BEGINNERS GUIDE TO ONLINE MARKETING WRITTEN BY NEIL PATEL & RITIKA PURI INTRODUCTION THE MOST EXTENSIVE AND COMPREHENSIVE INTRODUCTION TO ONLINE MARKETING THAT YOU'LL FIND ANYWHERE. WHY WE WROTE THIS GUIDE ‘Online marketing moves at the speed of light. To keep up, you need a strong foun- dation with the judgment to think critically, act independently, and be relentlessly creative. That's why we wrote this guide — to empower you with the mental building blocks to stay ahead in an aggressive industry. There are plenty of guides to marketing. From textbooks to online video tutorials, you can really take your pick. But, we felt that there was something missing —a guide that really starts at the beginning to equip already-intelligent professionals with a healthy balance of strategic and tactical advice. The Beginner’s Guide to Online Marketing closes that gap. WHO THIS GUIDE IS FOR ‘We wrote this guide for an audience of first-time marketers, experienced entrepre- neurs and small business owners, entry to mid-level candidates, and marketing ‘managers in need of resources to train their direct reports. Most of all, we want you to walk away from this guide feeling confident about your marketing strategy. HOW MUCH OF THIS GUIDE SHOULD YOU READ? ‘This guide is designed for you to read cover-to-cover. Each new chapter builds upon the previous one. A core idea that we want to reinforce is that marketing should be evaluated holistically. What you need to do is this in terms of growth frameworks and systems as opposed to campaigns. Reading this guide from start to finish will, help you connect the many moving parts of marketing to your big-picture goal, which is ROLCHAPTER 1 Your customers, prospects, and partners are the lifeblood of of your business You need to build your marketing strategy around them. Step 1 of market- ing is understanding what your customers want, which can be challenging when you're dealing with such a diverse audience. This chapter will walk you through (2) the process of building personal connections at scale and (2) eraft- ing customer value propositions that funnel back to ROI for your company. > CHAPTER 2 ‘Mediocre marketers think in terms of campaigns. Great marketers think in terms of growth frameworks. Learn how to position your marketing strategy into a sustainable, ROI-positive revenue engine for your brand. Gone are the days of shallow branding. Leverage metries to build a solid revenue stream. > eu ae) DEVELOP YOUR BRAND’S STORY Aono NCCE uta ac Ronn saree enna CoE) Cr ee UR edo ech arn ene aoe ete Noa ec gU te Cees Uno ec aco mer RoE) Oo eC eR R Rei od en are Ly a doa keel artCHAPTER 4 GET ‘EM TO YOUR SITE: FOUNDATIONS OF TRAFFIC ACQUISITION You can have the most amazing web storefront, blog, or product in the world, but if you're not getting traffic, your business's growth strategy will fal flat. This chapter will walk you through some of the most common free and paid traffic acquisition frameworks for bringing visitors to your website. TAKE ME TO CHAPTER FOUR > CHAPTER 5 Traffic acquisition is only half the marketing equation. You need to invest the time in building a strategy for driving sales. Conversion optimization is the practice of (1) converting first-time visitors into customers and (2) converting first-time customers into repeat buyers. This chapter will teach you how. > BUILD AUDIENCE CONNECTIONS WITH CONTENT MARKETING ay Uda root at 1) 4CHAPTER 7 FIND CUSTOMERS WITH PAID CHANNEL ADVERTISING Peon eee eee senate eee te in some form or another. Other names for this topic include Search Engine Marketing (SEM), online advertising, or pay-per-click (PPC) IniGMimamanrssamotimsmeny | |S ee eee eee ee eee cee ee ete tests ads. Marketers frequently shy away from this technique because it [SJ TOMA TT see CR COE See eas vantage. It's not uncommon for companies to run PPC campaigns SMe sec EN Ronee EU ea ans CR SU Cee TAKE ME TO CHAPTER SEVEN > AMPLIFY 1:1 CONNECTIONS WITH EMAIL MARKETING Email marketing has a bad rap. Why? Because in the majority of cases, it's spammy. When executed correctly, email marketing can be incredibly power- ful. The trick is to prioritize the human-to-human connection above the sale. Balance automation with a personal touch. This chapter will teach you how. > CHAPTER 9 DRIVE INCREMENTAL SALES THROUGH AFFILIATE MARKETING It’s hard to believe that the Internet is now multiple decades old. Affiliate mar- keting has been around since the earliest days of online marketing. It’s a great solution for businesses that are risk-averse or don’t have the budget to spend on upfront marketing costs. Use affiliate marketing to build a new revenue stream for your ecommerce or B2B business. TAKE ME TO CHAPTER NINE >GET FOUND WITH SEO area ets at | ct You've launched an amazing product or service. Now what? Now, you need to get the word out. When done well, good PR can be much more effective Us SMALE ECM oe el ROU CRC aod hire a fancy agency or awesome consultant, make sure that you know what you're doing and what types of ROI to expect. Relationships are the heart and soul of PR. This chapter will teach you how to ignore the noise and fo- cus on substantive, measurable results. CHAPTER 12 LAUNCH YOUR SOCIAL STRATEGY cial media strategy is more than just a Facebook profile or Twitter en executed correctly, social media is a powerful customer engage- gine and web traffic driver. It’s easy to get sucked into the hype and single social site. This is the wrong approach. What y (is to focus on a few key channels where your brand i most likely to reach key eustomers and prospects. This chapter will teach you how to make that judgment call. TAKE ME TO CHAPTER TWELVE >CHAPTER 13 A QUICK NOTE ON MOBILE Most busines aren’t optimized for the mobile web, and that’s a problem. operate in a cross-platform world. Smartphones and tablets are taking over. If you're not optim ur site for mobile visitors, you are likely losing mone} Learn how to craft a data-driven mobile approach. This chapter will help you learn the rop\ TAKE ME TO CHAPTER THIRTEEN > Oey ‘When writing this guide, we reached out to the marketer commu- nity to collect case studies and learnings about creative marketing strategies. Most of these examples are included throughout the guide, but some didn’t quite fit. So we included those loose ends here, from the perspective of four awesome marketers. What bet- ter way to wrap up this guide than with you, our community? > POF Co] 3 aBEGINNERS GUIDE TO ONLINE MARKETING CHAPTER ONE WRITTEN BY NEIL PATEL & RITIKA PURI BE LASER FOCUSED ON YOUR CUSTOMERS At any given time, your company has hundreds of options for running market- ing campaigns, We're not exaggerating. ‘You can write blog posts, spend six figures on pay-per-click ads, send newsletters, and tweet to your heart's content. Within these choices are even more micro-choic- es, What targeting options and images should you pick for your Facebook ads? Should you develop your blog posts in house, or should you outsource the writing to ghostwriters? How do you choose the right email subject headlines? Should you choose a cost-per-click or cost-per-impression pricing model? ‘These questions are daunting. xy to get bogged down and feel like a hamster in a wheel. As you move for- ward in your research, you'll come across experts who'll tell you to ‘just start testing.” Ignore this advice. Marketing is strategic. To succeed, you need highly focused goals. You need a frame- work for a scalable, replicable framework. It doesn't matter whether you're a beginner oran advanced marketer — this fact will always hold true. Ifyou run without direction, you'll end up wasting two of your company’s most valuable assets: time and money.Step #1 of successful online marketing is an understanding of your company's exact needs and goals. You need relentless self-discipline. And laser focus. ‘This chapter is going to take a drastically different approach from most marketing guides that you'll read. We're going to start backwards, with the lessons that most ex- perienced marketers take years to learn. We believe that this approach is the best way to (4) move your organization forward while (2) saving time and (3) saving money. Here's what you need to know, before you even think about running your first online marketing campaign. ‘This chapter will put you light-years ahead of the crowd. Average marketers think in campaigns. They work all week, push out a campaign, then start again from scratch next week. That will only take you so far. To get to the next level, you need to start thinking in systems and build a marketing machine. This is the only way to 10x your growth and then 10x it a LARS LOFGREN Growth Manager, KISSmetrics MARKETING STARTS WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS Every marketing strategy should start with your customer base. Who are the people using your product? What do these individuals value, what do they feel, what products are they currently using, and what wil it take to sign them on as paying customers? () a Before jumping into your online marketing strategy, have acon (Seek 3 versation with your existing customers, How did they find out about your product or service? What was ‘S e)) \ AA EY the process that transformed them from interested prospects into paying customers? What do your customers value or care about? Chances are that the answers to these questions have little to do with whether your customers found your company online or in-person. What you'll likely hear and find most compelling are stories about how your business solved some of your custom- ers’ most pressing problems.Marketing is about human-to-human relationships and can happen through any online or offiine medium. At the end of the day, your customers probably won't remember whether they found your company through a click on a Facebook ad or through a referral from a friend. How have you found some of your favorite companies, products, and services? ‘Now, I (Ritika) am going to do something that I do very rarely. I'm going to take off my marketer hat and show you my inner consumer. Let me tell you a story about ‘two companies that changed my life. 1, MODCLOTH - AN ONLINE BOUTIQUE FOR WOMEN In 2011, I decided that Iwas fed up with department stores. I didn't like standing in lines, hunting in piles for clothing items that ITiked, and wasting my money on items that I needed but didn't fully enjoy Out of the blue one day, a new boutique opened by my house. I loved everything about shopping there — that the items were inexpensive, that the boutique was nev- er crowded, and that every item in the store was unique. This store embraced every single one of my values as a busy woman. It was the most positive brick-and-mor- tar experience that I have ever had. Later in 2011, I (Ritika) started growing my marketing consulting business. The end result was that I had zero free time. I transitioned to doing most of my errands on- line, The problem was, I missed that in-store, personal ‘boutique’ experience from my neighborhood store. I told a friend about it, and she introduced me to an online store called ModCloth. I took a look and was instantly hooked — I go through peri- ods of time when I check the website daily for new inventory. CostomerCare Aelo,rpurO? © ModClet NEWARRIVALS CLOTHING SHOES ACCESSORIES APARTMENT BE THE BUYE| FREE US SHIPPING ON ORDERS $50%", Find out more I quickly took notice of ModCloth’s robust online marketing presence — which makes sense, given that they're an online storefront. They're active on social, bril- liant through email, and constantly retargeting me through Facebook ads with products that they think I'l love.Even though I live and breathe marketing, what always stood out to me about ModCloth has not been their campaigns. When I sat down to write this guide, I couldn't think of any particular email or offer that compelled me to make a pur- chase. And that’s surprising, given that I'm served with ModCloth ads almost every time I log into Facebook. I click on these ads every single day — I can’t resist. [know that I love ModCloth's ads, but I can’t remember a single one. Mid-Century-Style Dresses Shop ModCloth's retro dresses for all occasions! Free shipping on $50 + free returns. What I remember is the problem that ModCloth helped me solve — the fact that had trouble finding unique, awesome stuff. Shopping used to feel like a miserable time-suck, and ModCloth came along and made it fun. At the heart of ModCloth’s marketing spend (with me in particular) is a hu- man-to-human connection. And here is a snapshot of what that connection has earned them. All and all, I've probably spent $1,000 over the last two years. sioce5t —ovvani9 @ os CPM ‘Stipped sos? OBA @ oasAN 62 ‘hipped feraooo) —oaananr9 @ 12:20AM Sopa fsices? ours @ oF 1M Sopot ‘wor ——oaagants @ oacoaM Stopod wise? ovaaars @ rs8PM Shppaa writ onanants @ 02 26M Sepa ne10065 72012 g ips 2. EAGLE ROCK BREWERY LOS ANGELES’S DESTINATION FOR CRAFT BEER AFICIONADOS Nestled in an industrial Los Angeles neighborhood is one of the county's first micro. breweries. But don’t let the warehouses and car body shops fool you. On weekend, evenings, this place is an amazing destination for meeting new friends and enjoying craft beers. My friends have been in love with this place for years. But I didn’t find it through a ‘word of mouth referral. I found it through a Yelp search and was instantly amazed by this place's four-and-a-half star ratiEagle Rock Brewery goog = rat Deals Catagories Bars, Breweries 2086 Roswell St = Loe Argos, CA S008 Neightorocd:Giatsall Park Bene coa2sr. 7068 fate ere sre Pekan 5 oes Lna Arne wc p10 5 et mg: Fa in Senator du No prey Seal Happy Hour: No “Ambience: Cast Snares Cc 8h tenet Convinced that the company was investing heavily in its online marketing initia- owners to interview for an article I was wri tives, I (Ritika) recruited the Brewery ingin Amex OPEN Forum. SGiltorum ESS Stay Positive: Leverage Your Cosi aelest 5% co #1 fo 0 [Bes) nice) Gime Qo You don't have to pay for premium features to use Yelp reviews as good feedback from your customers. You know what shocked me? Despite Eagle Rock’s massive online presence, they had invested very litte in their online marketing strategy 170+ reviews, 4.5 stars and $0 advertising The Eagle Rock Brewery in Los Angeles has never spent, money on print or online advertising. Instead, the company creates a high-quality product that people enjoy. it's two years old, budgetstrapped and rapidly growing.I figured that since I found out about them online, they must have been running robust marketing campaigns The truth is, Eagle Rock's secret marketing weapon was and always has been word of mouth. The company’s owners have devoted their lives to an unmet need in Los Angeles — the fact that craft beer enthusiasts want a local microbrewery. We try to let the beer speak for itself,” co-owner Ting ISu says. “Advertising, whether online or in print is not something that we've been able to put money into. We have been approached by Yelp on a number of loccasions, but our budget's tight because we're lexperiencing so much growth. We sink most of our money back into the business.” Eagle Rock Brewery quickly developed a reputation for its energetic venue, dedicat- ed community, and high quality product. And that's just it. It’s Eagle Rock Brewery’s reputation that fuels the company’s online marketing strategy. What the Internet did was amplify the natural word-of- mouth effect and make conversations stronger. Eagle Rock Brewery has an impressive social media following. Their strategy is sim ple — to keep communication as open as possible with their communities of custont ers and prospects. Itis a single, focused goal. : And you know what? As one of Eagle Rock's customers, what I care about most is not how much they’re spending on advertising or marketing. I care about their product and that they've made me — in a big way — a happier person. FS Si sensorAt the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether you're running online ads, email marketing campaigns, or retargeting customers on Facebook. What matters is that ‘your company’s marketing team sets up the right systems to build genuine, hu- ‘man-to-human bonds with the buyers you're trying to reach. The key to successful Internet marketing is your ability to choose the best possible channels for achieving, that end goal. DEVELOP YOUR CUSTOMER PERSONAS Sua Rael Role ous ‘What are your typical customers’ roles? If you're selling a B2B prod- Pee Cred Dae ee eC e eC Lag Src oR OCRedb ZA, yee ers J JCageWe essentially discovered who our core customer was and tried to dig deep with them on what kind of experience they wanted online. That was: a new brand, user interface and close-up photos. Ne CE TE Knowing your customers is not enough. You also need a thorough understanding of PSA em eo Re ecard {nto sales with your company. A key place to start is with your organization's sales team, Even if you do not yet have a marketing strategy in place, you can start to Cone hen Scene Cen one eat eae oad er ented on Roemer Cone ON ere RUC OAR Se esa ce ota ing significant growth due to personal or professional references, you may decide to implement a formalized referral program to incentivize more opportunities for Coes St oe ee ec ECR CO CN ra a es, sales pitches, and value propositions up-front. Anticipate what your prospects want to know. This strategy will help you build a strong, mutual connection. Expect this process to happen incrementally, over some period time. Your mar- keting materials should guide your prospects through each stage.Oe Oct rearor th: PVT Cmte eS ok Cd Perera cd Sam ere TROD eee ROI, You need to make COO nae ES eee Re Cae Pe Rau nS of your initiative. If you mea sure too late, your organization may lose money due to a delay in responding Cregeen Gren ee onc cen ect a Uae you won't risk making decisions too late or too soon. SN eR CR CMS eke eC Seg between your product or service and your prospects’ needs? (enone Romeo ee cge Rate Nr ese eT Ct ing these problem areas, your company will be well-positioned to keep prospects Ceca EVALUATE YOUR COMPANY'S CONVERSION FUNNEL ‘The conversion funnel is one of the most important concepts in online market- ing. It is, in a nutshell, a diagram that paves your buyers’ paths to sales. This concept is so important that even though we're introducing it now, we'll be devoting an entire chapter to it (chapter 5) later on. Keep in mind that conversion funnels vary between organizations and user segments. Your business will likely have more than one. This tool will help you visualize and understand user behavior at every stage of your marketing. A portion of your website visitors will continue on to reach your final marketing goal. An even bigger por- CONSIDERATION oa ron CONVERSION Drop-off at every stage of the funnel is normal. The key is to under- stand why drop-off happens and to minimize it. LOYALTY So get together with your sales team, and go back to the drawing, oard (literally). Conversion funnel diagrams are invaluable tools for piecing together a comprehensive view of your prospects’ psycholo- gy and path to sales.Whatever you do, don’t copy other companies’ diagrams. Your conversion fun- nel should be something unique to your company that your marketing leads develop in tandem with your sales team — if you're a business owner or entre- preneur, you're going to need to wear both hats One word of caution is to be connections-minded. Whatever you do, don’t get bogged down by anatomical details. The conversion funnel describes a process, but more importantly, it's a lens into the human-to-human relationships that your company is building with your prospects. No matter what you read or what advice you hear, remember that you are always, absolutely, and undoubt- edly talking about people. Conversion funnels are just as much about emotions as they are about logical decisions, Make sure that you evaluate, analyze, and pay close attention to both. KNOW WHERE ONLINE MARKETING FITS IN Companies leverage online marketing to accomplish the following types of goals: 1. Build brand awareness about products, features, or services 2. Engage prospects at both ends of the interest spectrum ~ when they're most intrigued and when they've gone cold. 3. Grow business with existing customers and clients. Al three of these aims funnel into the end goal of customer acquisition and growing revenue. Here are some examples to explain what we're talking about: 4. ModCloth runs a be-the-buyer program to help educate customers about new products that they're thinking of launching. This is a strong way to build engage- ment and inform customers about new products and services in a compelling way. It’s a strong strategy for letting your customers define your brand.ps the, Now’ your chance tobe a Vital Fashion Buyer and uyer— help HedCioth choose which designs get cried ner oom atts sr a ne soetnrgerers vou the Youopon coos wth! oa ‘eterispt te potaten ana yoo Start Now! 2. ModCloth is retargeting me (Ritika) with new products in my Facebook feed. It’s because I haven't stopped with them in a few months, and they want to re-earn my business. ModCloth ads tend to amplify when I visit their site for the first time after a dry spell. They'll show me the exact products I spent time browsing (to compel me to buy). Shop Party Dresses RSW gq Shop ModCioth’s " amazing selection of | arty dresses for all accasions! i 3. Here is how ModCloth strives to maintain an ongoing relationship with existing customers. After a purchase, they’ll send customers an email to review the prod- uct. They also share a reminder that customers who invite friends will receive a $15 discount off their next order. That's an awesome incentive to spread the word and drive growth for the company, Smart move. ModClothir sYour marketing plan should cover as much of steps 1,2, and 3 as possible. You may want to address these initiatives increments depending on the position of your busi- ness. For instance, if you've launched a new company, it will be a higher priority to build awareness. Once your business has matured a bit, you may want to focus on. growing business with existing customers or re-engaging cold leads. Every single marketing campaign should have a causal relationship to revenue. Oftentimes, marketers aren't sure where to start. With so many options, strategies, and tacties to consider, how do you truly know what's best for your company? The answer is simple: Where does that marketing initiative fit in with your pay to user acquisition? Ifyou can't find an answer to that question, you probably shouldn't waste money on that particular initiative. And if it’s free? Remember the golden rule: time is money. In marketing, nothing is truly free. Every strategy, initiative, or campaign comes at a price, which is usually an opportunity cost. Each type of marketing goal will have a distinct conversion funnel and success met- rics to measure. We'll explore these topics in chapter 2. Right now, we want you to have a basic understanding of the three ways that online marketing builds connee- tions with your target customers. ‘The goals that we've described apply to all marketing mediums and channels. At this point, you may be inclined to think that pay-per-click is the best option for building brand exposure (#1) and that email marketing campaigns are the best option for re-engaging cold leads (#2), The reality is that you can't think of marketing channels in absolute terms. There are some options than will produce better results than others, but not because one strate- gy is intrinsically better than the other. What matters most is how each strategy com- plements and translates into results for your unique business model. Your goals are bigger than the marketing mediums and channels that you ultimately choose.Companies leverage online marketing to accomplish the following types of goals: 1. Build brand awareness about products, features, or services 2. Engage prospects at both ends of the interest spectrum — when they're most intrigued and when they've gone cold. 3. Grow business with existing customers and clients All three of these aims funnel into the end goal of customer acquisition and growing revenue. Here are some examples to explain what we're talking about: VO Tasca Ren Comoe Unt n Tae ime er aga EC sure to do your due diligence to truly understand what your customers want and need. Remember that they are always the top priority. Why else does Meta cd Pape ECE UP RCS eS eee RCE cor cen co SOUR uni ome Se coe Orn COM Ur eC cUSn ane CoC nhs company’s conversion funnel, a topic that we'll review in chapter 5. Sacre Reo RECOM aceon aM CECE Ty over-simplification that will end up costing your company time and money. Instead, you need to start testing with a plan. And that plan should completely revolve around your company’s prospects and customers. No exception. aa TAKE ME TO TAKE ME TO THE INTRO CHAPTER TWOBEGINNERS GUIDE TO ONLINE MARKETING CHAPTER TWO WRITTEN BY NEIL PATEL & RITIKA PURI KNOW YOUR MARKETING FRAMEWORK Shooting darts in the dark is not @ marketing strategy. JESSICA OMAN via Firepole Marketing In the last chapter, we introduced you to the most important rule in marketing. Know your customers. Who are they? What do they value most? What inspires them? What brought them to your brand? The list of questions goes on. Take off your marketer-goggles, and start perceiving the world through your most important stakeholder. Your buyer. That means listening more than talking — learn- ing more than teaching or marketing. It's this vision that drives the web's most successful marketing campaigns.And after reading the last chapter, you're more than convinced. You've deployed customer surveys and hopped on the phone with your most engaged buyers. You've written the most in-depth user personas on the planet. What comes next? ‘Now, you need to build a scalable, sustainable marketing engine. Think about it: You wouldn't build a house without a blueprint. You wouldn't start a bus ess without a business plan. You wouldn't take a road trip without your navigation system. You wouldn't build an online app without wireframing the UX. And you wouldn’t spend six figures on a house without knowing what you're buying, Why should your marketing plan be any different? ‘Whether you're spending $100 on Facebook ads or $100K on customer education videos, you need a carefully planned strategy. Trust what we say when we tell you that spray and pray is not an effective approach to marketing. Every marketing plan needs to start with the results that you want to achieve. ROI is not a guessing game. IGNORE THE STEREOTYPES, THINK LIKE A CEO, AND TRUST THE NUMBERS YOU SEE Marketing suffers from a pretty big problem — cost. More often than not, C-suites are risk averse to spending mon ‘with tough-to-quan turns, CEOs and CFOs perceive limited value in the ‘money sink that is marketing. Customer acquisition? Well that’s a crapshoot. How is it possible to find out whether your campaign generated any sales? Here's the thing. Online marketing is profit-driven. It’s not an investment, and it’s not an expense. When executed correctly, it works. We know it works because it’s possible to track anything and everything, all the way down to the source of the click that generated the sale. With the right tools and a littl bit of creativity, you can prove the value of your marketing. Web analyties are just that robus‘Marketing should command the same amount attention and respect as any high-value business function. You just need to structure your programs around the goals that CEOs and CFO care about most — profits and revenue. As your compa- ny’s marketing team lead, the ball is in your court to communicate the value of the results that you're generating. ‘The thing about executives is that they don’t care how much web traffie you're driving. ‘They care about the sales and new business that resulted from your marketing spend. ‘That's it. Ifyou focus on reporting click data, social media shares, and email open-rates, you'll have trouble inspiring buy-in from your executive team, So here what you need to do: Build a strategy that positions your marketing, business function. iatives as an ROI generating, critical ‘The problem is, marketers struggle to make this mission-critical connection. Take what ‘marketing leader Andeas Ramos says about content marketing, a technique that we'll review in chapter 7. So far, | have not found a single case study that shows content marketing is successful. I've searched the web; I've looked at dozens of “leading web- sites”; I've talked to many people, incl. heads of agencies and published authors. None of them have been able to give me an example of a content marketing campaign that showed it was financially success, ie., profitable. ANDREAS RAMOS via his blog He summarizes the steps that a meaningful content marketing study should include. Even though he's talking specifically about content marketing, we fee! that his tips are channel agnostic and can help boost the success of any type of online marketing, Here's what you do to prove your marketing program's ROL STEP 1. State the campaign costs STEP 2, State the revenues that resulted directly from the campaign STEP 3. Describe the tracking proc STEP 4, State the number of leads and sales generated from the marketing initiative STEP 5. State the maximum profitable cost-per-lead (maxCPL) or cost per acquisi tion (maxCPA) STEP 6. Use statistically meaningful numbers — small sample sizes generate mis: leading analyses STEP 7. Establish a control group to benchmark the suecess of your campaignsHere's an example case study from marketing consultant Mark Spaner: Clockwork Home Services is the leading franchisor of contractor home services in North Ameri ‘The company wanted to find more targeted sales opportun for hvac, plumbing, and electrical franchises. They also wanted to make more efficient, use of a their small sales force and to educate contractors about the benefits of own- ing a Clockwork franchise. OBJECTIVES # Find more targeted sales opportunities for hvac, plumbing and electrical franchises. Make more efficient use of small internal and external sales force. Here was his strategic vision: * Educate contractors about the benefits of owning a Clockwork franchise. Make franchise marketing efforts more relevant to target contractors. Focus on established contractors and get of them to Clockwork events. Strategic Outline Attain more sales leads using ‘media, webinars, direct mail, mail and database mining. “Maintain contact with prospects. based on thei purchase probability Engage theis interest and allow ‘them to choose the marketing path they want to follow + Useawamated emai progr tobuld sel tory based on hetero Eoasecireee ‘Costly meses evry pempees Jnxerestacording tation Cy take Accelerate their interest in ‘meeting with a salesperson. When a prospect's desire to buy matches Clockwork’s desire to sell, urn lead lover to sales with fall history. Get ‘Hot Leads’ to salesforce at the right time and with full contact history to make sales activities more efficient.Spaner’s team deployed an email marketing program. Whenever a magnet tool was downloaded, an e-mail series on that topic was automatically deployed on a pre-de- termined schedule. Here was the outcome of his marketing initiatives: RESULTS Lead Generation increased ur fold by including ‘magnets in ads, mailers and e-mailers. 3.2 times more leads rated as “hot” sent to sales force for closing. © Asteadier stream of qualified leads and more effective sales performance But let's not get ahead of ourselves. If you're reading this guide, you may be running a marketing campaign for the very first time. You don't even have a strategic plan, let alone results that you're ready to report. The reason why we've walked you through this methodology and example mar- ke expect from your marketing strategy. We want you to fully understand the types of results you should expect to see from your investment, so we won't be shy about throwing information your way. 1g campaign is because we want you to have a full, 360-degree view of what to ‘We want to teach you how to start with your big vision and work backwards to de- ploy the right initiatives. Keep reading to learn how.STEP 1: UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF TIMING NORDSTROM. ®. Oversized Scoop Neck Tee (Juniors) 616.00 nunc xe) se a ae TTS eae Un hats Sponsored Create Adj Project Social T fps Shop NORDSTROM for Project Social T and more! FREE Shipping & vil | { Returns. % 2,169,561 people like Nordstrom.NORDSTROM WOMEN MEN JUNORS—«KIDS-«= BRANDS. «SALE “SPECIALTY SHOPS FREE SHIPPING. FREE RETURNS. ALL THE TIME. Detsk bow. kkk ik OUR TOP-RATED CLOTHING THIS WEEK kkkik It’s game on. You're ready to buy.The idea is simple: figure how to promote the right products and brands to the right customers, maximizing revenue in the process. That's not a simple problem when you've got a busy website along with 225 stores doing about $10B in sales annually BOB THOMPSONSTEP 2: ESTABLISH YOUR CORE MARKETING GOALS Every marketing program needs a carefully defined set of goals. Otherwise, you're Ponte aoa Without clear goals, marketing campaigns have the potential to be dangerous for Serr Teneo aa Caco Aca Ra cc RCE Se th eu Eatoome cROAin ERE Ceccs ee ene eee cz Ray Cts co Se ace oe ae CEO ‘You need to focus on objectives that translate directly into ROI for your business. rec OR ee Ne ce a needs paying customers to remain sustainable and grow. Another goal you might set is to boost shares and follows on Facebook. Why? Because oe ns Rare eaten Cos Tn LC ‘Marketing runs facebook ads. To build awareness and interest around its brand. How do social media shares translate into direct revenue for your business's sales PSR ee RCT ec can SSA eRe Re caer diences, exposure boosts the likelihood of bringing in more leads. Branding has a very clear place at the top of the sales funnel (a concept well address in the next chapter!). To build a customer base, you need visibility around your products and services,Let's take a step away from social media, We'll get to a more in-depth conversation Pee e ert Oar acon ee crs Ceo RGR RoC uat oe ORCL Tee aca or hoe TD Pra MT ees es ee Euston eRe aami Tract ae Tea ED really dig deep to understand what objectives your executive team cares about most. Revenue and sales. Your goals can be as straightforward as lead generation, a key framework for moving prospects down the sales pipeline. eee Uo Si eee aca er te ec content from premium publishers. The company has published an informative homepage to educate audiences about its product, At the bottom of the page is a call-to-action to encourage interested prospects to request more details. This is the absolute first step required to convert interested audiences into paying customers Ready to transform your business through content marketing’ erent oer RAO Se Penasco Aen SE eco Uae eT ec crazyegg- 30 DAY FREE TRIAL Sates a (ov meee Roa esol} eee a eka aa ae thee ceIn the last chapter, we drove the point home that customers are the lifeblood of your Set cen ee aces CRC their needs, values, personalities, and interests. But you can’t ignore your business either. To select the right goals, you need to take Rison asian Sea ae eee OR eS to their leads faster, has established that balance into a cohesive brand positioning, (which they call a pitch). I (Ritika) helped the company prepare this to help unify the CO Ne eee oo eT oe el Ro Proce speak/Meads' - Brand Persona & Identity See eel Spenkaeads is asluron that solves th problem of missed customer connecons. ‘We seciaze where tecrnolny mectshuran te human eltonsips ur slton facltats swt seler/pospectconnecon and sincanty Seg ee Serre petears eeeeof ed vette ore ear come er cig siti eter erat ot etree eed ‘Wecanastomize ou sluon vo cmplment ay CR, tehacogy Sup, bus of Sines Ss. Wnts: Atrustes partner, et rests, customized soliton, date driven approach, fei, Het A tle understanding cf ead management tedhnoogy. He/She looking or soliton to ereamle leas management operetons but moy not besure wratsolaions ne avsiabe |S waryet: shady comics, wasted money, porns who don't, turkey Slutons, gmail, samy wks Strenths: Sli unerstancir of problem to sie with frm commitment to dot Teeoloeys seamless direct ‘Yau: arrerships, customer conwersatons, humen-2chumanrelaoshis, ec, tehnalogy resus, revenue, quBty, sling problens Sie: Fe, comer, effet persshabe partners rurded value den experienced veteran, arg BeBeSTEP 3: START BY ASKING QUESTIONS Not sure what your company’s marketing goals should be? Start by asking questions and listening as actively as you can. In research, statistics, and analysis-driven classes, professors call this concept ‘the research question,” a concept we'll talk about in chapter X when we dive into your analytics strategy. There are certain types of questions that you need to answer before diving into any marketing strategy. Consider the following: 1. WHAT ARE YOUR COMPANY'S STRATEGIC GOALS RIGHT NOW? Are you hoping to promote visibility or generate leads to your business? Or may- be, you're hoping to do both, What's important to consider is that some market ing programs are better fits for your specific goals than others. That’s why you should understand what your company needs right now. It may make sense to focus on traffic generation efforts first and then invest in an explainer video in a few weeks. Especially as you're just starting out, you may need to stagger your marketing spend. 2. HOW MUCH CAN YOUR COMPANY AFFORD TO INVEST IN MAR- KETING UPFRONT? It's very rare that you will get your marketing system right on the first go. You need to run tests to see what works before committing to sealing your programs (chapter 7). The good news is that you can get started with $100 or less. This level of spend will help you generate actionable learnings, which you can reinvest in refining your marketing strategy. The bad news is that without direction, $100 here and there can quickly add up. At the very beginnings of your marketing pro- gram, you'll be taking an upfront loss to gather learnings. 3. WHO ARE YOUR INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS? Answer this question to help your team understand what results you need to drive and how to communicate results as effectively as possible. 4. WHAT TYPES OF RESULTS CAN WE REALISTICALLY EXPECT TO ACHIEVE? Ifyou think that marketing with transform your brand into an overnight Holly- wood sucess story, you're dreaming, Viral campaigns don’t happen by accident. They require careful, behind-the-scenes planning, Marketing isn’t magic. You need to set direct and tangible expectations that align with the resources you're willing to commit to your marketing programs. A good way to start answering this question is to research case studies from brands with business models and budgets that similar to yours. Remember that you need to do more than just replicate campaigns that you like. You need to adapt your marketing approach to your business's exact needs.Take the case of Speak2Leads. This company is trying to solve a key problem in the CRM world — that organizations take too long to connect with their leads and prospects, As an carly stage startup, Speak2Leads as one core need — to acquire as many high-potential leads as possible. Akkey challenge that Speak2Leads faces is that the product is relatively novel. Many of the company's prospects are problem-aware but don’t necessarily know which solutions are most valuable to pursue. SpeakaLeads is tough to describe into a few short and sweet sentences, which is why the company’s marketing team has decided to send prospective customers directly to the product demo page: Rather than leaving your customers hanging to simply ‘figure it out, take a lesson from ‘Speak2Leads to make the customer acquisition process as interactive as possible. Lead Response S2L Demo Steweetay el he ‘tad esee enon ony ae ee ‘Sheedy ae rpc, aint am do atone tsa pesecealerel tae ‘The Speak2Leads team very much understands that there are a range of marketing options available. From paid channel advertising to content development, it makes sense for Speak2Leads to run a range of marketing tests. Regardless of campaign ‘medium, however, one challenge is clear — the company needs to make their prod- uct digestible and relevant to their customers. A key way to take marketing beyond marketing and to generate leads is to demonstrate the product in action.STEP 4: CONNECT THE DOTS WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS Here is where the components of your marketing framework come together. Marketing should follow the consumer purchase cycle, ‘These are the steps that pros- pects take to become customers and that customers take to become repeat buyers. It's best to compartmentalize campaigns into the following key categories: AWARENESS > Connect new prospects with your brand. > Make sure that existing customers are looped in regarding new products and services. ‘Asan example, Harvard Business Review keeps its subscriber base informed of new products through email marketing: One-Third of Professionals Write Poorly. Don't Be One of Them. Does wing fren aus of senor manages or kay ‘Sake cles ge you oat poner bad a7? Do Yyoustare at yourhank ere saver parnt Indies, yp hou words, caste thor, ype ew ‘hay nso? Wen ou sana rales comapies, co yournesnes deren set neve bere Nay ous tuo. fort wor ana toe wren we ‘na, ever Faro cerfeet an acute when we ‘pox Bl dosent hav bo twa, Gate Busnes ing ashi you ruc cutie bsuccans youre ‘re, money, and avercaf your eras, rors, she mera documents alo win 2090 cv “The HOR Ouae to Beer Buses Hg, by wring ‘oper bryan A Gamer, gos you te tes you recs 0 ‘express yout as cea ar persuasive 50 tr, caleages, tkcheces, and pater wlgat chi ten Only $19.95"Here is a banner ad on Slate to drive awareness about the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3: GALAXY Tabs \ (Get $200 in ates ENGAGEMENT > Keep new prospects interested in your company, products, and services. > Make sure that existing customers continue to re-engage with your marketing materials and rely on your company as a trusted resource. The company distributes a regular email newsletter to bring subscribers to their website ona regular basis. As an example, check out Levo League, an online portal for women in bus LEVO LEAGUE, oe Hat HaneKlout, a company that measures social media influence, also strives to re-engage its user base via email: BQ(KLOUT Hello, Ritika. Congrats! You have a new moment on your Klout profile. ‘You created a post recently that engaged a lot of people on your networks. I's been added to your Kiout profile where only your best social media moments are shown. ‘A moment is @ social modia post that has generated action from the people in your networks. Moments help you discover how your content has influenced the people in your networks, and how that content improved your Klout Score. For more Information, cick you have a question, you can visi our Help Centr, tweet at @KioutSuppert, or email help@ktout com, ‘Dowrioad the Kut ap for 10S Follow us on: Twtor, Facebook, and Kut ‘Tis eral was sent to :puid@g@eme. edu, You received this email because you are registers on Klou com. We respect your pevacy. YoU can unsubscribe from Account Notieations or manage yout ema seltings on Klou ‘Mout, ne. 77 Stan Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 DECISION > Reach new prospections at the key points of decision, when they may be consid- ering a competitor over you. > Reach prospects when they are considering a product but unsure of whether to buy it now or later. > Connect with existing customers when they are shopping around for add-on. products and services, ‘As an example, check out online retailer 6PM. They've been retargeting me across Facebook and my favorite websites with items that I (Ritika) have added to my cart but haven't bought. Free Shipping! 6pm.com Frye Carson Ballet Women's Flat Shoes ~ $59.99 - Shop NowRETENTION > Promote long-term brand loyalty > Connect with existing customers when they are shopping around for add-on products and services. > Prevent drop-off and churn at all stages of the purchase cycle. Last-minute hotel booking app HotelTonight recently gave its app users $15 in credits and sent an email reminder about it Hotel Tonight EY Ge she knew what a weekend was, Lady Grantham would agree that a long one is an especially terrible thing to waste. Don't, Here's a renaly reminder that we've glven you $15 in credits. you haven't used them yet, tonight's the night. Prices are Flo Rida Redeeming's super easy: Just tap Account in the bottom right of the ‘app, hen tap Rader Promo Code and enter promo coda AUGUST15. Hotel Follx, Chicago. Last sold for $109/night SO cory Remember this framework, as we'll use it to guide our mar! Feeling lost? Fear not. This discu: sions in later chapte next few chapters, which focus on traffic acquisition and conversion optimization. Let's get to it ion isaKEY TAKEAWAYS TORO gece cnn nea ec Gan ore Sea ete ae ee ae eae aca Know what your company wants to achieve before just jumping in with a test Cee ee eee Seat Rosh Git Ses toee ent Doct apr cea Croan nt teg erm Remember that timing is everything, Strong marketing frameworks are built eon ease aekutetene tt ceer aoc and Pees eaters euch oncmatreee ce Seg eee aCe a Ce ee eet RL cee U take the time to understand your company's most pressing priorities. The marketer's job is to create connections between your brand and customers. Su CoE eee ORC CRU Oona areas: awareness, engagement, decision, and retention. Understand which of these four functional areas are most important to your business and why. ee ammeter enue ee ee PROS Ce ee aCe mune UCT Cece eTHE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO ONLINE MARKETING CHAPTER THREE WRITTEN BY NEIL PATEL & RITIKA PURI TELL YOUR BRAND’S STORY Human-to-human connections are the heart and soul of business. At the end of the day, you're dealing with people — your company is solving problems, alleviating pain points, and providing delightful customer experiences. Revenue is something that happens as a byproduct of a sound business model and a positive customer experience Storytelling is a powerful technique for building relationships. It's an age-old con- cept that brin; s people together and keeps them engaged. It doesn't matter where in the world you're based or how much funding your startup has. Good stories give big voices to small ventures. That's why it's mission-critical that com- panies take the time up front to fully develop their approaches to storytelling. Good writing and content strategy makes products, and the marketing of those products, much better. When we do our jobs well, the things we launch are easier and more fun to use. We've seen how changing copy itively impact sign-ups, engagement and sentiment. TIFFANI JONES BROWN, Content Strategy Lead at Pinterest via ContentlyStorytelling and marketing go hand-in-hand. Just think about it. Whether you're producing infographies, writing copy for a Facebook ad, or writing a free online guide (like this one), you need to capture your audience's attention. On a daily basis, consumers (yourself included) face advertising overload. Marketers are constantly competing for their prospects’ and customers’ attention. More likely than not, your brand will be buried under spammy advertising messages, How can you make your brand stand out? Storytelling. Chapter 3 is an all-inclusive guide that explains why your brand should prioritize storytelling and how your organization should get started. This is not fluffy stuff, either. Storytelling is a powerful and actionable marketing technique. Convinced? Let’s get to it. BRAND STORYTELLING — WHAT IS IT, EXACTLY? We tend to think of stories as things that might begin with “once upon a time,” present us Good Guys and Bad Guys, take us on a journey which is resolved, if we're lucky, with a happy ending But how does a Powerpoint presentation fit into this scheme? Or a televi- sion spot promoting a particular product benefit? Or a marketing campaign that aims to associate your brand with a certain set of images and feelings? TIFFANI JONES BROWN, Content Strategy Lead at Pinterest Brand storytelling is: > The reason why your company came to be > What motivates your team to wake up and come to work everyday | > How your product came to be > What types of customers find value in working with your brand and why > A transparent view into the people behind the company > Arelationship-building tool > More subtle than you realize > Aconcept that underscores your entire web presence > Something that your entire team, at organizational levels, embraces > Alook into who you are as a company > DirectBrand storytelling is NOT: > Along-winded, 5-paragraph essay about your company > Ablog post > Something isolated > A fragmented view into your company > Something reserved for the marketing team only > APRstunt > Aviral video > A tool to manipulate customers and prospects > Boring > Artsy Contrary to popular belief, brand storytelling is not about your company. It’s about your customers and the value that they get when engaging with your product or ser- vice. The most powerful brand stories are the ones that prioritize customers as the stars. Think of your company as a supporting character. Oftentimes, marketers get hung up on this concept. They're stressed about communi- cating the perfect message and confused about where this initiative should be housed. within your business. Should you hire a consultant? Should you loop in your company’s EVP of corporate ‘communications? And what if you're an engineer? Does that mean you're doomed? Don't overthink this process. Storytelling is something that we do naturally. More often than not, we don’t even realize that we're doing it. Marketers have been telling brand stories for years through advertising, in-person brand experiences, and so on. SUSAN GUNELIUS via Forbes ‘The problem is, online content is difficult to write. Stories become lost in transla- tion. The human interest behind our brands will fall through the cracks. And you feel stuck — at a loss for words to describe what you do and why you mat ter to your custome! So why not let your customers tell your story for you?hhat's what Clarity did. The company provides a marketplace for advice seekers and experts to connect and share business advice. The company recently launched a se- ries of stories from actual customers. If you're wondering how Clarity your business, take a lesson from the leaders wh M.Gencles & Esther Gopshtein Kuperman i Alec Whitters ually use it It’s not just startups that make use of this powerful approach. Enterprise CRM Salesforce hosts customer success videos on its Pinterest page. Brand storytelling is more than what you write on your webpage to your custom- ers, It's more than your blog posts and about pages. It's how you communicate your messaging. It’s your values. Your brand's stories are values are infused in every piece of copy, customer service answer, Okay, so you're convinced. But what what the heck does it all mean? Storytelling still feels tough. Web copy and advertising messaging are still challenging to write. Here's what you need to do.This may sound counterintuitive, but it's the key to successful marketing. Stop thinking like a marketer. Stop trying to sell your product, and instead, focus on developing huma terest. Answer the question of why people should care about ‘what your company has to say. ‘That means being persuasive and appealing to emotion. Brand stories are not marketing materials are not sales pitches. Brand stories should na and the writer's personality at center stag tract and retain readers, but stories brimming Forbes Whatever you do, Do not let the words on your page hide the personalities behind your organization. Share more than what you sell. Share your strengths, weaknesses, and how you arrived at where you are today. One way to do this is by participating in the story- telling ecosystem. Just as you're looking for customer testimonials and case studies, ure to pay it forward — like what Buffer did for KISS iaoaee) fa) SS es How Buffer Increased Their Revenue by $25,500 in 30 days by Using KISSmetrics Pre Sees © The ProblemAuthenticity is crucial to copywriting. If you're overly formal or on guard, you'll lose trust with your audience. And that’s because consumers can sense disingenuous Reese ea res SOC false promises, empty messaging can only hurt your brand. Pretend that you're talking to a new friend over drinks or coffee — not giving an aca demic presentation in 1862. If you talk down your customers and prospects (or show any indication of lack of respect), they're going to stop listening immediately. Honesty and transparency are important in brand storytelling. Yes you're crafting ‘stories,’ but they need to be rooted in the reality of your brand, products, and industry. Naat Don't dwell over whether or not you're using perfect grammar. You can always hire a copywriter for that. Stop worrying about the occasional misplaced commas, Focus on Cou Rerun Conversational writing also means keeping it short. Write what you want to say. Get it Di eee se come ce ae eRe Sac you need a minimum word count to convey information effectively ‘Write what you feel like writing — with the exception that you can't let your stories get Po Sa ces cms ec CLs readers feel distracted or lost. Say what you need to say in as few words as possible. ‘There's no need to try to sound smart. If you build a great product, your customers and prospects will perceive your company as incredibly smart, The main culprit, in my view, is the loathsome college essay. Only in col- lege are we forced to write a paper at a certain length. We develop strat- egies that balloon our paragraphs so we can fill out eight, 10, or 12 pages. You don't need to write a lot or use big words to sound smart. Pe micetl creCRAFT YOUR MESSAGE ARCHITECTURE Brand storytelling is more subtle than what your company is saying. As ‘we mentioned earlier, the ‘how’ matters just as much. Take a lesson from Pinterest's lead content strategist, Tiffani Jones Brown. She and her five-per- son team are responsible for the voice, tone, user interface copy, grammar conventions, and pinner education on the site. ‘That's right. It takes five people to get Pinterest’s public-facing messaging just right. This fact may seem surprising, given that some companies have zero resources deveoted to getting their messaging just right. Our team's job is to help people feel good when they use Pinterest. We try to make Pinterest-the-product feel clear and delightful, and Pinterest-the-brand feel authentic and relatable. TIFFANI JONES BROWN, Content Strategy Lead at Pinterest via Contently Your company’s message architecture is far from coincidental. It takes careful stra- tegic planning to position your strategic planning. Don’t expect good stories to appear out of thin air. You need to focus on getting your messaging just right. You need to craft your company's message architecture to underscore all of your brand communications. Yes, this is a real thing, And it looks a little something like this — an example that may look familiar if you've already read chapter 2: + Sytese sven eh epee onto yes wee hye rare Otc rc ce ‘Rrrotrone tees ca tu one a re hoe! SCSRISRISIS ico aang tangs tent adam nt + srewnesnturdesenanecl potent oe stmciinetiod“etceneimen se,This table represents the steps that Speak2Leads has taken, conceptually, to con- nect with the company’s core audience — sales team leaders and small bu: owners who are looking to inerease the speed of connecting to new leads. The con- cept is simple — when you wait too long to connect with an interested prospect, your company risks losing his or her business. But here's the problem. When sales teams are too aggressive, they risk driving cus- tomers away. That's why Speak2Leads has positioned its company and product as one that boosts human-to-human connections, Selling is not about annoying your customers and prospects. It's about being the first to respond and building a superi- or connection Before articulating your company’s brand persona, you need a thorough outline of your message architecture. So what does that mean? A message architecture is a hierarchy of communication goals that reflects a common vocabulary. It might be a concise outline of five attributes, each with sub-bullets that clarify meaning and add color. Those attributes and terms re- flect a broader discussion to establish concrete, shared terminology — not just abstract concepts that fall apart outside the hallowed halls of marketing MARGOT BLOOMSTEIN, Content Strategy Consultant vi the Openview's Blog A message architecture, according to Bloomstein, is a way to transform vague goals into substantive concepts with context and priority. Your company’s message archi- tecture will look a little something like this: ~ Message Architecture ‘eanten Mcgee mesa tte mina nto dtr rir m eSpeakaLeads incorporates these values in all of the company’s written material from help center documentation to email marketing initiatives and blog posts. The jon standard across its entire team and to maintain that goal is to keep communi consistency as the organization begins to scale. That's why the company defined its message architecture as early on as possible. ‘The company’s story as a technology, partnerships, and customer-service minded organization comes through in absolutely everything on the website. Even though the company's blog and help center, for instance, are managed by two different people — a customer service lead and marketing consultant (Ritika), the same brand story will always shine through. Speak2Leads is a company that prioritizes human interest and is committed to solving a real problem in sales. ‘The company’s blog ‘STesteMeminaacuton Roundup: 6 Tools Your Small Business Will aa Roun ARCHIVE mageofopion for tas, rom yroactypyst ELIS) pia thatelp.- asian ‘an203 0 ‘sne.208 i emma) au ozo Bre Yur Clients Are Your Lifeline, and Here's vy Ate yas aga, Spade eso aver intrestng et from oe the ect wel Rs emt ached (alos News oon, weer very nied Tie aad ‘More ‘The company’s customer-facing knowledge center: @ Koowedge Base omit Spt aa Wats Lee Repu S17 md “Oaal ene Pans 2 ee _ terera og sate al Sere ‘Samo ‘Somanesna an ste proc 2 rsa neaSo how do you get started in choosing the keywords to place in your message architecture? Brand strategists leverage a technique called a card sorting exercise. 1. CREATE A LIST OF KEYWORDS THAT ARE RELEVANT TO YOUR BRAND. THESE COULD BE KEYWORDS THAT YOUR CUSTOMERS, HAVE SAID ABOUT YOUR COMPANY AS WELL AS DESCRIPTIONS CHOSEN BY YOUR OWN EMPLOYEES. Ba 2. TRANSCRIBE THESE KEYWORDS ONTO NOTE CARDS. 3. AS A GROUP, SORT THROUGH THE NOTE CARDS TO DETERMINE, WHICH WORDS ARE MOST APPLICABLE TO YOUR BRAND. SEPA- RATE THESE WORDS FROM THE WORDS THAT CAN'T RELEVANT TO YOUR BRAND. 4. GO THROUGH WHAT'S LEFT AND RANK THE KEYWORDS IN ORDER OF PRIORITY TO YOUR BRAND. WHICH ARE MOST RELEVANT, AND. WHICH AREN'T? BECAUSE YOU'RE WORKING WITH NOTE CARDS, YOU CAN ORGANIZE THESE WORDS VISUALLY. 5. ASSEMBLE THESE WORDS INTO SENTENCES THAT DESCRIBE YOUR BRAND. And finally 6. PIECE TOGETHER YOUR MESSAGE ARCHITECTURE. Is possible, try to get your customers involved in this process. One way is to inter- view them for customer case studies. What words and expressions are they using to describe your brand? The more interviews and service reviews you conduct, the more patterns you'll start to see. Let your customers determine your brand messaging, Let them define the voice be- hind your company.UNIFY YOUR ON-SITE AND OFF-SITE PRESENCE Your company’s story, message architecture, and brand identity should follow your team members everywhere from on-site blog posts to PR opportunities in major media channels. You need to keep your company’s identity as unified and consistent as possible. As we mentioned earlier, the image you share with the world should bea genuine, authentic, and transparent view into your organization. Up until this point, we've shown you how SpeakaLeads has invested heavily in its on-site brand persona. Here is a recent interview that they gave to Inc ina. sto ympanies with their own ‘Speake2Leads automates lead sesponse to increase conversion rates for their clients, Problem: SpeakaLeads' clients were receivinga number ofleads from the service, but sales teams were slow to pursue those opportunities. The Speakzleads cient base consists of lean operations, so misted connections were huge opportunity lass Also, ifthey didn't reach prospective clients on the first try, they were likely to give up, nd that was costing thema lot ofbusiness. App Solution: The twa-tieredapp automatically phones SpeakaLeads clients as soon asa prospective customer reackes out via web form, thus eliminating the time gap. Additional Benfts: When the company tested the appon their own business, prospects loved the fast response time so much thet it spoke foritselfand resulted in a boom of conversions. Prospects immediately saw the value in the service and the app has been so ‘successful that it's now the core business model for SpeaksLeads, What you'll notice about this interview is that it reinforces key themes that appear throughout the Speak2Leads website. Coincidence? No way. ‘This brand identity stems from the organization's brand persona and message ar- chitecture that the company is heavily solutions and client-driven. The company built its entire solution around a real, focused, and pressing sales problem. That brand story is powerful and should shine through everywhere, regardless of wheth- er customers and prospects are engaging with the brand on or off-site.CHOOSE YOUR WORDS WISELY 5 EXAMPLE BRAND STYLEGUIDE ere ars cnc PMC eek an osc Poe rccthdYour brand styleguide and message architecture can be custom-tailored to any form. of multimedia, beyond writing, Whether you're producing infographics, brand videos, books, or blog posts, your plans will ensure that your messaging is consistent acros mediun only one form of online communication. Make sure that you inve the time in energy in creating structure behind everything that you produce online. KEY TAKEAWAYS PERE UR SOS acta Co ing is a technique that can reinforce these bonds. Stories can give your brand a powerful voice, regardless of whether you're SRE ants Ser ae ce ee Sere eect tea toe Ce Cosmin Ce eo erhelp centers, about pages, videos, or infographies. Pe CRC oa naa Amn Cece ene C Cee ROIS cor ROO CNC NC Bec Soar ol ec Gat ee Ry argo oT Nae oe Caco ToC your message and how you connect with your target audiences. Congolese eae eee Ree Gr ome e TT Renee ee ect een create ns DECAL eae oer Ts eT CRs Coe Ror tere Renata tt ees nC e sn Sern tire organization, Your sales team, engineers, product managers, executives, and entry-level professionals should all have a hand in articulating your eens AV Cnne a CCC eect ent aha nT Scent knts Deere sce COn a rere UC ER ete eet on Perms ree TAKE ME TO TAKE ME TO CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER FOURTHE BEGINNERS GUIDE TO ONLINE MARKETING CHAPTER FOUR WRITTEN BY NEIL PATEL & RITIKA PURI GET 'EM TO YOUR SITE: FOUNDATIONS OF TRAFFIC ACQUISITION You've built an amazing website, mobile app, or online storefront. Your brick-and- mortar customers love you, and you have the Yelp reviews to promote. Now what comes next? If you build it, they will come. It doesn't matter how slick your website looks: If no one comes to it, good luck building that Web business. JOHN BRANDON via Inc Just kidding. If it were that easy, the multi-billion dollar internet industry would be totally useless Your website could be amazing, but it's probably hiding in a digital dark corner where web traffic is like the lochness monster. As much as you want it to exist, it doesn’t.So what should you do? You need to actively think about how you're going to bring new visitors to your web- site. You need to build your traffic acquisition strategy. From paid channel advertis- ing to content marketing, you have a range of options. We'll get to these topics but before we do, we want to explain a key concept: Audience connections. ‘You need to leverage your traffic acquisition strategy to connect with the right audi- ‘ences — people who are most likely to become paying customers. Ifyou're new to online marketing, you'll probably read a lot about blogging, paid channel advertising, and social media marketing. This guide is going to take a dif- ferent approach — we're going to give you the holistic education you need to build a powerful marketing framework. Traffic acquisition is so much more than your SEM strategy on Google AdWords. It’s the single-most important marketing strategy for reaching your target audiences. So let’s get to it. Here's a bird’s eye view of the traffic acquisition landscape. GO FIND CUSTOMERS, NOT WEB TRAFFIC net buck- Marketers will frequently group their web traffic into dis ets — traffic that converts into sales vs. traffic that doesn't. Traffic that, converts in the long-term and traffic that converts via direct response. Spammy traffic. Good traffic. Targeted traffic. What does it all mean? Some traffic is more valuable to your company than others. But this distinction will al- ‘ways be subjective and depends on the unique needs of your company. As we keep emphasizing in this guide, you need to understand your marketing goals to determine which web traffic is right for you. ‘That means taking a step back and understanding your customer acquisition goals.Who are you hoping to reach? Answer that question first. The next step is to venture out to find where these folks are hhanging out online. You might decide that the most direct and efficient way to reach your target audience is through Facebook. Or LinkedIn. Or by sharing your blog posts with a larger audience. ‘Speak2Leads, for instance, is in the earliest stages of launching its traffic acquisition strategy. As part of this process, the company runs a sales leadership blog on the com- pany website. : UE FREE speakiAleads DEMO = TRIAL COMPANY SOLUTIONS CUSTOMERS BLOG RESOURCES RECENT POSTS 6 Tips for Managing A Customer Service Nightmare ‘using Tos Roundup: € Toots Your Sat ‘Youlove your customers So hen they get mad at you ts painful. You fel ‘bad. It was out of your control. [twas an accident, and if you could go bark our tents Are YourLieline, if ime, you would have stopped i. poate Nine ‘Yet ere you ae with avery unhappy client on the phone. Theyre hurting. eatening to Here's the problem — audiences aren’t there yet. SpeakaLeads is blogging consistently, and in time, readers will come. But this process isn’t magic — and it certainly doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, dedication, and patience. Realistically, the site is at least six to eight months out from. positioning the blog as a growth engine. In the meantime, we're syndicating SpeakaLeads's content with Business2Community, a website with an established audience of small business owners, entrepreneurs, and company leaders. And that’s not all. Business2Community also syndicates its content with Yahoo Small Business. Tips for Managing A Customer ServicePublish your content in one place, and amplify your audience through distribution. The idea isto find audiences that are much bigger than yours — and make the connection substantive. One way to do this is to advertise on social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. Another way is to share your branded content with a larger publisher. 9S —~* ID boners Honeonet harem. sus 6 Tips for Managing A Customer Service Nightmare ciel) iResormons sp Tweat [ome ga sree ‘You love your austomers So when they get mad at you, i's painful You feel bad. Itwas ot of your control. It was an accent, and ifyou could go backin ime, you would have stoppedit. Yetere you are witha very unhappy client onthe phone. Theyre hurting, You're hurting. They might even be yelling at you and threatening to terminace your busines relationship. What should youdo? This distinction brings us to a very important point, that distribution is the heart of, online marketing. To bring people back to your website, you need to put your brand out there. This concept is timeliness and applies to virtually any marketing medium. Eagle Rock Brewery, an example we mentioned in chapter 1 grew its customer base of craft beer aficionados by partnering with local restaurants in the LA area. VY Aig ROSWELL ST, LOS ANGELES CA £0085 | 323.257.7866 | HOURS: W - SAT4-10PM SUN NOONEagle Rock Brewery mirrors a similar concept that Estee Lauder leveraged when build- ing her makeup business — she distributed her products through department stores, ‘where her target customers were likely to be shopping. Today, her global empire is worth billions. ‘The key difference between traffic acquisition and more traditional modes of distribu- tion is that you need to do more than just go where prospective customers are likely to ‘be. Bring them back to your company’s website — and keep them coming back. UNDERSTAND KEY TRAFFIC DRIVERS Raa aedPublic Relations: Cesk) eee ok Oe) Corer B Cre yea Batre crt COSC Cetra Pt arc How Vou Can Use Remariting to Close @ Business Deal| = C nalA GREAT SHAVE FOR A FEW BUCKS A MONTH But don’t expect a great video or story to become an overnight traffic driver. Especially when it comes to internet marketing, Hollywood success stories are few and far between. You need to step out of your company’s comfort zone to actively seek out the audience you want to reach. Take a lesson from Karen X Cheng, found- erat Dance in a Year. Karen learned to dance in a year and videotaped her journey. At the beginning of the video, you'll see a person who is just getting started learning to dance. As the video progresses, Karen starts to look more and more like a pro. In the video's final moments, you'll see someone who can dance like a total pro, Karen’s video tells an amazing story of patience, dedication, and results. It's energizing ing 3 million views on YouTube.Girl Learns to Dance in a Year (TIME LAPSE) — 3.811.297 = dum p ‘What seems like luck was actually a part of Karen's carefully planned mar- keting strategy I did a ton of marketing, and it start. was released. Going viral was not an a via Fast Company As she outlines in an article for FastCompany, here are the steps she took to grow distribution for her video: First, she posted her video to Facebook and Twitter as well as social news sites like Reddit and Hacker News. She asked her friends to share it and tweeted it at estab- lished bloggers. She also emailed bloggers who had previously written about other viral dance videos Of the approaches she tried, Reddit yielded the strongest re- sults. ‘The video gained attention and made its way to the top of the GetMotivated subreddit page. After day 1, she received 80K views, On di video the day before began tell- ing her story through media channels including Mashable, Jezebel, and the y 2, bloggers who came across Kare! Huffington Post. These blogs were significant traffic drivers to Karen's video. This coverag nplified her web traffic numbers to 800K views The video's popularity pushed Karen to the YouTube homepage. That chain of events helped take Karen to 1.8 million pageviews on the third day‘ern com>. Poforrng As» Dareing ” Beato at aunchg oremgh Is somthing ou have econ nce no Year (TIME LAPSE} - YouTube Wout coivatr'y-cxCZEPURZZW * (OW TO DANCE FOR ME a encase, Danco - Time Out Chicas eeu coe on‘Your product or senice leain to dane ‘Ad group ideas | Keyword ideas ‘Avg. monthly Search terms: soe oom leam to dance le 1,900 High @ Passive Panda A fresh approach to earning more money. Jeno eal rw doe + wore) ekg ia nos ae eons + Semngee nreareg ps na yuna ng hes + Lecco fom rtopaneun who bulition dtr bracone ‘rat, nach ro. hetonroarinfomaton nett and ox GetFea TstIT’S COOL TO PAY FOR TRAFFIC TOO Peo nee E ae Nee UTS Pet cn mee Cerna tt tee ome nent nts Pruett mnt enC eee neen settee for users who have visited your site before. This technique is a strong strategy for building awareness around your brand as well as bringing existing customers and prospects back to your website. Se RSE aCe eam ee cone ey be quite robust in generating significant results for your brand. If you drop RECO Sameer teen amen SRC ntas) Perea eat ‘Small business owners and startups are frequently hesitant to start paying for COE and For one, they're skeptical that online marketing doesn't work. And secondl they don’t want to spend the risk of spending their funds. But here's the thing. If you ignore paid channel advertising, you risk missing COE RAINE Rome Tenino seat Tin Facebook, for instance, runs an advertising program where marketers can acquire on a cost per install (CPI) basis. Users can install apps directly from neon a LVR Rac aeRO ot per install ba: cet) Pee Dee) Ci 5 = oR dard a ry Friends PeeOo en ese engine cent eee Tg ECO UCU CEC Ce CSE OR Oke Hand LEC R DLL Po tne ee eC Oe a CeCe eee Td Peer Dc ence tect en teens sca cone karts Oe FOE Meee Se ecee TCRS URC cas tising are probably doing it wrong. Contrary to what our instincts may tell us, marketing is not a money-sink or investment. When executed correctly, it’s a poe re Cena Senne eee eee nee ee TT SUL cra tween sales and marketing. Both business functions are on the same team and are exponentially more powerful when aligned and working together. eta aU Oa SO EC eer Rew cw ETS is a controversial perspective, but you know what? It needs to be said. If your marketing team is a money-sink for your organization, then it probably SMO Meere RINT CRE ce Ram Tieg nee Cenc Pon OSs Rao Cece e eee SCRE C See taa oT mci aCe You need to start your test small (with a budget), and raise that budget Srrarantanted Ce ena eres O mene Ne testing with as little as $100. Yes, you might lose it, but the trick is to keep Coen eR ea me ce te Mec ctn ete eee Eten Penna ae cea AdRoll makes it possible to get up and running with a new retargeting cam- paign in just 3 steps. In fact, they give you $60 for a two week free trial. THsT CAMPAIGNSUNS overt Ue ee est nee Rea sited online media giants like Facebook and Google as well as other small companies. And etc Sears s In just a few chapters, we'll walk you through the mechanics of successful paid Poe eae ine Roane cc CRN esis Corser tasty INBOUND MARKETING IS YOUR COMPANY’S PULL MECHANISM Inbound marketing is a term that HubSpot, a Boston-based company, has popularized in the last few years. The term is catchy for sure, but what exactly does it mean? Ina nutshell, inbound marketing is a lever that brings web traffic to you. This is a marketing discipline that encourages business leaders to position their companies as pull rather than p\ mechanisms. Examples of inbound marketing include branded content (through blogs and video), social media, and giveaways. Inbound marketing works for compa- nies that can successfully position themselves as thought leaders and valuable sources of information. Inbound marketing is a term that HubSpot, a Boston-based company, has pop- ularized in the last few years. The term is catchy for sure, but what exactly does it mean?KEY TAKEAWAYS OT CORI Ma CR RNS Web traffic doesn’t just happen. You need to invest time and energy in con- necting with the right audiences and leading them back to your website. Traffic acquisition requires dedicated time and resources. You need to invest Peete Put eat ect hea oe Marketing is a revenue-generating operation. If you're not seeing quantifi- Btu C uu aCe eel ka OT eur eke Once your marketing strategy gains momentum, you should feel comfort- Paces tent Renta p it tte science etree Ps TORTS CSC ns Cert es en a Rr ce ic traffic. When well-executed, paid channel advertising campaigns can be quite robust. SES R CS Sere ee RTI ag ere CR MSU cns ener cree When your stuff is awesome, there will be an echo effect in the form of free marketing through social media and return visits over the long-term. Consumers can sense BS from miles away. Give them the respect that they ee rar Rn reece Ra or ok orcs Ben areataTHE BEGINNERS UIDE TO ONLINE MARKETING CHAPTER FIVE WRITTEN BY NEIL PATEL & RITIKA PURI GET THE PLUMBING RIGHT: FOUNDATIONS OF CONVERSION OPTIMIZATION In case you skipped the last chapter, we just spent 3,000 words talking about how important it is to invest time, energy, and resources into bringing custom- ers to your website. We constantly need to be asking ourselves what we really expect a user to understand about our product, and we need to have ways to preemp- tively help them in places where we're presenting new concepts or unfa- r terminology. LAURA KLEIN, Principal at UsersKnow for her blog Now, we are going to shock (read: rock) your entire world by telling you the following: Traffic acquisition is only half the marketing equation. In addition to bringing visitors to your website, you need to keep them there. Not only that, you need to transform them from interested prospects into customers. Your website needs to move the relationship forward (and seal the deal).And once they complete their first transactions? You need to convert your first-time visitors into repeat buyers, Conversion optimization is the process of transforming new website visitors into paying customers ers into repeat buyers. and first-time custom- This is a concept that every online marketer needs to thoroughly understand. Ifyou don’thave a website (or marketing strategy) that's optimized for conversions, you'll end up wasting your web traffic. Conversion optimization isn’t rocket science. In many ‘ways, i's common sense. But you need to actively think about what you're doing. Know your best practices EAZLALALALAL START BY STUDYING THE CONVERSION FUNNEL to understand these natural paths and make the process seamless. Website visitors go through a series of steps before converting into paying customers or repeat buyers. These steps will vary based on your business model, industry, and product/service price points. Your job as a marketer is, A typical conversion funnel looks someth ng like th Metaphorically speaking, conversion funnels come in all shapes and siz. Pragmatically speaking, conversion funnels will almost always look like a funnel. That's because visitors are dropping off at every stage. Maybe they learn early on that your produet isn’t a fit. Maybe they can’t afford to become a customer. These points of divergence are natural and impossible for your business to avoid. But there are some things that can easily be avoided. Like when your company looks untrustworthy. Or when audiences can’t understand what the heck is going on. Or when sign-up processes are so convoluted that prospects just give up and move on.Conversion optimization is the solution to these problems. But we'll get to that later. In the meantime, we want to make sure that you really get the basics. It's rare for a company to have just one conversion funnel. That's why you want to think about your customers and users first: > A college student will have a different decision-making process from a financially stable 27-year-old. > Your more expensive product line may be a tougher sell than than the $5/month subscription. > Return-website visitors may have already built trust with your company while brand new visitors who just found your website through a banner ad might be more skeptical. Keep in mind that conversion paths can also vary within a website traffic souree. On Facebook, someone might find your company through a banner ad, fan page, or re~ ferral from a friend. You might guess that the personal referral will instill the most trust in your brand. An optimized conversion funnel starts with a thorough understand if your audience and user segments. Conversion optimization is a term that many marketers toss around as a buzzword — it’s a buzzword that comes with many, many more. 1. CONVERSION OPTIMIZATION IS NOT TESTING 2. CONVERSION OPTIMIZATION IS NOT THE PRACTICE OF TRACKING WHICH PPC ADS GET MORE CLICKS 3. CONVERSION OPTIMIZATION IS NOT THE ART OF CREATING CLICKABLE GRAPHICS AND LOGOS What #51 through 3 share in common is that they are tacties. These are important as part of your conversion optimization process, but they are not enough to BE con- version optimization. 1. CONVERSION OPTIMIZATION IS A COMPREHENSIVE STRATEGY THAT STARTS WITH USER PSYCHOLOGY. 2. CONVERSION OPTIMIZATION IS A BLENDED DISCIPLINE THAT IN- CORPORATES FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY, DESIGN, DIGITAL ANALYTICS, RESEARCH, AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS. 3. CONVERSION OPTIMIZATION IS MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN YOU LET YOUR CUSTOMERS, PROSPECTS, AND AUDIENCE GUIDE YOU. Treat your customers and prospects as you would your most valuable collaborators and business partners.Toa OA eo) ad CONVERSION OPTIMIZATION FIT TOGETHER Conversion optimization is a blended discipline that is equal parts psychol- ogy, design, copywriting, A/B testing, and analytics. Here is how each of the elements fit together: yell © The most effective conversion optimization strategies should prioritize your customers’ and prospects’ most pressing needs and priorities. Know where they're coming from so that you can deliver the most effective design, mes- saging, and copy possible. Understand what messaging makes the most sense at each stage of the conversion funnel. This step is crucial for developing marketing messaging that effectively guides prospects towards a purchase. Early funnel prospects, for instance, just ‘want to gather information. If you push them too hard with an aggressive sales pitch, you risk damaging the relationship. Mid-funnel prospects, however, want more than research and may be ready for a conversation with your sales team. Understand the stages of the conversion funnel to know what your customers and prospects need. Then, eraft your message accordingly. > Avoid creating cognitive dissonance. This is a fancy way of saying that your mar keting messaging does not fit together or make sense. The opposite of cognitive dissonance is cohesion — ensuring that your headings, sub-headings, calls to action, and images all make sense into a unified marketing message. Dt ne oR ee on cots oc st The first is... +“, a community that helps businesses build long-term relation ships with freelancers. Here is a screenshot of their homepage. We love how wellthe design and copy complement one another to create a unified user experience.SENSE HIGH FIDELITY PROTOTYPING & COLLABORATION ~ FOR DESIGNERS, BY DESIGNERS. nether younsed te quc share aig mockup or roa cmpox ode ap, Invision aves you tetas show four desir ine ave ner eoraer sig Tha Peano a a cr ning te opti bt je) ‘ow ang a eignPT) Discover the Power of a Viral Loop ws | =a Mm ay Import Contacts Send InvitesDIN) Conversion-centered designs blend form with function. Your web pages should be ae: thetically pleasing, quick to read, and driven by human interest, Beauty alone, however, will not drive sales for your company. The design elements you choose should be cus- tom-tailored to the precise conversion funnel stages that you're targeting, ‘The Coworks homepage, for instance, is clearly targeted to new users. The design conveys significant human interest while remaining simple and aesthetically pleas- ing. Text is kept short and clear to just a few lines. In addition to building human interest, Coworks implements subtle design elements to convert new website visitors into users of the platform. ~The website call to action is clear and simple — placed prominently in the middle of the page. ~The call-to-action is bright blue, a vibrant color that stands out from each of the other elements of the page. > The page communicates prioritizes visual communication over text through strategic use and placement of web copy. Coworks makes it a point to call out that joining the platform is free — right next to the page's call to action. The company also uses en- gaging icons, rather than text, to explain the platform's core specialties in design & illustration, writing & translation, photo & video, and web/app development. SRUNS One challenge that marketers face is that they have infinite options for trying con- cepts, copy, and headlines. How do you know that you're running with the best possible option for converting users? ‘The fact is that you probably don’t. That's what A/B testing is for — to help you con- uously iterate and improve.RUPP GVEH Ce ster Samme TTTieeePNB aed AWARENESS ENGAGEMENT RETENTIONLET’S GET BACK TO THE BASICS: WHAT’S A LANDING PAGE? A landing page is a single web page that appears after a user clicks on an adver- tisement. These can be used to capture leads, communicate information, or gen- erate website sign-ups. They are different from a website's homepage. Here are some examples: SpeakaLeads has an integration partnership with Infusionsoft. Here is what users see when they click through to SpeakaLeads from the Infusionsoft app marketplace: 1. Infusionsoft App Marketplace — where Speak2Leads can recruit new prospects Speak2Leads Lead Response S2L speakVleads" |MFUSIONSDF SPEAKZLEAS- Wh ORE SALES eg e @ FREE ox2. Infusionsoft-focused landing page, hosted on Speak2Leads, to convert prospects into leads. INFUSIONSOFT + SPEAK2LEADS = W Respond Faster, Close More Sales Sell More, Work Less Customize Your Solution’ fer a ove an bd tio ht Launch Quickly & Hassle-Free As the SpeakaLeads landing page exemplifies, your marketing messaging should make sense for your target audience. Cognitive dissonance will cause users to be- come confuse. Whenever possible, try to avoid creating one-size-fits-al landing pages for your different website visitors. Landing pages can also be set up to gather interest from potential customers, even before your product launches. This is called a pre-launch landing page. Here is an example from Pitchbox, a software platform that helps companies streamline their prospecting and sales:‘As the Speak2Leads landing page exemplifies, your marketing messaging should make sense for your target audience. Cognitive dissonance will cause users to be- come confuse. Whenever possible, try to avoid creating one-size-fits-all landing ages for your different website visitors. Landing pages can also be set up to gather interest from potential customers, even before your product launches. This is called a pre-launch landing page. Here is an example from Pitchbox, a software platform that helps companies streamline their prospecting and sales: See Ae Find ‘em. Pitch 'em. Close ‘em. aC ed ten UT) eam chants taints) @@cormece “Tae Tecneroncn BAL Otine tar Pitchbox automates the unt work so youcan focus on what you do bes: creating eal, person-to-person connections with the people you want to reach. SEE How pITCHAOX msi se pst elton © tert Warten Tredcicedcatngtode Sonvarraicine —Stopaaraste,- Sc Aer Saas ae he ae Cee an ae at ao ihe (eaha® asta iGo FINE ee Now available by invitation onlyThe company is in private beta, and their conversion goal is to gather interest and sign-ups. Unbounce is a platform that can make the process of creating and A/B testing your landing pages much easier. They've put together a great diagram that explains the components of a high-performing landing page. Especially if you're a newcomer to online marketing, this guide can help you overcoming any design learning curves to start generating results immediately. Headline that matches what was clicked Benefit ftie Benefit tle «Benet 3 tle Feotuwe tile Feature 2 tle ‘Feature 3 ute [AID Fe coer aroument scent4. The starting point of your marketing campaign is your ability to define your company’s unique value proposition. Be clear in what sets your product apart from the competi- tion. Your value proposition can be communicated through four page elements: A. The primary headline > The very first thing that people will see or read. B. The sub-heading > The best way to keep your primary headline short & sweet. Add supple- ‘mental details to communicate as clearly as possible. C. The reinforcement statement > Include this statement for backup (to cover bases) since people will be sean- ning your page. D. The closing argument > Your final chance to convince your website visitors to do business with you. 2. Unbounce calls this the hero shot. Its purpose is to build human interest and clar- ity ambiguity, It can be a picture or explainer video that showcases your product, service, or team in the best possible light. 3. Provide a more detailed description of your product or service's main features and benefits. While your headline is the main attention grabber, these blurbs jump into the most important details. Answer the one key question that website visitors are inevitably asking: “what's in it for me?” A. Provide a bulleted summary of core features or benefits. Write one brief sen- tence or paragraph (at most) and explain the rest via bullets. Come back to this section once it’s written, and edit out the bloat. B. Provide detailed benefit and feature descriptions to describe what you've explained briefly in A. Communicate the benefit of your offering first. After, will be important for reaching us ers who need in-depth information to make a decision, start describing the features. These detail4. Social proof is a powerful and persuasive concept (in Unbounce’s words exactly). ‘These are social signals to explain that your product or service is in high de mand. The concept is that users are more likely to convert if they know of other customers that have been happy doing business with your company. Examples of social proof include: > Customer testimonials > Social signals via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn > Account of how many customers your company has > Trust seals to establish security of information > Awards from reputable organizations > Customer reviews that differentiate your brand from competitors Here are some examples of the concept in action: From 37Signals: ede Basecamp i. atte ae Last week 5,570 companies signed up for Basecamp to manage their projects. Today it's your turn. Start your free trial 97% of customers recommend Basecamp. Find ut why —»From Clarity: CRAZYEGG IS TRUSTED BY AForrst Cosrco. amazoncom And 50,000 + small business and entrepreneurs worldwide! From Unbounce: From KISSmetrics: Canon intuit —@reewreice == amazoncom —LinkadiS)—N TechSmith “luse Unbounce every day and have over 100 landing pages. We've doubled and tripled conversion rates and! | being able to shipFrom UserTesting: [1sSmetiesis trusted by these and many move great customers! Uberconiownce stitch usabil Glibrato. Geos) WMailChimp — @ptimizely qs about 8 © twilio \UserTesing com is loved by the Top 10 Web Properties inthe US. rico Yoncor” BEET Act ol 5, 000+ @ cam GN businesses worldwide. The final section should prioritize your business's conversion goals. To a visitor, this is communicated as your webpage’s call-to-action (CTA), which can bea standalone button or part of a lead gen form. > Copy text and color are the elements that you should prioritize most in your cTA, > Be very direct (and tangible) about what audiences can expect after clicking through on the button. > Make the button as attention-grabbing as it ean possibly be. General best practices are to choose a color that contrasts with the existing color scheme. Use additional visual cues to draw attention to it.Look at the following example from the CrazyEgg homepage. What is more compel- ling? A button that says “click here” or CTA copy that tells you exactly what you're going to get? ‘Show me my heatmap And here’s an example from QuickSprout: _Yes, Lets Start The Free Course 100% Privacy. | will never spam you! Your CTA should convey energy and communicate the specific ROI that users should expect to derive from working with your company or using your product. After all, you're talking to humans, not click bots. And with that final thought, we're ready to move on from chapter 5. At this point, we feel that you're well-empowered with the basics to move forward. Now that un- derstand how to build a marketing system, we're ready to talk campaigns.KEY TAKEAWAYS > Getting audiences to your website is only half the marketing equation. Your company needs to invest in a powerful conversion optimization strategy. Peano nang ec eee eager Bag SO OT coe CR Se ca ces » Conversion optimization is a blended discipline. You need to pay attention to the full spectrum of website elements that influence user psychology. These in- clude design and copywriting. A/B testing and analyties are also crucial for opti- DSC Senco URLs > Landing pages are a discipline where art meets science. They need to be attrac- Reg eR A ane oe RC CONOR Cees Seo ao cm ae eae ene Pobre ace aCTEii) ONLINE MARKETING BEGINNERS GUIDE TO CHAPTER SIX WRITTEN BY NEIL PATEL & RITIKA PURI BUILD AUDIENCE CONNECTIONS WITH CONTENT MARKETING You've heard the term tossed around a million times. Content mar- keting. The phrase seems simple enough, but what exactly is it? Content marketing is just what it sounds like. It's the process of en- ‘gaging and growing your customer base through high quality content. Content marketing is an investment. It's part of a larger marketing framework. It requires strategic insight. It targets users across the entire conversion funnel. Itshould be held accountable to a standard set of suecess metries. Content marketing is NOT social media, an intern's job, or limited toa company blog. Like any other marketing practi standards. It should be held accountable to measurable results it requires commitment to systems and Now that consumers are totally in control of the buying process, you are seeing enter- prise brands working to adapt to that. The whole movement to get found in search, or drive online leads or create business opportu starts and ends th a content marketing strategy. In order for any of that to work, enterprise brands have to have something meaningful to say that, in some way, links to their marketing and business objectives. JOE PULIZZI, Founder and CEO at The Content Marketing Institute vi The Content StrategistCONTENT MARKETING IS A RELATIONSHIP-BUILDING TOOL. Content marketing is more than just the creation and distribution of content. It's a tool that, when executed properly, positions your brand as an influencer. Content marketing is the art of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a target audience — with the objective of driving profitable customer action. The Content Marketing Institute It starts with storytelling around the concepts that your customers value most. Good storytelling can feel challenging, especially if you're a marketer or business owner who comes from a sales background. With content marketing, you absolutely cannot and should not sell. Rather than pitching your services upfront, focus on driving awareness about your brand and thought leadership in your area of expertise. Think about moving prospects through the conversion funnel, Sales will happen as a natural byproduct of this relationship that you're building with your customers and prospeets. Take a look at Qualcomm’s Spark platform as an example. This enterprise com- pany is creating innovating content to keep readers engaged. And what aren’t they doing? Selling. ae Rather than producing content from a team of marketers, the company hires jour- nalists, business leaders, and tech bloggers. To the best extent possible, the brand tries to remove itself from the equation. They don't talk about themselves. Instead, they cover topics that their audiences truly care aboutFOCUS ON MORE THAN JUST BLOGGING Content marketing is more than just writing, ‘There are a variety of channels that your brand can leverage to connect with prospective customers. These include: S71 ‘These can be entertaining or educational videos produced on behalf of your brand. Focus on a specific topic that is related to your product or service. Sul isiis.10hiy a Santa Moniea startup, was able to kickstart its user acquisition through the production of a hilarious video. It went viral and generated over 12,000 user sign-ups within days of launching. Videos can range in cost from several thousand to tens of thousands of dollars. If you are looking to produce a video and need a quote, check out jis). (rN eee aed ‘These are content hubs designed to engage and educate audiences about topics that they care about. Qualcomm Spark is one example of a content porta For another example, check out /="1-'r-129Fic-¥1b.¢s,t-aplatform @ resource committed to educating consumers about their personal finance choices. This con tent portal collects stories and actionable tactics from people learning to make the most of their money. Articles for content portals tend to cost $200-$1,000 to produce.tere} 201 Careers Guide from Wealthfron 100 Career Launching = Technology Companies Clarity DOWNLOAD YOUR FREE GUIDE TODAY! Cenc Ya toe}HOWTO MacASURE SuCDESS ‘wegen aries ness pasar Tartar leet tet onigeath ELA Sahai si mes Peo eeecee eeeeue! Si veetes S) eeeeew 2 MILLION BLOG POSTS ARE WRITTEN EVERY DAY think how many of these include infographics ‘TUTE ERE CHEE FO eH Er Oven EnEDn Ebene ey EngOOHEHT otnedtaneenneseneneetesteiteaneretereneyttinttitt ONT TrARenE THEATER RN ReReHE nnn eet tnt PEREHAPEYEYTEO DIED EE moves ents hemtiONLINE (OR IN PERSON) CLASSES Denese Lire Cl as Ha OLULD CN OU Fels in 30 Days’ + Secret Bonus (Valued at $300) This amazing course will teach you, step by step, how to double if not triple your traffic over the next 30 days. Fill out the form below to start your FREE Course Email Yes, Lets Start The Free Course 100% Privacy. | wil never spam youl, a startup PR expert, teachers a class in her area of expertise Se a Me eee nM Eis Onboardly teaches a class on onboardly ATAPI KO) ose etetaeed GET MORE - ad rei bisu ne) N21: Sy eemcuieeerenee anc ee Ue MUUhe Ul e Ste Ritika teaches and co-teaches in-person classes RITIKA PURI UserGrasp tense ALL CLASSES (1): Blogvngfor RO: Clive Your cd Brand, Grow You ReachBoth (an art supply store) and (women’s running and yoga gear) host in-store events: Palo Alto University Ave BSC) ti 00 community events seperber One valuable way to build your audience is to host a webinar: an online version of a seminar. These can be free to low-cost. The beauty of webinars is that they are scalable to accommodate as many people as you want, from anywhere in the world, K1SSmetries frequently hosts webinars to help customers and prospects develop their website analyties strategies. Cel) 4 SS ed Uy ere (maa: UPDATE Webinar #10 - How To Make Seetctmett The Most Profitable Pricing Plan For Your Subscription BusinessPec acrag ee ROS Sa Ace ec SLE traffic through content marketing. It's inexpensive and provides fast results. Through blogging and creating infographics, KISSmetrics was able to to get over 100,000 monthly organic visitors in less than a year. Same with QuickSprout — Google drives close to 100,000 per month to the blog. aoe See On ao ICs It is a great tool for improving the conversion of a website. We launched our blog, The Daily Egg, during the first week of November 2011, so the blog is only over one year old. In our first year, we had half a million visitors. Traffic growth has been on average 10 to 15 percent month over month, and subscriber growth really picked up at the six month mark. ne ee eae er) The Content Strategist Bitar nce ced Cocca Cte cco NC sce Co STC Short blog posts tend to get fewer links than lon- ger pieces of content. Don't feel pressured to churn out massive amounts of eon- Ranges RNC ame ra TERRE online, Make information as simple to digest as possible, and your readers will OCS TM SMU Lat og SheanBe consistent. Ifyou can’t publish content on a regular basis, it will be tough to get ROI. Make sure that you publish regularly. Write awesome headlines. Ifyour headlines are boring, nobody will want to read your content. You need to be compelling, edgy, and speak to your audience's exact needs, Your headlines are the first chance to make a strong first impression. On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will PRU Cesc te rg oo Sees nee See Cotas MAKE CONTENT A PART OF THE REFERRAL TRAFFIC ECOSYSTEM Production is only 20% of the content marketing formula, The rest is distribution. In addition to creating high-quality content, you need to make an active effort to recruit eyeballs. One way to bring visitors to your website is through email marketing. If you have a blog, make sure that there is a clear place for users to sign up to be a part of your email list. Ifyou publish an ebook? Same thing, Collect leads. Make sign-ups the first step to download. ‘When you publish a new blog post, video, or ebook, tell your subscribers about it. Send them an email every time a new story is produced. Don’t worry about turning this into a promotional newsletter. Make it a short, attention-grabbing, and compel- ling personal note. Here is how it’s done for QuickSproutHere is how LearnVest does it: Be Ceo toc Peers CAN Pe anaU Kear Ponca} SOME GENERAL TIPS: 1 Title your emails with compelling headlines, which can be titles of your newest or most compelling blog posts. 2. Be extremely personal and personable. Make it clear that there are real people on the other sides of your company’s computer screens. 3. Don’t be spammy about your emails. Let your users know how often you'll be emailing them when they opt-in to your mailing list. 4, Send emails once or twice a week, max! 5. Monitor unsubscribe rates closely. Use these numbers to guide how often you should send your emails. 6. Once your subscriber list is large enough, A/B test subject headlines on a portion of your subscribers to see which inspire the most opens. An important metric to moni tor are open rates (the proportion of emails opened compared to the number sent.) But we'll talk about email marketing again later in chapter 8,WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T TRY TO SELL! One of the core purposes of content marketing is to build a community around your brand. Marketers and business leaders get that. But for some reason, brands feel like all of the content needs to come from them. That's the wrong approach to your content marketing, You should only produce a portion of your content in-house, Hire writers and content producers. Here’s why: > Professional writers and subject matter experts frequently have their own audi- ences. Reputable writers will help you kickstart or amplify your audiences. > Professional writers tend to work cross-promote posts between clients. multiple clients. Smart writers will > Great writers leave footprints all over the web. > People want to learn from their peers in the community. If your CEO uses your company blog like a megaphone to blast corporate messaging, you'll instantly scare your readers away. Hire writers to neutralize your sales pitch. > Writers can write faster than you ean. You don’t have time to spend hours on a blog post that your writers can knock out in an hour. Spend your time building your product, and leave it to your freelancers to produce greatw content. Take a look at some of the most popular blogs on the Internet. Typically, these folks will collect insight from multiple writers. This is the approach that KTSSmetries and CrazyEgg have taken. It’s an invaluable way to amplify your network and build a community around your brand — leverage the community that others have build around their own brands.You're Doing It Wrong: 5 Email Marketing Conversion Killers Watch andearn as we take 2 look at 5 email marketing conversion killers and teach you how to avoid costly conversion mistakes! And be sure to catch the uacoming webinar where guest author, Chris Hexton, will teach you hhow to use email marketing as a powertu iead gen & conversion tool Tweet (126) | ELike (31 Is the New Google AdWords Offline Conversion Tracking Worth the Investment for SMBs? en ‘How much is a phone call or in-person visit worth to your business? Find out if offline conversion tracking withthe new ‘AdWords Conversion Impor'is right for you Wrwoet) (70) [Like (4 6 Landing Page Explainer Videos That Are Better Than Yours Acollection of some of the best landing page explainer eg videos out there. Find out what makes each one successful and how you can do the same. Pr woot) (105) [Like (27 One of the core purposes of content marketing is to build a community around your brand. Marketers and business leaders get that. But for some reason, brands feel like all of the content needs to come from them. That's the wrong approach to yourSUCCESS METRICS TO ENGAGEMENT bye Tree Me ee tort eae cnet Pree Roa Ayah erent es nas SCRA EUW NR co)Poe Cesc Re SEU Ein tod aca Peery sac saa Ne oles Se Neto ReedCONTENT MARKETING THROUGH WEBINARS: UNBOUNCE’S STORY Unbounce is an example that we've featured throughout this guide, but in case you've missed the discussion — they're an awesome com- pany and are generating phenomenal thought leadership in the mar- keting community. Their company specializes in software that helps marketers create high-performing landing pages without web de- signers or IT. Not to mention, they have a strong content marketing, presence with high quality writers and passionate readers ‘They were wonderful enough to submit a case study for us about their recent “Unwebinar.” Here is a breakdown from Unbounce’s Director of Marketing, di. What was the problem that Unbounce's webinar was trying to solve? Ritika Unbounce launched its multi-client and multi-user capabilities last fall. Within a couple of weeks it became obvious that some of our customers weren't sure how best to use the new features and that communication on our website wasn't doing enough to show the value. Up to our necks with typical startup fury, Ryan (Director of Customer Success) and I set out to find a solution, we called them “Unwebinars”. It was the first time we'd ever hosted a live online event (even though in marketing, we'd been guests on quite a few webinars). It was an experiment to say the least. We decided not to limit attendance to customers, giving non-customers a peak in- side Unbounce. This MVP version wouldn't last long though. Georgiana What were your goals? Ritika The goal of the first Unwebinar was 2-fold, 1) Communicate what was new (mut client capability) and 2) Gather feedback which would help us do a better job with our product, with our customers and communicating to leads. And, since we knew people less familiar with Unbounce would attend, we wanted to briefly introduce ourselves as well. user and mul GeorgianaWhat important steps did you take? Ritika We built a fort of sleeping bags, stuck a desk in the middle with 2 mics and 3 computers (one for Ryan, one for Rick our CEO, and one for me to moder We put up a landing page (duh) and signed up for the de facto standard, GoToWebinar. We then sent an email to our customers and leads and also pushed out through our social channels. We then nervously held the 30 minute webinar, and proceeded to high-five on a job well done. Anyone who has ever held a webinar knows though, the work does not end there. We then converted the recording and slides, gathered a ist of resources that came up during the recording, and sent out our follow-up email, also asking for feedback. Emails and tweets were overwhelmingly posi- tive, throw in some more high-fives, and we were off to plan our next one. Georgiana What was the outcome? Ritika Throughout the Q&A, it quickly became obvious that attendees had tons of questions about landing pages and A/B testing itself. We knew we had to switch things up; We were now going to focus on content to help marketers be more effective, primarily and almost entirely. We knew there was a place for demoing Unbounce itself, but marketers were desperate for tactical advice, so we set out to be as useful as possible. Georgiana At any point, did you need to change directions? Why or why not? RitikaBy our 2nd Unwebinar, we'd convinced stage/camera/audio shy Oli Gardner (Mr. Landing Page) that his knowledge was in high demand in this format too (Oli launched our blog and writes 90% of our ebooks). It worked, Oli and Ruan not only an- swered peoples’ questions about Landing Page Optimization, but were pretty entertaining too. Feedback again, was overwhelmingly positive. We'd found our winning Unwebinar format; Invite experts (like Anna Sawyer, Joanna Weibe, Chris Goward, Peep Laja) to come and talk about topics related to conversion rate opti ion and give attendees a platform to ask questions in real-time. We still do demo Unbounce after every webinar, but now we give people fair warning and they're welcome to opt-out. Much to our delight, about of at- tendees stick around for it. Even better, as a result of our Unwebinars being more content focused, our Customer Success team continue to offer super useful weekly demos for people wanting to learn more about Unbounce itself. Georgiana What were some key takeaways that you learned? RitikaOur first webinar made it really obvious that while there is a place for demoing our product, marketers are hungry for great content and actionable learning. Here’s how our registration and attendance have looked since we started: LANDING | GOTOWEBINAR PAGE ATTENDEES Landing Page Optimization with Oli Gardner 476 178 Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About AdWords with Anna Sawyer toa an WEBINAR TOPIAC Copywriting for Conversion with Joanna Weibe A/B Testing Essentials with Michael Aagaard 449 Designing for Conversion with Oli Gardner Vly Your Conversion Rates wh Cs Goward ep ee 10 Landing Page Mistakes and How to Fix Them with Peep Laj Not only were our webinars themselves improving but we started to do what we do best, test dedicated landing pages. Through our integration with Zapier, on our 2nd webinar we were able to use Unbounce landing pages for our reg- istration pages. Not only are they prettier than the standard stark format of GoToWebinar, we're able to test to see which messaging works best, all while sending registrants directly through to GTW automatically. It was a game changer. Conversion rates on our registration pages have gone from 26% on our 2nd webinar to 65% on our latest, that's an increase of 150%! ‘Speaking of our latest, this month's Unwebinar is with Rand Fishkin, he’s gonna GeorgianaKEY TAKEAWAYS ORCS ce eo octet eae Ea ena od content you're producing. OM bree Custos re och Mato ese se) through metrics that translate into revenue for your company. ee eee es a CM ee Sen Scans eet Ce CO Roce pce See UO ec Leo Penne ets tte Ser RRC en AE Ce eer ace a Sere tees UCP eas nce RG Re oe ECD Make the experience fun, engaging, and frictionless for them. Prioritize relation- rocco Be relentless about quality. Your content should be amazing. Readers won't care sub-par experience, as there is plenty of other content out there.ii BEGINNERS GUIDE TO ONLINE MARKETING CHAPTER SEVEN WRITTEN BY NEIL PATEL & RITIKA PURI FIND CUSTOMERS THROUGH PAID CHANNEL ADVERTISING Paid channel marketing is something you've probably come across in some form or another. Other names for this topic include Search Engine Marketing (SEM), online advertising, or pay-per-click (PPC) marketing, Very often, marketers use these terms interchangeably to describe the same concept — traffic purchased through online ads. You might be surprised to learn that the paid channel advertising landscape is, worth hundreds of billions of dollars. In 2011, the ad-supported Internet con- tributed more than $500 billion to the United States economy. Holy smokes. That's a lot of spend. But what is the exact ROI? ‘The numbers alone tell us that this marketing channel far too robust to ignore, but more often than not, marketers are scared to take the plunge for two reasons: 1. It costs money to get up and running and 2. There’s a big chance you'll lose money if you aren’t smart about your strategy.Over 10 years ago | fell in love with PPC because it was the most measur- able and optimizable marketing channel. Yet as PPC has become more and powerful and thus more optimizable, sadly, the average AdWords account manager is optimizing less stuff in their account — to the point where | be- lieve that today, most AdWords accounts are dying of neglect. LARRY KIM, PPC Blogger and Expert Paid channel advertising is a powerful marketing medium because it is measurable. It's possible to calculate both a long-term and short-term value for how much rev- enue resulted from even one incoming website visit. You can also deploy targeting features to ensure that you're reaching the right audiences. Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, and Google all offer products for marketers looking to reach customers. Which network should you use? The answer to that question goes back to user psychology. Understand what people are doing when they're using LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Google products. ‘These details will help you determine which channels are the right fit for your brand and advertising message. START BY KNOWING THE DIFFERENT ADVERTISING SALES MODELS Here is a quick yet thorough crash course on the topic: ‘The capacity in which you work with a website or advertising network to show your ads will depend on how you are able to pay. Tools like Facebook will generally give you some different options from which to choose. Making the right decision will ultimately impact the -y of your online ads. Here is a breakdown of the dif- ferent paid channel pricing models, as well as their strengths and pitfalls:CPM/DISPLAY Cote mny ‘The Basics: tert > Defined as cost-per-mille. > You're billed a flat rate per 1,000 impressions of your ad. > You're not charged for any clicks. > This ad format is common on display advertising networks 6 anners, ads with an image, ete) Lingering Question: What Is An Impression? > It's a measure of the number of times an ad is displayed, regardless of whether it's clicked on or not. > With CPM-based advertising, a specific number of impressions are guaranteed by the ad spend; whereas for other types of online advertising { ike CPC) there is no guarantee that your ad will shown. Strengths: > CPM rates can be relatively inexpensive. > You're paying direetly for people to see your ad — these are likely to be top of the funnel consumers. > You can easily apply a budget that makes sense, as you are only paying for views. > Works well for visual, branding-oriented campaigns. > Guarantees that your ad will be shown the number of times that you want it to be seen f er impression). Weaknesses: > Ifpeople aren't clicking on your ads and converting, you risk overspending. > Performance (resulting sales from ad views) are tough to accurately track and monitor. > You can't easily quantify the return of your traffic buy until the end of the campaign. > Rush of resulting web traffic is uncommon. ai To ep Cas LowHere are examples of CPM banner advertising on Investopedia.com é ee the ad from Underwater Audio on the top of the page). It’s possible to purchase ads with sites like these directly or through the Google Ad Exchange. Tr Video Ora Ea © Top Stories o-- ‘The Zen OF Sam Zell: [nse Here is how Forbes runs display advertising ¢ ee the banner ad from HP at the top) CPC/PPC The Basics: > Defined as cost-per-click, > You pay for every click on your ad, at a price determined by the marketplace value of the keyword or expression you're interested in, > CPC marketplaces operate on an auction model, where strong-performing ads are likely to win. > Strong performance is defined by a function of ad click-through rates ( TRs) and the CPCs that the advertisers are willing to pay. Strengths: > Clicks are straightforward to track. > You're only paying for traffic directed to your site. > It’s possible to place budget caps on traffic coming in through large networks. > CPCs and budgets are modifiable in real time. > You can make modifications to campaigns € PCs and budgets) in near real-time by tracking performance on your website > You only pay for the clicks you need. > When well-optimized, CPC traffic can be a significant and well optimized traffic driver. > For marketers who are tracking ROI, CPC advertising can be much more cost-ef- fective than traffic generated via CPM.‘Weaknesses: > You're competing against other advertisers for traffic, which can cause CPCs to become high and sometimes unaffordable. tion later — attribution models need > Clicks coming in now may result in mon to be accurate. > Ifyou're not bidding with a competitive CPG, it’s entirely possible that you won't, get trafic, > It's complicated. > Ifyou don’t have a handle on your strategy, it can quickly become super-complicated. > Itrequires a dedicated resource to monitor and optimize campaigns. > You need to know what you're doing to see an ROT. > You may lose significant money initially in order to optimize over time. Here are example PPC ads targeting the keywords, ap itity testing” on Goosle? [Google wast ears en Tent Terctecweaany area stay Te eee tig ey a aan ‘beer: ast otha ‘Sayan ig ny arg ot ir eng on a i ona Se iat athareaanisptcarsewee liana sass Tsien saying “Ter auae Tsting Now seresincom Seeman a tam Tena Laciemaiacam Staay Toe seb singed be rae coal aneaagntony iter eee owmenmcan «And Facebook: And LinkedIn Sponsored ¥ ‘ADS YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN, 10% off at eBags 'm seeking experts in... ebags.com Bentaieabe on hl web marketing, like you, to join a and more! Cilek now revolutionary online company. Click for 10% off me. Expert in web marketing? lim looking for people like you to join an agency like no other. Click Shop Party Dresses tie. Shop ModClot's arparydresses New Social Media Toot {or all occasions! We can guarantee viral engagement on social media for Freya Waldern and Lorena Russo like a this. Designer Shoes on sitecom Seve up to 60% on Git roan Macy's Shoe Diva Sale! macys.com Shoe Diva event is bere Zoi of when you . Free Slonng wth $99 CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN shoes ‘welcome to our shoes Dline store » we have 80% discount f you buy. CPA/REVSHARE The Basics: > The advert ‘er pays for traffic based on a proportion of revenue earned. > For instance, if you advertise on par.com, you will pay 20% on sales generated from par.com’s traffic. If no conversions or transactions occur, you won't pay. Strengths: > You pay for performance. Weaknesses: > Because performance is difficult to track through the correct attribution models, this type of advertising model is quite rare to find.cPl ‘The Basics: > Cost per install based advertising, > Geared towards mobile app developers. Strengths: > You pay directly for installs. > Some ad network algorithms will decrease costs for higher number of installs. > On some ad networks ( ike Facebook), you can target your creatives and messag- ing to people who have downloaded similar apps in the past. ‘Weakness: > You pay the same amount for user-installs that yield both high and low long-term user value. Here is an example of a mobile ad from HotelTonight, an app that helps consumers book hotel rooms at the last minute. These ads are targeted to Facebook newsfeeds. Suggested App HotelTonight Business travel can bea pain. But it doesn't have to be. Download HotelTonight and book great rooms at the last minute. HotelTonight Install NowcPV The Basics: > Cost per view rate structure for video advertising. > You pay per number of views to your video ad, Strengths: > Structured entirely for video-based advertising, > You can choose to have ads autoplay or for users to click “play.” > You can very easily find the right videos and users through massive distribution networks like Google/YouTube. > Video is a highly engaging marketing medium. ‘Weaknesses: > You're paying for views, not conversions. > The same weaknesses from CPM-based advertising apply to CPV- advertising, ased Seen How To Dance In A Club ke Petra Mahalimuyak 68 vsose 2,639,466 ki CEES © a sr