws them to do so. This community-oriented str ategy is emplo yed by iconic brands such as H arley-Davidson. Or ma ybe the c onsumers se e the car as a r ecreational obje ct, wher e the end is not impor tant (i.e., wher e the y ar e going), but ho w the y ge t ther e is. This has le d to man y ads tha t emphasiz e the ple asur e of driving, r | Page 23 |
f380d22f2228-1 | d to man y ads tha t emphasiz e the ple asur e of driving, r ather than more utili tarian char acteristics such as fuel e conom y. And w e no w understand the v alue cr eated by a c ar as emer ging fr om the interaction o f a c onsumer and the c ar. For e xample, cr eating v alue by consuming a spor ts car can be limi ted by the skills o f the driv er. The c ar has a se t of char acteristics fr om which c onsumers c an create value, but the y can onl y maximiz e value c o-cr eation if the y possess the e xper tise to do so. S imilar ly, a consumer c an co-cr eate value when bu ying a H arley-Davidson while riding i t, but the y mig ht leave unde velope d value when the y do not par ticipa te in the worldwide c ommuni ty of Harley-Davidson driv ers. To sum up, v alue e xists in man y dif ferent ways, and i t is al ways Introduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting | 13 | Page 23 |
321e27801a34-0 | the r esult o f the in teraction be tween a c onsumer and a f irm ( and i ts produc ts and ser vices). This has impor tant implic ations f or dig ital marketing, one o f them being the cr eation o f content. Man y firms participa te in cr eating v alue in c onsumers’ liv es b y offering fr ee content. This c ontent can ha ve he donic v alue, such as a humor ous YouTube vide o. It can also help c onsumers be tter their skills and knowledge, such as online tutorials. B y incr easing c onsumers’ exper tise, f irms allo w consumers to e xpand their r esour ces, which can le ad them to cr eate mor e value when c onsuming pr oduc ts. W e will c ome back to this ide a in the c onclusion o f this chapter . How do f irms cr eate value? For the last 30 y ears, the dominan t paradigm f or understanding ho w firms cr eate value f or consumers has be en mar ket orien tation. Market orien tation refers to the “the organiza tion-wide gener ation o f mar ket intelligenc e, dissemina tion of the in telligenc e acr oss depar tmen ts and or ganiza tion-wide responsiv eness to i t” (Kohli and J aworski 1990 , p. 3 ). By this, w e mean tha t organiza tions cr eate value b y gener ating inf orma tion and dissemina ting this inf orma tion thr oughout the f irm in or der to proper ly respond to i t. This is done b y gener ating and r esponding to inf orma tion about customer s, or wha t is r eferred to as customer orien tation, and gener ating and r esponding to inf orma tion about competitor s, or wha t is r eferred to as com petitor orien tation. For this r eason, mar keting ac ademics and pr actitioners t ypically aim to iden tify and | Page 24 |
321e27801a34-1 | ac ademics and pr actitioners t ypically aim to iden tify and r espond to customer ne eds as w ell as e xamining and r esponding to their c ompe titors’ ef forts. Being mar ket-orien ted has be en found to be ne cessar y for a f irm to c ompe te in mar kets effectively (Kumar e t al. 2011 ). For this r eason, w e will c over both customers and c ompe titors in the f irst f ew chapters, and the strategic fr amework offered in this te xtbook is c entered ar ound answ ering customers’ ne eds, goals, and desir es, ide ally mor e effectively than the c ompe tition does. Now tha t we ha ve def ined the bases o f mar keting, w e turn our attention to change br ought about b y the in terne t and ho w it transforme d the w ays tha t firms cr eate value f or consumers. 14 | Introduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting | Page 24 |
8f41dbe15a09-0 | Creating V alue in the Digital Ag e Canadian me dia scholar Marshall M cLuhan famousl y wr ote tha t “the medium is the message ” (McLuhan 1964 ). By this, he me ant to emphasiz e tha t the char acteristics o f a me dium ( e.g., T V vs. prin t vs. interne t) pla yed an impor tant role in c ommunic ations, in addi tion to the message. W e conclude this chapter b y sho wing ho w the interne t, as a me dium, has pla yed a tr ansforma tive role in shaping the message and wha t this me ans f or mar keting. The w ays messages ar e dif fused to c onsumers ha ve been vastly transforme d sinc e the 1950s. I n reviewing w ord-of- mouth (W OM) models ( Figur e 1.1), Kozine ts and c o-authors (2010 ) iden tify thr ee periods tha t are useful in c onceptualizing ho w the diffusion o f messages fr om f irms to c onsumers has e volved. Introduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting | 15 | Page 25 |
f54ae6b110fc-0 | 16 | Introduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting | Page 26 |
5edcd0dad77c-0 | Figur e 1.1 The E volution of W OM Theor y In the 1950s, the dif fusion o f messages e choe d a vie w found in the v ery suc cessful series Mad M en: advertising f irms w ould cr eate what the y belie ved to be a message tha t could sell pr oduc ts and would use mass me dia such as T V, newspapers, magazines, and the radio to dif fuse these messages. W ord of mouth w as or ganic, in the sense tha t it happene d be tween c onsumers wi thout in terventions from f irms. This is kno wn as the organic in terconsumer inf luence model . In the 19 70s, the ories star ted to r ecogniz e tha t some individuals held mor e po wer than others to inf luenc e other c onsumers. Increasing ly, these inf luen tial c onsumers and c elebri ties w ere leveraged by firms to dif fuse their messages. This is kno wn as the linear mar keter inf luence model because in these e arlier ef forts, such inf luenc ers w ere belie ved to fai thfull y dif fuse the message created by firms and their ad vertising agencies. The emer genc e of the in terne t led to a thir d transforma tion in how w e understand message dif fusion and w ord of mouth and a movemen t toward a netw ork co-pr oduction model . In this last model, c onsumers lik e you and me, online c ommuni ties, and other types o f ne tworked forms o f communic ation ( such as publics created thr ough hash tags, se e Arvidsson and Caliandr o 2015 ), ha ve an incr easing r ole to pla y not onl y in dif fusing messages but also in transforming them. Marketers ha ve capitalized on this ne w mode o f dif fusion f or messages b y dir ectly tar geting inf luenc ers who ar e par t of consumer ne tworks and c ommuni ties, which has r esulte d in the explosion | Page 27 |
5edcd0dad77c-1 | tworks and c ommuni ties, which has r esulte d in the explosion o f influenc er mar keting and the rising inf luenc e of micr o- influenc ers. The y ha ve also de velope d capaci ties, such as social media moni toring, to iden tify emer gent disc ourses on and ar ound their br ands, which some times c omple tely reinterpr et br and meanings. Introduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting | 17 | Page 27 |
7badf44840ec-0 | The increased power of consumer s in cr eating, modif ying, and diffusing messages on and ar ound br ands has le d, for example, to the cr eation o f doppelg änger brand imag es, “a famil y of dispar aging images and me anings about a br and tha t cir culate thr oughout popular cultur e” (Thompson, Rindf leisch, and Arsel 2006 ). Or , to simplif y, consumers no w cr eate alterna tive campaigns tha t tarnish the in tende d image ini tially created by br ands. Consumers using Twitter to dif fuse alterna tive br and me anings or gr oups o f consumers such as 4chan c o-opting ad vertising c ampaigns ar e examples o f this. For f irms, the incr eased role o f consumers in the cr eation and dif fusion o f messages has impor tant implic ations for value cr eation: f irms now ha ve to c onsider not onl y ho w their messages c an be amplif ied by consumers but also ho w the y could be co-opte d, reshape d, and r esiste d. Another tr ansforma tion br ought about b y the in terne t is media and audience fr agmen tation. In the 19 70s, All in the F amily was for a f ew years the top-w atche d TV sho w in the US. A t its pe ak, it was w atche d by a fifth of the popula tion. The 1980 f inale o f the hi t series Dallas was w atche d by 90 million vie wers, or mor e than 75% of the US tele vision a udienc e, while the last episode o f M*A*S*H was w atche d by 105 million pe ople . The last f inale to mak e the top 10 list was Friends , in 2004, as the adoption o f broadband in terne t accelerated. Consumers ha ve an incr easing number o f options f or me dia- base d en tertainmen t. T raditional me dia c | Page 28 |
7badf44840ec-1 | options f or me dia- base d en tertainmen t. T raditional me dia c ompanies ar e no w compe ting against user-g ener ated con tent found on social me dia websites such as I nstagr am, Fac ebook, and TikT ok. Y ounger consumers ha ve mo ved en masse to these ne w me dia, c omplic ating the cr eation o f advertising c ampaigns. M edia fr agmen tation and the rise o f interne t in the liv es of consumers has le d to the emer genc e of the c oncept o f the atten tion econom y. This is not a ne w concept. In 1971, S imon was alr eady discussing how “inf orma tion c onsumes … the a ttention o f its recipien ts,” and Bill Ga tes w as sta ting in 1996 that “content is king. ” The implic ations for dig ital mar keting had be en recogniz ed as e arly as the mid- 1990s, 18 | Introduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting | Page 28 |
99eeee3a5a64-0 | when Mandel and V an der Leun men tione d in their book Rules of the N et how “attention is the har d curr ency of the c yberspac e.” Goldhaber (199 7) would add tha t “as the N et be comes an increasing ly str ong pr esenc e in the o verall e conom y, the f low of attention will not onl y an ticipa te the f low of mone y but e ventuall y replac e it altoge ther.” This has le d to a dr astic r ethinking o f how to do mar keting online and is in trinsic ally tie d to the rise o f inbound marketing and content mar keting . To recap, a f ew de cades back, inf orma tion w as rather sc arce; people, f or the most par t, consume d inf orma tion fr om onl y a f ew sour ces, and c ompanies c ould r ather e asily tar get consumers to diffuse their ad vertising messages. N owadays, inf orma tion is plen tiful, c onsumers ar e dif fused over a lar gely fragmen ted me dia ecosystem, and i t has be come mor e dif ficult f or c ompanies to diffuse their ad vertising messages to a mass o f consumers, which can w ork against them. Tha t dif ficult y, and the de velopmen t of targeting te chnolog ies tha t ha ve transforme d ho w w e can send messages to c onsumers, ha ve led to t wo impor tant transforma tions for mar keters and ho w w e understand v alue cr eation f or consumers. Finding Consumers vs. Being F ound The f irst tr ansforma tion w as a mo vemen t away fr om finding consumer s toward being f ound by consumer s. What does this me an? If we rewind histor y, it use d to be tha t mar keters w ould “f ind” consumers: The y would use mar ket research r epor ts in or der to understand wher e consumers hung out so as to plac e ad | Page 29 |
99eeee3a5a64-1 | ts in or der to understand wher e consumers hung out so as to plac e ad vertising there, wha t the y watche d so tha t the y could run ads during their favorite sho ws, and understand their mo vemen ts in a ci ty so as to put ads and bill boar ds in the rig ht plac es. Althoug h this still func tions online— you c an “f ind” c onsumers thr ough online Introduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting | 19 | Page 29 |
633dfb08422f-0 | targeting b y placing y our ads on r elevant websites—ther e has be en an impor tant swi tch to ward consumer s finding companies . Consumers f ind c ompanies thr ough their normal e veryday searches. I n the chapter on c onsumers and their journe y, we are going to se e how finding c ompanies e xpands the se ts of brands tha t consumers c onsider bef ore making a pur chase. How does this w ork? Think o f a ne ed or a pr oblem y ou mig ht have. How do y ou usuall y go about answ ering this ne ed or r esolving this pr oblem ? Ma ybe you will ask a friend. Ma ybe y ou will go to a stor e and trust the salesperson. Or per haps, as millions o f consumers do e very da y, you will turn to the in terne t to do a se arch about y our ne ed or your pr oblem. This is how thousands of consumer s discover new brands and pr oducts ever y day! This has str ong implic ations f or digital mar keters, one o f the most impor tant being c ontent creation: In order to be f ound b y consumers, y ou ne ed to cr eate content tha t addr esses their pr oblems. This is a topic w e will e xplor e in mor e detail when discussing c ontent creation. In shor t, it use d to be tha t companies w ould f ind c onsumers and try to a ttract them to their stor es or choose their br ands thr ough traditional me dia and ad vertising. N owadays, our job has mo ved to creating c ontent tha t informs, e ducates, and en tertains c onsumers so tha t the y can find us when the y are searching f or solutions to the needs the y have or issues the y are facing. Representing the Company vs. R epresenting the Customer The se cond tr ansforma tion has be en a mo ve from r epresen ting yourself as a c ompan y to r epresen ting the customer . What | Page 30 |
633dfb08422f-1 | ting yourself as a c ompan y to r epresen ting the customer . What does this me an? It use d to be tha t, when f inding c onsumers, c ompanies w ould talk about themsel ves. T ake, for example, this ad fr om H ome Depot , 20 | Introduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting | Page 30 |
ae8e45335104-0 | which emphasiz es ho w “H ome Depot is mor e than a stor e … i t is everything under the sun … all a t a guar anteed low pric e” wher e you can sa ve on f looring and wher e the y have everything f or your ne eds. In shor t, the ad is pr esen ting the c ompan y and e xplaining wh y the compan y and i ts pr oduc t are the best choic e for the c onsumer . The ad represents the company . Represen ting the customer me ans swi tching the f ocus to consumers’ ne eds and goals and the pr oblems the y ar e experiencing—and helping c onsumers addr ess those pr oblems. Ther e ar e numer ous w ays to do so. Companies o ften cr eate resour ces, such as tutorials and inf ographics, to help c onsumers solve their pr oblems or achie ve their goals. For e xample, Nik e has develope d an e xtensiv e set of vide os to help c onsumers w ork out at home, tr ain f or running, or e at better (all of which c an be f ound on their YouTube channel ). This ob viousl y represen ts oppor tunities for Nik e to talk about their br and in e very tutorial and c onne ct with consumers, but the main goal is not to talk about ho w gr eat Nik e and i ts pr oduc ts ar e: It is to help c onsumers achie ve their goals of training, running, and e ating. I t still ser ves the c ompan y well, thoug h. W hen a c onsumer is se arching f or at-home e xercises, the y might come acr oss Nik e, consume their tutorials, and then, when i t is time to pur chase a ne w pair o f sne akers or a te e to e xercise in, be more likely to bu y from Nik e rather than a c ompe titor. Some br ands ha ve tak en this a step fur ther b y offering tutorials tied wi th pr oduc ts the y sell | Page 31 |
ae8e45335104-1 | this a step fur ther b y offering tutorials tied wi th pr oduc ts the y sell in-stor e, wi th a r eadily available shopping list f or do-i t-yourself pr ojects. H ome Depot, f or example, offers tens o f tutorials on their Y ouTube channel : This mak es sense since the home impr ovemen t stor e sells pr oduc ts for such pr ojects. By going a step fur ther and r epresen ting the ne eds of the c onsumer , Home Depot c an bring poten tial customers to their w ebsite when they want, for example, to build a f ire pit. Within these tutorials, Home Depot pr esen ts a list o f “Ma terials Y ou Will N eed,” which directly brings c onsumers to se ctions o f their w ebsites wher e the y sell such pr oduc ts. The tutorial has thus be come a gr eat resour ce to create sales! Introduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting | 21 | Page 31 |
700fa42fd884-0 | A Transforme d Consumer J ourney What is a consumer journe y? It is the e xperienc e of a c onsumer across the dif ferent stages o f their bu ying pr ocess, which then extends to phases o f relationships wi th a c ompan y. For e xample, let’s imag ine y ou w ant a ne w pair o f sne akers. Y ou mig ht have an existing pair . How sa tisfied were you wi th tha t pair? I f you w ere highly satisfied and y ou still lo ve the br and, y ou mig ht go bu y the same pair . This is par tly wh y companies tr y to build lo yal customers: to foster r epeat sales. I f you w ere unsa tisfied, this model is not available an ymor e, or y ou w ant some v ariety, you mig ht go and look for another pair o f sne akers. Y ou will then go thr ough dif ferent stages: H aving r ecogniz ed a ne ed you w ant to answ er, you will mo ve to disc over options to answ er tha t ne ed, evaluate these options, make a choic e and bu y a ne w pair o f sne akers, and then e valuate how much y ou lik e or dislik e this pair . As w e will e xplor e in the ne xt chapter , these tr ansforma tions and the ne w dig ital e cosystem in which c onsumers e volve ha ve led to a dr astic ally dif ferent way to en ter in r elationships wi th br ands: Consumers no w disc over br ands, r ather than being disc overed by them, and the y star t their r elationships wi th those br ands wi th online se arches aligne d wi th their ne eds, goals, and pr oblems. The objective of companies doing mar keting online is thus to be ther e when c onsumers ne ed them. W e will talk in the ne xt chapter about how we can c onceptualiz e such changes in tr ansforma tions in the journe | Page 32 |
700fa42fd884-1 | can c onceptualiz e such changes in tr ansforma tions in the journe y consumers tak e when bu ying pr oduc ts the y want. 22 | Introduc tion to Dig ital Mar keting | Page 32 |
04b78c23d7fa-0 | Understanding the Digital Consumer PIERRE- YANN DOLBEC Overview In this chapter , we discuss ho w dig italiza tion is tr ansforming the journe y of consumers. T o be tter understand ho w to do mar keting online, w e also c over basic mar keting tools (i.e., persona and consumer journe y) to help us cr eate dig ital mar keting c ampaigns. We conclude the se ction b y discussing journe y maps. Learning O bjectives Understand the c oncepts o f personas, journe ys, and maps, ho w to c alcula te customer lif etime v alue, and wh y it is impor tant. Understanding Consumers Thr ough Personas Ther e are two br oad appr oaches to c onduc ting mar keting: mass Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | 23 | Page 33 |
7730942f9fff-0 | marketing (i.e., an undif ferentiated appr oach wher e pr oduc ts ar e simpl y sold to the masses ) or targeted mar keting (click her e for more inf orma tion on these appr oaches ). In the la tter appr oach, firms pr actice segmen tation and tailor mar keting c ommunic ations and pr oduc ts to segmen ts. The dig ital e cosystem mak es it qui te easy to addr ess segmen ts, e ven segments of one . Althoug h it is possible to pr actice mass mar keting online, man y processes unique to dig ital mar keting, such as w eb anal ytics, A/B testing, or the use of online tar geting pla tforms, work best when f irms ha ve def ined segmen ts. For this r eason, w e are going to emphasiz e a tar geted appr oach in this c ourse. To practice tar geted mar keting, f irms use segmen tation to cr eate groups o f consumers tha t are homogene ous (i.e., the y have similar char acteristics to e ach other ) but ar e he terogene ous fr om the r est of the popula tion (i.e., the y ar e dif ferentiated by their shar ed char acteristics ). A useful tool to help cr eate and r epresen t segmen ts is personas . Personas are semi-f ictional, gener alized represen tations o f a customer segmen t. The y help y ou be tter understand y our customers ( and pr ospe ctive customers ) and mak e it easier f or you to tailor c ontent to the spe cific ne eds, beha viors, and c oncerns o f different segmen ts. 24 | Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | Page 34 |
a90db03ab39c-0 | Figur e 2.1 P ersona Personas ar e impor tant because the y help y ou understand who y our ideal consumers ar e, wha t their char acteristics ar e, and ho w to talk to them. The ne eds, desir es, and pr oblems o f your personas (or segmen ts mor e gener ally) should be the star ting poin t of any marketing str ategy. As a r eminder fr om chapter 1, our goal as marketers is to cr eate value, and in dig ital mar keting c ampaigns, we create value b y representing the customer . The onl y possible w ay to do so is to understand who this customer is and wha t the y need. Personas c an assist in a wide v ariety of mar keting ac tivities, from cr eating c ampaigns and ads to guiding pr oduc t and ser vice developmen t to helping wi th customer suppor t. W e will se e ho w shor tly. Firms de velop personas the same w ay the y de velop segmen ts: through mar ket research and the use o f internal da ta. Firms Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | 25 | Page 35 |
819853d81aa9-0 | typically segmen t consumers base d on their beha viors ( which ar e also no w tr ackable online!), demogr aphics, lif estyles, or psychogr aphics ( see Figur e 2.2 for a brief summar y or, for a te xt description o f the f igure contents, click her e). Figur e 2.2 Types of Segmentation / Fr om Univer sity of M innesota’ s Principles of M arketing / Text Description Segmen ting base d on these v ariables is hig hly useful f or inf orming online tar geting str ategies. For e xample, on the Fac ebook Ads platform, y ou c an e asily sele ct to deliv er an ad to pe ople age d between 18 and 25 y ears old living wi thin a kilome ter o f Mile End who lik e cycling. However, these v ariables ar e less inf orma tive concerning ho w to talk to these c onsumers. For this r eason, w e emphasiz e the impor tanc e of interse cting segmen ts wi th their goals, w ants, ne eds and motiv ators and the challenges the y fac e. In her book Introduction to Consumer Behaviour , Andr ea Niosi explains these as f ollows: A goal is the c ogni tive represen tation o f a desir ed sta te, or , in other w ords, our men tal ide a of ho w w e’d lik e things to turn out (Fishbach & Fer guson 200 7; Krug lanski, 1996 ). This desir ed end state of a goal c an be cle arly def ined (e.g., stepping on the surfac e of Mars ), or i t can be mor e abstr act and r epresen t a sta te tha t is ne ver full y comple ted (e.g., 26 | Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | Page 36 |
f84deb8d7844-0 | eating he althy). Under lying all o f these goals, thoug h, is moti vation, or the psy cholog ical driving f orce tha t enables ac tion in the pursui t of tha t goal (Le win, 1935). Motivation c an stem fr om t wo plac es. First, i t can c ome from the benef its associa ted wi th the pr ocess o f pursuing a goal ( intrinsic moti vation). For e xample, y ou mig ht be driven b y the desir e to ha ve a fulf illing e xperienc e while working on y our Mars mission. Se cond, motiv ation c an also come fr om the benef its associa ted wi th achie ving a goal (extrinsic moti vation), such as the fame and f ortune tha t come wi th being the f irst person on Mars (De ci & R yan, 1985). One e asy w ay to c onsider in trinsic and e xtrinsic motiv ation is thr ough the e yes o f a studen t. Does the studen t work har d on assignmen ts be cause the ac t of learning is ple asing ( intrinsic motivation )? Or does the studen t work har d to ge t good gr ades, which will help land a good job ( extrinsic motivation )? Consumer beha vior c an be thoug ht of as the c ombina tion of efforts and r esults r elated to the c onsumer’ s need to sol ve problems. Consumer pr oblem sol ving is trigger ed by the iden tification o f some unmet need . A famil y consumes all o f the milk in the house; or the tir es on the famil y car w ear out; or the bo wling te am is planning an end-o f-the-se ason picnic: these pr esen t consumers wi th a pr oblem which must be sol ved. Pr oblems c an be vie wed in terms o f two types o f needs: ph ysical (such as a ne ed for food) or psy cholog ical (for example, the ne ed to be ac cepte d | Page 37 |
f84deb8d7844-1 | or psy cholog ical (for example, the ne ed to be ac cepte d by others ). Althoug h the dif ference is a subtle one, ther e is some benef it in distinguishing be tween ne eds and w ants. A need is a basic def icienc y given a par ticular essen tial i tem. You ne ed food, w ater, air, security, and so f orth. A want is placing c ertain personal cri teria as to ho w tha t need must be fulf illed. Ther efore, when w e are hungr y, we often ha ve a spe cific food i tem in mind. Conse quen tly, a te enager will Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | 27 | Page 37 |
99376f1f10c7-0 | lamen t to a frustr ated par ent tha t ther e is nothing to e at, standing in fr ont of a full r efriger ator. Most o f mar keting is in the w ant-fulf illing business, not the ne ed-fulf illing business. Apple does not w ant you to buy just an y watch; the y want you to w ant to bu y an Apple Watch. Lik ewise, Ralph L auren w ants you to w ant Polo when you shop f or clothes. On the other hand, a non-pr ofit such as the Americ an Canc er Associa tion w ould lik e you to f eel a need for a che ck-up and does not c are about which doc tor you go to. I n the end, ho wever, mar keting is mostl y interested in cr eating and sa tisfying w ants. Often discussion ar ound ne eds will separ ate them in to those which ar e utilitarian (practical and useful in natur e) and hedonic (luxurious or desir able in natur e). To this list, w e add the notion o f challeng es, by which w e me an an obstacle fac ed by a c onsumer in r esolving a ne ed or fulf illing a w ant. This is impor tant because c onsumers turn to the in terne t every day to help them answ er challenges the y fac e in their e veryday liv es, whether i t is ho w to change a tir e, ho w to ha ve the perf ect Frida y night mak eup, or ho w to pain t a r oom. R esolving challenges driv es the c onsumption o f online c ontent. Hence, when cr eating a persona, y ou cr eate a semi-f ictional represen tation o f a segmen t by bring ing toge ther the f ollowing informa tion: • Basic beha vioral, demogr aphic, ge ographic, and psy chogr aphic informa tion to facili tate tar geting • Needs and /or w ants and /or goals and /or challenges to facili tate | Page 38 |
99376f1f10c7-1 | Needs and /or w ants and /or goals and /or challenges to facili tate the cr eation o f your c ampaign • Informa tion tha t mak es your persona f eel real, such as ◦ a pic ture ◦ a quote fr om an in terview wi th a r eal consumer ◦ a name ◦ examples o f “real” pr oblems 28 | Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | Page 38 |
c647186332ae-0 | Take the e xample o f RV Be tty (Figur e 2.3 , text here). Figur e 2.3 R V Betty / Cr edit: B BH Singapor e (@bbh_singapor e) / Text Description Can y ou f ind the inf orma tion men tione d abo ve in this shor t persona ? Rethinking the Consumer J ourney A consumer journe y is the tr ajectory of experienc es thr ough which a consumer goes: fr om not kno wing the y want some thing, to bu ying this some thing, to perf orming post-pur chase ac tivities ( the most obvious being c onsuming the pr oduc t). Put mor e the oretically, the consumer journe y is “ an i terative pr ocess thr ough which the consumer beg ins to c onsider alterna tives to sa tisfy a w ant or a need, evaluates and chooses among them, and then engages in consumption ” (Hamilton e t al. 2019 ). The journe y is c ompose d of pre-pur chase ac tivities, tha t is, ac tivities c onsumers engage in prior to bu ying a pr oduc t; pur chase ac tivities, or wha t pe ople do to acquire a pr oduc t; and post-pur chase ac tivities, or wha t consumers do onc e the y have boug ht a pr oduc t (Lemon and V erhoef 2016 ). As a side note, w e mak e a distinc tion in this c ourse be tween Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | 29 | Page 39 |
a9158b4ca7d0-0 | customer journe y, which w ould f ocus on the journe y of a customer with a spe cific firm and w ould include, f or e xample, touchpoin ts solel y associa ted wi th tha t firm, and c onsumer journe y, which is a br oader perspe ctive on c onsumers who “ under take [a journe y] in pursui t of large and small lif e goals and in r esponse to v arious oppor tunities, obstacles, and challenges” ( Hamilton and Pric e 2019 , p. 187 ). By touch poin t, I me an “any way a c onsumer c an in teract with a business, whe ther i t be person-to-person, thr ough a w ebsite, an app or an y form o f communic ation” (Wikipe dia). Understanding the c onsumer journe y is impor tant because doing so str ongly contributes to f irm perf ormanc e. For e xample, a sur vey by the Associa tion o f National Ad vertisers in 2015 f ound tha t top performers in a mar ket understood the journe y be tter than their peers and had be tter pr ocesses to c aptur e journe y-related insig hts and use them in their mar keting ef forts (McKinse y 2015 ). The journe y varies gr eatly depending on which mar ket a f irm evolves in. I t also v aries depending on personas and their spe cific goals. For e xample, a sur vey by Goog le found tha t some mar kets, such as banking, v oting, and f inding a cr edit card, will t ypically have a longer journe y than others, such as gr oceries or personal c are produc ts. V ariation also e xists wi thin mar kets. For e xample. Goog le found thr ee types o f journe ys for restaurants: one wher e consumers pick a r estaurant within the hour , one wher e consumers pick a restaurant a da y bef ore going, and a last one wher e consumers pick | Page 40 |
a9158b4ca7d0-1 | a restaurant a da y bef ore going, and a last one wher e consumers pick restaurants two to thr ee mon ths bef ore going. Can y ou think o f wha t these r elate to ? We can h ypothesiz e: If you’re at work and looking f or a plac e to ha ve lunch, chanc es ar e, you w on’t de dicate much time to i t and will pick a r estaurant within the hour bef ore going. I f you ar e going out wi th friends or a Tinder da te, y ou mig ht be a bi t mor e involved in the pr ocess and pick the r estaurant one or t wo da ys before. Lastly, if y ou ar e going to tr avel (and ar e a f oodie!) or y ou want to mak e a marriage pr oposal, this will r equire mor e planning, and y ou mig ht star t your journe y much, much e arlier. This also has implic ations f or restaurants! Some r estaurants who c ater to 30 | Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | Page 40 |
fa2bf6546a2b-0 | downtown lunchers mig ht be be tter o ff pushing I nstagr am ads wi th the menu o f the da y, or some dail y sale, ar ound 11 a.m. or just before lunch. R estaurants catering to gr oups or da tes mig ht want to star t campaigns on W ednesda ys to c aptur e Frida y and Sa turday restaurant-goers. And r estaurants tha t target the marriage pr oposal or f oodie cr owds mig ht ne ed longer , “always-on ” continuous marketing ac tivities to bring in pa trons. Understanding Consumer J ourneys Our understanding o f consumer journe ys has gr eatly evolved over the last t wo de cades, and ther e exist a number o f ways to conceptualiz e journe ys. It is impor tant to understand tha t these ar e not perf ect represen tations o f reality. Rather, the y are thinking tools that help us cr eate mar keting c ampaigns. I n real lif e, pe ople tend not to be so line ar in their de cisions. A common c onceptualiza tion f ound in mar keting te xtbooks is one wher e consumers mo ve be tween dif ferent stages, ini tially being aware of a lar ge number o f brands and then slo wly refining their understanding o f the options in the mar ket to mak e their pur chase. McKinse y represen ts such a t ypical model her e (Figur e 2.4 ). In this model, the c onsumer goes through five stages : 1. Awareness: the c onsumer is a ware of a lar ge number o f produc ts or br ands in the mar ket tha t mig ht help addr ess their need. 2. Familiari ty: Fr om this lar ge number o f brands or pr oduc ts the y are aware of, the c onsumer will perf orm some ini tial r esearch and be come familiar wi th a subse t of brands. 3. Consider ation: Fr om this smaller number o f familiar br ands, the c onsumer will c ontinue their r esearch | Page 41 |
fa2bf6546a2b-1 | o f familiar br ands, the c onsumer will c ontinue their r esearch ef forts, elimina te some br ands tha t do not f it their cri teria, and narr ow their list to a smaller number o f consider ed brands (i.e., a “ consider ation Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | 31 | Page 41 |
49cd6a31b0f7-0 | set”). 4. Purchase: Onc e ready to bu y, the c onsumer mig ht try out a produc t or se ek in-depth inf orma tion on an e ven smaller subse t base d on their c onsider ation se t, from which the y will purchase a pr oduc t or choose a br and. 5. Loyalty: Assuming their c onsumption e xperienc e goes w ell, the consumer ma y become lo yal to the pr oduc t or the br and. Figur e 2.4 Consumer J ourney: The Funnel M odel This understanding o f the journe y is base d on a funnel model , wher e consumers star t by being a ware of a lar ge number o f brands and, o ver time, r educe their options as the y go thr ough each o f the stages. This has a number o f implic ations f or mar keters. A first c entral assumption is tha t, to ultima tely be chosen b y consumers, c ompanies ne ed to mak e sur e tha t consumers ar e aware of them. This par tly helps e xplain the pr evalenc e of mass mar keting: it ser ves to cr eate awareness. A second c entral assumption is tha t consumers star t with a lar ge set of brands tha t the y are aware of and r educe this se t over time to a smaller and smaller se t of brands as the y search for and e valuate options. McKinse y in troduc ed in 2009 a c ompe ting model f or the 32 | Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | Page 42 |
a9e5a5019dc0-0 | consumer journe y, base d on the pur chase de cisions o f close to 20,000 c onsumers acr oss f ive industries. The y found tha t these t wo assumptions did not hold: First, c onsumers do not star t with a lar ge set of brands the y are aware of. Se cond, c onsumers do not r educe their options as the y go thr ough the stages o f the funnel. Ra ther, the number o f options the y consider incr eases thr oughout their journe y. If you think o f some r ecent pur chases y ou made, this mak es sense. Let’s say I w ant a pair o f running shoes. I mig ht be a ware of some brands and models, pr obabl y the ones tha t do the most mass advertising: Nik e, Adidas, R eebok. Then, I turn to the in terne t to perform some se arches. I’ll use gener al key terms lik e “wha t running shoes should a beg inner ge t” or “ reviews for running shoes 20 20.” Through my search ef forts, I will enc ounter ne w br ands I had not consider ed orig inally, for example, Asics, B rooks, and Sa ucony. In this e xample, r ather than f ollowing the funnel me taphor , wher e the se t of brands I w as aware of reduced to a smaller se t of familiar brands and an e ven smaller se t of consider ed brands, I added brands to m y consider ation se t. This has impor tant implic ations f or dig ital mar keters: First, traditional, push, mass mar keting me dia activities ar e not ne cessar y. Second, as c onsumers do r esearch, the y broaden the se t of produc ts or br ands the y consider . We will se e ho w this has le d to the r apid growth o f inbound mar keting activities tha t help c onsumers wi th their pr oblems and help c onsumers e valuate their options. This is be cause br ands no w understand tha | Page 43 |
a9e5a5019dc0-1 | e valuate their options. This is be cause br ands no w understand tha t by suppor ting c onsumers throughout their journe y, the y can en ter c onsumers’ c onsider ation set and ultima tely mak e a sale. McKinse y thus pr oposes a c ompe ting model, a circular model for the c onsumer journe y. The model is cir cular be cause c onsumers enter a lo yalty loop wher e the y cycle be tween using a pr oduc t or brand, bu ying this pr oduc t or br and again, par ticipa ting in post- purchase ac tivities, and so on. The M cKinse y model has the following stages ( also depic ted in Figur e 2.5 ): Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | 33 | Page 43 |
ba4cd10bb000-0 | Figur e 2.5 Consumer J ourney: The Cir cular M odel 1. Trigger: The c onsumer e xperienc es a ne ed, a pr oblem, or wants to achie ve a goal, which ini tiates their journe y 2. Initial consider ation set : The c onsumer c onsiders an ini tial se t of brands base d on their e xperienc es, br and per ceptions, and exposur e to r ecent touchpoin ts. For the ini tial c onsider ation set, the most inf luen tial touchpoin t is c ompan y-driv en marketing, such as ad vertising, dir ect mar keting, sponsorship, and the lik e. Se e a graphic r epresen tation her e. 3. Active evalua tion: This is a ne w stage in troduc ed by McKinse y. At this stage, the c onsumer ac tively evaluates their options through inf orma tion ga thering and shopping. Of ten, consumers will do their inf orma tion ga thering online. I t is a t this stage tha t consumers add brands to their c onsider ation set. We are not in a funnel model an ymor e. This is the f irst 34 | Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | Page 44 |
2c66bee83b0e-0 | difference impor tant to dig ital mar keters: I t me ans w e can enter c onsumers’ c onsider ation se t without ha ving to c onduc t awareness-gener ating c ampaigns. I f we help c onsumers mak e their de cisions, or if w e have reviews online, f or example, w e can be c onsider ed by them. M cKinse y finds tha t the most influen tial touchpoin t for this stage is c onsumer -driv en marketing, such as w ord of mouth, the inf orma tion f ound during online se arches, and r eviews. 4. Momen t of pur chase : The c onsumer sele cts a br and and mak e a pur chase. 5. Post-pur chase experience : After pur chasing a pr oduc t or a service, the c onsumer builds e xpectations base d on their experienc e. This will inf orm the lo yalty loop. A se cond impor tant difference from the funnel journe y happens a t this stage: Consumers star t creating c ontent for br ands (i.e., the “consumer -driv en mar keting” ef forts I r efer to in stage ‘3’). Think about pr oduc ts or ser vices you boug ht recently: Ma ybe you poste d a pic ture about i t on I nstagr am, maybe y ou wr ote a review on Y elp!, or ma ybe y ou par ticipa ted in some compan y- suppor ted mar keting ac tivities. These t wo impor tant revisions to the journe y—the e xpansion o f the c onsider ation se t during ac tive evaluation and the impor tanc e of consumers par ticipa ting in c onsumer -driv en mar keting a t the post-pur chase stage—open up man y content-base d possibili ties f or digital mar keters. As w e’ve discusse d, our goal in dig ital mar keting is to represent the customer: What are their ne eds? Goals? Pr oblems? How can w | Page 45 |
2c66bee83b0e-1 | represent the customer: What are their ne eds? Goals? Pr oblems? How can w e suppor t them in addr essing these ? Our obje ctives ar e not to sell pr oduc ts or talk about our br and. Ra ther, we will se e tha t we mak e sales online b y suppor ting c onsumers thr oughout their journe y—helping them understand their pr oblem, helping them evaluate solutions, helping them be tter understand our pr oduc t. Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | 35 | Page 45 |
406e3309187a-0 | Zero Moment of T ruth In an e xample o f great content mar keting f or themsel ves (i.e., this concept helps sell Goog le pr oduc ts!), Goog le in troduc ed in 2011 the concept o f zero momen t of tru th (ZM OT), “a new de cision-making momen t tha t tak es plac e a hundr ed million times a da y on mobile phones, laptops, and wir ed de vices of all kinds … tha t momen t when you gr ab y our laptop, mobile phone, or some other wir ed de vice and star t learning about a pr oduc t or ser vice (or poten tial bo yfriend) you’re thinking about tr ying or bu ying. ” It turns out to be qui te a useful c oncept to think about ho w consumers mak e pur chases in the dig ital er a. Figur e 2.6 ZM OT A momen t of tru th is a c ontact with a br and or a pr oduc t during which a c onsumer f orms an impr ession ( Carlzon 198 9). T o understand the ZM OT, it is impor tant to c ontextualiz e it historic ally. Why is i t called the “ zero” momen t of truth ? Qui te simpl y, prior to Goog le in troducing this c oncept, ther e were alr eady two momen ts of truth ( Figur e 2.6): • First momen t of tru th: When a shopper notic es a pr oduc t in a 36 | Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | Page 46 |
9dea50443213-0 | shopping en vironmen t which inf luenc es their bu ying de cision. • Second momen t of tru th: When a c onsumer e xperienc es a produc t following their pur chase de cision. The ZM OT is the momen t of truth—the c ontext be tween a c onsumer and a br and—tha t happens prior to a shopper noticing a pr oduc t in a shopping en vironmen t. Concr etely, ZM OT “momen ts” c ould appe ar while • performing online se arches, • talking wi th famil y and friends, • comparison shopping, • seeking inf orma tion fr om a br and, • reading pr oduc t reviews, • reading c ommen ts online, or • starting to f ollow a br and. In contrast, the f irst momen ts of truth happen while • looking a t a pr oduc t on a shelf, • reading a br ochur e at the stor e, • talking to a salesperson, • looking a t a stor e displa y, • talking wi th a customer ser vice represen tative, or • using a sample in-stor e. According to Goog le, the essen tial char acteristics o f ZM OTs are that the y happen online, when the c onsumer is in char ge (and this relates to inbound mar keting), and during multi way conversations. To capitalize on ZM OTs, Goog le recommends being pr esen t in momen ts tha t ma tter. By this, the mar keting juggerna ut me ans tha t you should ha ve content and ads tha t respond to the ne eds, problems, and goals tha t consumers ar e typing in the f orm o f search queries in a se arch eng ine. All o f this r equires, as y ou mig ht have guesse d by no w, a de ep understanding o f your c onsumers and their journe ys. Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | 37 | Page 47 |
3221a29a5717-0 | Goog le iden tifies four ZM OTs and brief ly explain ho w these interact with journe ys her e. The f our t ypes, also sho wn in Figur e 2.7, are the f ollowing: • I-want-to-kno w momen ts, wher e consumers turn to a se arch engine f or a kno wledge-base d quer y • I-want-to-g o momen ts, when c onsumers turn to se arch to go some wher e (e.g., “ restaurant near me ”) • I-want-to-do momen ts, when c onsumers w ant help to achie ve some thing (Fun fac t! For a while ther e, the most se arched ‘how-to’ vide o was ‘ho w to kiss. ’ Now, isn’t tha t sweet!) • I-want-to-bu y momen ts, when c onsumers turn to se arch to help them mak e a pur chase Figur e 2.7 Four Types of ZM OT These ar e impor tant conceptual tools. The y represen t oppor tunities for companies online to cr eate content. These ar e not simpl y ways to understand ho w consumers use se arch eng ines and in teract online. Ra ther, the y are tools to help us cr eate be tter c ontent. What kind o f content would y ou cr eate for these f our dif ferent ZM OTs? 38 | Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | Page 48 |
40b5c9c6c9f0-0 | Journey Mapping Now tha t we ha ve the v ocabular y for these c oncepts, i t’s time to turn our a ttention to using them in pr actice. The journe ys and ZMOTs are generic w ays to understand ho w consumers go about buying pr oduc ts. Kno wing ho w consumers c onceptuall y mo ve from a trigger to making a pur chase to be coming lo yal to a br and or produc t mig ht be in teresting in i tself, but i t is much mor e useful if we can ac tuall y use this in r eal-lif e campaigns. Ef fective str ategies demand a tailor ed understanding. W e cannot sta y at a c onceptual level. W e ne ed to tr ansla te them to r eal-lif e experienc es. T o do so, we can perf orm journey mapping . A journe y map is a visual r epresen tation o f the journe y of a consumer . It brings toge ther the c onceptual tools w e ha ve seen in this chapter: persona, c onsumer journe y, and momen ts of truth. Journe y maps v ary base d on segmen ts/personas. Each persona represen ts a dif ferent consumer segmen t. These segmen ts will go about bu ying pr oduc ts dif ferently. Think about, f or example, ho w you go about bu ying pr oduc ts and ho w your par ents go about buying pr oduc ts. Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | 39 | Page 49 |
dcf1a1a959d0-0 | Figur e 2.8 J ourney M apping / A dapted fr om nngr oup.com Journe y maps e xist in a wide r ange o f shapes and f orms . The y all, however, shar e some c ommon elemen ts: • the persona • conceptual stages fr om a journe y (e.g., trigger , active evaluation, pur chase, and post-pur chase; or a wareness, consider ation, pur chase, and lo yalty) • concr ete ac tions c onsumers tak e at each o f these stages • touchpoin ts tha t the y enc ounter (in this c ourse, I str ongly encourage y ou to include y ours and those o f others, i.e., this is a consumer journe y, you should be thinking mor e broadly than only your f irm) • oppor tunities associa ted with the af oremen tione d actions 40 | Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | Page 50 |
da1180e7a1cc-0 | This page pr esen ts a cle ar example o f this kind o f journe y templa te. Journe y maps ar e useful. The y help y ou understand ho w consumers mo ve thr ough their journe ys to addr ess their ne eds and pr oblems. Each ac tion the y tak e represen ts an oppor tunity for y our br and to cr eate a c onne ction wi th a c onsumer . A cle ar understanding o f the c oncr ete steps tha t consumers tak e to bu y produc ts should be the star ting poin t of the cr eation o f your marketing c ampaigns. W hat do c onsumers do a t the a wareness stage ? How can y our br and suppor t their ac tions? Do c onsumers search f or spe cific things? W hat about a t the ac tive evaluation stage ? In the ne xt chapter , we examine ho w firms c an posi tion websites on spe cific se arches. This will help cr eate a bridge between wha t consumers ar e doing online and ho w we can answ er their se arch queries. Exer cises How to U se a P ersona Let’s tak e as an e xample the f ollowing persona, “R V Betty”: Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | 41 | Page 51 |
cf9a7df6680e-0 | Betty lives in a suburb o f a ci ty. Her husband is also retired. The y have been talking about tr aveling in an R V upon r etiremen t for years—this is a long-time dr eam o f theirs. The kids ar e self -sufficien t and ha ve been out o f the house f or long enoug h tha t Betty doesn ’t have to w orry. She’s been retired just long enoug h to be bor ed. W hile she doesn ’t consider herself w ealthy, she and her husband ha ve substan tial sa vings and ar e prepar ed to en joy their retiremen t. Betty is w orrie d about the log istics of tr aveling in an RV—how easy will i t be to f ind utili ty hookups, wher e are the best plac es to sta y if y ou ha ve one, e tc. She also w ants some thing c omfortable; she plans on spending a lot o f time in it. She has other r etired friends, so she w ants addi tional sleeping spac e, and she w ants to mak e sur e the y have plen ty of room f or food and e ven cooking. She w ants as much e ase as possible when tr aveling. Base d on this persona, brief ly sketch thr ee pie ces of 42 | Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | Page 52 |
06f5dcee47f3-0 | content. More precisel y, concentrate on the gener al ide a of what this pie ce of content would be about and dr aft the following: 1. a first pie ce tha t addr esses a pr oblem or a ne ed she is facing 2. a second pie ce tha t helps her e valuate her options 3. a last pie ce tha t sells y our pr oduc t Tip: Make sur e tha t your thr ee pie ces of content directly addr ess the R V Be tty persona! Creating a P ersona Sketch up a persona f or a M ontreal real esta te compan y specializing in first-time house bu yers. T o do so, • iden tify a few sociodemogr aphic char acteristics (e.g., age and r evenue ), and • find one gener al ne ed or pr oblem the y are facing. Tip: Ask y ourself wh y these pe ople would need a house. For e xample, y ou mig ht ask y ourself the f ollowing questions: • Why would pe ople mo ve to a house in M ontreal? • Are ther e dif ferent groups o f first-time house buyers? W hat differentiates them ? Which one ar e you concentrating on ? • Is ther e one ne ed or pr oblem tha t uni tes tha t group? Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | 43 | Page 53 |
436cf2d6a6cf-0 | Moving Fr om P ersona to J ourney Map • Sketch a journe y map f or your r eal esta te persona using the f ollowing journe y stages: ◦ awareness ◦ consider ation ◦ purchase ◦ post-pur chase • Identify two concr ete ac tivities tha t your persona is engag ing in f or each stage • Identify two touchpoin ts tha t your persona is coming in to contact with for each stage • Identify one oppor tunity for your c ompan y per activity 44 | Understanding the Dig ital Consumer | Page 54 |
a1e001f8065b-0 | Planning for a Digital Mark eting Campaign PIERRE- YANN DOLBEC Overview In this chapter , we discuss ho w to use k eywords to cr eate pages and c ontent tha t respond to c onsumers’ ne eds and goals and ho w keywords c an help us understand ho w our c ompe titors ar e positione d online. W e star t wi th a brief in troduc tion to sear ch engine optimiza tion (SEO) and wh y SEO is impor tant online. W e then turn our a ttention to r anking fac tors in or der to emphasiz e why designing pages f or pe ople, b y keeping pe ople ’s needs and goals in mind is wha t mak es pages r ank hig h. W e then c over customer - related, firm-r elated, and c ompe titor-related implic ations o f SEO . Learning O bjectives Understand SEO and k eywords, and wh y the y ma tter for your f irm, f or consumers, and f or compe titor anal ysis. Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | 45 | Page 55 |
631606f212ec-0 | SEO SEO is “the pr ocess o f affecting the online visibili ty of a w ebsite or a webpage in a w eb se arch eng ine’s unpaid r esults” ( Wikipe dia). This differentiates SEO fr om the use o f paid ads in or der to appe ar at the top o f search eng ine r esult pages ( SERP s). Take the f ollowing t wo screenshots, f or example ( Figur e 3.1). On the lef t-hand side, w e have paid r esults tha t appe ar at the top o f the SERP be cause the c ompan y has bid on c ertain k eywords use d in a se arch quer y (in this instanc e, “car rental mon treal”). On the rig ht-hand side, w e ha ve or ganic search results tha t appe ar be cause the c ompan y has pr acticed SEO on similar k eywords. I n other w ords, the y ha ve optimiz ed certain pages o f their w ebsites to maximiz e the chanc es tha t these pages would r ank hig h when pe ople se arch for spe cific keywords (e.g., “ car rental mon treal”). Figur e 3.1 P aid vs. Or ganic Sear ch 46 | Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | Page 56 |
3defefc3fb1b-0 | Why is SEO Important? People use k eywords to in teract wi th c ontent online, and most online e xperienc es star t with a se arch (Forbes 2017 ). As w e will soon see, pe ople turn to se arch eng ines f or a wide v ariety of reasons, and these r easons pr ovide oppor tunities f or your f irm to sho w up when people ar e searching f or some thing. Ranking hig h in se arch eng ines also c onfers a c ompe titive advantage. I n 2015, the f irst spot on Goog le received 35% o f the traffic for a spe cific se arch. M ore than 50% o f the tr affic w ent to results loc ated on the f irst r esult page ( Advanced Web Ranking 2015). Se arch ma tters f or ph ysical stor es, too, and loc al se arches lead 76% o f mobile visi tors to visi t stor es wi thin the da y. Of those visits, 28% r esulte d in a pur chase ( Goog le 2016 ). SEO also ma tters because most pe ople ignor e paid ads ( User Cen tric 2011 ). Cle arly, ranking hig h can benef it a firm: Being w ell ranked provides a cle ar advantage o ver compe titors. In or der to understand ho w to r ank hig h, it is impor tant to understand ho w Goog le works. Le t’s watch the f ollowing vide o from Goog le: Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | 47 | Page 57 |
cdf4b05b3d31-0 | A YouTube element has been e xcluded fr om this ver sion of the text. You can view it online her e: https:/ /opente xtbooks. concor dia.ca/digitalmar keting/?p=314 So, How D o You Rank High? The main job o f a se arch eng ine is to ser ve results tha t best addr ess people ’s search queries. Le t’s say you w ant to kno w ho w to cle an your c at. You ha ve questions such as wha t kind o f soap to use, ho w warm the temper ature should be, and ho w you should w ash their paws. Y ou c an turn to a se arch eng ine to answ er these questions. People turn to se arch eng ines and use sear ch queries , the “ quer y base d on a spe cific se arch term tha t a user en ters in to a w eb se arch engine to sa tisfy their inf orma tion ne eds” ( Wikipe dia). For e xample, you mig ht turn to Goog le and t ype in “ho w to ba the m y cat,” “easiest way to w ash m y cat,” “wash a c at,” or “ cat wash soap. ” We will use the term keyword to talk about the k ey terms pe ople 48 | Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | Page 58 |
9fc84cf9860b-0 | use in se arch queries. K eywords ar e central for dig ital mar keters. They are wha t we use to both talk to se arch eng ines in or der to ‘tell’ them wha t search quer y a spe cific w ebpage is suppose d to respond to ( and w e are going to se e shor tly ho w to do so ), but it is also wha t we use to talk to c onsumers and mak e sur e our webpage sho ws up when the y search for some thing. K eywords link consumers’ se arch queries and whe ther or not our w ebpages sho w up when the y search for some thing spe cific. It is thus impor tant for us to think ahe ad when cr eating pages about what ar e the k eywor ds and sear ch queries this webpage answer s? The se arch queries abo ve all use slig htly dif ferent keywords, which mig ht indic ate tha t the y are looking f or slig htly dif ferent things: the f irst user se ems to w ant a tutorial, the se cond an e asy way to w ash a c at, the thir d is r ather undef ined, and the last one is more spe cifically focuse d on soap. As a r esult, se arch eng ines will deliv er slig htly dif ferent result to best addr ess wha t the y think the person w ants in terms o f inf orma tion (i.e., wha t exactly the y are looking f or). The r ole o f search eng ines is thus to deliv er the best r esult possible f or pe ople who ar e making a spe cific se arch. Thus, in or der to rank hig h in se arch eng ines, y ou ne ed to create pages that best answer specific sear ch queries. You do so b y creating spe cific pages f or spe cific se arch queries. Each page should ha ve content tha t best ma tches tha t quer y and keywords tha t are, ide ally, perf ectly aligne d wi th the quer y you belie ve pe ople will be | Page 59 |
9fc84cf9860b-1 | perf ectly aligne d wi th the quer y you belie ve pe ople will be making. This r eflects the impor tanc e of represen ting ( and understanding) the customer; y our pages ne ed to addr ess questions, ne eds, w ants, and challenges tha t people ha ve. In addi tion, y ou should ide ally wri te about topics y ou ar e knowledgeable about ( or an e xper t in), on which y our si te has authori ty, and y our inf orma tion should be honest, ac curate, and trust worthy. This is summariz ed in the EAT acr onym (exper t, authori tative, and trust worthy). Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | 49 | Page 59 |
60a33474af50-0 | Understanding Se arch Alg orithms to Rank High As sho wn b y the vide o explaining ho w Goog le w orks, ther e ar e more than 200 v ariables tha t are tak en in to ac count when r anking websites. Some o f them, thoug h, are mor e impor tant than others . Namel y, we can iden tify thr ee broad c ategories o f hig hly impor tant ranking fac tors ( Figur e 3.2 ): • User e xperienc e ◦ Direct visi ts ◦ Time on si te ◦ Page per session ◦ Bounc e rate • Backlinks ◦ Total r eferring domains ◦ Total r eferring IP s ◦ Total f ollow-backlinks • Keywords ◦ Keywords in anchor , bod y, densi ty, in total, in me ta Note: A backlink is a link back to your website fr om another domain. For e xample, www .other site.com has a link somewher e on their website that links to www .your site.com. 50 | Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | Page 60 |
1f2ff00eb88f-0 | Figur e 3.2 T op Ranking F actor s Search eng ines use these thr ee broad t ypes o f fac tors be cause the y are trying to e valuate questions such as “For a spe cific se arch quer y, which w ebsite should I sho w first? W hich should I sho w se cond?” Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | 51 | Page 61 |
d08cfd16649f-0 | And so on. Again, as a r eminder , the goal o f a se arch eng ine is to show websites in the or der i t belie ves will best answ er the se arch quer y. As pr esen ted in the vide o, the r ole o f search eng ines is to make users happ y: If you c an e asily and r apidl y find an answ er to what you ar e looking f or, you will c ontinue to use this se arch eng ine. Your job, as a dig ital mar keter, is thus to cr eate pages tha t best answ er the ne eds pe ople ha ve when the y formula te spe cific se arch queries. This is the k ey gener al ide a behind SEO . But se arch eng ines c annot r ead the whole w eb to e valuate ho w well a w ebpage answ ers a se arch quer y. Ra ther, the y base themsel ves on a se t of variables to r ank w ebpages. W ebpages ar e ranked for each and e very independen t search quer y. Let’s look a t these thr ee sets of fac tors one b y one to understand how this af fects our w ork as dig ital mar keters. User Experienc e The f irst and most impor tant se t of fac tors r elate to user experience , or “a person ’s per ceptions and r esponses tha t result from the use or an ticipa ted use o f a pr oduc t, system or ser vice” (ISO 92 41-210, 2010 ). Put in v ery simple terms: Do y our visi tors lik e the e xperienc e of your page, and does i t me et their e xpectations? Since we are looking a t ranking pages, w e can se e expectations as answ ering the ne ed associa ted wi th the se arch pe ople ar e doing. Hence, this f irst se t of fac tors, c oncerning user e xperienc e, relate to whe ther or not y our page answ ers the se arch tha t people ar e making and whe | Page 62 |
d08cfd16649f-1 | or not y our page answ ers the se arch tha t people ar e making and whe ther i t does so in a w ay tha t is en joyable f or visi tors. This is a crucial elemen t in understanding SEO: W e ar e not optimizing pages f or the sak e of optimizing pages. W e ar e optimizing pages in or der to answ er spe cific se arch queries made by people. Optimizing a page should thus be about cr eating the best page possible to answ er a spe cific se arch quer y. We should optimiz e pages wi th users in mind. 52 | Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | Page 62 |
af4ccc9ce7d6-0 | This appr oach mak es sense if w e look a t the spe cific fac tors above. Dir ect visi ts me an tha t people click on y our link when the y are on the SERP . We can optimiz e our page to maximiz e site visi ts by creating page ti tles and meta descriptions that inci te pe ople to click on our links. Le t’s look a t the scr eenshot in Figur e 3.3 , which sho ws a result f or the se arch “ho w to ba the m y cat.” Figur e 3.3 H ow M eta T ags A re Displayed on Google SERPs If, as a user , I am se arching f or “ho w to ba the m y cat,” my goal is to find inf orma tion tha t will help me achie ve this task. As a w ebsite owner ( and per haps, a br and tha t sells ba th pr oduc ts for cats), your objective is to pr ovide me wi th a page tha t will help me achie ve my goal. B y doing so, y ou ar e creating v alue in m y life. Later, when we introduc e conversion-base d mar keting, we will discuss ho w this type o f value cr eation—o ffering fr ee content to pe ople—brings visitors to y our si te and o ffers oppor tunities to turn these visi tors into le ads. When cr eating w ebpages and posi tioning them on spe cific se arch queries, w e ha ve onl y a f ew options to c ommunic ate wi th consumers. Thr ee of these ar e the page URL , the page ti tle (which shows up on SERP s and is also wha t you read in y our tabs ne xt to the website ic on), and the page description. These ar e resour ces tha t Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | 53 | Page 63 |
a66182946809-0 | you cr eate when cr eating w ebpages. The y are par t of wha t is c alled the “ meta elemen t.” Ideally, you w ant to wri te your page ti tle and page description in a way tha t will inci te pe ople to click on y our link r ather than the links of your c ompe tition. Y our ti tle and description thus dir ectly addr ess a spe cific se arch quer y, sho w tha t the page has the inf orma tion required, and pr ovide a call to ac tion to inci te pe ople to click on your link. I n this c ase, the page ti tle r epeats the e xact same keywords I use d in m y search. This is gr eat! It mak es me f eel lik e this page is e xactly wha t I am looking f or. The description c ould be optimiz ed, but i t provides me wi th first-hand e xperienc e and the start of a tutorial on ho w to ba the m y cat. I a t least kno w tha t, if I click this link, I’ll be g iven instruc tions on ho w to ba the m y cat. Perhaps a be tter description c ould ha ve been (k eeping in mind tha t a description should be limi ted to about 150 to 160 char acters to show in i ts en tirety on SERP s): Learn ho w to ba the y our c at easily! Your c at will lo ve it! No scratches! Easy 5 step tutorial so tha t you and y our f eline budd y have a fun time. Let’s break this do wn: [ Start with a c all to ac tion] Learn ho w to bathe y our c at easily! [Expr ess some benef it associa ted wi th your content] Your c at will lo ve it! No scr atches! [T ell pe ople wha t’s on your page ] Easy 5 step tutorial so tha t you and y our f eline budd y have a fun time. In shor t, optimizing f or users me ans ha ving pe ople | Page 64 |
a66182946809-1 | time. In shor t, optimizing f or users me ans ha ving pe ople in mind when creating y our pages and c onsidering wha t the y are searching f or, how you can best answ er their ne eds and goals, and ho w to tell them tha t you ar e doing so. This will help addr ess the r est o f the user e xperienc e fac tors: time on si te, page per session, and bounc e rate. Time on si te is the time a user spends on y our si te. If your page is well designe d and r eadily answ ers a quer y, we can assume tha t users will sta y and spend time on y our si te. Bounce r ate is the “ percentage o f visi tors who en ter the si te and then le ave rather than c ontinuing to vie w other pages wi thin the 54 | Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | Page 64 |
2b7ec6048add-0 | same si te” (Wikipe dia). Again, if pe ople ha ve a nic e experienc e, this should lo wer the bounc e rate. Since bounc e rate and page per session (the a verage number o f pages a person vie ws in a g iven session, wher e session her e can be substi tuted to a w ebsite visi t; i.e., the a verage number o f pages a person vie ws onc e the y click ed your link on a SERP ) are associa ted with mo ving be tween pages on y our w ebsite, it helps if y ou pr ovide incentives for pe ople to do so. Typic ally, this is done b y pr acticing cross-linking , or linking pages o f your o wn w ebsite wi th one another . We often se e two ways through which w ebsites do this. The f irst w ay is to inser t links wi thin y our pages tha t bring visi tors to other pages o f your w ebsite. T ake this e xample f or this page . The page is on “H ow to do a mask, ” and wi thin the te xt, it provides a link to a fac e mask sold b y the w ebsite. If you click on this link, y ou will be visi ting another page on the same w ebsite, incr easing the average number o f pages visi ted per session. Another w ay tha t websites in vite y ou to go thr ough multiple pages is thr ough recommende d articles. H aving a lot o f content is quite impor tant in maximizing y our r anking f or man y reasons, but one o f those r easons is to k eep pe ople on y our si te for a longer period o f time b y having them visi t man y pages. For e xample, a t the end o f each page f or blog posts, Zoella in vites visi tors to related articles tha t mig ht interest them ( Figur e 3.4 ). Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | 55 | Page 65 |
a3d3ca9a373a-0 | Figur e 3.4 Cross-Linkin g Example Backlinks The se cond most impor tant set of fac tors r elates to backlinks , or links back to y our w ebsite fr om other w ebsites. Backlinks c an be thoug ht of as v otes o f confidenc e from other w ebsites. I t’s like a populari ty contest: The mor e pe ople endorse y ou, the mor e others think y ou ar e relevant in a g iven domain. Or , applie d to the w eb, the more backlinks to y our w ebsite, the mor e relevant search eng ines think y ou ar e in a g iven domain. This is impor tant for se arch eng ines be cause if y ou ar e providing a good user e xperienc e and other si tes link heavily back to y ours, chanc es ar e you ar e doing some thing tha t people lik e. People liking you/voting f or you/linking back to y ou thus be come a good pr oxy for ho w hig h you should be r anking f or spe cific se arches. The list o f fac tors abo ve (Figur e 3.2 ) offers thr ee impor tant backlink -related fac tors, t wo of which w e will discuss her e. Total r eferring domains represen ts the total number o f domains 56 | Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | Page 66 |
c536565102a6-0 | (e.g., domain1.c om, www.domain2.c om, and so on ) linking back to your domain. Total f ollow-backlinks represen ts the total number o f links tha t are allo wed for w eb referencing tha t link back to y our page. Wi thout getting te chnic al, se arch eng ines dif ferentiate be tween t ypes o f links on w ebsites so tha t the y onl y consider “ real” v otes o f confidenc e. The y thus e xclude, f or e xample, links back to y our website done as par t of promotions. Follo w-backlinks r epresen ts these “ real” v otes o f confidenc e, while no follow-backlinks represen ts links tha t are not tak en in to ac count for referencing. Impor tantly, backlinks ne ed to be e arne d or ganic ally, me aning that the y cannot be inc entivized. Paid pr omotions wi th bloggers, wher e bloggers link back to y our w ebsite, for example, should be tagge d as “ nofollow” links. This me ans tha t, to cr eate backlinks, firms ne ed to think o f strategies tha t will cr eate links back to their websites wi thout pa ying pe ople to do so. Other t ypes o f backlinks that should be no follow include links in blog c ommen ts, pr ess releases and most social me dia and f orums, as w ell as links on all of the f ollowing social me dia pla tforms: Quor a, Reddit, YouTube, Wikipe dia, Twi tch, and M edium. I nteresting ly, althoug h social media backlinks do not dir ectly contribute to the r anking o f a website or w ebpage, the y can do so indir ectly by incr easing w eb traffic. Goog le is notoriousl y secretive about i ts algori thm and ho w it ranks w ebsites. R ecently, it indic ated tha t it ma y follow certain nofollow backlinks, and several examples | Page 67 |
c536565102a6-1 | it indic ated tha t it ma y follow certain nofollow backlinks, and several examples e xist of backlink str ategies wher e webpages shot up in r anking e ven thoug h the links tha t contribute d to the incr ease w ere no follow links. In addi tion to these t wo fac tors, which gener ally represen t the quan tity of backlinks to y our si tes (i.e., the total number o f domains and the total number o f links ), it is also ackno wledged tha t your website ranking will also depend on the quali ty of the backlinks. High-quali ty backlinks are “natural,” me aning tha t the r eferring website (the w ebsite tha t links back to y ou) links back to y our website in a w ay tha t na turally mak es sense in the c ontext. For example, i t mig ht use a r elevant, na tural anchor te xt. Anchor te xt Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | 57 | Page 67 |
12d1671f1028-0 | is the clickable te xt tha t is under lined for a g iven link . Most o f the h yper links in this chapter g ive examples o f natural anchor te xt. The closer the anchor te xt to the k eywords on which y ou w ant to rank y our w ebpage, the be tter. For e xample, if y ou w ant to r ank a webpage on ho w to ba the a c at, it will help if w ebsites link back to your w ebpage wi th the anchor te xt how to ba the a c at. High-quali ty links c ome fr om a uthori tative pages, i.e., pages tha t rank hig h on search eng ines. The y also c ome fr om sour ces tha t are topic ally relevant to y our w ebpage. For e xample, if y ou ar e cr eating a webpage on f itness r outines, backlinks fr om si tes on f itness will have a gr eater impac t on y our r anking. Keywords The last se t of fac tors c oncern keywords. Keywords are terms y ou include on y our w ebpages to c ommunic ate wi th se arch eng ines and with pe ople. The y help y ou cle arly iden tify the ide as and topics on y our w ebpage. K eywords ar e wha t link y our w ebpage to the SERP thr ough pe ople ’s search queries. K eywords ne ed to not onl y represen t your c ontent well and na turally but also addr ess wha t people y ou w ant to a ttract to y our w ebsite ar e searching f or. The c entral implic ation o f this is tha t you should be cr eating webpages to r ank on specific sear ch queries that people you want as customer s are sear ching f or. This is wh y represen ting the customer and understanding the ne ed, goals, and challenges o f personas ar e so impor tant! For e xample, f or the se arch quer y “ho w to ba the a c at,” the webpages tha t | Page 68 |
12d1671f1028-1 | se arch quer y “ho w to ba the a c at,” the webpages tha t are posi tione d on these k eywords ar e likely to r ank first. This is be cause these w ebpages ar e telling se arch eng ines, “Look a t our k eywords, w e ha ve cr eated a w ebpage spe cifically for this se arch quer y.” As a r esult, se arch eng ines c an assume tha t these w ebpages will be be tter a t answ ering the ne eds of people f or a spe cific se arch quer y. People who ge t good se arch r esults tha t 58 | Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | Page 68 |
63dc2b63b2b8-0 | answ er their ne eds ar e happier about the se arch eng ine, and the y will c ontinue to use i t. The goal o f search eng ines is to ha ve pe ople coming back and use them again. B y helping se arch eng ines answ er exactly wha t people ar e searching f or, you ar e making sur e you rank higher. How do y ou posi tion w ebpages on k eywords? Basic ally, by put ting keywords in a f ew key plac es on y our w ebsite to “talk” to a se arch engine and indic ate wha t search quer y a c ertain w ebpage is me ant to rank on. T o talk to a se arch eng ine, y ou w ant to put the k eywords on which y ou w ant your w ebpage to r ank in the f ollowing spe cific places (Figur e 3.5 ): • page ti tle • meta description • page URL • headings ( the ti tles) in the w ebpage • the bod y (that is, the te xt) Figur e 3.5 T op On- Page F actor s Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | 59 | Page 69 |
1f8f80087d2e-0 | Take the “What Are Keywords” page on M oz.com on as an e xample. This page cle arly aims a t posi tioning i tself on se arch queries r elated to keywords, and mor e spe cifically, the se arch “wha t are keywords.” How do w e kno w this? Be cause i t has those spe cific keywords repeated over and o ver again in the f ive aforemen tione d plac es. • The page ti tle is “K eywords | SEO Best Pr actices [2021] – M oz.” (You c an easily find an y page ti tle b y looking a t the page sour ce by rig ht-clicking wi thin a w ebpage and then clicking on the option “vie w page sour ce” in the menu o f your w eb br owser .) • The me ta description is: “I n terms o f SEO , ‘keywords’ ar e the words and phr ases tha t searchers en ter in to se arch eng ines, also c alled ‘search queries’ to f ind wha t the y are looking f or. A well-optimiz ed website will ha ve keywords and r elated topics in their c ontent to mak e it possible f or pe ople to f ind their website via…” . • The page URL is https:/ /moz.c om/learn/seo/wha t-are- keywords • The phr ase “ What are keywords” is r epeated thr ee times in the first thr ee headings, which ar e ◦ “What are Keywords?” ◦ “Why are keywords impor tant?” and ◦ “What are long-tail k eywords?” • These k eywords, and r elated words, ar e repeated over and over again in the bod y. As w e saw abo ve, the top fac tors associa ted wi th keywords ar e the following: k eywords in anchor , bod y, densi ty, in total, in me ta. Keywords in anchor are not c ontrolled by the o wner o f a w ebsite. Rather, as e xplaine d abo ve, the y are controlled by whoe ver is linking | Page 70 |
1f8f80087d2e-1 | e xplaine d abo ve, the y are controlled by whoe ver is linking to y our si te. Ther efore, w e won’t be c onsidering them in this section. The r est o f the k eywords fac tors ar e controlled by the w ebsite owner . Keywords in bod y refers to the k eywords use d thr oughout y our 60 | Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | Page 70 |
b1c1e2eee525-0 | text in a g iven w ebpage. I deally, you w ant to cr eate a tig ht seman tic network of keywords tha t relate to one another . For e xample, le t’s say you ar e creating a page to r ank on the k eywords “best dr esses at the 20 20 Osc ars.” To indic ate to se arch eng ines tha t this is wha t you wha t to r ank on, y ou c an put these main k eywords in the URL, page ti tle, and one or mor e headings. B ut repeating these k eywords over and o ver again in the bod y of the te xt w on’t feel na tural and will hinder user e xperienc e. As a r esult, y ou c an c ome up wi th synon yms to use in the bod y. Here are a f ew examples o f keywords and possible synon yms: • best: top, talk ed about, fashionable • dresses: a ttire, robes, outf its • Oscars: ac adem y awards, r ed carpe t, sta tuette Using this appr oach will not onl y help y ou cr eate a w ebpage tha t fares be tter in terms o f user e xperienc e, but i t will also help y ou have both a hig h densi ty keywords in the bod y (i.e., a hig h ratio of keywords to total number o f words) and a hig h total number o f keywords. Keywords in meta refers to ha ving the k eywords in the meta elemen ts of your w ebpage, which f or the sak e of this c ourse will be represen ted by page ti tle and me ta description. To recap, se arch eng ines c onsider mor e than 200 fac tors, but the top fac tors use d to r ank w ebsite can be gr oupe d into thr ee categories: • user e xperienc e • backlinks • keywords When doing SEO , your r ole is to cr eate w ebpages tha t dir ectly addr ess spe cific se arch queries. This | Page 71 |
b1c1e2eee525-1 | w ebpages tha t dir ectly addr ess spe cific se arch queries. This will help y ou cr aft content that will pr ovide a gr eat user e xperienc e and tie y our w ebpage to specific keywords associa ted wi th a se arch quer y. In the w orld of Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | 61 | Page 71 |
4c982b1bd777-0 | search optimiza tion, this is r eferred to as on-pag e optimiza tion, which is achie ved by making changes to the page c ode, c ontent, or struc ture of the w ebsite to mak e it mor e ac cessible f or se arch engines and impr ove the user e xperienc e. The other t ype o f optimiza tion talk ed about is off-pag e optimiza tion, which f ocuses on impr oving the populari ty, exper tise, authori ty, trust, and r elevance of a w ebsite. For e xample, i t includes building backlinks, ge tting br and men tions, and incr easing social media shar es. S trategies to impr ove backlinks mig ht have to do wi th creating hig hly shar eable c ontent and public r elations ac tivities to bring a ttention to the c ontent you ha ve created. For e xample, a strategy we use d in a f irm I w orked in w as to cr eate benchmar k studies ( studies tha t compar e compe titors base d on a se t of variables and pr ovide some baseline ). These w ere he avily shar ed by firms and discusse d in the me dia, which dr ove a lot o f traffic to our website. Companies lik e McKinse y are continuousl y producing fr ee content, lik e their “ Featured Insights” website se ction, to gener ate discussions ar ound their f irm. Understanding How Consumers U se Keywords Since user e xperienc e is c entral to r anking hig h, it becomes qui te impor tant to understand ho w pe ople se arch for stuf f online. W e are going to talk about thr ee ways of thinking about this. A first w ay of thinking about ho w pe ople se arch is to c onsider the obje ctive of their se arch. Thr ee types o f searches ar e typically referred to b y SEO pr ofessionals ( e.g., Moz 2016 ; Figur e 3.6). Consumers perf orm informa tional sear ches when the y ar e | Page 72 |
4c982b1bd777-1 | Consumers perf orm informa tional sear ches when the y ar e looking f or inf orma tion about a spe cific topic. Examples mig ht include 62 | Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | Page 72 |
f032df078720-0 | • “How to run a 5k?” • “What are beg inner’ s running shoes?” or • “Best beg inner running shoes. ” Consumers perf orm transactional sear ches when the y are looking to perf orm a tr ansac tion. T ransac tions ha ve be en both narr owly defined (i.e., buying a pr oduc t) and mor e br oadly def ined (i.e., performing an in teraction). Examples o f transac tional se arches might be • “Cheap beg inner running shoes” • “Brooks Ghost 12” or • “Buy Asics B rooks Ghost 12. ” Consumers perf orm navigational sear ches when the y are looking for a spe cific website. S uch a se arch mig ht look lik e • “Sports Exper ts” • “Foot Lock er” or • “Brooks w ebsite.” Considering the obje ctives of people perf orming se arch queries is help ful f or us as dig ital mar keters be cause i t allo ws us to cr eate webpages to answ er these spe cific obje ctives. The kind o f keywords on e ach page will be v astly dif ferent. These obje ctives can also be plac ed in a pr ocess, wher e some one moves fr om ne eding inf orma tion about a spe cific ne ed or challenge to w anting to perf orm in teractions ( or a tr ansac tion) to addr ess this need to w anting to visi t a spe cific website. The k ey ide a her e is tha t, as dig ital mar keters, kno wing wh y people ar e searching f or some thing allo ws y ou to cr eate pages tha t more dir ectly align wi th their se arches. This helps y ou impr ove user experienc e and choose the rig ht keywords, both o f which should allow your w ebpages to r ank hig her. Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | 63 | Page 73 |
b7ef8cbfcf4a-0 | Figur e 3.6 Types of Sear ch A se cond w ay to think about wh y pe ople ar e searching is to star t with their ne eds, challenges, and goals. This has a f ew implic ations: First, as w e ha ve seen wi th RV Be tty, different segmen ts/personas have dif ferent needs, challenges, and goals. Tha t me ans tha t you will ne ed to cr eate dif ferent webpages to a ttract different personas to y our w ebsite, wher e each w ebpage should addr ess a spe cific need, challenge, or goal ( and, per haps, c ould do so b y tar geting different search obje ctives). Thus, when cr eating w ebpages, the f irst questions tha t should c ome to y our mind ar e the f ollowing: W hat are the ne eds of my persona ? What goal ar e the y trying to achie ve? What challenges ar e the y facing when tr ying to addr ess their ne ed or achie ve their goal? Answ ering these questions should allo w you to gener ate man y dif ferent content ide as, fr om which y ou c an think of spe cific se arch queries. W e will c over this in mor e de tail when we talk about c ontent mar keting. I n this c ourse, w e will emphasiz e how consumers’ se arches v ary depending on wher e the y are in their journe y: 64 | Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | Page 74 |
1f57ff9aa3cb-0 | • Early on in their journe y, consumers ar e looking to f ind informa tion about a pr oblem the y are facing or a ne ed the y are trying to addr ess ( e.g., “ho w to run a 5k, ” “treating acne fast, ” “easy w ays to gain muscle, ” or “ getting a job af ter c ollege ”). • As consumers mo ve to ac tively evaluating the options a vailable to addr ess their ne ed, the y will star t to w eigh dif ferent options (e.g., “best tr aining plan f or 5k, ” “retinol vs. benz oyl vs. salic ylic,” “is cr eatine tha t good, ” or “ should I r egister on link edin”). • Lastly, onc e the y are closer to making a pur chase, the y will look a t evaluating or ac cessing the spe cific pr oduc t the y choose ( e.g., “ sales br ooks g host 12, ” “wher e to bu y benz oyl,” “creatine online che ap,” “link edin pr omo c ode”). Similar ly to the thr ee obje ctives o f se arches, kno wing tha t consumers f irst c oncentrate on pr oblems, then on poten tial solutions, and f inally on the pr oduc t or ser vice the y are interested in is the f irst step to cr eating a mar keting c ampaign. K eeping in mind tha t our goal is to cr eate value f or consumers b y represen ting them ( rather than talking about our c ompan y), this me ans tha t we will ne ed to cr eate ads and c ontent tha t (1) inf orm c onsumers about their pr oblems, (2) help them e valuate their options, and ( 3) posi tion our pr oduc t as the best or cr eate pr oduc t or ser vice-spe cific informa tion. W hen w e introduc e the c onversion-base d framework in the ne xt chapter , we will se e ho w each o f these stages c an | Page 75 |
1f57ff9aa3cb-1 | in the ne xt chapter , we will se e ho w each o f these stages c an also be use d for dif ferent str ategic goals ( namel y, attracting visi tors, converting visi tors to le ads, and c onverting le ads to customers ). This is visuall y represen ted in Figur e 3.7 below. Figur e 3.7 Journey and Sear ches Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | 65 | Page 75 |
c23696c67157-0 | We will c over the last w ay to think about se arches v ery brief ly, since we discusse d it in the last chapter: Goog le ZM OTs. As w e saw, Goog le pr oposes f our ZM OTs: I w ant to kno w, I w ant to go, I want to do, and I w ant to bu y. Some o f these o verlap wi th wha t we just sa w. I-want-to-kno w se arches ar e inf orma tional se arches. I-want-to-bu y searches c an be thoug ht of as tr ansac tional se arches (a broader def inition o f transac tional se arches c ould also include I - want-to-do se arches ). These momen ts again pr esen t oppor tunities to cr eate content. Goog le pr esen ts numer ous w ays for mar keters to capitalize on I-want-to-do momen ts her e. Using K eywords to Analyze Competitors We conclude this chapter b y examining ho w keywords can be use d to anal yze your c ompe tition. T o frame wha t follows, w e will assume that compe titors kno w and f ollow the same rules as y ou should when cr eating w ebpages and choosing k eywords. • Your c ompe titors ar e creating spe cific webpages to r ank on specific se arch queries. • They kno w wher e to put the k eywords to c ommunic ate wi th people and se arch eng ines: ◦ Page ti tle ◦ Meta description ◦ Page URL ◦ Headings ( the ti tles) in the w ebpage ◦ The bod y (the te xt) • They wri te their page ti tle, URL, and me ta descriptions to “ sell” their w ebpage to pe ople on SERP s. This is useful fr om a c ompe titive anal ysis vie wpoin t be cause i t means y ou c an e asily stud y your c ompe tition base d on spe cific | Page 76 |
c23696c67157-1 | ou c an e asily stud y your c ompe tition base d on spe cific 66 | Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign | Page 76 |
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