Guide to Digital Marketing
What is digital marketing? It’s a phrase we’re hearing about in business more and more and it’s something that is going to be developing further over the coming years. But what is digital marketing? Simply explained, it is all marketing that can be done with digital media. Many people associate digital marketing with the internet and this is a huge part of it. However it also includes areas like mobile marketing, advertising away from the internet and electronic mail. Some people may just try one area of digital marketing, for example social networking, but it is much more effective to use a range of tools together. This guide will look at digital marketing in more detail and talk you through some of the key areas and how they can be integrated into your marketing plan. You will learn more about social networking, search engine optimisation, paid search and email. Why do we use digital marketing? It is no longer cost effective to just use traditional marketing techniques like printed media. It basically just doesn’t reach enough people and can be costly but with little return on investment. Even sales of newspapers and magazines are dropping as online versions become more available. Digital marketing is a much quicker way of reaching a wider audience of people. Internet access has increased dramatically over the last few years as content has become quicker to access and more easily available in our homes. It’s also a more cost effective method of marketing. Buying advertising space online is often much cheaper than printed adverts and can give you a better opportunity to see. Online advertising is growing as this statistic from the Advertising Association , March 2009 shows. UK overall advertising spend fell 3.9% last year with only internet achieving growth at 17.3% Do you need a digital marketing consultant? Well, that all depends on how far you want to take it but it is certainly recommended. It’s easy to get content online but is it good content and will it be seen by the right audience? A digital marketing consultant can help you look at all the different aspects and associated costs.
They will then weigh up the best places for your content to ensure it is seen by the right people. Most people would be able to upload a newsletter online, but the techniques you use to do it and the way you optimise it and promote it takes a lot of skill. Social networking This is a term that is used to describe a community of online users. They are generally formed through websites and bring together many individuals who come together for similar social interests. It could be a site with a small number of users or one with millions of people. They may share interests or simply be sharing day to day information in the form of blogs. Most people have heard of the very popular social networking sites, even if you didn’t realise that’s what they were. Facebook and MySpace have become the most popular over the last few years but others include Twitter, Delicious, Stumble Upon and Digg. 65% of companies use Facebook as part of their marketing strategy, white Twitter marketing has jumped from just 3% of companies last year to 49% this year. (Source: Econsultancy/Guava UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report, April 2009) Although in the past the links have generally been between ‘friends’, businesses are now starting to see the benefits of promoting themselves on these networks. Why not look on Facebook for a big global brand? You will almost certainly find a ‘group’ or ‘fan’ page for them. It costs nothing to set up one of these pages and also takes very little time but there is the opportunity for a very large number of people to see it. You need to make the content interesting and relevant or it could have a detrimental effect. Small businesses can benefit greatly from this low cost marketing technique. The amount of UK traffic retailers receive from social networks increased by 153% in the first nine months of 2007 (Source: Hitwise, via Econsultancy blog, October 2007). But what should you include on these sites? Imagery and video content is very popular with the age range of people using social networking sites. It will show users that you are a forward thinking business that is up to date with the latest technology.
Don’t be put off by all the scare stories you read in the media about identity and privacy issues. A digital marketing consultant would be able to talk you through these issues so you could deal with them effectively.
Search Engine Optimisation What is it? Search engine optimisation, also known as SEO, is the process of improving your website content so that you appear higher in the search engines when people are looking for information that is relevant to your website. Why is SEO so important? When creating a website it’s no longer a case of putting information live about who you are, what you do and where people can find you. This information will be useful to your customers but if nobody can find your site then the content is useless. How do we do it? If you already have existing website content then you should review it and make sure it is as relevant as possible to the topic. Once you have done this you should add in code, known as meta data, to your website. This data should be a series of key words that people will type into search engines. The keywords must be incorporated into your copy and the more they appear, the more relevant your site will be to search engines. This will send your site up the ranking order. You should aim to be on the first page but ideally at the very top. If you are writing new copy you should make sure all the important keywords are included. Think about the keywords first and make a list. This will help when writing copy. Don’t forget you need to use the keywords as often as possible within the copy. A digital marketing consultant will be able to help you with this if you are struggling as they are trained in what a search engine will look for and will guide you through the process. You should also consider each page title and include the keywords in this. Make sure it is relevant to the topic. It also helps to give each page a meta description, which is what the search engine will show in the listings.
The user will read this and decide if it is worth clicking on your link. Be careful though, if a search engine believes keywords have been added in for the sake of it, you could be penalised and slip further down the search engine rankings. Google ranks sites based on a number of criteria including the relevance of the topic, like we have talked about above. It also looks at how many people link to a website. For example, a very popular and high ranking site will probably be listed from thousands of other relevant sites as they all trust the content. Because of this Google then rates it as a good source of information. It is always worth seeking advice about SEO. Writing search engine optimised copy isn’t as easy as it may sound so if you are struggling ask for help from a digital marketing consultant. Did you know? 47% of companies spend at least £10,000 per year on search engine optimisation (SEO), 20% spend more than £50,000. (Source: Econsultancy UK Search Engine Marketing Benchmark Report, April 2009) Paid Search This digital marketing tool is also known as Pay Per Click advertising, so basically you pay when someone clicks on your search engine advert. It is a quick and effective way of getting your advertising seen straight away. Be warned though, it can be an expensive method if you want it to be seen frequently and also want it to be selected over your competitors. Let’s give it a try now - type ‘window cleaner in Watford’ into Google. The companies shown under the title ‘Sponsored Links’ are all paid search adverts. Those that have ranked because of natural appear on the left. The main sites that do this are Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. How do I set up an advert? To set up a Google Ad you will need to write a small advert of about 12 words, but under the specified character limit. You then set up keywords. For example when a user searches on a certain word or phrase e.g. window cleaner, it will then bring up that advert either at the top or to the right of the page. Where it appears depends on the cost per click, which is how much you are willing to pay to put your advert above others. Paid search accounted for 57.8% of the UK’s online ad spend last year, a total of £1.2bn. (Source: IAB/PWC via Econsultancy Blog, March 2007)
For popular keywords it often comes down to the highest bidder. For a phrase like ‘business cards’, someone who has put in a low bid will lose out to someone who has bid a higher amount. If you do decide to go ahead with paid search and get an advert you need to make sure the content is right. There is no point creating an advert if the content isn’t relevant as you will find you don’t get any click-throughs. When creating your adverts you need to make them concise and to the point. You could link them to a specific landing page on your site so the user sees exactly what you want them to see, perhaps a special offer. From there you can encourage them to visit other areas of your site. Paid search versus natural search It’s entirely up to you whether you decide to go down the paid advertising route and it depends whether you have a budget for it. However as a quick, short term solution the pay per click method can work well. However over time you can mix this in with natural search and when you have an established site that has been search engine optimised, you will find you move higher up the search rankings naturally. Email How often do you receive emails from companies marketing their products or services? We receive them on a daily basis. How many do you actually open and read? It’s easy to send an email but getting customers to open it and click through from it takes some skill. Email marketing is simply a form of direct marketing. It’s straight to the customer without any middle man, such as a newspaper. You can communicate directly with your target audience. Sending an email is a way for you to get a message out instantly with a selected group of people who could be a potential client, buyer or user. You can get a message to a lot of people at a relatively small cost. The advantages of email marketing The main advantage is that it can be tracked so you can work out your return on investment (ROI). In fact you can track which emails have been delivered, which have been opened and those who clicked through. This then gives you a potential lead for you product/service and helps you decide who to market to in the future.
Econsultancy’s third annual Email Marketing Industry Census, sponsored by Adestra found that 42% of organisations did not know what their ROI was from their email campaigns (Source: Econsultancy, March 2009) Of respondents that are aware of the figures for their email marketing efforts, 61% said that email delivers ROI of 300% or more, while 30% confessed to ROI of more than 500%, an increase on last year’s figure’s of 24% If someone is no longer using their email address or does not wish to receive any more emails from you, they can be removed from your list so it is more relevant for the future. Sending an email is instant. A client can receive an email almost as soon as it is sent so if you need to get a message to a large amount of people quickly, it’s the perfect tool. It’s much quicker than telephone and cheaper than writing to everyone individually. Technical issues to consider If you are new to email marketing it is worth speaking to a digital marketing consultant. They will be able to help you plan your email strategies and optimise the copy. It’s important this is done to increase the chance of firstly, it being opened and secondly, being read. The way an email is designed can affect the click through rate. For example if the main feature is at the top of the email and can be seen without the need to scroll down, you can catch the user’s eye and encourage them to read on. Another reason to enlist the help of a digital market expert is they understand the technical reasons that cause emails to fail or not be read. This includes spam filters. If your email includes words that could be seen as offensive your email will go into a spam folder. Repetition of words such as ‘free’, ‘win’ or ‘special’ suggest that your email is purely selling, which could also mean it ends up in a spam folder. It is fine to use these words, just limit how much you do and keep them within the context of the email. You also need to consider sending images on an email. Some systems won’t allow images to be seen until they have been verified as safe to do so. Remember not everyone opens emails on a PC or laptop anymore. The use of Blackberry’s, mobile phones and PDA’s mean emails can be opened on much smaller devices that may not be able to open images quickly.