3 Trends in the Field of Digital Marketing

In our previous post we discussed and learned different aspects of online marketing and found some of the best practices that are applicable to Sam’s marketing plan. We would like to have a “reality check” so see if the plan is going in the right direction. We have observed and recognized a few trends that will dominate the field of digital marketing in the near future and we want to make sure that Sam is ready to meet the new challenges.

1.      Going Mobile

Mobile media time is now greater than desktop and other media. Specifically, mobile digital media time in the US is now significantly higher at 51% compared to desktop media time (42%). Therefore, when building a website and other content, we should always make another additional mobile version or make mobile friendly content so that customers can get access to our information on their phone without any disruption.

 

2.      Activity on Social Media

Global active internet users now total 3.175 billion. That’s nearly half of the world’s population (7.357 billion). As for Social Media, there are over 2.206 billion active users, a global penetration of 30%. There are 1.925 billion users that utilize their mobile devices to access Social Media platforms. Facebook adds ½ million new users every day; 6 new profiles every second.

That’s why we are focused on getting Sam on as many social media platforms as possible. Sam must be present in all channels and stay active in the ones that are most relevant to her industry such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

3.      Marketing Analytics Will Bloom

 

Marketers already use dozens of analytics tools in order to see how customers and potential customers interact with their company’s products or services. The importance of this section of marketing will rise in 2015, when spending for that purpose is expected to rise by 60%. Furthermore, we’ll see marketing automation technologies applied more and more often – their use is predicted to grow by 50%.

The application of Cyfe, Google Analytics, and other dashboards will help Sam stay in the game. Anticipating her customers’ reaction to each and every move she makes will surely give Sam the best feedback to improve her performance. There are more trends to follow in today’s internet marketing landscape, but overall we believe the plan we are drafting for Sam is going into a good direction and it will prepare her for success.

More best practices for establishing a digital presence

Last week we presented some digital presence "best practices".  We had made a top 10 list of the areas where we wanted to learn more about best practices in order to help Sam become a Digital Marketing Director and last week we unveiled the research we did regarding the first 5 items.  This week we continue discussing the next 5 areas:

6.             Analytics and Key Performance indicators (KPI's)

KPI's give you knowledge and understanding of the business process and thus enable you to know if there is anything wrong in order to fix it right away, as well as to know what helps improve the business. KPI's have to be closely related to what customers are looking for and should measure specific performance areas. They should be built based on customers’ feedback. In Sam’s case, the KPIs should not be formed by sitting in front of a computer and copying and pasting from an online source. Sam must understand the market and what the potential customers and employers are looking for so that her KPI's follow the right direction.

KPI's must be measurable and actionable so that Sam knows if the situation is good or bad and what to do in each scenario.

 

7.             Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Even though it might be hard for a small business to start with CRM, from our own business perspective, good customer relationships can lead you a long way. Sam can start small by building a database of all her customers. From personal experience with a cosmetics business, having a customer database has helped my company by allowing me to get to know customers better since each time a customer comes in or chats with me online I can pull up the previous purchase so that my skincare advice will be more in depth without wasting time repeating all the get-to-know you questions.

All customer facing employees in a company should be able to access the relevant information to a making a sale in a database so that all customer contact points will have the same knowledge behind them and the same potential benefit.

Finally, use a database to actively reach out to customers using a loyalty program, to send a birthday gift, etc.

 

 

8.             Consumer generated content

You’re more likely to get the high level of engagement you’re looking for if you tap into your fan’s passions when asking for information. Moreover, most of the time giving a little incentive goes a long way. For example, for my business I started a small lucky draw giveaway for my customers who are willing to write short reviews of my products on my page. This created a good review database on the website for new customers later on, who want to learn more about the product.

Sam can also amp up her consumer generated content with a campaign where a small prize could be offered for anyone who enters or for anyone who adds some extra highlight information on her website, blog, or social networks.

 

 

9.     Security - avoiding spam, digital attacks, and other unwanted side effects of human and machine interaction

To increase digital security for Sam’s website, stored data, file systems, and across-the-wire transfers all of those need to be encrypted. Encryption is essential to protecting sensitive data and to help prevent data loss due to theft or equipment loss.

Use a time-tested spam filter such as SpamAssassin to remove unwanted email from entering your users' inboxes and junk folders. Teach your users how to identify junk mail even if it's from a trusted source

Use firewalls, gateway antivirus, intrusion detection devices, honey pots, and monitoring to screen for DoS attacks, virus signatures, unauthorized intrusion, port scans, and other "over the network" attacks and attempts at security breaches.
 

 

  

10.             Original content origins and management

In the long run Sam may consider making a long-term investment in a digital engagement and web content management system. Similar to decisions to use paid search or not, we believe using a content management system requires calculation of future cost and return. For now, we think keeping this cost to minimal is suitable for Sam.

What are the best practices for establishing a digital presence?

In order to help Sam we want to come up with the best ideas about how to establish a digital presence.  The best companies in the world that have a problem to solve or a goal to accomplish look for something called "best practices".  In other words, in a specific industry, such as the CPG industry, a company will try to see what are some standard or common ways of doing things that maximize efficiency and minimize cost that stand out above other methods.

Digital Marketing best practices vary widely depending on who you ask.

For the top 10 areas to aid digital presence that we picked as part of our effort to help Sam we want to look at best practices in each area.  However, we also want to keep in mind that technology best practices may change rapidly.  Below are the first 5 areas and some of the best practices that we found.  Next week our blog will cover the remaining 5 areas.

1. Website design for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The best way to understand SEO would be to be an insider at each search engine company.  However, even though we aren't we've still found an upcoming best practice for SEO.  Currently Google is not claiming to use social media as part of their algorithm to determine SEO.  However, we think that Google and other search engines will begin to start counting social media mentions as part of their calculations to come up with a list of search engine results.  Sam's should take advantage of posting to as many social media platforms as she can handle to take advantage of it as an upcoming part of SEO.

2. Blogs

Sam should have a website that also has a blog.  A blog is a unique opportunity to publish content that might not fit elsewhere on Sam's webpage.  A fundamental blogging best practices is to keep your blog in line with the company or brand that is associated with the blog.  This includes having the voice and tones of the blog match the company or brand.  Another best practice is to leverage collaborations and guest blogs.  By having industry experts contribute to Sam's blog she could gain advice for her company and she could also help influencers in her industry take notice of her and her company.

3. Mobile optimization and mobile marketing

One of the most useful best practices of the future will be to optimize Sam's website for mobile user intent and for mobile search engine optimization.  Mobile is becoming increasingly important and Sam will want to make sure that any mobile marketing campaigns will have content that is clearly seen by mobile screens.

Tips for web design on the iPhone 6

4. Paid search vs. organic search

It is common in the CPG industry to use paid search. For the purpose of this blog post were going to assume that Sam will use paid search because she wants to work with the CPG industry. AdWords is a paid search service owned by Google and we recommend that Sam consider using it instead of only using organic search.

The best practices for using AdWords relate to the set up of the account structure. The first level of Adwords account structure is campaigns. It is best practice to set up your campaigns based on your budget for each campaign.  Under campaigns are Ad Groups where you will target your campaign message. Under Ad Groups are keywords which are terms you hope people will enter into the search engine in order to find your campaign.  It is best practice to use the keywords planner tool to help you find the best keywords for you. Ad Text also falls under Ad Groups and it's best practice to follow AdWords guidelines or your ad could be rejected. And last, but not least, are Landing Pages.  It is best practice to have landing pages with original and useful content that are easy to read and to navigate.

AdWords account structure

 

5. Interacting with potential consumers - posting to online networks like Facebook

The first and possibly most important best practice for interacting with potential customers and posting to online networks is to follow your company's social media policy and any corporate customer communication strategies.  People have been fired from companies for going against company policies or for posting on social media networks without getting approval.  Sam will need to establish a digital presence that is compliant with common corporate social media policies to demonstrate that she can handle interactions with potential customers appropriately in the digital realm.

How do you establish a digital presence within 1 year?

Sam is a friend. She's trying to get a job as a Director of Digital Marketing in the Consumer Product Goods (CPG) industry. We're trying to help her establish a digital presence that will better position her for interviews and career progression. Sam has a budget of $5,000 to spend on our recommendations over the next year.

Announce your company to the digital marketplace.

How do we help establish a digital presence with a small budget of time and money?

We get creative! Sam doesn't have a lot of time or money to spend, but the good news is that online marketing doesn't have to take all of your time or be expensive.  We have narrowed the focus of her time and financial budgets down to 10 areas over the next year to help guide her in building her CPG online marketing presence.

Top 10 areas to aid digital presence:

1. Website design for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
2. Blogs
3. Mobile optimization and mobile marketing
4. Paid search vs. organic search
5. Interacting with potential consumers - posting to online networks like Facebook
6. Analytics and Key Performance indicators (KPI's)
7. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
8. Consumer generated content
9. Security - avoiding spam, digital attacks, and other unwanted side effects of human and machine interaction
10. Original content origins and management

Social media research is never ending.

How do we research the top 10 areas to come up with the best tools?

Our fingers hit the keyboard running.  Building a digital presence is wide topic with options that are always changing and expanding.  Instead of looking solely in academic journals that might be quickly outdated, to find the best tools and methods of establishing a digital presence we execute the following steps:

Step 1: We type keywords related to one of our top 10 subjects in a search engine. We read some articles of interest in the search results.

Step 2: We visit the site of an article’s suggested tool. We view a demo.

Step 3: We read about the pros and cons of that tool and evaluations of the tool's vendor from another website to get a different, less bias perspective. We might even go back to the original site and ask questions to the tool's vendor directly.

Step 4: We think about which tool will best fit Sam’s business’ goals and budget (time and money).

Step 5: We decide on a tool for Sam to use and if the tool isn't free, we add it as a line item within her budget.

How Do I Utilize Social Media for Marketing Purposes?

When you get the marketing bug, sometimes it’s tiring to feed it alone.  For this post, I got the chance to work together with a partner to and explore marketing on Social media.  

The game of telephone can be avoided...Communicate your brand on social media instead.

What's the big deal about social media?

Social media is now the fastest growing channel for a business to communicate with its customers.  According to the magazine Fast Company, 93% of marketers use social media for business. Social media is a two way channel that helps marketers not only send messages to customers, but it also enables marketers to receive immediate feedback from customers and non-customers. A successful social media campaign can increase brand awareness among a potential consumer group and may help strengthen your brand with your current consumers.

 

Company Nike tell a story of innovation through social media on YouTube.

How can I make social media work for my business?

Get specific to you.  Identify what industry that your business is in, then try to better understand your target audience which should be the same as your target consumers.  Then use the same social platforms as your target audience. Adjust your communication style to the social media platforms that you use in order to meet or exceed your target audience’s expectations. For our marketing purposes, since my partner and I both have entrepreneurial minds (and have our own small businesses) we are choosing to explore social media from a Consumer Product Goods industry (CPG) point of view.  We have some personal knowledge of this industry and we are further researching the CPG industry in regard to social media as our starting point to build a good digital marketing portfolio.  

Do you have an example of CPG marketing on social media?

The picture of Oreo Delight is an example of a CPG product placement on the social media site Pinterest.  This recipe on Pinterest could have been pinned by Kraft the company that owns Oreo or it could have been pinned by a consumer, demonstrating that social media is capable of giving a voice to the consumer.  The consumer voice could ultimately benefit or harm your company.  In this Oreo example, it's a consumer that is helping to drive sales of the Oreo product. A lot of consumer goods companies are using social media.  There are many ways to engage your target consumer audience such as launching a #hashtag contest, using social media for social good, etc.  In order to succeed as a digital marketer at your company, you need to show that you have the ability to build a successful campaign and engage the audience within your social channel.

Why Does Wording Matter If I'm Using Paid Search?

Wording matters because I'm watching my budget and feeding the online marketing bug can be expensive.  In order to get the most value from paid search you must be careful with the wording in your ad.

Use magnetic poetry for fun...Not for ad word selection.

 

How do I come up with the best words to use in my ad?

There are many different methods you could use. A good place to start is to imagine yourself as your own customer and come up with a list of words or phrases your customer might use to search your product. Then take that list of words and go to Google's AdWords Keyword Planner. The AdWords Key Planner site will provide you with statistics regarding words being entered into Google search so you can find the words that have the most user frequency.  On that site you can also get lists of words that are generated by the site so you can get new ideas.

Is there a site I can use to make sure my words and phrases don't have hidden meanings?

In English, there are many words and phrases that might have multiple meanings that you may not intend or won't serve your brand well.  Online you can go to the site for the Urban Dictionary.  For example, say you sell Halloween products and you want to advertise selling a plastic ghost.  You might want to use the word "boo" and if you look it up in the Urban Dictionary you would find 2 meanings, the first listed meaning is a "boyfriend or girlfriend" and the other is the one that you probably meant which is a "word used to scare people".  So when you write your ad image, try replacing the word "boo" with both meanings to see if the double meaning could cause an ad reader confusion.

Does the type of paid search ad I'm using make a difference for what words I choose?

Yes. Yes. And Yes. If you are using a pay-per-click ad it's best to select words and phrases that define your audiences needs.  In the example above, some words might be "scary", "ghost", "boo", and some phrases might be "Halloween décor", "plastic ghost", and "light up ghost".  However, if you are using a contextual ad you will want to select words and phrases that will help place the ad on a website that has relevance and that will entice a click-through.  In the example above, you might select phrases such as "Halloween costumes", "haunted house", and "Halloween decorating tips".  Note that none of these phrases make you automatically think of a plastic ghost, but if customers are lingering on websites that relate to these phrases they could see your ad for a plastic ghost that might entice them to click on it to purchase it.

Happy word haunting...I mean word hunting!

How Do You Mix Traditional Marketing with Online Marketing?

This week I was bitten by the online marketing bug and it left me itchy.  I like to treat bug bites with traditional medicine...Which got me thinking about mixing traditional marketing with online marketing to help soothe the bite of the online marketing bug.

Online marketing bug impersonator.

 

How does traditional marketing work online?

Your company has to come up with a promotion that would be appealing to an online consumer base, such as a coupon they can only get online or a product price that is only available through online ordering. There are specific things to keep in mind when planning online promotions, such as site traffic constraints and an end date for your promotion.

How do I market a promotion online if I've never done it before?

First off, establish a website (if you don't already have one) in order to establish a presence online.  Avoid designing your site with Adobe Flash and PDF's which are unfriendly to many online search engines such as Google. Put a promotion on your website, such as a coupon for consumers to print or for them to show at your physical location on their mobile phones or mobile devices.

 

Mobile device coupons are increasing in popularity.


How can I increase the odds of consumers near my business to find my online promotion?

After you create your website, you can submit your HTML website to Google Maps if your business has a physical presence. Google most likely will send you a piece of mail with a code on it to verify that you have provided accurate address information. By doing this more local customers will be able to search for you more easily.

What is viral marketing?

Viral marketing in regards to online marketing happens when a person shares your online brand or promotion with others, and then those people share it with others, and then it spreads through a network of people like wildfire. Social media websites like Facebook or YouTube can facilitate viral marketing due to their users being part of networks. If you create a video that represents your brand and post it to YouTube there is a chance it could go viral like Dove's Real Beauty campaign video below.