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8b7a100d2cea-0 | 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 | Page 77 |
8b7a100d2cea-1 | 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 | Page 77 |
d3d34608126c-0 | 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. | Page 78 |
d3d34608126c-1 | 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 | Page 78 |
ea9f22b1ad07-0 | 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 | Page 79 |
a11eefe44ccd-0 | 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 | Page 80 |
47ad39d6be8a-0 | 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 | Page 81 |
76e708b4083d-0 | 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 | Page 82 |
308211836029-0 | 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 | Page 83 |
6bc53d91c90a-0 | 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 ( | Page 84 |
6bc53d91c90a-1 | 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 | Page 84 |
4fcb862367e1-0 | 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. | Page 85 |
4fcb862367e1-1 | 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 | Page 85 |
baa35a402636-0 | 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 | Page 86 |
baa35a402636-1 | SMART : • specific • measur able • attainable • realistic 76 | Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy | Page 86 |
f6d7d40cf75e-0 | • 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 | Page 87 |
8d4aecfba034-0 | 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 | Page 88 |
d20a951e5d2d-0 | 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 | Page 89 |
60aa053091f4-0 | “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 | Page 90 |
03f5ddcf75bc-0 | • 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 | Page 91 |
ba181ada2bb5-0 | 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 | Page 92 |
2fd28e0965b9-0 | 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 | Page 93 |
301074117f9a-0 | 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 | Page 94 |
3efd017c7a25-0 | • 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 | Page 95 |
aab0f30ed4cf-0 | 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 | Page 96 |
aab0f30ed4cf-1 | The map tr ansforms a r ather abstr act way of understanding ho w 86 | Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy | Page 96 |
d98246e0c774-0 | 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 | Page 97 |
c8cf8faca2fc-0 | 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 | Page 98 |
5a7afc18f297-0 | 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 | Page 99 |
3d0af9be59ad-0 | Figur e 4.7 Conver sion P ath – 1st Ex ample 90 | Introduc tion to Dig ital S trategy | Page 100 |
7a0ded93869a-0 | 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 | Page 101 |
5334810d90ec-0 | 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 | Page 102 |
3d7590e37fbe-0 | 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 | Page 103 |
54a2c31af38b-0 | • 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 | Page 104 |
69b3db0bb7f8-0 | 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 | Page 105 |
e6f21824aed3-0 | 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 | Page 106 |
27b646eff663-0 | 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 | Page 107 |
4007261f62f8-0 | 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 | Page 108 |
b8aeecefc12e-0 | 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 | Page 109 |
710fd35aa92c-0 | 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 | Page 110 |
25beb18e3f26-0 | 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 | Page 111 |
25beb18e3f26-1 | 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 | Page 111 |
a539bbc9a6a9-0 | 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 | Page 112 |
2bd8537c6dbe-0 | 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 | Page 113 |
0ce404430d91-0 | 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 | Page 114 |
0bb94cbb44f9-0 | 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 | Page 115 |
3350e694a81d-0 | 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 | Page 116 |
91d392c99101-0 | 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 | Page 117 |
bbf9ccb9ab45-0 | 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 | Page 118 |
8e46c92f2414-0 | 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 | Page 119 |
5a81e15eaf64-0 | 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 | Page 120 |
e5a95edccdc2-0 | 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 | Page 121 |
0133efc64c96-0 | 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 | | Page 122 |
0133efc64c96-1 | w ay produc t-endorse d by the br and 112 | Reach: Gener ating A wareness and A ttracting Visi tors | Page 122 |
d10685651d77-0 | 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 | Page 123 |
33a7fa1fd302-0 | 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 | Page 124 |
2a54706b970b-0 | 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 | Page 125 |
3177ec1b64d7-0 | 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 | Page 126 |
2b7a1d604413-0 | 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, | Page 127 |
2b7a1d604413-1 | 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 | Page 127 |
0ed403068e46-0 | 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 | Page 128 |
aee4c6850c4d-0 | 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 | Page 129 |
aee4c6850c4d-1 | 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 | Page 129 |
af6d26a6868d-0 | 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 | Page 130 |
af6d26a6868d-1 | 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 | Page 130 |
95cf8fbe37ee-0 | 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 | Page 131 |
95cf8fbe37ee-1 | 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 | Page 131 |
2fd03cddf944-0 | 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 | Page 132 |
63188fe9e772-0 | 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. | Page 133 |
63188fe9e772-1 | 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 | Page 133 |
338930bc68cc-0 | 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 | Page 134 |
338930bc68cc-1 | 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 | Page 134 |
5f9c7cf37bd7-0 | 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 | Page 135 |
5f9c7cf37bd7-1 | 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 | Page 135 |
267878d5fe75-0 | 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 | Page 136 |
267878d5fe75-1 | 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 | Page 136 |
ed4d3332602e-0 | 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 | Page 137 |
ed4d3332602e-1 | 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 | Page 137 |
aad90e009f3d-0 | 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 | Page 138 |
7a0131664009-0 | 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 | Page 139 |
c9eaf535fa0c-0 | 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 | Page 140 |
ba470a539de8-0 | 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 | Page 141 |
307e43d4fc76-0 | 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 | Page 142 |
08891905ace7-0 | 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 | Page 143 |
08891905ace7-1 | 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 | Page 143 |
c8d3daa6afef-0 | 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 | Page 144 |
65bf18802d69-0 | 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 | Page 145 |
d27a783084d9-0 | 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 | Page 146 |
a9a0d5e88a97-0 | 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 | Page 147 |
a9a0d5e88a97-1 | 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 | Page 147 |
2edf9eccb544-0 | 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 | Page 148 |
2edf9eccb544-1 | 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 | Page 148 |
2e451d6bd51b-0 | 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 | Page 149 |
4e4849f535f5-0 | 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 | Page 150 |
5cc0aaf52cee-0 | 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 | Page 151 |
0bced4de8d11-0 | 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 | Page 152 |
56d35672b86c-0 | 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 | Page 153 |
56d35672b86c-1 | 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 | Page 153 |
d42e840053db-0 | 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 | Page 154 |
d258436874ab-0 | Figur e 6.6 Funnel Examples o f content from a f irm ( e.g., B issell) to ma tch these searches c ould be some o f the f ollowing: 1. ToFu: “Ev erything y ou ne ed to kno w about ge tting dog hair out of carpe ts and furni ture” 2. MoFu: “ Why vacuums ar e superior to sticky r olls” 3. BoFu: “Sa ve on the Pric e of Bissell Dog H air Er aser” Top of the Funnel At the top o f the funnel, c ontent should e ducate and en tertain consumers base d on the ne ed, pr oblem, or challenge the y ar e facing. I f people don ’t kno w the y ne ed your pr oduc t or understand what their pr oblem is, i t is crucial to e ducate them on i t! The t ypes o f content tha t typically help her e (althoug h this is not a compr ehensiv e nor an e xclusiv e list ) include blog posts, w ebinars, pillar pages, and longer -form c ontent such as c ompr ehensiv e guides, vide os, and inf ographics. Act: Cr eating Con tent | 145 | Page 155 |