Digital Marketing Fundamentals

Presented as a SCORE Workshop

what will we cover?

• Content Strategy• SEO• Blogging • Search marketing pay per click

Do you feel like this?

Every time I breathe lately I have eager people wanting to SEO my website, social media campaigns, etc...

I don't know this game or the parameters of what to do to draw people in ...people doing internet searches.

Google analytics? I'm hanging on, trying to fully understand where I am now and where I need to be on the web competition game.”

everybody is looking for this

cause everybody wants to be

digital marketing = your toolbox

digital marketing

• digital marketing is the promotion of products or brands via one or more forms of electronic media.

• allows small, local businesses to compete• Requires business marketing strategy• planned: annually, 6 mos, quarterly • use a planning template

which is more plentiful?

how they relate

Emailmarketing

Website+Blog

SocialMedia

SearchMarketingPPC

Customer

Digital MarketingContent Strategy

content is king

• Anchors plan• Can be basis for social

media• Starts a conversation• Positions

why strategy?

If you put effort into planning your

marketing and content strategy you

you’ll have a higher success rate and also continue to execute based on a strategy,

versus reacting to what is wrong due to lack of organization.

strategy

Before you jump into planning answer these critical questions:– What triggers your customer to purchase?– What are you seasonal / sales goals?– What do you want to communicate?– Who are my customers; personas/segments– What questions can you answer, problems can

you solve, or understanding can you add?– What can you reasonably commit to?

content planning questions

• My audience is...• I’m offering them...• They will find it via...• They will care because...• They will interact by...• Their next step will be...• They will share it because...• They might not share it because...• The solution for this is...

From How to Create a Winning Content Promotion Plan by Stephanie Beadell on BuzzStream Blog

From How to Create a Winning Content

Promotion Plan by Stephanie Beadell on

BuzzStream Blog

customer path

need a new fridge

search net for deals

visits yr siteand calls

buys

need a new fridge

search net for deals

visits yr siteand calls

need a new fridge

search net for deals

buys

visits yr siteand calls

need a new fridge

search net for deals

sales funnel

show up in SERPs

visit website

sign up for newsletter

open / read

buy

or see your PPC ad

or call for information

show up in SERPs

sign up for newsletter

visit website

show up in SERPs

sign up for newsletter

open / read

visit website

show up in SERPs

sign up for newsletter

buy

open / read

visit website

show up in SERPs

sign up for newsletter

or see your PPC ad

buy

open / read

visit website

show up in SERPs

sign up for newsletter

Owned=Channel a Brand Controls

Earned=When Customers ortraditional media become

the channel

Paid=Brand pays forUsing a channel

Website Blog

Tumblr Pinterest

Flickr Twitter

Facebook Google+

Advertisements

Facebook Promoted Posts

Promoted Tweets

Google AdWords

Your marketing sweet spot

Facebook shares

Magazine articles

Newspaper articles

Re-Tweets

+ ups in Google+

owned earned paid

distribute content

content types

Visually appealing

• Photos

• Videos

• Text / written articles

• Curated content

• Podcasts

• Audio Files

• Slide Share

Photo credit: Yutaka Tsutano

SEO

truth

“SEO has evolved to become the result of an actual marketing strategy versus marketing tactics” Rae Hoffman

seo planning is step 1

• seo is not an item to be left to the end

• plan first• w/o planning, you’ll

never get where you want to be

Photo credit: Oatsy40

Google’s goal = best answers

“We show the results at the top that answer the user’s queries directly

(after all we built Google for users, not websites).”

Posted by Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google

you can’t put too much in there.

long tail world

latent semantic indexing (LSI)

fundamentals• solid, strong brand• great copy• adds value• well-designed site• useful information• fast• mobile responsive

all ins• Title

– page– file media library

• Text• Tags

– alt– post– H2, H3

• Page• Subheads• Descriptions

other considerations

• Relevant inbound links• Cross site links as on-

page navigation• No “click this link”

rather, “click for map to our location”

Your Blog

why blog?

Companies that blog have

434% more indexed pages.

And companies with more

indexed pages get far more leads.

--Search Engine Strategies Conference, NYC 2013

blogging is..

Blogging is an essentialmarketing component for

your business

reasons to blog?

• Improve Search Rank• Build for Long-Tail Content• Community and Market Education• Communicate High Trust Content• Build Lists, Conversions and Reach• Build Brand Value and Equity

--Search Engine Watch

control of message

You are a self-publisher

New earned media

Gain share of voice

Research

Blog Posts

Business Goals

simple advice

Not sure where to start

with your blog content?

Follow one, simple rule:

Help other peopleFrom Shareaholic Blog: 4 Ways to Increase Audience Engagement Kali Hawlk

Your content must:

• Provoke thoughtful questions.

• Encourage interested discussion.

• Provide intense happiness.

• Offer solutions to complicated problems.

From Shareaholic Blog: 4 Ways to Increase Audience Engagement Kali Hawlk

taxonomy

• Map it out• Identify primary• Supporting branches• Categories

– One per post

• Tags as micro-categories

– Not contained in post titles

plan blog categories

Cupcakes

Chocolate Birthday DecoratingChocolate BirthdayBirthday

Parent Category Child or

Secondary Categories

Parent Category Child or

Secondary Categories

plan ‘tags’- micro-categories

DarkChocolate

WhiteChocolate

MilkChocolate

ChildCategoryChocolate

Tags

create editorial calendar

Topic Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat SunCakes Birthday

CupcakesChocolate Cupcakes

Desserts How to decorate cupcakes with real flowers

Favorite Milk Chocolate Cupcake Recipes

Superhero Birthday Cupcakes

after posting...promotion

“The real magic lies in content promotion. Without it, your content will struggle to earn a social mention, let alone a quality backlink.”*

• Where will they see it?• What will motivate them?• Where will you/they share it?

*Robbie Richards in 16 Explosive Content Promotion Strategies

pay per click

pay per click knowledge

• best for businesses with online sales– direct sales – when you can ask for specific action

• ads must be placed so they intersect your customer at the right time in buying cycle/search

• buyer personas can guide campaigns• landing pages

pay per click must dos

• determine network, Google, Bing, Facebook• set budget• keyword research• word ads• refine ads, campaigns, keywords• placement, mobile? Network? Search results?• Google Adwords will help you get started

lather, rinse, repeat

• monitor• adjust• refresh• keep alert to changes• competition

Photo credit: 1950sUnlimited