building an online marketing plan

Building an Online Marketing Plan

Kirsti ScottCreative Director

Quick introduction

• Kirsti Scott, Founder and Creative Director• 20+ years of experience in design and

marketing• We create websites, e-mails, web banners,

online applications, and integrated marketing campaigns

• Our clients are technology, VC, and B2B companies

What’s the big deal about online marketing?

• 90%+ of people search online before making decisions, big and small

• Search engines find content, categorize it, and connect people with what they need

• To get found, you need online content that’s relevant and fresh

About this presentation

• This is an overview of the steps to creating and maintaining an online marketing presence

• For more detailed information on the topics covered on a slide, click on the link and you’ll go to an online article with detailed or complementary information.

• Some of the steps in building your online presence are “do-it-yourself” and some are “do-not-try-this-at-home” so don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it

How do you create a strong online presence?

An introduction to the building blocks

Building blocks of an online marketing strategy

Building blocks: Your website

Top 5 reasons your website is the foundation

1. 60% of prospects will visit your website2. Search engines direct visitors to your site3. First introduction might be online4. Prospects use traditional websites5. You control the information

3 important things to consider

• Usability – architecture, navigation, and analytics

• Content – clear, simple, easy to contact you• Design – stand out but be appropriate, use

only graphics that support your messaging

6 main sections your site should have

• Home page• Products or Services• About Us• Contact Us• Custom Information• Dynamic Content

Building blocks: Search

A search strategy is the first pillar of your plan

• Create content that targets your customers’ needs

• Use words customers search for, including negatives

• Long-tail keywords improve results and target your audiences

• Update content often• Create compelling,

link-worthy content

SEO: Getting links to your site

• Link to your site from social networks• Comment on blogs and online communities• Add yourself to online directories• Use social bookmarking• Submit online press releases• Answer questions online• Ask for customer reviews• Ask for links from influencers

SEO: Technical recommendations

• Find keywords relevant to your business, include keywords in the page content, write naturally

• Properly name pages, meta data, headlines, URLs, and links

• Make clean, organized coding a priority

• Give it time

Building blocks: E-mail

E-mail is the second pillar of your plan

• Users overwhelmingly prefer e-mail as a contact

• E-mail keeps customers informed about new products and solutions, or industry news.

• E-mail offers a great return on your investment

• Build your list with customers, colleagues, people you meet, and online signups

• Create a master calendar and send a combination of newsletters, promotions, announcements

• Get results with well-designed, straightforward, compelling, brief e-mails

• Use analytics, testing, and segmenting to target e-mails

E-mail best practices

Other online marketing tactics to consider

• Online ads – banner ads, PPC, sponsored content

• Video and podcasts• Flash demos• SMS text advertising• Branded apps

Building blocks: Analysis

Analysis is the third pillar of your plan

• Set up tools to get the most accurate analytics• Web analytics• SEO analytics• E-mail analytics

• Monitor your online presence, mentions, links, activity, competitors, industry

• Test and refine

Use analytics to refine your site, SEO, and e-mails

•Fine tune your website and SEO• Dashboard, Visitors Overview, Traffic Sources

Overview, Keywords, Top Content

•Improve your e-mail campaigns• How many were sent, received, and bounced

• How many people opened, clicked, forwarded, opted out, signed up

• What was clicked• Compare to past campaigns

• Test and refine

Monitoring your online presence for free

• Setup an RSS reader to watch keywords, companies, people, Twitter #hashtags, LinkedIn answers

• Check LinkedIn and Facebook pages and groups

• Search for terms on Addict-o-matic• Use grader.com to rank yourself• Use Tweetdeck for real time info• Respond to issues before they’re

problems, find new customers, build your reputation

Building blocks: Social Media

Social media is the capstone of your plan

• Social media enhances all of your other efforts.

• Engaged customers are more likely to buy• Social media influences search results• Links drive traffic to your website• Conversations about you are already going on

online

Top social media tools

• LinkedIn – Profiles, Companies, Groups, Answers• Facebook Profiles, Pages, Groups• Twitter Profiles, Companies• Blogs RSS reader• Local search – Google, Yahoo!, bing, getlisted. org• Review sites – Yelp, TripAdvisor, industry sites• Social bookmarking – StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit• Other – forums, wikis, industry or interest group

websites, local websites, local organizations

5 Quick steps to get online

• Sign up for membership on targeted sites• Fill out the basic information (you can add

more later)• Find groups of peers and/or customers• Listen and get a feel for discussion etiquette• Add value to conversations

Maintaining your online brand

Branding 101

Keep your design and content consistent

• Maintain a unified design on your website, e-mails, social media sites, and presentations

• Make sure you develop guidelines, image and copy assets, instructions, written strategy

• Provide feedback on all marketing pieces anddon’t allow anything off-brand.

Branding and messaging across multiple media

• Facebook page• Website• Blog• LinkedIn page• Twitter profile• Online forms• Everywhere!

Questions?

Thanks! For more info:www.hotdesign.com

“Building an Online Marketing Plan” kirsti@hotdesign.com

©2010 Scott Design Inc. All rights reserved.