eMarketing: a strategic approach

Rob Stokes

Something to think about

South Africa has more internet users than:

• Belgium

• Ireland

• Denmark

• Sweden

In the UK, the internet is now the biggest marketing channel

in terms of spend

Zappos will sell more than $1 Billion worth of shoes online

this year

Are we giving eMarketing the respect it deserves?

So what is a strategic approach?

Strategy is about the bigger picture:

Goals, objectives and success criteria - what we need to achieve?

Ultimately strategy is about the decisive allocation of resources

Tactics are the actions we take to achieve the strategy

To be succesful, you can’t have the one without the other

“Without strategy, tactics are simply the noise before defeat”

Sun Tzu

Understanding your customers and competitors is vital to not

only guide your strategy, but also your relevant tactics

Once you’ve figured out your strategy

You need to establish which tactics are going to get you there

Here’s how they might all fit together…

But eMarketing is NOT just a list of tactics

It achieves its true potential when these tactics work together

The tactics need each other

They feed off each other

They are substantially less effective without each other

Let’s get back to basics…

It all starts with a website

A hub to drive traffic to

A medium through which you can communicate and build a

relationship with your audience

But it can’t just be any old website

You MUST add value to your user’s experience. Before, during and after

their visit

Websites are no longer just brochures

They should be built to attract, convert and retain customers

The average website has about 10 seconds to capture a user before

they get bored

Is your website THAT good?

Our web development priorities

1. Usability and conversion oriented design

Understand the goals and priorities of your site and design for your

users above all else

Make sure they can find what they want quickly and easily

Drive them towards YOUR desired goals

Copy style:

Allow the reader to get the gist of your message in a few seconds by

merely scanning the page

Pyramid style writing

Break up text with bolding, bullets, highlighting, crossheads and

contextual interlinking

Have consistent Calls to Action

Don’t make them think…

Tell people to take the exact action you want them to perform in

order to get the best response

Keep navigation basic, consistent and standardised

Think about persuasive architecture:

How is your page persuading them to convert?

Don’t distract users with Christmas trees

• blinking images

• flashing lights

• automatic sound

• scrolling text

• unusual fonts

Using Personas for large sites

2. Search Engine Friendliness

Primary goal:

Site must be fully indexable and optimised around a set of well

researched key phrases

Blend 2 or 3 carefully chosen key phrases into a minimum of 250

words on each page

Also integrate keywords into your:

• Meta tags

• Title tag

• Headings

• Alt tags

• Internal and inbound links

Other SEO Considerations for your site

• The age of the domain

• Links to the domain

• Key phrases in URLs

• Add regular fresh content

• Text navigation is better than images

• Offer RSS feeds (AND RSS to email)

• Well indexed

• XML sitemap

Be remarkable - make your site a resource!

3. Look and Feel

Very important, BUT the least important consideration in web

development

That doesn’t mean ugly sites are OK

Sites must look professional and demonstrate your credibility...

If these two goals are met, the user will be satisfied.

Remember, they are looking to achieve a goal – not look at a piece

of artwork.

A quick review of a few of your sites

www.is.co.za

2

Home page

4

1

1. SiteID should link to HOME

2. Use of non-standard icon

(sitemap), icons are not

easy to see, congested

area of page.

3. Menu issues: “Contact Us”

should be a menu item -

users look for this clue.

4. News scrolls fast; “IS

News” should be linked.

2

4

1

3

7

6

5

98

2

Home page

7

6

4

5

1

5. Opens in new window;

consider tooltip

6. It is not clear what these

items are for. Include

heading.

7. Opens a mailto link; only

clear on last iteration.

Link to page on site

first.

8. Read more link opens new

window (without

navigation).

9. There is no call to action

on this page - what do you

want users to do?

3

98

1. It is not clear what these

refer to - add relevant

heading.

2. Print and email functions

are too far from the

content to be useful. It

is also not clear if this

refers to the page you are

on, or to the site as a

whole. The email icon is

also used top of page for

contacting IS labs -

confusing!

3. Copyright 2007?

Home page - bottom

1

2

3

1. Feng-gui suggests that SiteID and Main navigation are ignored.

2. Links which send users to new websites receive attention.

3. Note that this is affected by the iteration of the animation.

4. No Call To Action to grab attention

Home page - Feng-gui

2

1

3

Content page1. There is no change to the

menu to indicate

selection.

2. Submenu is removed from

navigation and content.

3. Promotional header pushes

content down the page.

1

2

3

Search results1. No indication of search

term used.

2. No heading to the page

3. No ranking of search

results.

It is good

practice to highlight the

search term used in the

results.21

3

Search results - no results

1. No useful, friendly

message or suggestion!

Tell users what they

should do next: try a

different search term,

navigate to products, or

contact IS.

1

Contact Us

NB: should be a main menu navigation item!

1. Link to open contact form is superfluous.

2. There is no indication of required fields.

3. Integrate with Google Maps - users have the option of directions. Map opens in new window

1

2

3

404

404 pages are an opportunity to inject some personality into your website, and to be really useful to a confused

user.

You’ve got some useful links in here, but it can be better presented.

Be humorous

Be useful: search and navigation options

Other Considerations

• Meta description and keywords are only used on homepage. Page titles are not sufficiently descriptive.

• The site has canonicalisation issues: http://is.co.za gives an error page, while http://www.is.co.za gives the website (Lame Ass Syndrome).

• Favicon is not used consistently.

• Limited colour palette means the site is not exciting - there is no “speaking with light” with this site.

IS Labshttp://labs.is.co.za

Home page1. SiteID should link to HOME

- not the blog

2. Menu item is IDEAS, but

you are on homepage. On

first glance it looks like

IDEAS is a different

section or site (the

reason for the nav change

is not clear).

3. Call to Action is not very

strong, visually or copy.

4. In general, there is no

consistent communication

of links.

12

3

4

4

Home page - right hand side, scroll down

1. Who are these people? Friends I should

invite? People who are signed up? Include a

header, as you have done with other items in

the right hand side.

1

Home page - Feng-gui

1. Feng-gui demonstrates that the “ideas” menu change can distract attention.

2. Layout does draw eye to key areas - this is good.

3. But, login is ignored - how important is this?

4. Info graphic is ignored - how important is this?

1

2

3

4

Content - Popular ideas1. Layout is not consistent

with “recent ideas” (the

home page is part of the

ideas section).

2. No menu change to indicate

where you are in the site

- again inconsistent with

the home page.

3. There is no link to “home”

(there is no “home”!).

1

2

Search results1. Search term is

indicateddd.

2. Search term is

highlighted.

3. Consider ranking or

filtering results - you

already have the data

(idea, blog post, date,

author, etc).

1

2

3

Search results - no results

1. Useful alternatives for

users.

1

Sign up page (submit idea)1. What is “Home” doing here?

There is no home, and this

is not consistent to all

content pages (e.g.

ideas).

2. Include benefit statement

with signup form.

3. Remove other calls to

action - the user has

already selected to join

or submit an idea, don’t

distract him now.

1

23

Sign up - step 2

1. So, what should a user do

now? Include instructions.

Many users might expect to

be signed in already,

albeit temporarily.

Remember what the user’s

original purpose was -

submit an idea - indicate

when he can do that.

1

Logged in - first time

1. What is “block” - be

careful of using internal

terms which are unclear to

users

1

404

The page is styled, but there is no useful message.

We’re big fans of the friendly 404 - you should give it a go!

Other Considerations

• It is not clear on landing page what this site is about. What campaigns send traffic here?

• Perhaps include recent comments as a side bar item indicating site activity.

• Again, while this project is inspiring, the project’s online hub is not. Consider how a broader colour palette could bring more life to this initiative.

Monitoring your website’s performance

Top stats to keep an eye on

Above all else, conversion rates!

Unique users (not HITS)

Traffic Sources (and their conversion rates)

Engagement Metrics:

Bounce rate

Repeat users

Pages per user

Time spent on site

OK, now we have a site that looks good and hopefully converts its

visitors, but how do we get these visitors?

There are many options, but the most important is…

Search Engines

1 Billion searches each day

Lots of volume, but why is this important?

Searchers are looking for what you are offering

They WANT to find you!

And if they don’t find you, they will find your competitor. Fact.

Some data insights around your current search phrases…

So how do we make sure we are found?

Search Engine Marketing

SEM = SEO + PPC

Organic and Paid Search

You don’t need to be a guru to get the basics

Firstly make sure you select the right keywords

Select keywords based on the following:

• Search Volume Trends

• Competition

• Propensity to convert

• Potential value per conversion

Then decide where you want to be…

Search Engine Optimisation

Make sure your site is optimised around your keywords

Then build plenty of high quality, keyword rich links

And this isn’t easy

The best sites inevitably win

So grow links organically

Build a website that offers so much value that people talk about it and

link to it naturally

Pay Per Click

But first: why you can’t ignore SEO:

www.quirk.biz

You choose how much you want to pay per click

And how much you want to spend per day

If you manage your campaign properly, you can’t lose money!

Don’t burn your budget early on: Test!

Look for long tail key phrases

Geotarget your adverts

Have a solid call to action in each advert

Don’t send your traffic to your home page, use highly targeted

landing pages

Test, test and test these landing pages

Conversion optimisation

The process of making your website and eMarketing activities as

efficient and effective as possible resulting in a direct increase to

your ROI

Test individual pages and paths

Things to test:

•Colours

•Calls to action

•Font size

•Headings

•Text length

•Copy style and tone

•Offers

•Pricing

•Credibility items

Search marketing will bring a lot of traffic to your site, but you can’t

stop there…

You should be looking to build communities around your business

Social Media can play a big part in this

But what is Social Media?

Let’s look at a few specific examples…

Online Video: YouTube

Second largest search engine!

60% market share

100+ million viewers a night

‘The overnight success’ thing

How about a video tour of your data center?

350+ Million active users

2.5 million of which are South African

And many ways to communicate with them:

• Groups and Pages

• Applications

• Ads

• Connect

Above all when it comes to any social network

If your customers are there, you must engage

A few tips…

Be strategy lead.

The medium is not the message

How will social media deliver on your business goals?

What is going to keep users interested and engaging in the long run?

What are you going to do with those engaged users?

Push for critical mass quickly

Discover and target influential individuals and communities

Identify and fill content holes – don’t echo

Consider the impact of social media on your other eMarketing tactics

Write with your keyword strategy at your side

Create a social media culture internally, it will reflect externally

People are blogging about you…

People are blogging about you…

People are Twittering about you

Are you making the most of the opportunities and minimising the risks?

12 million people search for “Ryan Air”

A Ryanair employee comments on a blog…

Followed by the official response

Then the online community got hold of it

Then the newspapers got hold of it

These powerful sites often linked to this site…

And we know how important good links are…

“ It takes 20 years to build a reputation, and 5 minutes to ruin it.

If you think about that, you will do things differently. ”

Warren Buffet

How is online reputation different?

It spreads faster...

… and the evidence lasts longer

Why is this important?

Because peers are the most trusted source of

recommendation

Edelman Trust Barometer 2008

People are talking, are you listening?

What to track?

Brand names

Important staff

Names of specials/packages

Track outgoing communications (PR) by monitoring unique text

Use the data you gather to build profiles of influencer’s who you can

target for future campaigns

Monitoring your online reputation helps you…

… avoid a reputation crisis by informing you quickly

… discover quick and effective new marketing opportunities

… improve customer service through engagement

… understand your customers’ needs and wants better

… identify powerful influencers to target with WOM campaigns

OK so you’ve got a good site with lots of traffic and a thriving online

community. What’s the most effective way to build long term

relationships with these people?

Email Marketing

Use it to build relationships

Not to acquire them

Successful long term customer relationships are built on mutual trust

and respect

Do your email newsletters foster relationships?

Or do they treat customers like marketing targets?

Firstly, get personal!

But go beyond the name

An email newsletter should be a totally customised experience

Allow users to manage their information and subscription preferences

…and then personalise accordingly

Rather send less often with more relevant content – people will be

more likely to listen

Nurture your in-house list

But make it easy to unsubscribe

Optimise your subscription touch points

• Benefit statements

• 2 stage process

• Don’t gather too much info

• Confirmation pages and emails

The biggest challenge: Deliverability

Bottom line:

Ask yourself what YOU would want from the newsletter as a reader

Does it speak to you?

Or does it speak AT you?

In conclusion: eMarketing fundamentals

• Get your website right, make it remarkable!

• Drive qualified traffic to it.

• Optimise the conversion of that traffic.

• Build a relationship with your audience.

• Test, test, test.

Thank You

www.quirk.biz/IS

Putting this into practice

IS: who are your 5 target personas?

• Name

• Age

• Job Title

• Company Type

• Top 3 characteristics of their personality

Social Media:

Where are they and what do they want?

How is giving this to them going to achieve your business goals?

Email Marketing:

What is going to make them read your newsletter?

How is giving this to them going to achieve your business goals?