digital marketing targeting blogs and unconventional pr a ...blogging platforms there are a lot...
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Digital Marketing – TargetingBlogs and Unconventional PR
A.A. 2017
Digital MarketingDott. Luigi Greco
What is a blog?
A blog is a piece of content hosted and shared on a website.It should be updated regularly to include the latest news, trends, and events
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Source: The art of Digital Marketing, Ian Dodson
Why are blogs important for business?
Blogs give business credibility and a voice in the market
Well-written blogs will keep visitors coming to a website even when other content or offers have not changed
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Source: The art of Digital Marketing, Ian Dodson
Blogging platforms
There are a lot blogging platforms
The most popular blogging platform is WordPress. It is known for its safety, ease of use, and customizable options
Another platform is Tumblr. It’s a microblogging platform and social networking website
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Source: The art of Digital Marketing, Ian Dodson
What are blogging best practices?
▪ Plan your content▪ Posts should be anywhere from 1,000 to 2,500 words long▪ Include at least 1 to 2 images per post▪ Ask open questions at the end of each post to encourage
engagement▪ Content should be easy to consume and organized with the
help of lists, bullet points, and headers▪ Keep a conversational tone and avoid industry jargon ▪ Include links within posts (backlink)▪ Be consistent and make sure the content is strong▪ Add relevant tags and keywords to posts to optimize them
for search engines
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Source: The art of Digital Marketing, Ian Dodson
What is guess blogging?
Guest blogging is a method used by the owners of blogs to increase traffic to their sites. They offer to write content for other similar blogs in their industry as guest bloggers. In exchange, they receive a link to their own blog and an opportunity to promote their own name and blog in their chosen industry
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Source: https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-guest-blogging-3476279
What are guess blogging goals?
Typically there are three main goals for guest blogging:
▪ Positioning yourself as an authority and well-known name in the industry
▪ Getting exposure (traffic) back to your website▪ Building backlinks to your website
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Source: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/guide-to-guest-blogging/
What are criteria to find the right blogs?
You are looking for blogs that fit the following criteria:
▪ The content is focused on your niche / industry▪ The audience of the blog will be interested in your
industry▪ The blog has engaged readership (posts have been
shared socially and commented upon)▪ The blog owner is active on social media (so you
know that they will be promoting your work on their site)
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Source: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/guide-to-guest-blogging/
The importance of targeting blog
Targeting blogs and link sharing communities are some of the most effective ways to get your first wave of customers
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
What are targets of using targeting blogs?
▪ Run tests on a variety of smaller blogs. See what type of audience resonates best with your product and messaging
▪ Sponsor small blogs, especially personal blogs. Providing influential bloggers early access or offering early access in exchange for spreading the word are other effective strategies
▪ Offer something unique to your best targets. Build a special offer just for them and put together a draft guest post that they can run with
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
How to find the influential bloggers?
There are several tools you can use to find influential bloggers:
▪ Search engines▪ YouTube/Vimeo/Dailymotion▪ Twitter▪ Social mention▪ Talk to people
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
“The best way to find and get to know bloggers is to talk to them or through reading their blogs. You need to get a
measure of them, make a connection, find things in common, see how they think” (Chris Garret)
You can do this through:▪ Blog comments▪ Forum▪ Email▪ Social media e instant messaging▪ Skype▪ Real-word events
Talking with bloggers
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Source: http://www.chrisg.com/finding-and-connecting-with-bloggers-and-targeting-blog-audiences/
Using targeting blog – an example
www.mint.com– a money management site – used targeting blog for the launch.
The steps were:
▪ Testing targeting blogs▪ VIP access▪ Sponsoring on targeting blogs▪ Created content partnerships with larger sites
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
Using link-sharing communities
Sharing links is at the heart of many large communities on the web (i.e. Reddit, Product Hunt, Inbound.org etc.)
In addition, there are hundreds of niche communities and forums that encourage and reward the sharing of links
Using link-sharing communities is good for launch a fashion app
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
What is PR?
Public Relations (PR) is using the news or business press to carry positive stories about your company or your products; cultivating a good relationship with press representatives
Public relations is the opposite of advertising. In advertising, you pay to have your message placed in a newspaper, TV or radio spot. In public relations, the article that features your company is not paid for
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Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/public-relations
What is first step for PR?
It’s better to start smaller when targeting big media outlets
Blogs have an enormous influence over other blogs, making it possible to turn a post on a site with only a traffic into posts on much bigger sites, if the latter happens to read the former
The smaller sites legitimize the newsworthiness of the story for the sites with bigger audiences
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
What gets a reporter’s attention? 1/2
There are some milestones:
▪ Launching a new product/service▪ Breaking a usage barrier▪ PR stunt (attract the public's attention )
▪ Big partnership▪ Special industry report
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
What gets a reporter’s attention? 2/2
Some useful advices:
▪ Bundling smaller announcements together into one big announcements whenever possible
▪ Be succinct and clear▪ Create an angle that makes your story compelling▪ Your story should ideally provoke a specific feeling in
readers that makes them want to share the story with others
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
What are good publicity tactics?
▪ Provide compelling stories to reporters in this way will get you a mention in the piece and help establish your credibility
▪ Offer reporters commentary on stories related to your industry. One of your many jobs is to stay on top of market trends
▪ Build real relationships with the specific reporters covering your markets
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
Why choosing unconventional PR?
There are two types of unconventional PR: publicity stunt and customer appreciation
Whatever type you choose, there are good reasons for seeking “alternative” or unconventional means of generating positive PR:▪ you’ll often gain access to a complementary audience
segment ▪ you’ll gain a competitive advantage, since your competitors
will be less likely to pursue such opportunities▪ you’ll learn to start looking for PR opportunities everywhere
you go—which can be tremendously advantageous in the long term
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2016/09/04/6-unconventional-pr-opportunities-for-small-businesses/#58e4a9471d4a
What is publicity stunt?
A publicity stunt is anything that is engineered to get media coverage
By creating a spectacle it turns uninteresting product launches into headlines
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
An example of publicity stunt
In 1999 Half.com was launched and its team came up with theidea to rename a town: for one year the little town of Halfwaywas known as Half.com
This campaign received more than 40 million impressions andgave Half.com a strong customer base right out of the gate. Justsix months later it was acquired for more than $300 million byeBay
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
What is customer appreciation?
Customer appreciation is small, scalable actions that both increase goodwill as well as generate press coverage
These small gestures turn your customers into evangelists, which leads to an increase in organic growth. They also add to your unique image and story, both key elements in building a strong brand
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
An example of customer appreciation
When Hipmunk, a travel booking site, was launched, its founder sent out luggage tags and a handwritten note to the first several hundred people who mentioned the site on Twitter. He also gave out other free items to show his customers’ appreciation
This strategy led to many tweets and pictures from happy early companion
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
The usefulness of viral video
Using viral video is another way to do unconventional PR
For example, Blendtec is a blender manufacturer. In 2007, they realized they needed to increase their brand awareness but didn’t have a large marketing budget. They decided to create a series of videos called “Will It Blend?”. In these videos, Blendtec’s CEO stood by one of their blenders and blended items like a rake, golf balls and even an iPhone. The videos took off shortly after posting the videos to YouTube. The iPhone video alone has received over 8 million views, and the Will It Blend? series became one of the 100 most-viewed on YouTube
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
What is the benefit of unconventional PR?
Unconventional PR tactics can have incredible returns on investment. For example Chargify, an online billing software, hired a stuntman to dress up as Chargofy’s mascot at the SXSW conference and get people pumped about ChagifyBefore this conference, Chargity was a virtual unknown, then it left the conference with hundreads of customers and a significant jump in brand awareness
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares
What are targets of unconventional PR?
▪ Do something big, cheap, fun, and original. Publicity stunts need to be creative and extraordinary to succeed
▪ Be awesome to your customers and good things follow. Common ways to do customer appreciation well are through gifts, contests, and amazing customer support. Excelling in this area is a way to do unconventional PR over a longer period of time
▪ Prepare for failure. Success in this channel is unpredictable. You should understand that not every idea will work
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Source: Traction. How any statup can achieve explosive customer growth, G. Weinberg & J. Mares