The 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing Success
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The 7 Pillars of Digital Marketing Success Introduction A digital marketing strategy is an important part of an overall marketing plan for any business but it’s especially impactful for small to mid-sized businesses because of cost efficiency and the opportunity to engage with customers in targeted communications channels. This eBook helps make the case for why you should be thinking about a digital marketing plan, understanding your audience and steps to define your goals along with ways to get started. Introduction A digital marketing strategy is an important part of an overall marketing plan for any business but it’s especially impactful for small to mid-sized businesses because of cost efficiency and the opportunity to engage with customers in targeted communications channels. This eBook helps make the case for why you should be thinking about a digital marketing plan, understanding your audience and steps to define your goals along with ways to get started. Digital Marketing Starter Kit 1 Contents Why digital marketing? .............3 Who is your audience? ..............5 Define your goals ......................7 Digital marketing channels .......10 Website .................................... 11 Email ........................................ 13 Social Media ............................ 15 Video ....................................... 19 Display Advertising ................. 20 Native Advertising ................... 21 Search Engines ....................... 23 Next steps .................................26 Digital Marketing Starter Kit 2 Why digital marketing? Digital marketing is especially impactful for small to mid-sized businesses because of cost efficiency and the opportunity to engage with customers in targeted communications channels. That’s why it’s no surprise that according to The Business Journals SMB Insights research, digital marketing is dominant among small to mid-size business owners’ future marketing plans. And, over the past three years, fast-growing companies have increased their use of email and social media marketing. Advertising/Marketing Vehicles Used by Fast-growing Companies 43% 32% 30% Email marketing 28% 26% Trade shows/events 22% Social media marketing 18% Social media advertising 2014 2015 2016 2017 Source: The Business Journals SMB Insights 2017 “For which of the following marketing and advertising vehicles has your company used in the past 12 months?” Digital Marketing Starter Kit 3 Future Marketing Plans (Next 1-2 Years) 40% 32% 24% 14% 34% 30% 21% 10% Online Social Direct mail PR display Outdoor Email Social media media ads Trade marketing marketing shows/events However, the adoption of digital marketing channels among marketers varies depending upon the target audience. A study from Webmarketing123 shows that 93% of B2B marketers practice email marketing while B2C marketers most commonly use social media. Both fall short in leveraging display advertising and paid search to fully integrate their digital media strategy. 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Social media Display Paid search Email SEO B2B B2C Research points like these demonstrate interest among SMB owners in digital marketing and the adoption of some key channels. Source: The Business Journals SMB Insights 2017 “Which of the following will your company use more of in the next 1-2 years?” Digital Marketing Starter Kit 4 Who is your audience? Knowing the audience you want to target for any marketing message is step one to developing a successful strategy. If you aren’t sure where to start, think of your best customers and create a “look-a-like audience” that has matching attributes and behaviors to current customers. Attributes to consider include company size, industry, job function and title. Then, think about your ideal prospect’s behaviors and interests to create additional attributes that indicate intent to buy your product or service. Customer surveys are another tool to collect data, a simple satisfaction survey or product registration can be a great source of information. In addition, asking your own sales team or the people that interact with your customers on a daily basis is another way to gather more information about your audience. It’s not unusual to develop several target audiences as part of one marketing effort. In fact, it’s better to customize messaging to specific audience groups rather than in mass. Digital Marketing Starter Kit 5 For The Business Journals, we survey our subscribers to make sure we know what our core audience looks like. Our customers are in management, have a strong household income and they are working for fast-growing companies. 76% $233,000 management average household income $246M +13% average annual sales annual revenue growth rate Once the audience is defined, the next step is to set goals and begin to think about the best way to reach them. Digital Marketing Starter Kit 6 Define your goals There are two over-arching strategies in marketing, brand development or direct response advertising. In order to determine which works best for your business objectives, decide if you want to improve brand awareness to become more top of mind for customers or tie your marketing back to a sale? Brand development goals Direct response goals 3 Marketing positioning 3 Drive traffic 3 Awareness 3 Grow social following 3 Emotional connection 3 Capture data 3 Credibility 3 Lead generation 3 Commerce Example: A new bank opens and needs to position themselves as a premier small Example: An established bank wants business lender. to promote their new business loan program and encourages customers to visit the website for more information. Digital Marketing Starter Kit 7 Brand Campaigns Brand campaigns are created to leave an impression, they can be used to drive widespread awareness, position a brand as an industry leader or create an emotional connection. Use brand campaigns to set your business apart from the competition and stay top of mind with customers. Reasons why you would use a branding campaign: n Build industry leadership n Mold the way your brand is perceived by the customer n Set your business apart from the competition n Create an emotional connection with the customer n Stay top of mind Branding Campaign Example Deloitte’s ad is connected to the national day of When users click on the ad, they learn more about the service and emphasizes their commitment to local program and Deloitte’s commitment to the community. communities year round, not just one day of the year. Digital Marketing Starter Kit 8 Direct Response Campaigns Direct response goals differ in that marketing messages ask that the recipients take action. One goal might be to drive traffic to your website, another could be to grow your following on social media. Or direct response campaigns can be developed to capture data, generate leads and even boost sales for a specific product. Because direct response strategies are designed to drive action, there are several different ways to encourage interaction with brand messaging. n Clicks on digital ads n Visits to a landing page n Downloads n Sign ups n Video views n Free trials n Surveys n Schedule a meeting n Follow, like, share via social media Direct Response Example 300x250 ad encourages QuickBooks sign up Customers are taken to a landing page on the Intuit with a free trial. website that allows them to interact more with the brand and learn about the product. As customers and prospects click around the page, data is collected that gives Intuit more insight into who is viewing the product and what peaks their interest-all good follow up information for future efforts, whether it be a sales call or additional promotions. Digital Marketing Starter Kit 9 Digital Marketing Channels The next step in developing a successful digital strategy is to select the channels that will be the most effective for your marketing message. n Website n Email n Social media n Video n Display advertising n Native advertising n Search The following pages take a closer look at each digital channel and offer recommendations and insight into each one. Digital Marketing Starter Kit 10 Website Recommendations A website is an all-around business tool that is used to reinforce your brand, Summary: provide information about your business, capture customer data and create Website sales. 3 Create a positive user experience Because a company website is one of the first places customers and 3 Offer customer service prospects look to find information on products and services, it’s important channels to create one that is easy to use. Navigation should be intuitive, consider 3 Use a mobile responsive including things like FAQs and a live chat option. It’s very important that your platform website works both on desktops and mobile platforms with responsive design 3 Publish relevant, quality so that no matter where customers access it, the information is organized for articles and videos 3 their device. Optimize for search engines Digital Marketing Starter Kit 11 In addition to company and product information, company websites can be used to publish relevant, quality articles and videos. This type of information benefits search engine optimization, gives the website even more exposure, and helps you target your top-of- funnel customers. Many of the website platforms, like WordPress, incorporate the option to include blog posts, which are another great source of content. Services like WordPress are a great option to jumpstart your website design, they offer many templates that can be easily customized to the company without a highly technical background. Website Example The Leaders website is an example of clean design They have clear buttons for events, insights and with straightforward navigation. They prioritized their development. They use real photography, versus slogan, Worth Knowing, and offer two options to learn stock photos, of well-known figures in the visitor intent. Are they visiting for sports performance sports industry; offering credibility. or sports business? Digital Marketing Starter Kit 12 Email Recommendations Email marketing offers on-going communication and provides a cost-effec- Summary: tive alternative to more traditional methods like direct mail.