PLANNING YOUR SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL STRATEGY

Transcription

1 KELLY KUBRICK March 14 th, 2012 PLANNING YOUR SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL STRATEGY Presented to: CANADIAN HOME BUILDER S ASSOCIATION NATIONAL MARKETING COMMITTEE

2 BACKGROUND Former Director E-Commerce Development, Time Warner (New York) MBA (New York University) Radcliffe Publishing Course (Harvard University) Owner, Online Authority Specialize in Internet performance measurement Audit websites and Internet marketing campaigns

3 CHBA NATIONAL MARKETING COMMITTEE, CIRCA 2007

4 5 YEARS LATER: OF 12 MEMBER SITES VISITED 8 using Google Analytics (measures traffic) 5 with a social media presence Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, RSS, etc. 3 offering content sharing functionality 3 using open source website content management system (CMS) 1 using a lead gen / sales / CRM tool 1 using a landing page optimization tool 1 using frames (eek!)

5 NATIONAL MARKETING COMMITTEE SURVEY How many are using a website content management system (CMS)? Open source (i.e. WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc)? Proprietary (i.e. licensed from a vendor / agency)? Are using web / social analytics tools i.e. Google Analytics or other? Have subscribed to own social channels i.e. Have liked their own Facebook page? Follow their company on Twitter? Have subscribed to own YouTube channel? Have shared their own content online?

6 PLANNING YOUR SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL STRATEGY STEP 1: DO NOT PANIC

7 WELCOME TO THE SPLINTERNET Continued emergence of new channels & devices inevitable Splinternet is the new reality; splintering across Platform: Android, Apple O/S, BlackBerry Channel: walled garden social networks, user generated content (reviews, ratings, etc.), mobile web vs. mobile apps Technology: Text / SMS, QR codes, tablets, etc. Great. Now what? It s all about content. Period. Today all of us need to be publishers first Source: The Implications of the Splinternet, Forrester Research, September 2011

8 SPEAKING OF INEVITABLE Note: Pinterest user demographics

9 GOOD NEWS: IN 2012, WE KNOW IT S HARD 2009 Marketing Priorities: - Along bottom = priority level - Left hand axis: Marketers perceived degree of difficulty per tactic / goal - Size of bubble = % of firms engaged in tactic / goal

10 NOTE: IT S NOT THE KIDS INTERNET ANYMORE Source = MarketingSherpa, February 2012

11 BUDGETING WEBSITE LAUNCHES vs. REFRESHES $ Design = 20% $ Content Creation = 35% $ Technology = 50% $ Technology 30%

12 AGENDA: DIGITAL STRATEGY PLANNING FRAMEWORK 1. Be Manageable 2. Be Findable & Sharable 3. Be Measurable

13 PLANNING YOUR SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL STRATEGY BE MANAGEABLE

14 WELCOME TO CONTENT STRATEGY Achieving business goals by maximizing the impact of content Becoming a more effective publisher Practice of planning for content creation, delivery, and governance Repeatable system that defines entire editorial content development process for a website development project Content Strategy Cycle Content Inventory Content Audit Measure impact Plan Analyze Create Manage Write Copy / edit Translate Publish Govern Source: Content Strategy for the Web, Kristina Halvorson (book)

15 DECONSTRUCT THE PUBLISHING PROCESS: ISOLATE MANAGEMENT OF ASSETS OLD SCHOOL WEBSITE: Content Presentation Platform DIGITAL STRATEGY TODAY

16 YOUR FOUNDATION = YOUR PLATFORM Website content management systems (CMS) or platform should give you publishing flexibility Content owners / authors don t need to know technology or code Allows you to be device agnostic : web / mobile Plug-ins give you extensibility = integrate new functionality e.g. analytics and sharing tools without incremental costs If open source, frees you from being held hostage by agency that built CMS Choose tool based on depth of local talent s expertise / experience Examples: WordPress, Drupal, Joomla Predominant cost = labour to install, configure, customize & maintain for you Instead of paying licensing fees Content Presentation Platform

17 CONTENT SHOULD BE AGNOSTIC TO ITS FORMAT Format = types of content Conversion-oriented landing pages vs. Lead generation forms vs. Product pages vs. Decision support articles / (blog) posts Parallels Information Products of old Sales / spec sheets, Brochures, Direct Mail, Postcards, Print Ad Like offering selection of floor plans, today s web CMS platforms offer built-in format choices Content Presentation -Format Platform

18 WEB DESIGN NOW COMMODITIZED (Or, why you shouldn t let your children become web designers) For efficiency, CMS assume is design controlled centrally Via a CSS (cascading style sheet) Imagine being able to push a button an all walls change colour. At once. Content Presentation Design or Look & Feel Conversion Button Generator Google buy custom facebook timeline cover (announced Feb 2012) Platform

19 CONTENT NOW PRESENTATION AGNOSTIC Content now at the top of the heap. However, to do content well, need to rethink marketing functions / tactics Publishers have: Roles we need to create & assign: Editor-in-Chief, Editors, Reviewers, Writers, Reporters, Cameramen Planning tools we need to leverage: Content Inventory and audit editorial processes Editorial Calendars Content Presentation Platform

20 EXAMPLE EDITORIAL CALENDAR

21 WHERE WE NEED TO GET TO Intersection of content strategy & content marketing: Content strategies are about repeatable frameworks Content marketing is about building relationships Marketers don t necessarily create content strategies, but rather implement them Delivering high-quality, relevant, and valuable information to prospects and customers drives profitable consumer action Creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience with the objective of driving profitable customer action. Sources: Content Marketing. Content Strategy. What s the Difference?, What is Content Marketing?

22 PLANNING YOUR SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL STRATEGY BE FINDABLE AND BE SHAREABLE

23 PRE-GOOGLE WORLD VIEW = HIERARCHICAL Home page 2 nd Level Pages 3 rd Level Pages 4 th Level Pages

24 POST-GOOGLE WORLD VIEW = FINDABILITY 4 th Level Pages are most visible 3 rd Level Pages 2 nd Level Pages Home page at centre of web is least visible. Why? It s the least specific.

25 KEYWORD & TOPIC RESEARCH Visitors search for keywords / phrases they PERCEIVE about your product / service Used cars vs. Pre owned vehicle Search engine robots rank sites based on relevance to user s terms Visitors look for that language when they land on your page

26 LEVERAGE PERCEIVED DEMAND Source: Google AdWords Keyword Selector Tool, March 2012

27 MINE CONVERSATIONS What are your social keywords? Who are potential influencers? What topics could you harness?

28 SHARING = YOUR UNEXPECTED DISTRIBUTION PARTNER Encourage sharing of your content via tools like AddThis or ShareThis Both integrate with Google Analytics Use shortened URLs to drive traffic back to your site

29 THINK COMBO PLATTER Social & mobile have high-growth numbers but not taking away from Instead, integrate marketing channels Social sharing boosts marketing engagement 115% Source = MarketingSherpa: Summit: Integrating mobile, social and marketing channels, Feb 2012

30 PLANNING YOUR SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL STRATEGY BE MEASURABLE

31 HOW FINDABLE ARE YOU? Three ways to be found: 1. Direct arrives by bookmark or memorized URL: advertising recall, outdoor, etc. 2. Referral arrives via a third party website linked to your site: social media, media, suppliers, associations, etc. 3. Search arrives via search results page on commercial search engines: Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc. TARGET Minimum 45% Typical Breakdown of Website Visitor Sources Search, 45% Referral 17% Direct, 38%

32 FINDABILITY IN GOOGLE ANALYTICS YOUR WEB CONTENT FINDABILITY

33 CONTENT SHARING ANALYTICS Google Analytics AddThis

34 REMINDER: DO NOT PANIC How do you do this without having heads explode? Invest in the systems and roles needed to become a publisher Content Strategy Cycle Content Inventory Content Audit Plan Create Write Copy / edit Translate Content Analyze Manage Measure impact Publish Govern Presentation Platform

35 YOUR DIGITAL STRATEGY PLANNING FRAMEWORK Be manageable Embrace Content Strategy On becoming a publisher Be findable & sharable Assume cross-channel content marketing publishing model Editorial calendar manage web, mobile, social, , publication cycle Be measurable How are digital efforts performing against expectations?

36 THANK YOU! Questions? Kelly Kubrick Online Authority +1 (866)