digital marketing overview for marist college

Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing

Agenda• Overview of me and the Digital Marketing method• The Main Digital Marketing channels• User interface / user experience• Analytics• Tools & Best Practices• Q&A

The OverviewONE SMALL STEP FOR DIGITAL MARKETING

Steve? Who ARE You?• Rutgers graduate, with B.A. in (computer-mediated)

communication• 8 years digital marketing experience• Worked both agency & corporate-side • Currently at Panasonic Industrial Devices in Newark, NJ

Pardon the Interruption• Please interrupt!• Questions & comments are

welcomed

The Philosophy• Entirety of this presentation is done with

regards to the generic digital marketing sales funnel.

The Philosophy Cont’d• Marketing vacuums suck.• We use this funnel to help focus our marketing

strategies & tactics• Conversion actions are paramount• Subscribing to a newsletter• Downloading a PDF• Purchases through your website’s shopping cart

Your Website• Before we can utilize the digital

marketing funnel, we need a website!• Any old website won’t do though…

we need an existential website!

Your Website Cont’d• Giving a (business) purpose to your website is the

single most important step to take when starting digital marketing. • Are your users having a good experience? • Does your site drive your users towards an end goal?

• A website is a lot like a good party…it’s great to have a lot of people show up for your party, but the party needs to be fantastic for your guests to stay. • And it has to be fantastic for your guests only!

A Website’s Purpose• Defining a website’s purpose is important for a variety

of reasons:• It helps align the digital marketing strategies & tactics with the

complete marketing vision of the organization• Helps you strategize & create the appropriate metrics & reporting

tools (more on this later in the deck)• Saves your organization some $$$$$$$$

• Make sure your purposes are measureable in some way/shape/form!• S.M.A.R.T. goals – very helpful framework

Metrics / Analytics• Giving your website purpose gives your website metrics

purpose• Enough metrics gives us analytics• Enough analytics creates efficiencies• Enough efficiencies gets

us raises!

Metrics / Analytics Cont’d

Metrics / Analytics Cont’d

Attribution• Attribution helps keep your digital marketing metrics in

line• Attribution for EVERYTHING• Website traffic• Inbound links• Conversions

• A lack of attribution creates muddy, unreliable data

Examples of Measureable Website Goals• Performance related:• Grow our website's organic traffic by 15% during the next year• Improve bounce rate on all SEO/PPC pages • Increase average time on site by 10 seconds on our worst

performing pages• Call to action related:• Increase the number of email subscribers by 500 in the next two

months• Increase already identified leads’ website activity by 5%• Increase percentage of visitors going to the contact-us page

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)GET READY FOR THE ACRONYMS

Get Under the Umbrella Term• Search engine marketing (SEM) contains two

components:• Search engine optimization (SEO)• Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)

• SEO is also synonymous to webmastering

• PPC is synonymous with search engine advertising, or SEA

• Some people say SEM for PPC...I think they’re wrong. A drink with an umbrella

term.

Search Engines• Search engines are programs that identify keyword

queries in a database. • In our case, they’re programs that find particular

websites on the World Wide Web.• Search engine result pages, or SERPs, make the world

go ‘round.

Search Engines Cont’d

• Major players & their market share:• Google: 63.9%• Bing: 20.9%• Yahoo!: 12.5%• Ask.com: 1.7%• AOL: 1.0%

Google SERP

Google SERPCont’d

Google SERPCont’d

Bing SERP

Bing SERPCont’d

Bing SERPCont’d

Yahoo! SERP

Yahoo! SERPCont’d

Yahoo! SERPCont’d

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)SO MANY ACRONYMS

SEO Definition• Well…what do YOU guys think?

SEO Definition Cont’d• Wikipedia states:• “…is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web

page in a search engine's unpaid results—often referred to as ‘natural,’ ‘organic,’ or ‘earned’ results.”

• Search Engine Land states:• “It is the process of getting traffic from the 'free,' 'organic,'

'editorial' or 'natural' search results on search engines.”

• Moz.com states:• “SEO is a marketing discipline focused on growing visibility in

organic (non-paid) search engine results.”

SEO Definition Cont’d• And last but not least…Google’s SEO starter guide

states:• …they actually don’t have a definition for SEO. Awkward.

SEO Definition Cont’d• My definition:• The process of maximizing the clarity of a website’s content in

order to achieve a favorable organic search presence.• This is a very complex process, and continues to evolve

as search engines evolve.

SEO Goals• Identify your target audience(s)• Identify content related to your target audience• Solve problems• Offer professional advice / subject matter expertise

• Create the best user experience possible• Sound familiar?

The SEO Process• On-site SEO• Technical aspects (webmaster)• Content aspects (marketing)

• Off-site SEO• Content• Branding/local SEO

• SEO never ends.• NEVER.

On-Site SEO

On-Site SEO—Technical• The cleaner the backend information, the more search-

engine friendly the website• Organized information• Good for users and search engine crawlers

• This is what webmasters should be doing

On-Site SEO—Technical Examples• Minimizing 404 errors• Creating 301 redirects• Minimizing load times• Security certificates – especially for ecommerce sites• Responsive/adaptive design• Proper HTML/CSS/etc. • Structure data

On-Site SEO—Content

On-Site SEO—Content Cont’d

Context is queen!

On-Site SEO—Content Cont’d• Optimized content is what drives the technical onsite

SEO• It’s also the reason for search engines to rank you better• It’s also the reason why users visit your site• And hopefully share your content

On-Site SEO— Keywords Topics• The concept of keywords has given way to the concept

of topics. This was a natural progression.• How does one identify the appropriate topics to discuss

on a website?

On-Site SEO—Topic Research• Question your users• Surveys• Website traffic patterns• Top visited blog posts

• There are many tools to help with topic research (my favorites are discussed a bit later), with examples• User responses + topic research tools = content ideas

On-Site SEO—Content Map• Organize your content ideas as user-friendly as possible• Ignore the search engines here

• Good user-friendly content IS good SEO content

On-Site SEO—Basic Best Practices• Headings• Subheadings• One topic per page• Images/video• Quickly loaded

• Good user interface• Local information

• Internal links

On-Site SEO—Types of Content• Articles• Blog posts• Lists• Infographics• Video• Reviews• User-generated

On-Site SEO—Long vs. Short Form• Short form content is generally less than 500 words• Blog posts• Social media posts• Generic, “parent” pages

• Long form content can be as long as you want• Reviews• Articles or white papers• Specific, “children” or “grandchildren” pages

• Websites need both for an ideal user experience

Off-Site SEO

Off-Site SEO—Definition• Any online activities on other websites that help

reinforce your on-site SEO content & messaging.• Two segments:• Inbound links / linkbuilding• Digital branding / local SEO

Off-Site SEO—Inbound Links• Inbound links from other websites help give our website

more ‘authority’ in the eyes of the search engines. • The more links pointing to our site from credible external

sources, the better. • Inbound links are usually created by other websites

pointing to yours. • There are some websites that allow a brand to submit

their unique content and publish it after passing a screening process.

Off-Site SEO—Inbound Links Cont’d• These types of links can come from a variety of sources:• Articles• White papers• Social media• PDFs• Press releases*• Guest blog posts*

• The ideal is to author content that your target audience likes so much, they’re willing to share it on their personal blogs, social networks, through email, etc.

Off-Site SEO—Inbound Links Cont’d• Basically go viral.

Off-Site SEO—Digital Branding• There are a variety of informational websites that allow

businesses to control their business information. • Usually for brick & mortar stores• I like to call this “digital branding,” because the goal is

to have consistent information & messaging across these sites. • Also called Local SEO since it’s dealing with address &

phone number information.

Off-Site SEO—Digital Branding Cont’d• Directories• Yelp.com; YP.com; citysearch.com; etc.

• Social media pages• Business accounts for Facebook; Twitter; Pinterest; etc.

• Search engine business pages• Google business page; Bing local business directory; etc.

• Most directory & business pages are editable• Data aggregators can help

Off-Site SEO—Best Practices• Use natural anchor text, trying to target keyword phrases. • This is an example of using natural anchor text as a link from a press

release. • Gives the user a very natural expectation of the type of content this link

points to.• Gives the search engines that same expectation

• Avoid phrases like click here or get more information here. • Using that type of anchor text is a poor user experience. • Search engines may see zero correlation between a phrase like ‘click here’

and a page about college admissions.

• Ensure your business directory listings are consistent with information!

Off-Site SEO—Take out the Trash• There are trashy inbound links• There’s a way to take out these trash links, at least in

Google—Disavow tool• Use SEO tools to determine usefulness (or harmfulness)

of both unique inbound URLs or entire domains • Any spam links should go

Measuring SEO Success

Measuring SEO Success Cont’d• Applying our handy—dandy funnel, we can use this to

help guide what to measure.

Measuring SEO Success—Top of Funnel• Primary “SEO” performance metric: keyword rankings• Generally speaking, the higher you rank for keyword phrases, the

healthier your website is• Number of organic impressions & clicks

• Secondary “SEO” performance metrics• Page authority• Domain authority• Number of inbound links

• Note: I will discuss tools to measure all of the above a bit later.

Measuring SEO Success—Bottom of Funnel• Total organic website traffic• Organic website traffic behavior• This is the ultimate metric. Once you start getting more organic

traffic to your website, figure out what they’re doing, then figure out how to make it better.

• Conversions.

SEO Tools

SEO Tools• Google’s Suite of Tools• Most powerful set of SEO tools• Best part: all of them are free. • Not-so-best part: all of them take time

to sign up for, set up, and use.• Google Analytics• Simply the best

• Google Webmasters Tools (search console)• Google AdWords (yes, useful for SEO!)

SEO Tools Cont’d• Search engines themselves• Especially SERPs & autofill search queries

• For rankings & secondary SEO performance metrics:• Conductor Searchlight• moz Pro

• For website traffic & conversion tracking• Google Analytics• Adobe Omniture

SEO Tools Cont’d• Ideal dashboard would cover all of facets of the sales

funnel• Show each portion of the funnel, and its related metrics. • Usually requires a developer and/or database admin to build, but

is worth its weight in gold.• Most tools have API feeds that can be pulled into a

database• Could also use a tool like Tableau to gather & monitor

various data streams, including marketing objectives.

Internal SEOs vs. External SEO Agencies

In-House SEOs• Pros:• Understand your business culture• Understand the industry• Easier cross-departmental projects (i.e.: working with IT for new

hosting servers)• Cons• Limited by business’ parameters• Less informed than agencies on digital marketing trends• Less budget for tools

SEO Agency• Pros:• On top of all SEO best practices• Large tool box to draw from• Usually well connected with other related departments with equally

knowledgeable experts (graphics, social, content, etc.)• Much more free reign to brainstorm

• Cons• Limited by purchaser’s budget• Could be using automated tools• Bigger agencies have less focus on each client

My Suggestion• If you have the capability, build an in-house team with

lots of specialization.• Get a few internal digital marketing generalists that can

manage the agencies • MANAGE WITH DATA AND NOTHING ELSE

• If you’re using an agency, and there’s no performance increase within the first year, drop them and move on. Any SEO agency should move the needle, even 2% for a single metric, within the first 12 months.

SEOverview• Process of getting more organic search engine traffic to

your website• On-site SEO• Off-site SEO• Success is measured with both top & bottom of funnel

metrics• Rankings / domain authority• Organic traffic / conversions

• In-house vs. agency

Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)VOTED MOST UNDERRATED TYPE OF SEM DURING SENIOR YEAR

PPC Defined• This one’s a little more

straight forward than SEO.• According to Wikipedia:• “…an internet

advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, in which advertisers pay the publisher (typically a website owner or a host of website) when the ad is clicked. It is defined simply as ‘the amount spent to get an advertisement clicked.’”

Goals of PPC• Target very specific keyword phrases• Try to get as many cost-effective clicks as possible• Then make that traffic convert or go home.

Differences vs. SEO• Immediate response• Landing pages vs. website• Generally, users clicking on PPC ads are towards the end

of the funnel• There’s a monetary cost associated with PPC ads

SEM Platforms for PPC• Google AdWords

• Bing Ads (powers Yahoo search PPC ads too)

Elements Unique to PPC • Hierarchy of AdWords & Bing Ads accounts:

Business AccountCampaign

AdGroupKWs

Elements Unique to PPC—Cont’d• Where are my ads?• Ad extensions• Sitelink• Product& reviews• Phone numbers / click to call• Many more!

• Ad units• Video• Display

PPC—The Art of Bidding• Budgets are set daily, weekly, monthly.• Bids are at the keyword level only• Bids, along with many other factors, dictate frequency &

placement of PPC ads• Bidding is the single most interesting, frustrating, fun,

confusing, and exasperating part of PPC advertising.

PPC—Keywords• Same keyword research process as SEO.• PPC ads generally target “transactional keywords”• When setting keyword bids, be sure to leverage the

different bid types

PPC—Keyword Match Types

PPC—Basic Best Practices• Use different match types to maximize your AdGroups• Negative keywords• Ad copy length• 25, 35, 35, 255 (35 shown)

• Optimize destination URL

PPC—Remarketing• The biggest benefit AdWords & Bing Ads has going for it!• Benefits of remarketing are immense:• Incredibly focused second (or third or fourth) touch ads• “Follow” users around• Costs a fraction of first-time PPC ads

PPC—Remarketing Cont’d• Create a remarketing list, which in turn generates a

remarketing “pixel” to place on your website as you please.• When the page loads for a user, they receive a 90-day

cookie• Then, when that same user does another Google search

that triggers your ad, they receive the remarketing ad rather than the primary ad. • This same process also works for display advertising.

PPC—Remarketing Best Practices• Segment pixels by persona, or content type• Target the remarketing ads to these unique personas,

and make sure you’re furthering the conversation!• I.E.: you have a pixel on all of Marist’s admission pages, make

sure the remarketing ad copy notes that specifically! • Use a remarketing pixel for converted users!• This way, users that complete your conversion funnel are taken in

a new direction rather than the path they already walked.

Measuring PPC Success

Measuring PPC Success Cont’d• It’s back. • I missed you, funnel.

Measuring PPC Success—Top of Funnel• Primary PPC performance metrics:• Impressions, clicks, CTR• Average CPC• Quality Score

• Secondary PPC performance metrics:• Search impression share• Average position

Measuring PPC Success—Bottom of Funnel• Conversions. • Conversions. • Conversions.• Conversion rate.• Conversion tracking pixels

for both AdWords & Bing Ads.• Conversion tracking done in

Google Analytics or Omniture.

PPC Tools

PPC Tools Cont’d• AdWords & Bing Ads platforms & build in reporting tools

helps you identify campaign health metrics• Google Analytics / Omniture integration for user-

behavior (read: conversion) metrics• AdWords integrates seamlessly with Analytics with the click of a

button.• Bing Ads takes a little bit of work, but also integrates fully into

Analytics.• Both can integrate with Omniture, but it takes a lot of set up

work.• Avoid, at all costs, PPC automation tools.

SEO + PPC = Synergies• Website A appears on page one of Google for both

organic & paid results. • When only organic displays on position 2, average CTR is 8%• When only paid displays in ad position 3, average CTR is 2.5%• When both organic and paid display at the same time, average

CTR is 37%

User Experience MattersWHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

Website & Deeper Pages• More geared for organic search / information gathering.• Use white / open space wisely• Break up walls of text with images / videos / visual

breaks• Clean upper & side navigational elements• Clear calls-to-action through the page• “Z” pattern

• Responsive or adaptive designs are now needed

Website & Deeper Pages Cont’d

Landing Pages• More for PPC destination pages. Could also be used for

those clearly defined calls-to-action found on the rest of your website.• Clear content…there’s no such thing as TOO obvious• No navigation on them at all.• Use that white space• Contrasting colors• Longer form, with explicit content about your products

or services.

Landing Pages Cont’d

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

CRO• CRO is where we tweak the website or landing page for

usability.• The idea is that particular elements of a web page can

affect user-behavior, and thus conversion actions. • Benefits of performing CRO:• Grow conversions incrementally• Getting clarity of your website visitors’ behaviors and their likes &

dislikes• Some examples of tweaks:• Button color; font size; verbiage; images; etc.

CRO Process• One-at-a-time edits; A/B (split) testing; multivariate

testing

Measuring CRO Success

Measuring CRO Success Cont’d• Oh man. Where has this funnel been these last few

slides?

Measuring CRO Success—Top of Funnel• Tests for SEO top of funnel:• Keyword density for better rankings• Different meta title & description tags for higher CTR

• Tests for PPC top of funnel:• Ad headline• Ad copy• Bids• Keywords & match types

Measuring CRO Success—Bottom of Funnel• Tests for SEO bottom of funnel:• Number of internal links per optimized page• Number of, placement of, and verbiage of CTA on optimized

pages• Tests for PPC bottom of funnel:• Landing page design & copy• Length of form • Images & colors found on landing page

CRO Tools

CRO Tools Cont’d• Google Content Experiments• Found within Analytics• Free!

• Adobe Test & Target• A bolt-on for Omniture

• Optimizely• Get this one.

Tools & ResourcesI TRIED TO GET AS MANY LINKS AS I COULD

Tools I Can’t Live Without• Microsoft Excel & NotePad++• Project Management software (Trello; Podio; freedcamp;

Microsoft OneNote)• Conductor Searchlight or ZoomRank• MajesticSEO and/or Open Site Explorer• SimilarWeb, SpyFu, and SEMRush• Google, Analytics, Drive, Gmail, Sheets• Google Keyword Planner

Tools I Want to Try/Learn• Tableau• SQL Database stuff• BrightEdge• Bing’s keyword tool• Convertro

Resources• Technical SEO Audit image• Onpage SEO best practices• Onpage SEO best practices by Rand Fishkin• Moz.com’s SEO beginner’s guide• SearchCap• Whiteboard Fridays• Search Engine Land• Search Engine Watch• WebmasterWorld• Fantastic graphic for PPC match types

Thank you very much!I TRULY APPRECIATE YOUR TIME AND ATTENTIONEMAIL: STEPHEN.LELLA@GMAIL.COMLINKEDIN: HTTPS:/ /WWW.LINKEDIN.COM/IN/STEPHENALELLA CELL: 732-492-2923

Additions from our Conversation• Marketing Automation• Tools:• Marketo: Integrates with Salesforce CRM. I’m recently introduced to this tool, and the interface

is familiar and the tool seems very powerful. • Salesforce Marketing Cloud: Seamless integration with Salesforce CRM. I have the most

experience with this tool. Requires heavy lifting at the on-set, but is very powerful once it’s set up.

• SharpSpring: I worked with an agency that used this tool, and have some experience with it. It’s got a VERY easy interface, but lacks some of the capabilities of the other two. The price tag on SharpSpring is much lower than the other two, making it a great cost-conscience option.

• The Capabilities:• The opportunity to marry user-behavior across various digital channels with personally

identifiable information (mainly: email address). This allows you to build out individual profiles, and then extrapolate profiles to create larger audience segments.

• Automated digital content flows (i.e.: a new email subscriber receives 3 emails over 10 days, all sent automatically through the tools; or a website user identified as a student’s parent receives 2 automatic emails and an automatic Facebook ad targeting a parents night event)

Additions from Conversations Cont’d• Dashboarding:• I recommend Tableau for creating a portfolio level dashboard.• Other tools: • Manually built databases/dashboardS• QlikView• birst (business first!)

• Regardless of tool, ensure that it is capable of grabbing data from ALL your data sources, and that the data relationships are in place

• You can use this tool to manage the entirety of the digital marketing funnel.