I have written a guest post on the GfK Techtalk blog on the many ways in which we are using video in a Market Research and what the future might hold. obviously not given away all the juicy bits but hopefully it’s a good read.
I have now a couple of times been asked how tweeting using a hashtag can be applied to the event / conference / debate situation. I was at a debate the other month where I experienced this for the first time. A hashtag to the event is given out before hand so that everyone in the audience or even those who are interested in the event could search the keyword and see a stream if you like from the people in the room or as I mentioned those people who could not be in the room but would like to comment on what was going on. The result was a conversation around the conversation / presentation and a commentary for those who couldn’t attend without too many rude interruption to the preceding. Often someone in the audience may have a comment but aren’t quite brave enough to develop this into a question, this provides a harmless way for them to offer their thoughts to those thinking along the same lines.
One of the biggest issues companies face with their marketing at the moment is the “because I can” attitude. Social media platforms has made it very easy for Joe Bloggs to set up a Facebook Page, Start a Twitter account etc without first considering what you are setting out to achieve or does it really fit into the marketing strategy for that particular brand, product, service or industry.
The aim of this post is to encourage you to stop and think before leaping head first into an arena that is far more complicated than copying and pasting content into online spaces.
I’ll firstly start by simplifying how I see Digital Marketing and please bare in mind this is not taking into account traditional Marketing metrics or an individual companies Marketing strategy which also should be taken into consideration when addressing that should I, shouldn’t I? question.
The above shows my idea of a rough guide to the nuts and bolts that build up your Digital Marketing Strategy. Note, one is nothing without the other supporting it.
A video is merely a file sitting on your computer until you give it a platform and a means to be spread by it’s viewers and this is the case with all your content be it news articles, data or PR. As I mentioned it has become increasingly easy for Joe Bloggs to set up a Facebook page, start a Twitter account or post something to YouTube but pause for a second and ask yourself does this “because I can” attitude to marketing really satisfy your marketing objectives? Ask yourself a few key questions and at the same time refer back to the marketing and branding strategy, business development objectives, PR efforts etc does setting up numerous social media accounts that remain dormant really let your clients know you understand social media? No, not really! Does multiple versions of you companies graphics and variations on messages increase and improve you brand awareness amongst your clients? No, it probably damages your brand!
The message is, understand what it is you are doing and choose the right nuts and bolts that support your pre existing strategies, don’t do things because it’s easy, you can or because everyone else is doing it!
Webmaster tools provides a window into how google sees your site. Webmaster tools shows you how many pages in your sitemap are indexed in the Google directory, if your site and it’s pages contain errors, internal and external links, site crawls, page rank etc. Use this set of information for constant monitoring of your site especially if your websites information changes on a regular basis. Also use it to continually improve your sites Search Engine Optimization and improve the page rank.
Site Configuration
Sitemaps are your list of sitemaps that you have under that webmaster tools account, URL’s Submitted are all the URL’s in you sitemap that have been submitted to Google and URL’s indexed are the pages that have been submitted by Google to their directory.
Your site on the web
A very powerful tool is the search terms and positions you achieved that didn’t necessarily lead to a hit Top search queries. This adds a new dimension allowing you to see the search terms that are performing well and the pages that might need attention in order to entice visitors. There are other powerful tools on the Internet that provide similar information but webmaster tools are easy and accessible. Links to your site provide a quick snapshot of the links in the Google directory that link to your pages, note: this will not include every site on the Internet as you will see by having a look at you traffic sources in Google Analytics. Keywords is a quick look at what the Google Bot has picked up as your most frequently used words and terms on your site and should reflect the content you wish to promote. Internal links should include the majority of the hyperlinks that link to pages within your site.
For SEO improvements the Diagnostics Crawl errors are useful to identify dead links, page errors, not founds, unreachables etc. Always try and keep these down to zero if it’s possible on your website.
As I mentioned, there are many detailed softwares and sites that perform these functions, see my links page under SEO for more details.
Sitelinks are established by google, you may have seen them under the brief description in search listings. Once established you have the option to remove the irrelevant links, for example, your contact us may be identified as one of your sites most frequently visited page but is not necessarily the landing page you want listed in your sitelinks.
I was asked the other day if it would be a good idea to produce a shops brochure as an iPhone App. After taking off my iPhone evangelist hat I replied objectively. More and more people are accessing the Internet in new ways but successful apps work because they allow users to quickly and easily perform a task that they would normally do or feel comfortable doing on a laptop.
So back to the question, is it really realistic that every user would install an app for each of the stores they occasionally shop? I doubt it! And although the iPhone dominates the Market they still only account for a portion and unless you are prepared to develop for blackberry, android etc you will only be reaching out to a small proportion of shoppers.
While I have never been a fan .mobi idea of developing sites specific for mobile phone browsers as mobile phones, screen aspect ratios differ across every mobile devices, with increasing devices being able to cope with full screen browsing I would be inclined to look at the build of the main site, optimise the pages for fast download and take a long hard look at the checkout.
In these early stages of online mobile development I would not rule out in investing in getting the catalogue onto mobile devices but possibly a PDF that can be opened on most smart phones with links to your recently optimised web pages is the way to go at this stage. Think about layout of the PDF, file size, usability and linking. This file will also have the added viral advantage of being emailed and viewed at leisure without an Internet connection.
Also see iPhone apps or Online apps? What is the future as new smartphones emerge?
I noticed the other day while looking online at the Cineworld website for local Cinemas that they had started to use location data in their web pages. I was on my iPhone and as I hit the Cinemas page the iPhone asked if it use my location. without physically entering a postcode or location the website displayed 3 closest cinemas. In this case I’m confident the website accessed the iPhones GPS hardware but as I discovered after a short Google, Geolocation browsing is just around the corner and uses IP address data to locate your position. I was quite surprised at how accurate this actually was, try Firefox Geolocation to see for yourself, also try out Google Latitude.
Despite in the example above, saving you one step in your browsing, making browsing and locating the data you need more efficient. Geolocation browsing has marketing and advertising implications. Like PPC Advertising with ability to target customers with specific advertising based on location, allowing websites to have your location data will mean the the adverts you will be presented with will be more likely to be of interest to you. From an advertisers point of view such as affiliate programs etc adverts will be served up more efficiently and improve conversion rates.
With websites such as Facebook and Browsers holding shed loads of information about you, Targeted Marketing is made easier and easier for advertisers. Already, as you browse through Facebook you will only see adverts based on your interest and keywords. Geolocation in browsers will make this more accurate and on the bright side, advertising won’t be so imposing on users as they surf the Internet. What’s next? instead of analysing your traffics data after they have visited you site, could you inteligently assess users as the page loads and dynamically serve up your pages based on their profile?
Also see post on Analytical Software.
You might have noticed over the last few days on popular google searches that you are starting to get live Twitter feeds part way down the results. Google are rolling this out gradually but think of the possibilities. Topical Tweets and links will be getting instant first page google listing and in real time, the most up to date results on the page. Obviously this is open to abuse but the concept is great. Instantly the reach you have to your potential audience massively grows in size far beyond that of just the millions of Twitterers. I would be keen to see how this shows up in analytical software and if these links benefit your sites link building and link juicing in any way.
Everyone is banging on about the power of video and how companies can use it in deliverables, and as part of their Marketing collateral and I agree, it is a powerful tool, without it I would be jobless, but before you start to plan your next epic, pause to think about it’s delivery and the cost implications of this.
I have spent a year now developing a video service in a company and to some extent an industry that until recently could not see how video could benefit the product. The main issue has not been producing the video or encouraging execs to come up with new ways in which to use video, it has been the means of delivery. Like any digital marketing there is absolutely no point in producing something that is not viewed by a high volume of people and more importantly, performs a function. Similarly to the everyone creating a Facebook page merely because they can mentality, putting video out there and doing it badly has the adverse effect on proving your understanding of the landscape and damages the brand rather than enhances it.
So what are your options? Well of course you can invest in a bespoke video delivery platform, buy something off the shelf that meets the companies needs but this is large initial step and a large spend, especially if you have not been involved in video in the past. Much like eBay is no longer an online garage sale, blogs are no children’s online diaries, Youtube is definitely not an online repository for unprofessional home videos, in fact Youtube is now one of the largest online search engines and any digital marketer cannot ignore this.
So how do you make it work for your product? Well, while you cannot set out to make a viral video, you can maximise the exposure you receive from your production by setting clear objectives and planning far beyond that of uploading your one video to an account on YouTube and hoping people might come across it. My biggest rule is allowing people to decide upon their own browsing habits. Don’t dictate to them how they should arrive at your product because you’ll loose them at the first awkward click routine or navigation that takes more than a few seconds of their time. Although many of the online spaces provide a quick and easy means of providing link building to your website, pay every one due attention, think about the usability issues and make sure there are no awkward, dead or complicated links to your pages. Don’t presume that a person will take the time to navigate to the correct page on your site if you dump them on your homepage. More often than not they won’t complete this part of the journey.
So, back to video. Take time producing your online space whether it be on YouTube, Vimeo etc. Remember that just uploading it is not enough, promote your video with appropriate means, social media, press releases, email marketing etc. If you have produced your video well and it does the job then send the user to the relevant page on your site and to your product.
If you are in doubt about your video, usability or quality of the landing page then don’t do it! Unfortunately it’s far easier to damage a brand than it is to build it.
Also see,
Introduction to Search Engine Optimisation
Beyond SEO
Introduction to Pay Per Click Campaigns
Google Analytics is an absolute gem of a tool and can be used to make accurate business decisions regarding your advertising activities and marketing objectives. It will provide an opportunity to see what is working and what is not working in order to better utilise budgets and redistribute your spend and efforts.
It should pointed out that while Google Analytics is a great free tool, it should be cross referenced against other analytical software such as AWStats (free and installed on most hosting packages) or more professional software such as Omniture or Webtrends as data sometimes can be slightly conflicting.
It is also important to understand your objectives before you start your analysis. If you are approaching from an SEO point of view then the data you receive from the visitors of your site is as important as the data from the visitors you don’t achieve. Use services such as Googles Webmaster Tools or SEMRush to take a look at the information about where your site achieved a search engine placement but did not achieve a visit. More on this in another post.
If you are not familiar with the terms associated with web traffic then please see the summary below before reading on.
Once you have established your objectives there are two ways I approach the use of the data. Dip in and retrieve the data necessary to conclude the objective or take a look at the site visitors journey.
A site I worked on recently targeted the promotion of a trade in a specific vicinity from the trading address. Using analytics we were able to take a quick look at the geographical data by choosing visitors > Map overlay to see where the hits were coming from. In consequence the area the PPC campaign targeted was refined, reducing spend on clicks and improving conversion rates. Outside of the world of the web this data also facilitates decisions made about other geographical based advertising. A reasonably high spend on directory advertising was proving to have comparatively low conversion rates so the budget would be better distributed in areas producing sales. This is applicable for small and large business, with higher traffic websites you will have more data to play with and in turn a bit more digging to do but the cost savings are greater and overall turnover should far exceed the investment in getting it right.
So, let’s take a look at the journey I mentioned earlier. Although it can be very difficult to track one visitors journey through the website (unless you have software such as LivePerson) it is possible to retrieve enough data to make informed decision. This is technique I developed while working at a very high traffic retailer in order to make recommendations about advertising spends both on the Internet and in the real world. The basics of the journey is as follows
Referral > Landing page > Most popular pages > Exit Page > External links
This collection of data alone can answer a multitude of questions. Referrals, can quickly answer the question of whether some of your paid marketing is worth the spend, you will often see hits directly from mail sites so to some extent you can monitor your mailshots. Where you might struggle to monitor the effect of your advertising from print media or anything without a direct link. There are a few ways around this and I’ll give you a hint, creating unique landing pages to your advertising allows you to track how many hits you obtain from, say a flyer. Possibilities also arise in usability, pushing your visitors to specific parts of the site based on what you know they have come to find.
Landing pages are good for monitoring where traffic has come from but also provide a window into what is appearing high in search engines or popular pay per click search terms. Organic traffic to certain landing pages shows these are probably the most optimised pages satisfying more unique search terms. Check your search engine placement using webmaster tools, use this information to improve other pages and products.
The pages that receive the most hits Most popular pages might be highly optimised but also may reveal good usability and navigation of the site for example, home pageadvertising, good linking structure. Again this might reveal answers regarding offline advertising.
Exit pages are vital in knowing where your visitor got off. Ideally a thank you page post checkout or the contact us page for a trader. Match this by recording other data, whilst a checkouts provide the facility to monitor conversions, 10 hits or exits from your contact us page followed by 10 phone calls or emails suggests a conversion rate.
External links are as important as internal links and depending on the function of the site, remember that analytics does not drop a cookie so I the visitor leaves the site for more information and comes back google cannot tell you this. External links are especially good for sites providing information, sites with adverting, sites with sister sites and products.
Bare in mind that journeys can only be measured between two places, if a visitor hyperlinks to another page on your site then google can track the time spent on the first.
Organic Search – This is the natural search traffic obtained through the websites indexed pages on a search directory. For example, the left hand side of google.
Paid Search – This is search traffic from the adverts that appear on a search engines page. For example, Pay per click campaigns.
External / Internal links – External links are the links on the the website that link to another site. Internal links link to pages within the site.
Traffic Sources – Is a bracket heading for all the traffic sources that can be measured by Analytics.
Conversions – Are the traffic that can be measured and acheive a sale or appropriate call to action.
Conversion Rate – Are measurements on how many conversions achieved compared with number of visits. For example, a search term acheives 10 visits and 1 sale, this will produce a conversion rate
Landing Page – Is the first page at which the visitor arrived at the site (not always the home page)
Exit Page – Is the page at which the visitor leaves your site.
I’m often approached for some pointers in the area of Pay Per Click advertising and I start by explaining how varied the subject can be. I often read Googles guides, and other readings but don’t reach the end a whole lot wiser as every 
industry, every product even time of day, week or the weather effects a large campaign. I have decided my new advise approach should therefore be, how to not get PPC Marketing or advertising wrong rather than how to get it right.
So, where to begin? Let’s start with the setting up of the campaign as this is where you will begin. A common mistake from the outset is to follow all of Googles recommendations and have your advert appear for every associated word that refers to your product. It is good to think of every combination of words your customer might search but be careful not to include to broader terms especially if you do not stock the full range yourself. A brand that has a huge product portfolio will generate traffic but if you pull traffic through for broad terms there is no guarantee you will have to specific product at the specific price your potential customer is looking for. Broad terms often result in a low conversion rate. Having said this in an uncompetitive market this will be another story.
Ok, we’ve targeted our specific customer looking for a specific brand and a specific product in that brand range, the next thing they see is our advert on the right hand side / top of the search engine. All too often retailers go for a catch all advert for their entire campaign. This poses two problems, firstly, most customers want to know at the search engine stage if the retailer has the product and so this approach might lead to no click at all if a competitors advert supplies the required data. Secondly the customer clicks on your advert unsure as to what they might find, browses your site for a short while and then leaves, resulting in low conversion rates and a high spend. The odd wasted click here and there may seem insignificant on a small account but I have handled accounts from between a £500 to £2000 weekly spend, if these clicks aren’t turning into sales then you will soon be running at a loss.
Usability doesn’t just become important when the potential customer reaches your site, you are dealing with a savvy shopper that doesn’t wish to continue searching once on your website. You have used the right keywords, captured them with a good advert now clinch the sale by presenting them on a landing page with the product they’re after and at a competitive price.
Rather than just looking to the Google keyword tool as this will bombard you with every possible combination of key words know to man (well computer) you should use webmaster tools, google analytics and other 3rd party sites or tools to influence your choice of keywords. More detail on these in a later post.
All of the above should be done with measured targets in mind. Without bench marks there is no guarantee you are achieving a good ROI. I always stand by that PPC marketing is a short term fix and that the foe the bulk of the advertising or sales should not rely on PPC Campaigns. Your Pay Per Click should run alongside your SEO campaigns and other digital marketing, targets and goals should be set that work in synergy with a view to improve organic search conversions and digital marketing with a higher ROI. Remember some of the most innovative digital marketing costs virtually nothing.
If you have a large AdWords spend be sure to make use of your Google account manager, they are only at the other end of the phone and will work with you to improve your campaign. Be sure to provide a clear brief and if you doubt that they completely understand you brand do not ask them to make ad hoc adjustments to the wording of ads. They are extremely useful for performing repetitive time consuming jobs. Alternatively you can speed up your editing by using tools such as Google AdWords Editor, you can have more control over your adverts and if you are a whizz with exel can export and import files allowing you to work in a more familiar format.
Just a taster for now! But do ask more specific questions and I shall rage on additional posts.
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