Development Mini Conference

Transcription

1 Development Mini Conference +

2 Preparing Your Website for Inbound Marketing

3 What we re not talking about (sorry) Why inbound is important marketing Google Search Social media Digital storytelling How to create personas

4 What we ARE talking about today Value propositions Blogging Digital Content Improving your online forms Building landing pages Basic SEO tips you can do in Composer How to build tracking URLs for free

5 So how do you prepare your site for inbound marketing? Step 1: Create and Segment Content Step 2: Optimize for Conversions Forms Landing Pages Thank You Pages PagePops CTAs SEO Step 3: Track, Analyze, Improve

6 STEP 1: CREATE AND SEGMENT CONTENT

7 Inbound marketing is all about getting the right content in front of the right person at the right time So we can t do inbound until we have the right content, first.

8 Different personas Parents Grandparents Alumni Current students Prospective donors What are their goals? Who is your ideal donor?

9 Stages of the Journey Your potential donor is aware of the current situation whether it be a problem, need or desire. Your potential donor has clearly defined their exact obstacle, and begins to research solutions. Your potential donor has decided on to take action, but do additional research before making the final decision.

10 Finding the Good (And Bad!) Content Use Google Analytics to pinpoint which pages perform the best and worst and use this as your starting point for creating a journey.

11 Value Propositions Your school s value in 8 words or less Important for communicating what makes your school special, quickly What is the 5% that sets you apart?

12 Quick Tips for Writing Your Value Proposition 1. Write down your school s mission/vision statement 2. Take 3-5 words from that vision statement that are the most important 3. Think of specific examples for each one 4. Create content that shares these specific examples

13 Segmenting Content by Audience Which types of individuals are visiting your site? How easy is it for them to find what they re looking for? Does the journey make sense?

14 Blogs TRY THESE An alumni blog to feature notable alumni and upcoming events A Head of School blog A travel blog (for schools with awesome travel programs!) A student-run blog where multiple students contribute about student life BLOGGING 2X PER WEEK IS PROVEN TO GENERATE NEW LEADS

15 News Stories ALWAYS INCLUDE Creative, short headline Multimedia Share buttons

16 Webinars + Podcasts A GREAT RESOURCE FOR ALL FAMILIES, CREATIVE FOR ALUMNI Which useful information can you share about your school? What stories can you tell? What advice can an interviewed alum share with current students? How can you provide value in new ways?

17 Photo + Video RULE OF THUMB: SHOW, DON T TELL Variety Placement Wow factor If your image looks like it can be found on Shutterstock, try again

18 STEP 2: OPTIMIZE FOR CONVERSIONS

19 Your website is not about you.

20 You have two types of people visiting your website HIGH COMMITMENT Ready to give No real convincing needed Your campaign/school is their top choice More patient and forgiving with site look, feel, experience They are willing to fill out longer forms LOW COMMITMENT Just browsing around Wanting to learn more Need help making a decision Your campaign is one of many options They are NOT willing to fill out longer forms

21 How Long Forms Make Your Low- Commitment Visitors Feel

22 This is Intimidating Not responsive Too long

23 This is Simple Responsive Perfect in length In your website and can be used for marketing s

24 Less fields = More conversions

25 Nothing makes the experience LESS personal than asking me to confirm I m not a robot

26 #FinalsiteHack Forms Manager > Notifications and redirects tab Create a custom respondent confirmation message Send them to a custom thank you page based on their submission Let them know to check their inbox for content, or display content on the page Send an confirmation with more info Buys your advancement team time to reach out Provides donor with immediate gratification Provides your team with enough follow-up info

27 What goes on a Thank You page? The content they were promised (if any) Additional content to engage with such as a video, blog, news library, etc. Social media mash-up Next steps

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29 We more-than doubled our blog subscribers in less than 30 days with a Finalsite PagePop on all of our related thank you pages.

30 Using PagePops to Drive Conversions Appear on select pages Include a call-to-action Great for promoting new magazine edition, giving days, upcoming events or a piece of content

31 Using PagePops to Drive Conversions WOODWARD ACADEMY INCREASED EVENT ATTENDANCE BY 20% LAST FALL USING A PAGEPOP ON THEIR HOMEPAGE

32 Calls to Action Always provide visitors to your site with a quick and easy next step to guide them down the path to exactly where you want them to go and where they want to go.

33 CTA Consideration: Location

34 CTA Consideration: Relevance

35 CTA Consideration: The Sticky Nav

36 Landing Pages Remove navigation! Value proposition Should vary based on the purpose of landing page Sub header Video Increases conversions by 80%! List of Benefits Social Proof Testimonials, quotient

37 Basic SEO Tips Log into your SEO settings right now, and if they look like this, add it to your todo list

38 Basic SEO Tips Short on time? Add an SEO Title and Description to your top hit pages So important for getting prospective donors to land on your site

39 STEP 3: TRACK, ANALYZE, AND IMPROVE

40 Tracking External Campaigns Easy! UTM Tracking in Google Analytics allows you to track how individuals land on your website. The links you share externally on social media and via should always contain UTM tracking. This helps you pinpoint where the majority of your traffic is coming from, and which pages they are landing on. Since it is tracked using GA, you can run numerous different reports to see the effectiveness of different external campaigns

41 Tracking External Campaigns Cont. Campaign Source (utm_source): Required. Use utm_source to identify a where the website visitor came from, such as as a search engine, newsletter name, or location on your website. Example: utm_source=socialmedia Campaign Medium (utm_medium): Required. Use to identify the exact type of source. Example: utm_medium=twitter Campaign Name (utm_campaign): Required. This is used for keyword analysis. Use utm_campaign to identify a specific strategic campaign. Example: utm_annualfund

42 Tracking Internal Performance Shares to social media Bounce rates Total page visits Time on page Exit pages High bounce rates and pages with high exit rates should be improved

43 Make the Most of Your One-Person-Team Efforts

44 When do you sleep?

45 Wearing all the hats Website admin Calendar adjuster Blog writer Content optimizer Social media maven Brand ambassador communicator Marketing creator Magazine editor Newsletter poster Event promoter Manager of Photos, Videos Content providers Designers, Printers 10,000 meetings!

46 Your time is valuable So how do you do it all?

47 Engage your community You are surrounded by content creators! Students have so many experiences to share Teachers are experts in their fields Alumni are your success stories Parents buy and sell your product

48 Crowdsource Create a catch-all address Use hashtags to meet them where they are Pull them back to your website from social media

49 Find your talent Everyone can help you achieve your goals Junior who loves to take videos for the cross country team? Freshman who Instagrams every second she can? Teacher who writes for sports blogs in his spare time?

50 Surround yourself with partners Determine what you are good at; keep it up! Empower strategic partners on the rest Search performance Digital ads Social media strategy Graphic design Photography Writing

51 Stay organized With sharable spreadsheets and documents you can: Easily use the data you re collecting to personalize communications Set goals and benchmarks for yourself Keep everyone informed

52 Constantly collect info Forms for everything! What class notes do your alumni have to share? What s something alumni want to pass on to current students? Who is your gift dedicated to? Which faculty member are you excited to see at the donor recognition event?

53 Use the right tools Composer has built-in timesaving features that make updating your site easy: Shared elements Element Styles A "copy and paste" feature to duplicate content across multiple pages Linked pages Shared permissions

54 Automate! Schedule in advance s every month or so with upcoming events Social media posts advertising an event Require addresses to keep up with donors later Display a thank you video right after gift submission

55 Get external feedback Use Google Analytics to have real data to share with those who need it Audits: use the experts to give you feedback you can use Validate your needs!

56 Find the greatest impact Need your smaller budget to go a long way? Focus ad dollars where they can be measured. Pay-per-click and digital ads can be tracked! Traditional? Use ad-specific VANITY URLs to help keep track of conversions.

57 Give them what they want While getting what you want! Add an extra question to each form: While you re here, subscribe to blog or join our mailing list? While you re registering for this event, have you made your gift to the annual fund? After donating to financial aid, do you want to be a mentor to students?

58 Pay attention to the details None of this matters if you seem like a machine (robot!). Develop your voice, keep the personal touches. Spend the time you re saving with dashboards and schedulers on conversation, connection and creation!