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


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


keywords. I t is also impor tant to understand her e tha t you should  think o f ranking on se arch queries in a w ay tha t is similar to selling  produc ts: y ou ne ed to f ind a posi tioning tha t optimal f or y our  webpage. Tha t me ans f inding a se arch quer y tha t is not o verly  compe titive, and on which y ou belie ve it is lik ely tha t you will r ank  high. H ence, a f irst step is to understand ho w to anal yze the  compe titiveness o f spe cific k eywords and associa ted se arch  queries.  Keyword Competitive Analysis  We should understand w ell, a t this poin t, tha t we ar e cr eating  webpages wi th the goal o f ranking hig h on spe cific se arch queries.  We also understand tha t not all c onsumers will use the e xact same  search quer y to addr ess a spe cific ne ed. Le t’s go back to the se arch  queries w e use d to in troduc e this chapter and assume w e are trying  to cr eate a w ebpage tha t will addr ess the c onsumer ne ed of wanting  to kno w ho w to ba the a c at. As a r eminder , those queries w ere the  following:  • “how to ba the m y cat”  • “easiest w ay to w ash m y cat”  • “wash a c at”  • “cat wash soap ”  These ar e dif ferent search queries, and ho w compe titive the y are  will thus be dif ferent. A f ew easy steps c an help y ou understand  how lik ely you ar e to r ank hig h on a spe cific se arch quer y. The f irst  step is to understand ho w old the domains tha t sho w up on the f irst  SERP ar e. This is be cause the older the domain, the mor e time the y  have had to build c ontent and backlinks, and the har der the y will be  to displac e from the f irst SERP . The older the domains on the f irst


e from the f irst SERP . The older the domains on the f irst  SERP , the mor e compe titive the se arch quer y.  Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign   |  67


To kno w ho w old domains ar e, pick the k eywords y ou w ant to  rank on. Se arch these k eywords on a se arch eng ine ( e.g., Goog le).  Then, use a whois ser vice (e.g., who.is ) and che ck the “ register ed on ”  date. For e xample, f or the se arch “ho w to ba the m y cat,” the f irst  domains ar e:  • wikiho w.com, r egister ed in 2004  • bhg.c om, r egister ed in 1999  • catster .com, r egister ed in 2000  It se ems tha t most domains f or this se arch quer y ha ve be en  register ed prior to 2010 , which mak es it likely to be a c ompe titive  search quer y. Addi tionall y, most o f these w ebpages se em to ha ve  been cr eated to r ank on this e xact search quer y, or some thing  closel y related:  • The Wikiho w page ti tle is “H ow to ba the a c at”  • The B hg page ti tle is “H ow to ba the a c at”  • The c atster .com page ti tle is “H ow to ba the a c at”  This c ombina tion o f webpages cle arly posi tione d on spe cific  keywords tha t compe te against y ours and older domains me ans tha t  trying to r ank a w ebpage on “ho w to ba the m y cat” mig ht thus be  a rather dif ficult e xercise. I t doesn ’t me an it isn ’t possible to do,  but i t would r equire a lot o f work to cr eate backlinks and a page  that answ ers c onsumer ne eds be tter than other pages. T rying to  position the w ebpage on other k eywords mig ht be an e asier pa th.  You c an r epeat this e xercise wi th ne w keywords un til you f ind a  search tha t you belie ve consumers will be using and tha t is not  overly compe titive.


you belie ve consumers will be using and tha t is not  overly compe titive.  Another appr oach to stud ying k eywords is to se arch for w ebpages  that are exactly posi tione d on the k eywords you ar e aiming f or. A  few Boolean sear ch oper ators can help y ou her e:  • allin title (e.g., allin title:ho w to ba the a c at) returns r esults  68  |  Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign


wher e the k eywords ar e in the page ti tle  • allin url (e.g., allinur l:how to ba the a c at) returns r esults wher e  the k eywords ar e in the page URL  • allinanchor  (e.g., allinanchor:ho w to ba the a c at) returns  results wher e webpages ar e link ed to the k eywords in the  anchor te xt  These ar e useful be cause, as w e just c overed, SEO should le ad  webmasters to put the k eywords on which the y want to r ank in the  page ti tle and page URL, and be cause being link ed to k eywords in  anchor te xt helps our r ankings. I n shor t, by using these Boole an  search oper ators, y ou c an ge t a cle ar list o f exactly who y our  compe tition is f or a spe cific se arch quer y. This be comes useful, f or  example, if y ou w ant to understand wha t kind o f content their pages  offer, how the pages ar e struc tured, whe ther the y ha ve multiple  types o f me dia, and so on. Or , put dif ferently, you c an anal yze the  webpages o f your c ompe tition to cr eate a gener al benchmar k to  beat and cr eate a be tter w ebpage tha t will mor e cle arly and full y  answ er consumers’ ne eds.  Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign   |  69


Exer cises  Backgr ound P ersona  You ar e a r eal esta te compan y loc ated in M ontreal tha t  specializ es in f irst-time bu yers.  Let’s assume a quick dr aft of a persona.  Bill and J ane ar e newly wed and ar e looking to star t a  famil y. The y want to ha ve some spac e because the y are  planning to ha ve two kids, and ide ally a backyar d. The y  would also lik e their house to be come the famil y house. I n  other w ords, the y would lik e the famil y to gr ow in the  house. I deally, tha t me ans f inding a famil y friendl y  neig hbor hood, wher e the schools ar e good and ac cessible.  Their budge t is some what limi ted, be cause the y are qui te  young, which c an be a pr oblem when w anting to f ind a  home. L astly, the y are also f irst-time house bu yers, and  they are qui te una ware of the whole pr ocess o f buying a  home.  70  |  Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign


Understanding Se arches  You ar e a r eal esta te compan y loc ated in M ontreal tha t  specializ es in f irst-time bu yers.  • Identify an inf orma tional se arch your tar get mar ket  might do.  • Identify a tr ansac tional se arch your tar get mar ket  might do.  • Identify a na vigational se arch your tar get mar ket  might do.  Creating Content W ith SEO in Mind  Pick one se arch out o f the thr ee searches y ou ha ve  iden tified prior . For this se arch, c ome up wi th an ide a for a  webpage, c oncentrating on the f ollowing elemen ts of the  webpage:  • Page ti tle  • Meta description  • Headings  • URL  • Keyword synon yms in bod y  Backlinks  How can w e boost backlinks f or our r eal esta te compan y?  Identify five concr ete w ays to do so.  Com petitive anal ysis  Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign   |  71


Reverse eng ineer the SEO ef forts and c ontent mar keting  strategy of compe titors. Again, c onsider the page ti tle,  description, URL, he adings, k eywords in c ontent, and alt  tags.  Then, go to ne ws.shupilo v.com and p ick thr ee blog  articles. Identify  • the k eywords on which these ar ticles ar e suppose d  to rank and  • who y ou think the y are tar geting.  Finding no vel com petitive spaces  Base d on the se arches w e previousl y talk ed about, f ind f ive  alterna tive, less c ompe titive searches to r ank on.              72  |  Planning f or a Dig ital Mar keting Campaign


Introduction to Digital  Strategy  PIERRE- YANN DOLBEC  Overview  In this chapter , we discuss some k ey vocabular y associa ted wi th  digital mar keting, c overing c oncepts such as inbound and outbound  marketing and paid, o wned, and e arne d me dia ac tivities. W e then  turn our a ttention to the fr amework we are going to c over for the  rest o f the semester , the R ACE fr amework. W e brief ly cover the  four stages o f the fr amework bef ore turning out a ttention to ho w  to link persona, journe y, and str ategy. We conclude the chapter b y  understanding ho w the R ACE fr amework can suppor t compe titive  analysis.  Learning O bjectives  Understand k ey terms associa ted with online str ategy,  the obje ctives of the f our stages o f the R ACE fr amework,  how it links to personas and journe ys, and ho w to use i t to  suppor t compe titive anal ysis.  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  73


Inbound and Outbound Mark eting  Inbound and outbound mar keting r epresen t two broad appr oaches  to conne cting wi th consumers. Inbound mar keting  aims a t bring ing  visitors “in, ” drawing them to y our c ompan y via, t ypically, content  marketing, social me dia, and w ell-optimiz ed websites. I n this f irst  appr oach, c onsumers f ind y ou be cause y ou represen t them.  Outbound mar keting  is wha t we typically think o f when w e think  of ad vertising: the pr omotion o f pr oduc ts or ser vices thr ough  advertising and pr omotions. I n this c ase, a message goes “ out” fr om  your c ompan y and stops c onsumers in wha tever the y were doing  (e.g., a c onsumer is “ stoppe d” by an ad when scr olling on I nstagr am  or reading their Fac ebook f eed; the y are stoppe d by an ad a t the  start of a Y ouTube vide o, or the y are stoppe d by an ad which cuts a  newspaper ar ticle or a blog post in t wo).  Inbound mar keting is also associa ted with permission mar keting ,  wher e advertising is w elcome d because permission to be ad vertised  to has alr eady be en obtaine d and ad vertising is an ticipa ted (e.g.,  email mar keting), and two-way comm unica tion, meaning tha t ther e  can be an in teraction be tween c onsumers and the br and ( e.g.,  consumers c an c ommen t on social me dia posts and on blog  articles ). A few fur ther char acteristics o f inbound mar keting ar e tha t  it is  • soug ht, me aning tha t consumers f ind y ou,  • one o f the fastest-gr owing str ategies for mar keting online and  has be en o ver the last de cade,  • seen as che aper to perf orm sinc e companies do not ne ed to  invest in ads (


as che aper to perf orm sinc e companies do not ne ed to  invest in ads ( althoug h ther e are costs associa ted with content  creation), and  • aime d at customer ac quisi tion.  Conversel y, outbound mar keting is associa ted wi th interruption  marketing , wher e mar keting ef forts such as ads in terrupt wha t  74  |  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy


a consumer is doing, and one-w ay comm unica tion, be cause  consumers c annot talk to ads. Outbound mar keting is also  • impose d, be cause c onsumers do not agr ee to be ad vertised to,  • decreasing in populari ty, althoug h this is deba ted,  • expensiv e, be cause ther e are fees associa ted with put ting ads  online, and  • aime d at awareness cr eation, as has t ypically been the c ase  with tr aditional ad vertising.  Examples o f inbound mar keting include blog posts, inf ographics, e- books, whi tepapers, social me dia posts, tutorials, and the lik e.  Examples o f outbound mar keting include ad vertising o f any sor t,  which w e are going to c over in mor e detail in the ne xt chapter .  Paid, Owne d, and Earne d Me dia  We dif ferentiate be tween thr ee types o f me dia online: paid, o wned,  and e arne d.  Paid media  are me dia ac tivities y ou pa y for. These me dia ac tivities  are typically perf orme d on a thir d par ty channel (i.e., not y our o wn  website) tha t is paid b y your c ompan y to c onduc t the ac tivity. Your  compan y controls the c ontent, but the thir d par ty controls wher e  this c ontent is sho wn. Examples include se arch ads, displa y ads,  paid inf luenc ers, paid c ontent promotion, social me dia ads, pr oduc t  placemen ts, and the lik e.  Owned media acti vities are me dia ac tivities tha t are hoste d on  channels tha t you o wn, i.e., on y our o wn pla tforms. The y include  your w eb pr oper ties ( e.g., blog posts on y our w ebsite) and social  media channels.  Earned media acti vities are me dia impr essions tha t you e arn  because y our c ontent is shar ed. H ere, consumers ( and some times  professionals ) be come the channel.


is shar ed. H ere, consumers ( and some times  professionals ) be come the channel. Shar ed social me dia posts,  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  75


reviews, and other c onsumer -gener ated content such as r atings,  social r ecommenda tions, c ontent cr eated on wikis, or f orum  discussions ar e examples o f earne d me dia ac tivities. The c overage  of your c ompan y by journalists also falls under e arne d me dia  activities.  Very impor tantly, althoug h these ar e conceptuall y distinc t types  of me dia ac tivities, an ide al campaign will in tegrate them. For  example, y ou c an cr eate content on y our w ebsite and social me dia  channels tha t you will also push b y ad vertising on social me dia  websites and other w ebsites using banner ads, and y ou ar e making  these ef forts in the hopes tha t your c ontent will be widel y shar ed  by others. This is the t ypical str ategy under lying vir al mar keting  campaigns.  Take, for e xample, the widel y suc cessful ad f or Dori tos during  the 20 20 S uperbo wl. Dori tos cr eated an ad tha t the y hoste d on  their w ebsite and social me dia channels ( e.g., Y ouTube). The ad  was pushe d as a paid me dia ac tivity during the S uperbo wl to the  tune o f several million dollars. I t was also associa ted wi th a Tik T ok  hash tag c ampaign, #c oolranchdanc e, which fuele d earne d me dia  impr essions . It is this in terse ction o f paid, o wned, and e arne d me dia  activities tha t leads to the cr eation o f suc cessful online mar keting  campaigns!  Obje ctives, Goals, and KPIs  Obje ctives, goals, and KP Is are the ne xt se t of concepts w e will  cover. Objecti ves represen t wha t you w ant to achie ve for y our  compan y. Ideally, obje ctives should be SMART :  • specific  • measur able  • attainable  • realistic  76


SMART :  • specific  • measur able  • attainable  • realistic  76  |  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy


• time-bound  Goals  are actions tha t you w ant users to tak e. We use the v ocabular y  of goals to designa te user’ s actions sinc e this is t ypically ho w goals  are posi tione d in w eb anal ytics ( e.g., Goog le Anal ytics).  Distinguishing be tween obje ctives (what you w ant to achie ve) and  goals ( what you w ant your users to achie ve) just mak es things  clearer.  KPIs—key perf ormance indica tors—are me trics use d to e valuate  the perf ormanc e of your c ompan y base d on a par ticular obje ctive  or ac tivity. KP Is typically ha ve tar gets, spe cific values tha t your  compan y is aiming to achie ve within a c ertain time period.  These c oncepts w ork toge ther to help y ou plan c ampaigns:  Obje ctives can be use d to iden tify goals f or users to achie ve, which  can be me asur ed using KP Is (Figur e 4.1).  Figur e 4.1 O bjective / Goal / KP I  For e xample, an obje ctive for your c ompan y mig ht be to incr ease  produc t awareness. I n order to achie ve this obje ctive, you mig ht set  up goals f or your users, such as subscribing to email upda tes and  engag ing in some k ey features you belie ve will help r aise pr oduc t  awareness. I t is then possible to iden tify KP Is to me asur e your  success f or these user goals, such as “ number o f contact forms  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  77


submi tted” or “ use o f the k ey feature of the vir tual mirr or” ( see  Figur e 4.2  for an e xample or , for the te xt version, click her e).  Figur e 4.2 KP Is Example / Text Description  Strategy and T actics  Strategy and tac tics ar e the last k ey terms w e ne ed to be tter  understand the R ACE fr amework. Strategy represen ts the pa th you  intend to tak e to achie ve a spe cific obje ctive. This aligns wi th Jain’s  (1993 ) understanding o f strategy as “the pa ttern o f major obje ctives,  purposes and goals, and essen tial policies and plans f or achie ving  those goals, sta ted in such a w ay as to def ine wha t business the  compan y is in or is to be in. ”  In this c ourse, w e are going to emphasiz e ho w, to implemen t  a str ategy and achie ve spe cific obje ctives, a c ompan y deplo ys  tactics —tools use d to me et obje ctives. Examples o f tools w e will  discuss include banner ad vertising c ampaigns, se arch ad  campaigns, and the use o f content mar keting on social me dia.  78  |  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy


Let’s combine the v ocabular y we just in troduc ed in an e xample.  Objecti ve  • Increase sales thr ough our eCommer ce pla tform b y 10% wi thin  the ne xt six mon ths.  Tactics  • Search ad vertising pa y-per -click (P PC) c ampaign using spe cific  keywords, wi th a budge t, time fr ame, e tc.  • Social me dia c ampaign using the Fac ebook br and page, wi th  marketing ma terial  KPIs per tactic  • Search ad vertising: clickthr ough rate (CTR), bounc e rate  • Social me dia c ampaign:  clickthr ough rate, shar e ratio/ amplif ication r ate  Targets per tactic  • Search ad vertising: CTR o f XX%, bounc e rate of XX%  • Social me dia c ampaign: CTR o f XX%, shar e ratio o f XX%  We can no w turn our a ttention to the R ACE fr amework.  RACE Fr amework  Chaf fey’s RACE fr amew ork is a conver sion-based framework.  Conversion mar keting  is a str ategic appr oach tha t explici tly aims  at incr easing customers. The fr amework we will stud y her e is par t  of a gr eater se t of strategic appr oaches, such as H ubSpot’s orig inal  “attract-convert-close-delig ht” str ategy, which be came their  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  79


“flywhe el business model ,” or the gr andfa ther o f conversion  marketing appr oaches, the “ pirate me trics” AARRR model  (acquisi tion-ac tivation-r etention-r eferral-revenue ) sho wn in Figur e  4.3 (text version c an be f ound here).  Figur e 4.3 A ARRR / Text Description  These dif ferent frameworks pr opose stages wi th dif ferent names,  but the c entral ide a of this str ategic appr oach is the same. T o  convert, you ne ed to mo ve people thr ough four stages:  • visitor (pe ople c ome to y our w ebsite)  • lead (visitors ar e converted into a qualif ied poten tial customer  i.e., somebod y who is in terested in y our pr oduc t and is also  somebod y you ar e interested in selling to )  • customer  80  |  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy


• repeat customer  Your goals a t each stage ar e as f ollows:  • Visitors: In brief, y ou cr eate campaigns to a ttract people to  your w ebsite.  • Leads:  Once the y are on y our w ebsite, you w ant to (1) f ind w ays  to se e if the y are interested in y ou, (2) f ind out if y ou ar e  interested in them, i.e., whe ther the y can be a customer o f  yours (be cause not all visi tors ar e people who c an bu y your  produc t or ser vice), and, if the y fit these t wo categories, and  there is a mutual in terest, ( 3) find a w ay to c ontinue the  conversation wi th them ( usuall y by collecting their email  addr ess or making sur e the y follow you on social me dia).  • Customer s: Once you ha ve iden tified a mutual in terest, y ou  move to ac compan y people on their journe y so tha t you c an  convert them fr om a le ad to a customer o f yours.  • Repea t customer s: After their pur chase, y ou c apitalize on their  (hopefull y) posi tive experienc e with your c ompan y so tha t the y  can co-cr eate on y our behalf ( e.g., wri te reviews) and c ontinue  their journe y as a customer o f yours.  The R ACE fr amework pr esen ts four stages tha t help us plan f or  and c oordina te dif ferent mar keting ac tivities to achie ve these  objectives.  R stands for REA CH  During the R each stage, y our c ompan y has t wo obje ctives:  • to build a wareness about y our br and, pr oduc ts, and ser vices  through offline and online me dia ac tivities, and  • to driv e traffic using inbound and outbound mar keting  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  81


activities and paid e arne d and o wned me dia touchpoin ts.  At this stage, y ou will mostl y concentrate on addr essing pe ople ’s  problems.  A stands for interA CT  During the Ac t stage, y our c ompan y has t wo obje ctives:  • to gener ate posi tive interactions on y our o wned me dia and  • to cr eate le ads, i.e., iden tify poten tial customers and mak e sur e  they can be y our customer ( we will c all these “ qualif ying” le ads  later on in the semester ).  At this stage, w e are going to emphasiz e ho w we should f ocus on  addr essing c onsumers’ pr oblems as w ell as helping them e valuate  their options.  C stands for CONVER T  During the Con vert stage, y our c ompan y has one obje ctive:  converting le ads in to sales.  At this stage, w e are going to emphasiz e ho w we should f ocus on  talking about wh y your br and, pr oduc t, or ser vice is the best option  for consumers. W e will also touch on ho w to optimiz e our o wned  media or der to maximiz e conversions, a pr ocess tha t is c alled  “conversion r ate optimiza tion. ”  82  |  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy


Figur e 4.4  RACE  Objectives /  Text  Description E stands for ENGA GE  During the Engage stage, y our c ompan y has t wo obje ctives:  • to build customer ad vocacy and  • to foster r epeat visi ts and sales.  At this stage, the ide a is to build long-term engagemen t by  continuousl y contributing to c onsumers’ liv es b y cr eating v alue.  We also w ant to iden tify engage d customers in or der to f oster  their par ticipa tion and engage them in c o-cr eation ac tivities to  participa te in our c ampaigns and suppor t our mar keting ef forts.  Figur e 4.4  presen ts ho w these obje ctives evolve over time wi th  each o f the stages ( text description here).  From P ersona and J ourney to Str ategy  As w e discusse d during the last t wo chapters, the goals, ne eds,  motiv ations, and challenges o f consumers pr ovide the r aw ma terial  from which to cr eate content for each persona. J ourne ys tell y ou  what your c ontent should be about (pr oblem, solutions, and y our  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  83


produc t), and ho w it addr esses dif ferent stages o f the journe y. See  Figur e 4.5  for a brief r ecap of Chapter 3.  Figur e 4.5 J ourney and Sear ches  Let’s tak e the e xample o f making c ontent and associa ted se arch  ads, i.e., cr eating a blog post and then de ciding to ad vertise this  blog post on Goog le SERP s. As w e discusse d in pr evious chapters,  your goal when optimizing y our w ebpages is to iden tify keywords  consumers will use to perf orm se arches online. The ide a behind  making se arch ads is similar . We covered a f ew ways to help do so,  including  • considering who the y are/wha t the y need (persona ),  • how the y go about sol ving their ne eds (journe y), and  • what the y search in or der to do so ( journe y, ZM OT, types ), as  well as  • benchmar king against c ompe tition.  Once you’ve iden tified keywords tha t your c onsumers ar e using  throughout their journe y, you c an star t creating c ontent or ads  base d on these k eywords so tha t you sho w up on a se arch eng ine  when a c onsumer does this se arch.  The c oncept o f a persona helps iden tify gener al keywords base d  on customers’ ne eds, motiv ations, challenges. Considering their  journe y helps iden tify spe cific keywords base d on ho w users go  about answ ering ne eds, motiv ations, and challenges thr oughout  that journe y. Here are two examples:  84  |  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy


• If a consumer has pain in their lo wer back, the y mig ht perf orm  a Goog le se arch to f ind out ho w to addr ess this pain. This  presen ts an oppor tunity to cr eate awareness ar ound a back  pain–r elated produc t you ar e selling ( e.g., a pair o f sne akers).  • If a consumer w ants to c ompar e sne akers to understand which  pair o ffers the best suppor t to addr ess back pain, this pr ovides  you wi th an oppor tunity to c ompar e your pr oduc t to those o f  your c ompe titors.  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  85


Table 4.1 J ourne y: From A wareness to P ost-Purchase  Stage of Journe y  Awareness Active  Evalua tion Purchase Post-Purchase  Concr ete  actions Action: Goes to  Goog le to  search for  gener al  informa tion  about their  problem  Search  (informa tional):  “How to  reduce back  pain ” Action: Goes to  Goog le to  compar e  alterna tives  Search  (informa tional):  “shoes vs.  postur e vs.  exercise back  pain ” Action: Goes  to Goog le and  types the  name o f the  brand and  produc t the y  want to bu y  Search  (transac tional):  “Brand X YZ  best pric e  sale” Action: W rites  produc t  review on  retailer’ s  website  Opportuni ty Create content  to inf orm and  educate  consumers  about back  pain Create content  to inf orm and  educate  consumers  about back  pain solutions Position y our  produc t as the  best option f or  back pain Leverage  engage d  consumers to  create reviews  Tactic Create a blog  post wi th the  keywords “ho w  to,” “reduce,”  and “back pain ”  Create PPC  campaign on  associa ted  keywords Create se veral  blog posts tha t  compar e your  produc t vs.  compe titors;  include  relevant  keywords (e.g.,  “best shoes, ”  “postur e,”  “back pain ”)  Create PPC  campaign on  associa ted  keywords Search ad  campaign on  keywords  (“Brand X YZ  shoes, ” “best  price”) and  place an ad to  offer a 10%  rebate for  first-time  clien ts on y our  website Give a r ebate  for a futur e  purchase  when wri ting a  review  From a J ourney Map to a Conversion P ath  A journe y map  is a visual r epresen tation o f the c onsumer journe y.  The map tr ansforms a r ather abstr act way of understanding ho w


The map tr ansforms a r ather abstr act way of understanding ho w  86  |  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy


consumers pur chase pr oduc ts (i.e., a wareness, c onsider ation,  purchase, and lo yalty) to some thing c oncr ete, wi th spe cific ac tions  and touchpoin ts, tha t a br and c an use to cr eate a mar keting  strategy.  A conversion pa th is ho w a br and is thinking o f enac ting this  strategy. It ties toge ther multiple tac tical ac tivities ( e.g., se arch ads  and c ontent mar keting). I t can be def ined as a description o f the  steps tha t a c ompan y wants consumers to tak e so tha t the y achie ve  a desir ed goal. I n the dig ital mar keting v ocabular y, a conversion  occurs when a c onsumer achie ves a goal y ou w anted them to  achie ve. The na ture of tha t goal c an vary widel y: it could be visi ting  a page, clicking on a link, sending y ou their email addr ess, bu ying  a produc t, spending mor e than a spe cific amoun t of time on one  of your pages, vie wing a c ertain number o f pages during a session,  using a k ey feature—the list goes on. T o create a c onversion pa th,  companies plan a se t of steps tha t the y want consumers to tak e  in or der to achie ve the designa ted goal. The shor test c onversion  path tha t is t ypically presen ted in dig ital mar keting le ads fr om ad to  content to landing page ( Figur e 4.6).  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  87


Figur e 4.6 Conver sion P ath  The planning o f the steps c onsumers ar e going to tak e to achie ve  what you w ant them to achie ve is c entral to cr eate dig ital mar keting  campaigns. W e do not simpl y create content and ads in the hopes  that consumers ar e going to visi t our w ebsite or click on our ads,  without an y ide a of wha t will happen ne xt. Ra ther, the best- strategized campaigns al ways answ er the question, W hat comes  next? For e xample, if y ou’re creating an ad to appe ar at the top o f  a SERP , wha t comes ne xt? W hat are you e xpecting pe ople to do ?  Where are you le ading them ? What should the y be doing onc e the y  get on this page ? Why? Answ ering these questions is ho w you c an  create hig hly converting c ampaigns be cause y ou ha ve a cle ar ide a  of the goal c onsumers should achie ve, and y ou c an ther efore create  pages and ads tha t will le ad them to achie ve these goals.  Depending on who y ou ask, i t tak es be tween 5 and 13 touchpoin ts  (or in teractions wi th y our br and) to gener ate a qualif ied, sales- ready lead (Salesf orce 2015; Online Mar keting I nstitute 2013 ). We  88  |  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy


will c ome back to the notion o f qualified lead  (i.e., a le ad tha t you  belie ve can be y our customer ) and sales-r eady (i.e., a le ad tha t is  at the pur chase stage ) later during the semester . For this chapter ,  what is impor tant to understand is tha t, wi thout planning ahe ad  in ad vance wha t these 5 to 13 touchpoin ts will be, i t will be qui te  difficult to cr eate sales. The task o f a dig ital mar keter is thus  understanding ho w to bring pe ople thr ough a se t of smaller goals,  like visi ting a blog post, spending 3 minutes r eading the post, g iving  the c ompan y an email addr ess, opening the f irst email ( and so on ),  that will le ad them to achie ve certain milestones to ward making a  purchase. Other wise, a c ompan y will be f lying in the dar k, wi th no  clear str ategy as to ho w to mak e sales, apar t from put ting ads online  and cr eating c ontent.  For y our term pr oject, your goal is to cr eate a cle ar conversion  path c ompose d of thr ee inbound and thr ee outbound mar keting  activities. The y can be par t of the same pa th (see the e xample  in Figur e 4.7) or par t of dif ferent pa ths ( see Figur e 4.8  or text  description ), but y ou ne ed to think ahe ad to a se t of tac tics and  associa ted mar keting ac tivities tha t are cle arly link ed to making  people “w alk” along the pa th you’ve created for them. I deally, your  path should indic ate wha t you ar e doing (i.e., y our tac tic) and wha t  you e xpect consumers to do (i.e., a goal).  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  89


Figur e 4.7 Conver sion P ath – 1st Ex ample  90  |  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy


Figur e 4.8  Conver sion  Path – 2nd  Example /  Text  Description  RACE for Competitive Analysis  The R ACE fr amework (Figur e 4.9 ; text description ) is hig hly useful in  creating a str ategy for dig ital mar keting c ampaigns. I t helps answ ers  questions such as the f ollowing:  • Reach: H ow do I bring visi tors to m y website?  • Act: How do I cr eate a posi tive user e xperienc e? How do I  transform visi tors in to le ads?  • Convert: How do I c onvert leads in to customers?  • Engage: Onc e I ha ve customers, ho w do I ensur e repeat  purchases? H ow can I le verage m y customers to par ticipa te in  my mar keting c ampaigns?  The str ategic value o f the R ACE fr amework also mak es it a gr eat  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  91


tool to guide c ompe titive anal ysis. Y ou c an turn these questions  around to be tter understand the dig ital mar keting str ategy of your  compe titors:  • Reach: H ow is m y compe tition bring ing visi tors to their si te?  • Act: Onc e the y have visi tors on their w eb pr oper ties, ho w does  do the y create posi tive interactions? H ow do the y transform  visitors in to le ads?  • Convert: How do the y convert leads in to customers?  • Engage: H ow do the y ensur e repeat pur chases? H ow do the y  foster w ord-of-mouth and other c o-cr eation ac tivities?  92  |  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy


Figur e 4.9 R ACE / Text Description  Reach  Understanding ho w your c ompe titors bring in visi tors c an be o f  great use in cr afting y our o wn str ategy for attracting pe ople to y our  web pr oper ties. Questions to ask include  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  93


• How frequen tly are your c ompe titors running pr omotions?  What benef its do those pr omotions pr ovide to their customers  and poten tial shoppers, as w ell as their business?  • Are the y running c ontests online ? What kind?  • How ar e the y using their social me dia channels? H ow do the y  drive people fr om their social me dia channels to their w ebsite?  • What informa tion is include d in their mar keting banners and  callouts?  Act  Similar ly, an anal ysis o f your c ompe tition should include a be tter  understanding o f the user e xperienc e on their w ebsite. For this  stage, y ou c an answ er questions such as  • How ar e the y creating posi tive interactions on their pr oper ties  and tr ansforming visi tors in to le ads?  • Where are their c alls to ac tion thr oughout the br owsing  experienc e? What are the c alls to ac tion about?  • Do the y have a blog ? How frequen tly do the y post? W hat type  of informa tion do the y tackle ?  • What is the r ole o f content on their w ebsite? How does their  content differ fr om y ours?  Convert  The ne xt stage is to be tter understand ho w your c ompe tition  converts their le ads in to customers. T o understand this, i t is  impor tant to tak e the same steps a customer w ould: R egister f or  your c ompe titors’ ne wsle tters, understand wha t happens onc e a  cart is abandone d, and anal yze persuasion a ttempts wi thin  94  |  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy


webpages. T o assist y ou, questions y ou should be able to answ er  include:  • How do the y displa y their pr oduc ts and c ommunic ate de tails?  • How de taile d are their pr oduc t descriptions? W hat informa tion  do the y include ? What informa tion is missing ?  • Where are their c alls to ac tion thr oughout the br owsing  experienc e? What are those c alls to ac tion about?  • What happens in ne wsle tters? I s ther e a cle ar, planne d path  created to maximiz e sales? W hat is tha t path?  • Do the y have an abandone d-cart saver feature? If so, a t wha t  poin t do the y send the emails and wha t are the messages in  those emails?  • Is your c ompe tition retargeting visitors? Base d on wha t  variables?  Engage  To conclude y our c ompe titive anal ysis, be come a customer o f your  compe titors! Understand wha t happens onc e you bu y a pr oduc t.  See whe ther ther e exist f orums f or y our c ompe titors’ br ands,  services, or pr oduc ts. H ow ar e consumers o f your c ompe titors  interacting online ? What are your c ompe titors doing to f oster such  interactions? H ere, you c an ask  • What happene d onc e you boug ht a pr oduc t?  • Do y our c ompe titors ha ve some sor t of a club ? Membership  program? Online f orum ?  • Do the y request r eviews? Ar e ther e consumer -gener ated  content (CGC) campaigns?  • Do the y have consumer appr eciation c ampaigns?  • Does their c ontent always talk onl y to ne w consumers, or to  existing ones as w ell?  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  95


Bringing Competitor Analysis T ogether  A gr eat appr oach to tr y to be tter understand y our c ompe titors  is to appr oach them as y ou w ould if y ou w ere a persona-r elated  consumer going thr ough the motions o f their journe y. This is a  different log ic fr om e valuating y our c ompe tition base d on other  strategic fr ameworks, such as SW OT. SWOT, inde ed, can be use d  to understand the str engths and w eaknesses o f your c ompe tition  as it relates to their dig ital mar keting r esour ces. B ut ne ver bef ore  were we able to anal yze exactly how our c ompe titors ar e oper ating.  Because e verything is ar chived online, and be cause y ou c an readily  have ac cess to mar keting ef forts such as ads and c ontent,  understanding y our c ompe titors’ str ategic ef forts has per haps  never be en mor e ac cessible. T o conclude, to gather as much  (targeted) informa tion as possible , be sure to  • subscribe to their ne wsle tter/blog,  • follow them on social me dia,  • purchase a pr oduc t, pa ying a ttention to packag ing, bu ying  experienc e, and shipping time,  • put an i tem in y our c art and abandon the che ckout pr ocess,  • check their r eviews,  • hunt for their ads,  • follow their publici ty, and  • understand their backlinks.  96  |  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy


Exer cises  You ar e a fitness c enter cr eating a c ampaign f or pe ople  who w ant to ge t back in to shape.  One o f the personas y ou ar e tar geting is A very.  Avery is a person living in a major Canadian ci ty center.  They are their la te twenties to e arly thir ties and ar e in the  top 20% in r evenue in their ci ty. With incr eased  responsibili ties a t work and a ne wborn, A very had put  exercising aside f or a f ew years. The y feel slugg ish, lack  ener gy, and miss ha ving a str onger c onne ction wi th their  body. With age, their bod y has also star ted to tr ansform,  and the y have star ted to f eel self -conscious about i t. To  reme diate this, the y want to ge t back in to exercising  weekly. The y don ’t have much time, and the y also don ’t  know much about w orking out or the mar ket—for example,  wher e to w ork out or ho w to w ork out.  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  97


Text Description  Social Me dia Analysis U sing RA CE  Using the R ACE fr amework, anal yze and c ompar e the  following thr ee Instagr am f itness c enter ac counts:  • @achie vefitnessboston  • @lifetime.lif e  • @goodlif efitness  Can y ou gr oup their posts in to RACE stages? W hat are  the obje ctives of these themes? W hat are the goals f or  consumers?  Think o f the implic ations f or gener ating a wareness,  attracting visi tors, cr eating le ads, c onverting le ads in to  customers, and gener ating engagemen t.  98  |  Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy


Create a (Digital) J ourney Map  Integrate paid, o wned, and e arne d mar keting ac tivities  for a c ampaign f or your f itness c enter base d on the journe y  map pr ovided.  For one or t wo stages, ac complish the f ollowing ac tions:  • Start with the c oncr ete ac tions o f consumers.  • Identify oppor tunities.  • Transla te the oppor tunities in to concr ete  marketing ac tivities.  • Find a w ay to mak e each ac tivity a paid, o wned, and  earne d me dia ac tivity.    Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy  |  99


Reach: Gener ating A wareness  and Attr acting V isitors  PIERRE- YANN DOLBEC  Overview  In this chapter , we cover the str ategic bases associa ted wi th the  Reach stage. W e star t by covering the main obje ctives of the R each  stage and some KP Is associa ted wi th goals f or consumers. W e then  move our a ttention to discussing paid me dia ac tivities. T o do so, w e  first emphasiz e the ne cessity of building landing pages whene ver  we are creating mar keting c ampaigns 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 ( e.g.,  banner ad vertising, se arch ad vertising, af filiate mar keting, and  influenc er mar keting) and e xpand on pa ymen t models and t ypes o f  targeting tha t the ne w online e cosystem allo ws.  Learning O bjectives  Understand the R each stage, landing pages, dif ferent paid  media ac tivities, and k ey terms associa ted with pa ymen t  models and tar geting appr oaches.  100  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


Reach  Reach  is the f irst stage in the R ACE fr amework. It en tails the  public ation and pr omotion o f content in or der to dr aw visi tors to  our w ebsite. The t wo main obje ctives a t this stage ar e to build  awareness ( about y our w ebsite, br and, pr oduc ts, and /or ser vices)  and to bring visi tors in. W e do so b y using both inbound and  outbound mar keting ac tivities ( althoug h we will c oncentrate on the  latter in this chapter ) and thr ough paid, o wned, and e arne d me dia  touchpoin ts.  The goals w e have in mind f or pe ople a t this stage  might include  for them to c ome to our w ebsite fr om a SERP , stay on our w ebsite  once ther e, or click on our ads. I nternall y, we can ha ve obje ctives  like cr eating hig h-ranking pages and ads wi th a good ad sc ore  (brief ly, an ad quali ty score can le ad to lo wer pric es for your ads and  better plac emen ts on SERP s).  According ly, examples o f KP Is tha t are impor tant at this stage  include number o f unique visi tors, bounc e rate, clickthr ough for  ads, page a uthori ty, page r ank, and ad quali ty score.  In the r est o f this chapter , we will c over outbound mar keting  activities. S ince you should N ever S tart A Mar keting Campaign  Without a De dicated Landing P age (NSAM CWADLP), we star t our  review of paid mar keting ac tivities b y digg ing de eper in to landing  pages.  Landing P ages  A landing pag e is a c ampaign-spe cific page distinc t from y our main  website tha t has one goal and one link (ide ally, a call to ac tion).  • Cam paign specific : It is associa ted with a spe cific campaign.  Ideally, you mig ht also w ant to cr eate spe cific landing pages f


Ideally, you mig ht also w ant to cr eate spe cific landing pages f or  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  101


specific ads. This allo ws y ou to be tter optimiz e conversion  rates b y practicing some str ategies w e will c over during the  Convert stage.  • Distinct fr om y our main w ebsite: you c annot ac cess i t from  any page o f your main w ebsite, but i t is still hoste d on y our  domain ( e.g., w ww.yourdomain.c om/landing-page-c ampaign- A).  • One g oal: Visi tors should be able to achie ve one thing and one  thing onl y. We will se e shor tly tha t landing pages c an ha ve as  an obje ctive either to ac quire leads or to r edirect visi tors to  some spe cific se ction o f your w ebsite.  • One link : Ther e is onl y one link tha t consumers c an click on  that page.  Types of Landing P ages  Two main t ypes o f landing pages e xist.  • clickthr ough landing pag e  ◦ The goal o f this landing page is to ha ve visi tors visi t a  specific se ction o f your w ebsite.  ◦ It is gener ally a sales pi tch to w arm visi tors up to wha t is  to come.  • lead g ener ation landing pag e  ◦ Your obje ctive her e is to gener ate le ads, and the goal f or  people on this landing page is to g ive you their personal  informa tion ( e.g., email addr ess).  ◦ It is thus t ypically a form-base d page.  ◦ Some times, an email addr ess is o ffered in e xchange f or  some pie ce of content or a fr ee ser vice, lik e a whi te paper ,  a webinar , a fr ee consulta tion, a disc ount, a c ontest, a fr ee  trial, or the oppor tunity to or der a pr oduc t bef ore others.  102  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


Figur e 5.1  Examples of  a  Clickthr ough  Landing  Page – Fit f or  Life Figur es 5.1 and 5.2 presen t examples o f clickthr ough landing pages,  and Figur es 5.3 and 5.4 presen t examples o f lead gener ation landing  pages.  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  103


Figur e 5.2  Examples of  a  Clickthr ough  Landing  Page –  Spotif y  Figur e 5.3  Example of a  Lead  Gener ation  Landing  Page – Fit f or  Life  104  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


Figur e 5.4  Examples of  a Lead  Gener ation  Landing  Page – U ber  Why U se Landing P ages?  Ad c ampaigns c an aim a t building a wareness, but the y are typically  associa ted wi th making c onsumers achie ve spe cific goals, such as  trying out so ftware for fr ee, registering f or an ac count, sending an  email to a c ompan y, or do wnloading a fr ee pie ce of content.  When running ads tha t ha ve such goals, sending visi tors to a  website is c ounterpr oduc tive: a w ebsite is not me ant to c onvert,  i.e., to mak e consumers achie ve a spe cific goal. I f consumers ar e  directed to a w ebsite, the y will be fac ed wi th hundr eds of poten tial  actions ( associa ted wi th the links a vailable on a w ebsite), one o f  which is the ac tion the y should be perf orming. I t becomes e asy f or  consumers to ge t lost.  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  105


Figur e 5.5  Shopif y Ad Inc c omparison, landing pages ar e focuse d on help c onsumers  achie ve onl y one goal. The y facili tate conversion. The y do so b y  allowing to tailor the page to the e xact goal tha t users should  accomplish. This c an be achie ved, for example, b y offering a cle arer  message to c onsumers ( vs. bring ing c onsumers to a w ebsite), by  minimizing the poten tial ac tions the y can perf orm on the page, and  by ma tching the visuals o f an ad wi th tha t the landing page. W e will  delve in depth in to some o f these benef its of landing pages when  discussing c onversion optimiza tion in chapter 10 .  Take, for example, the ad f or Shopif y sho wn in Figur e 5.5 .  The goal f or consumers associa ted with this ad is to tr y Shopif y for  free and cr eate an online stor e toda y. How can w e maximiz e the  chanc es tha t consumers will do so ?  When cr eating this ad, the question tha t a dig ital mar keter fac es  is: wher e do I bring visi tors? I deally, you w ant to bring visi tors to  a plac e tha t will ensur e tha t the y will achie ve the goal o f trying  Shopif y.  A first option c ould be the homepage o f Shopif y sho wn in Figur e  5.6.  106  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


Figur e 5.6  Shopif y  Homepage  Althoug h this page has a bo x at the v ery top tha t inci tes pe ople  to tr y out Shopif y for fr ee, visi tors ar e also o ffered a wide arr ay  of compe ting ac tions. The y can click an y of the links a t the top o f  the page (“S tart,” “Sell, ” “Mar ket,” “Manage, ” “Pricing, ” and “Le arn”);  they can scr oll do wn to le arn mor e about Shopif y, and a t the v ery  bottom, the y can also ac cess inf orma tion such as “ About” Shopif y  and “ Terms and Condi tions. ” In shor t, the y can do a lot mor e than  simpl y trying Shopif y for fr ee.  Over time, dig ital mar keters ha ve learne d tha t one o f the e asiest  ways to ensur e tha t visi tors will do wha t you w ant them to do is  to limi t the possibili ties to just the one ac tion y ou w ant visi tors to  take—in this c ase, signing up to tr y Shopif y for fr ee. The char t in  Figur e 5.7 exemplif ies this b y sho wing the c onversion r ate vs. the  number o f links on a page.  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  107


Figur e 5.7 AR Conver sion  For this r eason, the Shopif y ad doesn ’t redirect consumers to the  Shopif y homepage. Ra ther, the y created a de dicated landing page  wher e the onl y possible  thing f or visi tors to do af ter clicking the ad  is to star t their fr ee trial. Figur e 5.8  shows the landing page.  108  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


Figur e 5.8  Shopif y  Landing  Page  By focusing visi tors’ a ttention to the task a t hand (i.e., tr ying Shopif y  for fr ee), we can maximiz e the conversion r ate, i.e., the number  of visi tors who will achie ve the goal w e want them to achie ve. A  metric cr eated to be tter understand the r elationship be tween the  number o f possible ac tions on a w ebsite and the number o f goals  for consumers is the a ttention r atio. Figur e 5.9  demonstr ates ho w  a website has a high atten tion r atio (i.e., man y possible ac tions vs.  what you w ant consumers to be doing) and wh y a landing page  is ide al for pushing visi tors to perf orm the ac tion w e want them  to perf orm. L anding pages should ha ve an a ttention r atio o f 1:1,  meaning one possible ac tion to one goal.  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  109


Figur e 5.9 Landing P age – A ttention Ratio  Building a Landing P age  A landing page has f ive basic elemen ts: First, a unique selling  proposi tion (USP ), a “unique ” benef it offered by the pr oduc t or the  service (I put unique in quota tion mar ks be cause c ompanies usuall y  presen t a benef it wi thout i t being unique ). The USP is typically  communic ated thr ough a he adline and a subhe adline tha t explain  the v alue and purpose o f the pr oduc t or ser vice. It is also some times  reinforced in a mid-page sta temen t and  a closing ar gumen t at the  bottom o f the page. Se cond, a hero shot , which is a visual associa ted  with the pr oduc t or ser vice. Thir d, a benefi t sta temen t that explains  how the pr oduc t or br and helps c onsumers, t ypically using bulle t  poin ts or small par agraphs. Four th, social pr oofing such as  110  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


Figur e 5.10  Basic  Elements of a  Landing  Page –  Shopif y  Example testimonials, a wards, clien t list, or me dia logos, and f inally, fifth, one  link, t ypically a c all to ac tion.  Let’s see these f ive elemen ts in a r ecent Shopif y landing page  (Figur e 5.10 ).  Paid Me dia Activities  Digital mar keters t ypically ad vertise online thr ough advertising  netw orks, such as Goog le AdSense, and advertising ex chang es,  such as Goog le AdX ( the dif ferences be tween these ar e summariz ed  succinctly here but ar e outside o f the sc ope o f this c ourse ).  Althoug h these t wo appr oaches to pr oviding ad vertising spac e to  advertisers dif fer, from an ad vertiser’ s perspe ctive, both pr ovide an  entry poin t wher e ad vertising spac e can be pur chase d. N etworks,  for e xample, aggr egate ad spac e acr oss w ebsites and sells this  inventory to ad vertisers.  Nowadays, much o f ad vertising spac e is sold thr ough  programma tic bu ying , the a utoma ted pur chasing o f dig ital  advertising spac e. W hen mar keters pur chase spac e thr ough the  Facebook Ads or Goog le Ads pla tforms, f or e xample, the y ar e  making use o f programma tic bu ying. These pla tforms ha ve be en  transforme d in r ecent years b y the use o f algori thms and pr edictive  analyses to help iden tify the optimal plac emen t of ads to r each  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  111


specific obje ctives. Fac ebook Ads, f or e xample, g ives ad vertisers  options such as r each, a wareness, or le ad gener ation c ampaigns.  Choosing a spe cific obje ctive will inf luenc e wher e ads will be plac ed  (i.e., who will se e the ads ) to maximiz e the ef fectiveness o f the ad  campaign.  We no w turn our a ttention to dif ferent ways o f reaching  customers. M ore precisel y, we will brief ly cover banner ad vertising,  search ad vertising, social me dia ad vertising, af filiate mar keting, and  influenc er mar keting.  Banner Advertising  Banner ads  are images or anima tions tha t ad vertise br ands,  produc ts, and ser vices on w ebsites. The y can be lik ened to the ads  one w ould f ind in ne wspapers and magazines. Man y types o f banner  ads e xist, including the f ollowing:  • standar d banner s: standar d siz es (measur ed in pix els) for  static, anima ted, and rich me dia banner ad verts  • interstitial banner s: shown be tween pages on a w ebsite or ,  more often, be tween scr eens on an app  • pop-up ads:  pop up, or under , the w ebpage being vie wed; open  in a ne w, smaller windo w  • floating ad verts:  appe ar in a la yer over the c ontent but not in a  separ ate windo w  • wallpaper ad verts:  change the backgr ound o f the w ebpage  being vie wed; ma y be clickable  • map ad verts:  placed on an online map, such as Goog le Maps;  usuall y base d on k eywords  • native con tent ads:  the online v ersion o f advertorials, wher e  the ad vertiser pr oduc es content tha t is in line wi th the  editorial st yle of the si te but is sponsor ed or in some w ay  produc t-endorse d by the br and  112  |


w ay  produc t-endorse d by the br and  112  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


Figur e 5.11  Banner A d Figur e 5.11  shows an e xample o f a standar d banner ad.  Figur e 5.12  shows an e xample o f an in tersti tial banner ad.  Figur e 5.12 I nterstitial  Figur e 5.13  shows an e xample o f a pop-up ad.  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  113


Figur e 5.13  Pop-Up Ad  Figur e 5.14  Floating A d  Figur e 5.14  shows an e xample o f a floating ad.  Figur e 5.15  shows an e xample o f wallpaper ad.  114  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


Figur e 5.15  Wallpaper  Figur e 5.16  Map  Figur e 5.17  Native  Figur e 5.16  shows an e xample o f a map ad.  Figur e 5.17  shows an e xample o f a na tive ad.  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  115


Search Advertising  In comparison to SEO , sear ch ad vertising  entails gaining tr affic on  SERP s by bidding on k eywords. Se arch ad vertising is also r eferred  to as P PC ad vertising be cause o f the mode o f paymen t: Ad vertisers  typically pay search eng ines f or each click their ad r eceives.  Search ads ar e sold and deliv ered on the basis o f keywords.  Advertisers de cide on se ts of keywords the y would lik e their ad to  show up f or, and when users se arch for these terms, their ad mig ht  show up. K eywords ar e sold thr ough an a uction pr ocess. As a r esult,  industries wi th very hig h customer lif etime v alue, such as insur ance  or mor tgage f irms, c an pa y up ward of $50 per click.  To be tter understand ho w to bid f or k eywords, le t’s watch the  following vide o, which e xplains ho w the Goog le se arch ad a uction  works.  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=348  116  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


Using se arch ads r equires c ombining thr ee main elemen ts: the  keywords you w ant your ad to sho w for, your ad (i.e., a he adline or  two, a URL, and a description ), and a landing page. I n shor t, you  buy keywords tha t will be use d by a se arch eng ine to displa y your  ad when pe ople se arch for those k eywords. Y our ad ne eds to be  relevant to the se arch and a ttractive to the c onsumer . When y our  ad is click ed, you dir ect consumers to y our landing page.  The guidelines f or wri ting ef fective search ads ar e similar to those  for wri ting ef fective page ti tles and me ta descriptions. This is the  only elemen t tha t users will se e on SERP s, and i t is ther efore  impor tant to mak e it as a ttractive as possible. First, the ad should  ideally tar get a cle ar ne ed or goal tha t consumers ha ve, dependen t  on wher e the y are in their journe y. Is the c onsumer looking f or  informa tion? Comparison tools? T o pur chase some thing ? How can  your ad help the c onsumer achie ve their goal? Se cond, the ad  should ha ve a cle ar call to ac tion.  Searches f ollow a long-tail distribu tion (Figur e 5.18 ; te xt  description here). This has implic ations when doing se arch ads:  Most c onsumers mig ht be using generic, hig h-volume k eywords,  while others mig ht be using h yper -precise, lo w-volume k eywords.  Althoug h bidding on hig h-volume k eywords mig ht seem lik e a good  strategy, it comes wi th dr awbacks. First, these k eywords ar e lik ely  more expensiv e. Se cond, the y are less lik ely to bring quali ty traffic.  By quali ty tr affic , I me an visi tors who c an e ventuall y become y our  customers. This is par ticular ly impor tant for se arch ad vertising,


our  customers. This is par ticular ly impor tant for se arch ad vertising,  because e ach visi tor is associa ted wi th a spe cific cost. De vising  effective se arch ad vertising c ampaigns thus en tails balancing  volume and quali ty: Bringing in enoug h visi tors tha t can bu y your  produc t or ser vice but making sur e tha t visi tors who w on’t bu y it  don’t click on y our ad.  To do so, f irms t ypically combine hig h-volume and lo w-volume  keywords to tailor their se arch ads to visi tors who c an poten tially  be customers. This helps le ad gener ation ef forts do wn the line while  ensuring mor e cost-ef fective search ad c ampaigns.  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  117


Figur e 5.18 Longtail K eywor ds and Conver sion Rate / Fr om  https:/ /www .semrush. com/kb/685-what-ar e-long-tailed-k eywor ds / Text  Description  After de ciding on k eywords, y ou c an choose ho w keywords will be  matche d to spe cific se arches. Four main t ypes o f ma tch e xist: br oad  match, phr ase ma tch, e xact ma tch, and nega tive ma tch.  A broad ma tch shows y our ad f or an y search tha t contains the  keyword(s) you ar e bidding on, and an y other k eyword in an y order,  as w ell as v ariations on y our k eywords such as misspellings,  synon yms, singular and plur al forms, stemming ( e.g., a se arch for  “flooring” will ma tch “f loor”), r elated searches and other v ariations.  For e xample, le t’s assume y ou ar e bidding on the k eyword “ki tten”  using a br oad ma tch. An y search c ontaining a v ariation on “ki tten”  would sho w your ad, such as “ki ttens, ” “kitten photos, ” or “ adopt a  kitten.”  Associa ted wi th br oad ma tch ar e broad ma tch modifier s, which  allow mor e control over ma tches b y including some other ne cessar y  keyword. For e xample, if y ou w ant your ad to be sho wn onl y for  searches tha t contain both “ adopt” AND “ki tten,” you c an spe cify  118  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


that. Your ad c ould then sho w for se arches such as “ adopt a ki tten,”  “how to adopt a ki tten,” or “best ki tten to adopt. ”  Phrase ma tch shows y our ad onl y for se arches tha t include the  exact phr ase ( or close v ariations o f tha t exact phr ase wi th addi tional  words bef ore or af ter). For e xample, le t’s assume y ou ar e bidding  on the key phr ase “how to adopt a ki tten.” Your ad c ould sho w for  searches such as “ho w to adopt a ki tten no w” or “best w ays ho w to  adopt a ki tten.”  Exact ma tch only sho ws y our ad f or se arches tha t use the e xact  phrase, or close v ariations o f it, and no other w ords. For e xample,  the k ey phr ase “ adopt a ki tten” will ma tch the se arches “ adopt a  kitten” and poten tial misspellings ( e.g., “ adopt a ki tten”).  Negative ma tch prevents your ad fr om being sho wn when c ertain  keywords ar e include d, such as k eywords tha t mig ht cater to  customers se arching f or a dif ferent produc t. For e xample, le t’s say  you’re an optome trist who sells e yeglasses. I n this c ase, y ou ma y  want to add nega tive keywords for se arch terms lik e “wine g lasses”  and “ drinking g lasses. ”  A few me trics tha t are impor tant for e valuating y our suc cess  when doing se arch ad vertising include the f ollowing:  • clickthr ough rate (CTR ): the per centage o f impr essions tha t  turn in to clicks ( clicks /impr essions )  • conversion r ate: the per centage o f clicks tha t turn in to  conversions ( conversions /clicks )  • cost per click ( CPC) : the amoun t of mone y you’re spending on  each click


click ( CPC) : the amoun t of mone y you’re spending on  each click ( spend /clicks )  • cost per acquisi tion ( CPA): the amoun t of mone y you’re  spending on e ach c onversion ( spend /conversions )  Social Me dia Advertising  Social me dia has be come c entral to most c onsumers’ liv es. In some  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  119


countries, social me dia ne tworks ha ve be come synon ymous wi th  the in terne t, to the poin t wher e “man y use the in terne t without  realizing i t” (Pew 2019 ). Social me dia has also fuele d consumer  content co-cr eation ef forts (or “user -gener ated content”), and w e  can no w publish our o wn c ontent and shar e the c ontent of others.  Man y social me dia businesses r ely on the w ork of consumers ( e.g.,  without us posting c ontent and images, ther e would be no r eason to  use I nstagr am or Fac ebook).  Ther e are man y pla tforms f or ad vertising on social me dia, wi th  new ones ac cumula ting millions o f users in e ver-shor tening periods  of time (TikT ok being a prime e xample o f the la tter). As w e favor  a str ategic outlook, a r eview of all e xisting social me dia pla tforms  is outside o f the sc ope o f this chapter , but the f ollowing links g ive  precise instruc tions on ho w to post an ad on e ach o f the major ones:  • Facebook  • Instagr am  • Twitter  • Pinterest  • Link edIn  • Snapcha t  The v ariety of social pla tforms has an impor tant implic ation when  using them to ad vertise: the impor tanc e of understanding social and  visual norms in or der to cr eate impac tful c ampaigns. Social norms  refer to wha t is c onsider ed acceptable beha vior on a social pla tform.  Understanding the social customs, shar ed ac tions, and beha viors  that are standar d for a pla tform is also impor tant. Mar keters tha t  understand these ha ve be en able to cr eate suc cessful c ampaigns  around them, such as the Guess #inm ydenim  campaign tha t use d  the “tr ansforma tion” trend, the #JLo TikT okChallenge  that use d the  challenge


tion” trend, the #JLo TikT okChallenge  that use d the  challenge customs, and the Dori tos #Cool Ranch Dance campaign  that leveraged TikT ok danc es and the c apabili ties o f the pla tform o f  using songs.  This appr oach o f capitalizing on norms and customs is f ound  120  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


throughout social me dia pla tforms. Old S pice, for example, tailor ed  its ad vertising ef forts to e ach pla tform and o ffers man y good  examples. The br and cr eated one o f the f irst ic onic ad c ampaigns  by emphasizing t wo-way interactions and vide o sharing c apabili ties  on Y ouTube, wi th a r esponse c ampaign associa ted wi th their ad  “The Man Y our Man Could S mell Lik e.” The y transla ted the Twitch  Plays Pokémon  phenomenon, wher e thousands o f users dir ect vide o  gamers to perf orm c ertain ac tions to cr eate a c ampaign wher e  Twitch users c ould c ontrol the ac tions o f a man f or thr ee da ys  for the Nature Ad venture campaign. And the y use d the ide a of gif  wars on Imgur and the pla tform’s up vote c apabili ty to cr eate the  Smellmi tmen t campaign.  These c ampaigns all f ollowed the same pr ecepts: The y engage d  with the norms and customs o f the pla tform the y use d. The y  created ads tha t aime d to gener ate a c onversation wi th users r ather  than solel y talking about the pr oduc t. And the y leveraged the  technolog ical spe cificities o f each pla tform ( e.g., songs f or TikT ok,  turning c ommen ts in to c ontroller inputs f or Twi tch, and using  upvotes on I mgur ).  Social Me dia and RA CE  Social me dia has also be come one o f the main pillars f or ad vertising,  and i t can suppor t most o f the obje ctives of the dif ferent stages o f  the R ACE fr amework. Tha t is, using social me dia f or ad vertising c an  help wi th incr easing a wareness, bring ing visi tors, cr eating le ads,  converting le ads to customers, f ostering lo yalty, and engag ing  customers in c o-cr eation ac tivities. This is w ell


and engag ing  customers in c o-cr eation ac tivities. This is w ell exemplif ied by the  social me dia ad obje ctives tha t most pla tforms ask y ou to choose  from when star ting an ad vertising c ampaign. T ake, for e xample,  Facebook ad obje ctives (Figur e 5.19 ; text description here).  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  121


Figur e 5.19  Facebook A d  Objectives /  Text  Description  Facebook has divide d its ad obje ctives in to thr ee categories tha t  almost perf ectly align wi th the R ACE fr amework: “Awareness” is  associa ted wi th Reach, “ Consider ation” with Ac t, and “ Conversion ”  with Con vert. Le t’s examine e ach obje ctive in mor e detail.  Under the A wareness c ategor y, brand a wareness  “incr eases  overall awareness f or your br and b y sho wing ads to pe ople who ar e  more likely to pa y attention to them, ” and reach  “shows ads to the  maximum number o f people in y our a udienc e while sta ying wi thin  your budge t.”  What is the dif ference? While both align wi th R each obje ctives,  brand a wareness is designe d to help ad vertisers f ind the a udienc es  most lik ely to r ecall their ads. The goal is to incr ease br and r ecall,  and this ties to Fac ebook “Estima ted ad r ecall lif t.” Reach maximiz es  the number o f unique pe ople who will se e your ad while c apping the  frequenc y of impr essions ( e.g., one a da y).  Obje ctives in the Consider ation c ategor y overlap wi th all thr ee  stages.  Traffic  addr esses a R each obje ctive as i t aims to gr ow “the  number o f pe ople who ar e visi ting y our si te, app or M essenger  conversation, ” but i t is also associa ted wi th Ac t because i t aims a t  “incr easing the lik elihood the y’ll tak e a v aluable ac tion when the y  get ther e.”  Engagemen t can be se en as both an Ac t and an Engage ac tivity: it  wants to “ get mor e pe ople to f ollow your page or engage wi th your  122  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


posts thr ough commen ts, shar es and lik es. Y ou c an also choose to  optimiz e for mor e event responses or o ffer claims. ”  App installs  can be se en as both Ac t and Con vert ac tivities  (depending on the str ategic goal o f having pe ople install y our app; if  the app is fr ee and pur chases happen wi thin i t, it’s a le ad gener ation  activity; if i t is a paid app, i t’s a c onvert activity).  Lead g ener ation includes a menu wher e users c an dir ectly en ter  their personal inf orma tion. I t is an Ac t activity tha t aims a t creating  leads.  In the last c ategor y, Conversion ads  align wi th the Con vert stage  by helping ad vertising to c onvert users in to customers.  These c ategories use the Fac ebook ad deliv ery algori thm  differently, with Awareness obje ctives tar geting ads to pe ople mor e  likely to r espond to A wareness gener ation and Con version  objectives to pe ople mor e lik ely to c onvert. Some obje ctives also  offer spe cific types o f ads, such as a c atalog ( catalog sales ), a f orm  (lead gener ation), or a r edirection to app installs ( app installs ).  The last impor tant strategic pie ce to c over associa ted with social  media is their targeting  capabili ties, or ho w the y allo w you to  displa y ads to spe cific gr oups o f people. All pla tforms will allo w  you to tar get your ads base d on k ey customer v ariables, such as  demogr aphics, loc ation, and in terests, and e ach also has some  specific tar geting c apabili ties. For e xample, Link edIn allo ws y ou to  use Link edIn a udienc e segmen ts to pr ogramma tically reach  professional a udienc es base d on their c ompan y siz e, seniori ty,  professions, and other k ey professional v ariables.


e, seniori ty,  professions, and other k ey professional v ariables.  Most pla tforms allo w for beha vioral tar geting , wher e ads ar e  deliv ered base d on pur chase beha viors or in tents or pe ople who  have a spe cific kind o f conne ction to y our page, app, gr oup, or  event. For e xample, ad vertisers c ould tar get any users tha t have  engage d wi th their c ontent acr oss the Fac ebook famil y of apps and  services.  After Fac ebook in troduc ed the hig hly useful Lookalike audience  option in 2013, other major ad vertisers such as Goog le followed  suit. Lookalik e audienc es use pla tforms’ algori thms to cr eate gr oups  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  123


on social ne tworks tha t resemble other gr oups. This is a ne w and  unique w ay to tar get tha t was ne ver bef ore possible and c an help  companies une arth some gr oup o f consumers who w ould be hig hly  qualif ied but ha ve not y et be en iden tified by the c ompan y. A  lookalik e audienc e could be base d on a pr eviousl y hig hly engage d  audienc e (i.e., f inding another gr oup o f consumers tha t shar es some  commonali ties tha t will also mak e them hig hly engage d) or an  existing segmen t of customers.  Paymen t struc tures for social me dia ad vertising ar e typically one  of the f ollowing:  • CPM (cost per thousand) : Pay every time 1, 000 users vie w your  ad.  • CPC ( cost per click ): Pay when a user clicks on y our ad.  • CPA (cost per action or cost per acquisi tion): Pay onl y when  an ad vert deliv ers an ac quisi tion af ter the user clicks on the  advert (definitions o f acquisi tions v ary depending on the si te  and c ampaign and ma y be a user f illing in a f orm, do wnloading  a file or bu ying a pr oduc t).  Influenc er and Affiliate Mark eting  Influencer mar keting —a f orm o f social me dia mar keting tha t  capitalizes on pe ople or or ganiza tions wi th lar ge followings who  exert some sor t of influenc e over others be cause o f their e xper tise  or charisma—has be come both a mar keting and a socie tal  phenomenon. Ther e were mor e than 3. 7 million ads b y inf luenc ers  on Instagr am in 2018, and some estima te tha t the mar ket will r each  US$10 billion b y 20 20 (Wired 2019 ). Nine ty per cent of Instagr am  campaigns in 2018 use d micr o-inf luencer s, influenc ers who


campaigns in 2018 use d micr o-inf luencer s, influenc ers who ha ve  some wher e be tween 1, 000 and 100 ,000 f ollowers ( HubSpot 2019 ).  Micr o-inf luenc ers r epresen t about 25% o f the I nstagr am user base,  or about 250 million pe ople ( Mention.c om 2018 ). While most micr o- 124  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


influenc ers char ge a f ew hundr ed dollars per post, top ones c an  char ge up ward of US$50 ,000.  Althoug h inf luenc ers c an be use d thr oughout all R ACE stages,  they historic ally ha ve be en use d as an a wareness gener ation  channel. Ev en toda y, most o f the main obje ctives repor ted by brands  for the use o f inf luenc ers r elate to the R each stage, such as  impr oving br and a wareness, shar e of voice, reaching ne w audienc es,  and manag ing r eputa tion ( Fipp 2017 ). Ov er the last f ew years, ther e  has be en a tr end to ward mo ving mar keting budge ts away from top  influenc ers to micr o-inf luenc ers, who ar e belie ved to ha ve a  stronger c onne ction wi th their f ollowers and thus gener ate  stronger engagemen t (Wired 2017 ).  Ideally, when planning f or an inf luenc er campaign, f irms should  aim to choose inf luenc ers who c orrespond to the siz e of their  business. I t is e asier f or smaller f irms to cr eate relationships wi th  micr o-inf luenc ers, and these individuals mig ht suppor t the f irms’  goals if a trusting r elationship c an be establishe d. To facili tate the  internal managemen t of inf luenc er campaigns, i t can be useful to  create inf luenc er personas, i.e., personas tha t represen t the kind o f  influenc er the f irm should aim to r ecruit for their c ampaigns. Firms  should aim to f ind inf luenc ers tha t align wi th their br and iden tity,  can r esona te wi th the br and’s customers, and c an help the f irm  achie ve their obje ctives (i.e., per haps dif ferent inf luenc ers c an help  achie ve dif ferent obje ctives, whe ther i t is r eaching a wide number  of


ferent obje ctives, whe ther i t is r eaching a wide number  of consumers, gener ating le ads, or c onverting le ads to customers ).  Firms should also suppor t inf luenc ers’ ef forts b y pr oviding  marketing ma terials. Some inf luenc ers mig ht want to w ork wi th  firms to align the f irm’s interests and obje ctives wi th theirs. For  example, man y inf luenc ers r epor t onl y taking on clien ts tha t  represen t their v alues or whose pr oduc ts the y alr eady lik e. W hen  choosing inf luenc ers, ask y ourself:  • Who ar e their f ollowers? Ar e their f ollowers m y tar gets?  • Are the y real?  • Do the y release quali ty content? (Tha t can be ma tche d with  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  125


your pr oduc t?)  • Have the y worked with your c ategor y? Wi th a c ompe titor?  • Do the y promote pr oduc ts often? How do their f ollowers  react?  • What pla tforms ar e the y on?  • Can y ou use their c ontent?  • How long does their c ontent sta y online ?  Two main r outes e xist f or recruiting inf luenc ers: using influenc er  agencies, ne tworks, or pla tforms , which c entralize in teractions  between a f irm and man y inf luenc ers or c ontacting inf luenc ers  directly. If reaching out dir ectly, mak e sur e to send personaliz ed  messages tha t cle arly sho w tha t you understand who the inf luenc er  is and wh y you se e a f it between y our br and and the inf luenc er’s  brand. Dif ferent inf luenc ers ha ve dif ferent goals: some mig ht want  to push pr oduc ts the y str ongly belie ve in, some mig ht want to be a  positive inf luenc e on their f ollowers, and some mig ht be in i t for the  mone y (Kozine ts et al. 2010 ). This should pla y a role in ho w you “sell”  your c ampaign to an inf luenc er.  The main pa ymen t struc ture for inf luenc ers is pay per post ,  which v aries depending on the domain or the inf luenc er. In 2017 ,  according to influenc e.co, paymen ts averaged US$217 per post,  which c ould be br oken do wn as f ollows, wi th inf luenc ers wi th fewer  than 1, 000 f ollowers c ommanding 83$ per post and those wi th m ore  than 100 ,000 f ollowers, 763$ per post. P osts me diated by The  Influenc e Agenc y cost mor e, ranging fr om 2,000$ to 10 ,000$ per  post b y inf luenc ers wi th mor e than 100 ,000 f


per  post b y inf luenc ers wi th mor e than 100 ,000 f ollowers. B log  collabor ations ar e pric ed by the number o f mon thly impr essions the  blog r eceives:  • 10,000 mon thly impr essions: 175$  • 100,000 to 500 ,000 mon thly impr essions: 500$  • 500,000+ mon thly impr essions: 1, 000$ to 5, 000$  Other pa ymen t struc tures include  pay per lead, pa y per  126  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


engagemen t (when a user perf orms an ac tion associa ted wi th a  post, such as a click, a c ommen t, or a shar e), or pay per view .  Influenc ers lik e Zoella  often cr eate a r evenue str eam b y  participa ting in affilia te pr ograms, an “ agreemen t in which a  business pa ys another business or inf luenc er (‘the af filiate’) a  commission f or sending … sales their w ay” (Hubspot ). Ther e are  man y dif ferent appr oaches to af filiate mar keting, such as  comparison-shopping w ebsites, c oupon w ebsites, email lists, or  reward websites (Authori ty Hacker 20 20). Affiliate mar keting dif fers  from inf luenc er mar keting in tha t it is o verwhelming ly focuse d on  the Con vert stage: S ince pa y is t ypically associa ted wi th making  sales, af filiates aim to c onvert people to sales. Ther e are, ho wever,  affiliate pr ograms tha t pay per le ad (and henc e par ticipa te in the  Act stage ) and others tha t pay per visi t (and henc e par ticipa te in the  Reach stage ).  Affiliate mar keting w orks as f ollows: An ad vertiser , a c ompan y  that sells a pr oduc t or a ser vice, offers to pa y a thir d par ty (e.g.,  a blogger or a c oupon w ebsite) to help them pr omote and sell  produc ts and ser vices. The af filiate conduc ts online ac tivities in  order to sell pr oduc ts or ser vices. For e xample, Figur e 5.20  shows  a blog post in which Zoella pr esen ts her “ 10 sc ary reads” f or  Halloween. Each book is associa ted wi th the af filiate pr ogram  Reward Style. Let’s say a r eader r eads this blog post, lik es the sound  of a book, clicks on the link f or tha t book, and pur chases i


of a book, clicks on the link f or tha t book, and pur chases i t: Zoella  will then r eceive a small per centage o f the sale f or helping mak e this  sale happen.  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  127


Figur e 5.20  Affiliate  Marketing  Example  You c an typically easily iden tify whe ther a link is par t of an af filiate  program or not. For e xample, f or Zoella, the link looks lik e this:  https:/ /rstyle.me /+U7 XZh4a YDVf0s7el U5SykA. We can thus se e  that it is associa ted wi th the R eward Style pr ogram. Af filiate  programs will cr eate dif ferent types o f links, which t ypically include  the publisher ( affiliate) website ID ( or PID), the ad id ( AID), and the  shopper ( or visi tor) ID ( or SID ). This allo ws tr acking o f sales acr oss  publishers, ads, shoppers, and r eward affiliates ac cording ly.  The t wo main pa ymen t struc tures tha t exist f or af filiates ar e the  following:  • PPS (pa y per sale ): The ad vertiser pa ys the publisher a  percentage o f the sale tha t was cr eated by a customer r eferred  by the publisher ( revenue sharing model).  • CPA (cost per acquisi tion/cost per action /cost per lead):  The  advertiser pa ys onl y when an ad vert deliv ers an ac quisi tion  after the user clicks on the ad vert. Def initions o f acquisi tions  vary depending on the si te and c ampaign. I t ma y be a user  filling in a f orm, do wnloading a f ile or bu ying a pr oduc t.  128  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


Exer cises  As in the pr evious chapter’ s exercise, y ou ar e a fitness  center cr eating a c ampaign f or pe ople who w ant to ge t  back in to shape.  One o f the personas y ou ar e tar geting is A very.  Avery is a person living in a major Canadian ci ty center.  They are their la te twenties to e arly thir ties and ar e in the  top 20% in r evenue in their ci ty. With incr eased  responsibili ties a t work and a ne wborn, A very had put  exercising aside f or a f ew years. The y feel slugg ish, lack  ener gy, and miss ha ving a str onger c onne ction wi th their  body. With age, their bod y has also star ted to tr ansform,  and the y have star ted to f eel self -conscious about i t. To  reme diate this, the y want to ge t back in to exercising  weekly. The y don ’t have much time, and the y also don ’t  know much about w orking out or the mar ket—for example,  wher e to w ork out or ho w to w ork out.  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  129


Text Description  1. First, cr eate a se arch ad (he adline, description, and  displa y URL, wi th a choic e of keywords) for the  awareness stage. U se longtail k eywords.  2. Then, f or this ad, sk etch a landing page, using the  five main elemen ts we covered.  You should be asking y ourself the f ollowing questions:  ◦ What is the obje ctive associa ted with  awareness f or consumers? H ow does this  influenc e my search ad?  ◦ What stage o f the R ACE fr amework does  awareness align wi th? What are the obje ctives  for m y firm a t this stage ? How does tha t  influenc e my landing page design ?  3. Next, using the ad y ou cr eated in the f irst par t of  this e xercise, think o f two ways to tr ansform y our ad  130  |  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors


to fit the f ollowing social me dia pla tforms:  ◦ Instagr am  ◦ Link edIn  4. Identify which t ype o f paymen t appr oach ( e.g., CPC  or CP A) you should go f or and pr ovide a r eason wh y.  5. Finall y, find a c ouple o f influenc ers on I nstagr am  that could help y ou wi th this c ampaign. Explain ho w  you’d find these inf luenc ers and wh y the y are ide al  for your c ampaign, and de cide which pa ymen t model  to adopt to cr eate a c ampaign wi th them.  Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors  |  131


Act: Cr eating Content  PIERRE- YANN DOLBEC  Overview  In this chapter , we cover some c entral ac tivities associa ted wi th  content cr eation. W e in troduc e the chapter b y explaining the  impor tanc e of content creation and ho w content creation should  resemble wha t your c ompe titors ar e doing but also be dif ferent  from them be cause o f your o wn unique br and v oice. W e then turn  our a ttention to struc turing c ontent creation ac tivities. W e examine  how content creation c an be guide d by the R ACE fr amework, the  difference be tween ga ted and unga ted content and when to use  each kind, wh y and ho w to build topic al relevance, and ho w pillar  pages c an help us do so. Finall y, we conclude the chapter b y  discussing wha t a c ontent creation c alendar is and ho w it suppor ts  content creation ef forts.  Learning O bjectives  Understand the basics o f content creation, ho w it ties in  with the R ACE fr amework, ga ted and unga ted content,  pillar pages, and c ontent creation c alendars.  132  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent


The Importanc e of Cr eating Content  Content creation is impor tant for two main r easons. First, i t helps  build a w ebsite’s relevance and a uthori ty, contributing to i ts ranking  on se arch eng ines—ac cording to most mar keters, c ontent mar keting  is the most ef ficien t SEO tac tic ( Ascend2 2015, ci ted in  marketingprofs.com). Websites wi th blogs also ha ve four times mor e  pages inde xed on se arch eng ines, making them mor e likely to sho w  up during se arches ( Forbes ).  Content is also a c ornerstone o f customer ac quisi tion str ategies,  and i t is one o f the most po werful tools f or use in the R ACE  framework. Ac cording to H ubSpot, a c onsumer c onsults thr ee to  five pie ces o f content during their journe y to ward making a  purchase. Le ads gener ated using inbound mar keting ef forts ar e also  less c ostly by about half c ompar ed to le ads gener ated using  outbound ef forts. Inbound le ads ar e also 10 times mor e lik ely to  convert (vs. outbound ones ), and studies ha ve sho wn tha t content  marketing ef forts boost c ompan y revenues b y an a verage o f 40%  (Hubspot ).  Creating Content  Before star ting c ontent creation ef forts, a c ompan y should ha ve in  mind a cle ar persona and associa ted journe y, understand i ts own  website, and ide ally understand ho w its compe titors ar e posi tioning  themsel ves on se arch eng ines (i.e., ha ve perf orme d a c ompe titive  keyword anal ysis).  Creating c ontent is a balancing ac t. First, i t is a balanc e in tha t  you must be similar enoug h to c ompe titors to addr ess the gener al  needs of the mar ket and look lik e a trust worthy organiza tion, while  being dif ferent enoug h to a ttract customers. This ide a of standing  out while f itting in is


h to a ttract customers. This ide a of standing  out while f itting in is terme d “optimal distincti veness .”  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  133


Second, i t is a balanc e be tween wha t you c an o ffer and wha t  consumers w ant. W hen cr eating c ontent, firms ne ed to k eep in  mind tha t the y should r epresen t the customer . This en tails  understanding wha t customers ar e looking f or base d on their ne eds  and challenges and ho w wha t the y ne ed evolves thr oughout their  journe y.  Creating unique and r elevant content thus en tails understanding  the mar ket and kno wing the c odes tha t or ganiz e content  produc tion, kno wing wha t spe cifically about y our br and g ives it  a unique v oice (or “brand v oice”), and c ombining these pie ces o f  knowledge to cr eate some thing unique tha t will in terest c onsumers  and is base d on y our c apabili ties, i.e., wha t you ar e able to do ( Figur e  6.1).  Figur e 6.1 Content M arketing  Let’s explor e this fur ther thr ough the e xample o f creating c ontent  on Instagr am.  134  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent


Understanding the Competition and the Mark et  Some thing to k eep in mind when cr eating c ontent for social me dia  platforms is associa ted wi th prototype and ex emplar theories .  Without ge tting into too much de tail, the c entral ide a her e is tha t in  order to stand out, y ou first must f it in.  The ide a goes as f ollows: Each c ategor y has some sor t of a  “standar d” member , a “ prototype” tha t pe ople me asur e wha tever  is in this c ategor y against ( or, from an e xemplar perspe ctive, each  categor y has “ dominan t examples, ” or e xemplars, tha t are use d to  evaluate wha tever is in this c ategor y; Figur e 6.2 ). In or der to f it  in, such as to be c onsider ed leg itima te as an I nstagr am ac count  on c osme tics, c ars, or ta ttoos, y ou must shar e attributes wi th the  prototype or e xemplar . This allo ws y ou to f it in.  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  135


Figur e 6.2 Ex emplar and Pr ototype  For e xample, f itness ac counts tend to shar e char acteristics in terms  of wha t inf luenc ers look lik e (dresse d in f itness a ttire and ei ther  looking f it or r eally, really fit), the se tting in which the y cr eate  their vide os (typically, a gym), the kinds o f things the y post (ho w to  exercise, die t posts, motiv ational posts, e tc.), and so on.  Yet wi thin the f itness c ategor y, ther e exist subc ategories  organiz ed around dif ferent subt ypes o f fitness inf luenc ers. A f irst  example is the f itness ther apy pr ofile, a t ype o f fitness ac count  exemplif ied b y inf luenc ers such as achie vefitnessboston ,  136  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent


squa tuniv ersity, and joetherapy. This t ype o f ac count typically  emphasiz es scienc e-base d kno wledge and instruc tionals on ho w to  proper ly practice fitness and r ecovery.  A striking ly dif ferent type o f pr ofile, still wi thin the f itness  categor y, is the “f itness motiv ational” ac count, exemplif ied in  accounts such as zacaynsle y, joesthe tics, mssannamaria , and  anna_del yla.  Knowing which subc ategor y a f irm w ants to par ticipa te in is  impor tant because not all personas will be r eading all subc ategories  of fitness ac counts. It also allo ws a be tter understanding o f the  categor y as a whole and ho w to poten tially mix and ma tch  appr oaches, as e xemplif ied by massy .arias .  Once you ha ve gaine d membership b y fitting in, y our job is to f ind  ways to distinguish y ourself fr om others. I n shor t, you w ant to f it  in just enoug h tha t you ar e par t of the c ategor y but y ou w ant to  differentiate yourself enoug h tha t people will w ant to f ollow your  Instagr am ac count rather than one o f your c ompe titors. This is  wher e the uniqueness o f your br and c omes in to pla y.  Using Y our Br and to Cr eate U nique Content  A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, and /or other f eature (e.g.,  Off-White and Of f-White “quotes, ” Coc a-Cola and the Cok e red,  Bottega V enetta and i ts w eave design ) tha t iden tifies a c ompan y’s  produc ts or ser vices and dif ferentiates them fr om those o f other  companies.  Over the last thr ee de cades, pr actitioners and ac ademics ha ve  develope d man y terms to help us be tter understand br ands. For


ve  develope d man y terms to help us be tter understand br ands. For  example, w e no w kno w wha t brands ar e mor e or less gener ally  understood in the same w ay by consumers who ha ve a c ertain  image o f the br ands in their minds ( brand imag e). The descriptiv e  features tha t consumers use to describe these images ar e called  brand a ttribu tes. We also kno w tha t mar keters c an pla y on this  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  137


by assigning c ertain a ttributes—personali ty traits—to br ands ( brand  personali ty). Marketers also striv e to posi tion their br and in a  market in a w ay tha t is distinc t and v alued by consumers ( brand  posi tioning ).  The main messages her e are tha t brands ser ve to dif ferentiate  produc ts and ser vices, and, in our c ase, c ontent created online,  from other c ompanies; tha t consumers f orm images o f brands in  their minds; and tha t, as dig ital mar keters, w e should str ategically  think o f how to use br ands to posi tion oursel ves, our pr oduc ts, our  services and, impor tantly, our c ontent.  Hence, onc e you ha ve de velope d an understanding o f the c odes  used ar ound c ontent cr eation in a mar ket and ho w y our  compe titors ar e uniquel y posi tione d, the ne xt step is to cr eate  content tha t will uniquel y spe ak to c onsumers. I deally, you will w ant  this c ontent to r eflect who y ou ar e as a c ompan y, i.e., to r eflect your  brand.  Let’s tak e the e xample o f br and personali ties. A aker (199 7)  iden tified five dimensions to the personali ty of brands:  • sinceri ty (honest, genuine, che erful)  • excitemen t (daring, spiri ted, imag inative)  • com petence  (reliable, r esponsible, dependable, ef ficien t)  • sophistica tion (glamor ous, pr etentious, charming)  • ruggedness  (toug h, str ong, outdoorsy , rugge d)  We would e xpect tha t brands tha t aim to sho w a rugge d image  would cr eate c ontent dif ferently fr om those aiming f or a  sophistic ated one. Think, f or example, o f the la test J eep ad tha t you  might have


f or example, o f the la test J eep ad tha t you  might have watche d and ho w it compar es wi th the la test M ercedes  ad tha t you ha ve seen. Ov er time, in teractions be tween c onsumers  and touchpoin ts le ad them to de velop an image o f your br and.  Represen ting y our br and in w ays tha t align wi th the image y ou w ant  to cr eate in c onsumers’ minds is thus c entral.  Hence, to cr eate unique c ontent, ask y ourself: W hat does m y  brand stand f or? W hat do I w ant consumers to think o f when the y  138  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent


hear m y brand name ? How can m y content proper ly sho wcase m y  brand?  Take Wendy’s, for e xample, which has be come infamous f or its  sassy , che eky, in-y our-face, bor dering-on-tr olling social me dia  presenc e. It, for example, challenge d a te en to ge t a million r etweets  in exchange f or a lif etime o f chick en nugge ts (the #nuggsf orcarter  campaign ). It cr eated a Spotif y pla ylist taking shots a t its  compe titors ( as the c ompan y regular ly does on Twi tter). All o f  which, ac cording to W endy’s Chief Mar keting Of ficer Kurt Kane, “is  a natural extension o f the W endy’s brand D ave Thomas f ounde d in  1969” ( Fast Compan y).  Keeping Consumers in Mind  Last, and to r eaffirm wha t has be en said thr oughout the last  chapters, y our main r ole as a c ompan y when cr eating c ontent is  to represen t the customer . Tha t me ans to understand their ne eds  and challenges, ho w wha t people look f or varies thr oughout their  journe y, the t ypes o f se arches the y do ( e.g., inf orma tion,  transac tion, na vigational; associa ted wi th ZM OTs; link ed wi th their  needs and challenges ), and ho w you c an answ er c onsumers b y  providing them wi th content tha t is e ducational and en tertaining.  Structuring Content Cr eation  In this se cond se ction, w e are going to touch on a f ew key terms and  appr oaches to help struc ture content creation: ga ted vs. unga ted  content and their r espe ctive roles in mar keting c ampaigns, ho w to  build topic al relevance, and pillar pages.  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  139


Figur e 6.3  Gated  Content  Example Gate d and U ngated Content  Gated con tent is “any type o f content tha t vie wers c an onl y access  after e xchang ing their inf orma tion. Essen tially, the c ontent is  hidden behind a f orm. Companies use ga ted content to gener ate  leads and, ultima tely, sales” ( Hubspot ). In contrast, ungated con tent  is an y content tha t users c an fr eely ac cess wi thout ha ving to  exchange inf orma tion.  An e xample o f ga ted content is sho wn in Figur e 6.3 , wher e  consumers ar e ask ed to “Do wnload our e xclusiv e trend r epor ts.”  Gated content should be mor e extensiv e than unga ted content,  harder to f ind, and r ather unique, so as to en tice users to e xchange  their personal inf orma tion f or it. Examples include a whi te paper ,  an e-book, a r epor t such as the one in Figur e 6.3 , a templa te, or a  webinar —in other w ords, hig h value and r arer content.  You mig ht ask wh y you should ga te c ontent, and the t ypical  answ er is to gener ate le ads, such as in a le ad gener ation landing  page. Ga ted content should be thoug ht of as the endpoin t of a le ad  140  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent


Figur e 6.4  Ungated  Content to  Gated  Content gener ation c ampaign, wher e consumers will pr ovide their personal  informa tion, which will then allo w a f irm to en ter in to le ad  nurturing ef forts, which w e cover in the ne xt chapter .  Typic ally, a firm will cr eate unga ted pie ces of content (e.g., social  media posts and blog posts ) tha t will driv e consumers to a pie ce  of ga ted content. In other w ords, the c ontent suppor ting the  campaigns is unga ted, and the endpoin t wher e a visi tor is c onverted  into a le ad is ga ted (see Figur e 6.4 , wher e a blog post is link ed to an  e-book).  Building T opical Relevance  Over the last f ew chapters, w e covered the basics o f SEO , how to  think about c ontent creation and ads base d on c onsumers’ ne eds  and challenges, ho w to iden tify oppor tunities base d on the c oncr ete  actions during their journe y, and ho w to r espond wi th ad hoc  marketing ac tivities.  Building topical r elevance  is par t of a firm’s longer -term str ategy  for posi tioning i tself and i ts web pr oper ties. I t entails br eaking do wn  the gener al ne eds and challenges tha t consumers ar e experiencing  into key topics tha t will orien t our mar keting ef forts.  For e xample, if w e wanted to build topic al relevance on the topic  of content mar keting, w e would c ome up wi th poten tial se arches  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  141


and ar eas of interest to cr eate man y blog posts, social me dia posts,  and pie ces of gated content on this topic ( Figur e 6.5 ).  Figur e 6.5 T opics  To star t building a w eb pr esenc e ar ound c ertain k ey topics o f  interest to y our c onsumers, the f irst step is to iden tify which topic  you ar e in terested in. A f irst, customer -driv en, w ay to iden tify  topics is b y looking a t the t ype o f searches being c arrie d out b y  consumers, which c an be done using tools such as Goog le Trends  or Se arch R epor ts in Goog le Anal ytics. Firms c an also sur vey and  interview consumers to be tter understand wha t is r elevant to them,  what their k ey ne eds and challenges ar e, and ho w the y turn to  the w eb to help addr ess these. A se cond w ay to iden tify topics is  through keyword anal ysis, as w e discusse d in Chapter 3 .  Once a topic has be en iden tified (e.g., c ontent mar keting), f irms  will plan their str ategy to slo wly build their r elevance on tha t topic.  Viewed from this perspe ctive, each pie ce of content (e.g., a blog  post ) aims a t addr essing one tar geted se arch. For e xample, a blog  post posi tione d on the k eywords “be tter wri ting skills” will answ er  a pie ce of the puz zle o f content mar keting: ho w to impr ove one ’s  writing skills. These mig ht be hundr eds o f subtopics associa ted  with a spe cific topic, opening fur ther oppor tunities f or c ontent  142  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent


marketing ef forts. A topic is thus a gener al domain tha t can tie  toge ther man y spe cific se arches ( as exemplif ied in Figur e 6.5 ).  Over time, building topic al relevance will help a w ebsite, as a  whole, sho w up hig her on SERP s. This is be cause i t helps addr ess  the main fac tors on which w ebsites ar e ranked tha t we covered  in Chapter 3 : It facili tates the cr eation o f cross-links, will help  consumers spend mor e time on a w ebsite, boosts page vie ws, and  so on. Consumers mig ht en ter the w ebsite on the page on ho w  to be tter their wri ting skills, f or example, and onc e the y are done  reading their blog post, se e and click on a r ecommende d post on  how to gener ate blog post ide as, incr easing page vie ws and time  spen t on si te.  RACE and Content Mark eting  As w e have brief ly covered, the R ACE fr amework helps our c ontent  strategy by inf orming the t ype o f content we should be cr eating f or  each stage o f the fr amework.  Content mar keting pr ofessionals t ypically talk about thr ee types  of content: top o f the funnel (T oFu) content, middle o f the funnel  (MoFu) content, and bot tom o f the funnel (Bo Fu) content. The funnel  represen ts the purchase funnel , or wha t we have referred to thus far  as the c onsumer journe y (awareness, ac tive evaluation, pur chase,  and post-pur chase ).  We can easily map e ach stage o f the funnel wi th RACE stages and  stages o f the c onsumer journe y.  ToFu con tent acti vities target the a wareness stage o f the  consumer journe y and align wi th the R each stage. A t the a wareness  stage, c onsumers ar e experiencing and e xpressing symptoms o f a  need, pr oblem, or challenge the y are facing. The c ontent aims a t  educating


pr oblem, or challenge the y are facing. The c ontent aims a t  educating them. The ne ed, pr oblem, or challenge tha t consumers  are experiencing c an vary in abstr actness. For e xample, the y mig ht  have lower-back pain and ar e looking f or a solution. Or the y mig ht  Act: Cr eating Con tent  |  143


need a pair o f new running shoes. Con tent should thus addr ess  problems in w ays tha t ma tch wha t consumers ar e experiencing.  MoFu con tent acti vities target the ac tive evaluation stage o f the  consumer journe y and align wi th the Ac t stage. A t the ac tive  evaluation stage, c onsumers ar e looking to e valuate solutions.  Content should thus spe ak dir ectly to the solutions tha t consumers  can use to sol ve their ne eds, pr oblems, or challenges. The goal o f  the c ontent is to facili tate ac tive evaluation and to ser ve as a bridge  from e ducation to y our pr oduc t or ser vice. It is still impor tant to  represen t the customer and to limi t persuasion ef forts, but to  balanc e this wi th slo wly warming c onsumers to wha t you ha ve to  offer.  BoFu con tent acti vities target the pur chase stage and align wi th  the Con vert stage. A t the c onvert stage, c onsumers ar e looking to  buy a pr oduc t. Con tent at this stage should help c onsumers e valuate  your pr oduc t or ser vice to persuade them to bu y wha t you ar e  offering o ver the o ffer of compe titors.  Searches c onsumers mig ht mak e thr oughout the funnel c ould  include the f ollowing ( Figur e 6.6):  1. ToFu (awareness /problem ): “H ow to ge t dog hair out o f my  carpe t?”  2. MoFu (evaluation/solution ): “Vacuum vs. sticky r oll”; “B issel  Dog Er aser vs. Dyson T op Dog”  3. BoFu (pur chase /produc t): “Best pric e Bissel Dog Er aser”  144  |  Act: Cr eating Con tent