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A Practitioner's Guide to Digital

Marketing

BMC 319-001

Downtown Campus 906, 8th Ave SW, Calgary,

Room: 222

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Digital Marketing

2 Questions: How do we frame our Plan?

How do execute on that Plan?

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Digital Marketing Models

This is what we use to execute the plan… Based on industry best practices that ensure end-to-end project integrity. Its methodology is designed to

specifically accommodate the needs of digital marketing. Under normal circumstances, this process

allows ample room for the creative process to unfold while preserving the discipline of technology-based

project management.

Discovery: Opportunity, initiation, audits, primary

and secondary research and interviews, analysis and

strategy, personas, creative and technical briefing.

Definition: Concept and strategic development,

design concepts, wireframes, site maps, business

and functional requirements, solution architecture,

production plan.

Design: Experience validation, creative and

technical solutions, and functional prototyping.

Development: Creative and technical production,

documentation, backend support and integration,

quality assurance and testing.

Delivery: Launch, end-to-end system testing,

localization of languages, deployment, optimization

and maintenance.

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Digital Marketing Models

This is what we use to execute the plan…

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Upon successful completion of this course, you will be

able to:

• Apply Digital and Integrated marketing models as described in this

course

• Conduct a competitive audit of your Website using best-practice tools

• Understand the fundamentals of target audience

definition, including user goals and persona creation • Understand the importance of User Experience Design and Website

usability

• Understand the importance of Information

Architecture

• Conduct a content audit and understand the basics

of copywriting for the Web • Understand technology considerations that affect the success of Digital

marketing

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Analytics

How are people using our website?

What insights can we gather?

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Visitors Content Traffic Sources

1. Is traffic to my website growing,

declining or stagnating? What are

the trends?

Stats to focus on: Visits per period

vs last period; absolute unique

visitors per period vs. last

2. How useful are visitors finding

the site? What are the trends? In

essence, are users engaged?

Stats to focus on: Average

pageviews, time on site

3. Who are my visitors? Where do

they live? Are they new visitors or

returning?

Stats to focus on: Map

overlay and new vs returning

4. What pages of my site are most

useful to visitors?

Stats to focus on: Top content,

content by title, bounce rate

5. Where do visitors first land,

and how do they proceed through

the site?

Stats to focus on: Top landing

pages, click patterns

6. From what pages do visitors

exit the site?

Stat to focus on: Top exit pages

7. What traffic sources —

direct (typing a URL), referral,

search engine or paid ads — are

driving visits to my site?

Stat to focus on: Traffic Sources

Overview percentages

8. What other websites are

referring visitors to my site?

Stat to focus on: Referring sites

9. What keywords are driving

traffic?

Stats to focus on: Keywords and

phrases

Analytics 101

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Target Audience

How do we know who we are talking to?

How do we use this information to inform our thinking?

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Target Audience Definition

Are your target

customers male or

female?

How old are they?

Where do they

live? Is geography

a limiting factor

for any reason?

What do they do

for a living? How

much money do they

make? This is most

significant if

you're selling

relatively

expensive or

luxury items. Most

people can afford

a cup of coffee.

You can't say the

same of a car.

What other aspects

of their lives

matter?

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“Design for somebody,

alienate nobody”.

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Customer Ecosystem

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User goals

One of the keys to success for an online property is that it aligns itself with user goals. The ideal state is to know and understand the user’s goal when visiting the site in order to facilitate their experience and

assist them in accomplishing their tasks.

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Organizational vs. User

Organization User

• Organizational Effectiveness

• Convert sales and transactions to

lower cost channels (cost per

interaction)

• Lead Generation and

Qualification

• Deeper Customer Insight

• One-to-one Marketing

• Ease of Use

• Clarity around how I can

accomplish my goals.

• “I just want to the buy the darn

thing”

• Don’t make me use more than

one channel (or experience) to

accomplish my goals.

• Customer Delight

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User Goals

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Personas

A user persona is a representation of the goals and behavior of a real group of users, based on their

demographics. We use them to determine how to align organizational goals with those of end users.

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Persona

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Customer Journey

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Content Strategy How do we organize and write our content for the digital context?

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Why is Content Important? Content is a Strategic Brand Asset, and should be treated as such

Content is a large part of the user/customer experience

Content is often overlooked and left until the last minute

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Content Strategy

1. Conduct a Content Inventory

2. Weed out the ROT (Redundant, Outdated,

Trivial)

3. Content Quality Checklist

4. Look for overall Trends

5. Establish an Content Plan

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Content Quality Checklist

Characteristics

Usefulness & Relevance:

Does the content meet user needs, goals, and interests?

Does the content meet business goals?

For how long will the content be useful? When should it expire? Has its usefulness already expired?

Is the content timely and relevant?

Clarity & Accuracy:

Is the content understandable to customers?

Is the content organized logically & coherently?

Is the content correct?

Does the content contain factual errors, typos, or grammatical errors?

Do images, video, and audio meet technical standards, so they are clear?

Influence & Engagement:

Does the content use the most appropriate techniques to influence or engage customers?

Does the content execute those techniques effectively?

Does the content use too many or too few techniques for the context?

Completeness:

Does the content include all of the information customers need or might want about a topic?

Does the content include too much or too little information about a topic for the context?

http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/04/toward-content-quality.php

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Content Quality Checklist

Characteristics

Voice & Style:

Does the content consistently reflect the editorial or brand voice?

Does its tone adjust appropriately to the context—for example, sales versus customer service?

Does the content convey the appropriate editorial and brand qualities?

Does the content seem to have a style? If so, does the content adhere to it consistently?

Does the content read, look, or sound as though it’s professionally crafted

Usability & Findability:

Is the content easy to scan or read?

Is the content in a usable format, including headings, bulleted lists, tables, white space, or similar techniques, as

appropriate to the content?

Does the content have the appropriate metadata?

Does the content follow search engine optimization (SEO) guidelines—such as using keywords—without sacrificing

quality in other areas?

Can customers find the content when searching using relevant keywords?

Format:

Text, PDF, image, outside link, etc.

Audience:

For which target audience is the content intended?

Is the content aligned with business or user goals?

http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/04/toward-content-quality.php

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Establish a Content Plan

• Testing content with users: Incorporate questions about content in your user

interviews, focus groups, usability tests, and surveys

• Monitoring content metrics: Engagement is a metric that suits content well.

For content that’s meant to support conversions, tracking whether conversions

increase after improving content is important

• Establishing governance: Have a group of stakeholders from across the

company or organization meet regularly to oversee major content decisions

• Applying the publishing model to content For major content efforts, a

publishing structure and related tools—such as an editorial calendar—are a

natural fit

• Incorporating content guides, standards, and tips into CMS

• Maintaining the meta-data

• Hiring employees, consultants, and agencies who care about content

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Copywriting for the Web – Top 5 errors

Error

Error #1 : Writing Inwardly • Before you start writing, collect feedback from customers and prospects.

Ask them why they buy from you, why they don’t, and how doing business

with you has affected them.

• Start with an outline. Associate every feature with a benefit and every

benefit with an experience.

• Have a customer read a draft and then explain to you why they would want

to buy the product. If the customer “gets it,” you’re a star.

• Do the same thing with a person who knows nothing about your product

and industry.

Error #2: Burying the Lead • Before writing, ask, What is the key takeaway I want visitors to have after

they visit this page? That’s your lead.

• Highlight your lead idea in a bold font. This is especially helpful when you

can’t work it into the first sentence.

• Use plain language.

• Keep your most important points above the fold, as sub-headings, as the

first sentence of a paragraph and as bullet points.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/06/29/five-copywriting-errors-that-can-ruin-a-company-website/

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Copywriting for the Web – Top 5 errors

Error

Error #3: Mediocre Meta

Data

Meta Title

The meta title describes the subject matter of the page and is ideally 65

characters or fewer. Visitors see the meta title in their browser tab and in

search engine results; it is the most important piece of information that

Google and other engines read on a given page.

Meta Description

The meta description, ideally 155 characters or fewer, is a snippet of text that

is displayed under a link on a search engine results page (SERP). The meta

description has little if any SEO value but is important for conversions.

Error #4: Saying too Much • Brevity, brevity.

Error #5: Weak or no Calls

to Action

• CTAs generally fall into one of four types, listed here in descending order

of commitment:

• Place an order;

• Enroll, subscribe, enter;

• Get a quote;

• Learn more.

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http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/06/29/five-copywriting-errors-that-can-ruin-a-company-website/

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Information Architecture How do we structure our website?

What are the organizing principles?

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Information Architecture

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Information Architecture

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Site map

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Wireframes

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Global

(Header) Primary

Secondary

Tertiary

Spotlights

Global

(Footer) 31

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Site map

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Card Sort Exercise

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Requirements Gathering

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1 • Business Requirements

2 • Functional Requirements

3 • Technical Requirements

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User Stories

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Mobile What makes mobile different?

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The mobile landscape is changing rapidly, particularly in Canada.

Blackberry continues its sharp decline while Android phones

continue to gain market share.

Canada U.S.

Mobile Market

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Source: StatCounter Global Stats. Q3/2011 – Q3/2012. http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_os-US-quarterly-201103-201203

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Not Functional on

Mobile Devices

Functional /

Viewable on Mobile

Devices

Mobile Optimized Mobile Specific or

App

Cannot view or interact with

site on mobile devices.

Typically are flash with no

back-up graphics.

Site is visible and usable on

“current” mobile devices (e.g.

iPhones, touchsceen

Blackberry). Flash elements

replaced with backup

graphics.

Mobile-specific styling of

content and/or navigation.

Same content as full site.

Unique site experience and

content for mobile devices or

the development of a native

app specifically designed for

the device.

Defining Mobile Optimization

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Ideally, a website should be fully optimized for

mobile. The optimization and promotion of

‘featured’ mobile content should only be

considered if:

• The Target Audiences being considered warrants

specific and immediate attention –

• A review of Analytics supports the fact that these

audiences are accessing via mobile

• Due to the site’s size and complexity, a pilot or

phased approach is desired

• A more detailed content audit and site inventory is

necessary before optimizing the entire site

• The target audiences in question do not warrant the

development of a native mobile app (ROI)

‘Featured’ Mobile Content

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Progressive Enhancement Progressive enhancement is the separation of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Which in turn, separates what the user can see in terms of their

mobile experience. In its essence, we let the ‘user device’ (browser)

‘decide’ what it is capable of handling.

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A Practitioner's Guide to Digital

Marketing

BMC 319-001

Downtown Campus 906, 8th Ave SW, Calgary,

Room: 222

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