Enterprise Search Marketing That Works. Enterprise Search Marketing That Works Part 1 Enterprise Search Marketing That Works Part 2

Transcription

1

2 1 INTRODUCTION When you search on Google for words that describe your core products and services, where does your website appear in the search results? Do your top competitors own all the top listings? Many enterprises face serious hurdles when they try to implement effective, ROI-driven search marketing programs. Challenges include gaining buy-in from the company s often segmented business units, having a large site that uses multiple languages, and making important budget-allocation decisions. When it comes to maximizing return on advertising expenditures and dominating the competition online, it s understandable that many executives don t know where to begin. As champion of your company s search-marketing program, how can you implement a campaign that can scale and evolve as needed, while keeping each business unit fully in-line with the process? An effective search marketing process has many moving parts. Challenges range from gaining buy-in from key business unit leaders to building an action plan that holds all stakeholders accountable and keeps the program moving forward as the rules of search marketing evolve. A standardized set of metrics must be developed to measure progress on benchmark goals across all business units. Executing an enterprise-wide search marketing program requires strategy, planning and the participation of internal advocates throughout the organization. In this ebook, we will discuss how to: Build and coordinate the optimal internal search marketing team Develop reporting frameworks tailored to your business goals Strategize and execute scalable search marketing campaigns across multiple business units

3 2 IDENTIFY BUSINESS NEEDS Your Challenge With upwards of 3 billion searches occurring each day on Google alone, more searches occur online now than ever before. Customers are increasingly turning to the web to research products, compare brands, read product reviews, and make purchase decisions all without ever setting foot in a brickand-mortar store or talking to a sales representative. It s your job to make sure your corporation gets their attention, despite heavy competition. As we work with companies to identify their main online challenges, we find that they face common issues such as: Leading offline, lagging online We often hear: We are the number-one player in the brick-and-mortar space, but we rank behind all our top competitors online. We know we need to improve our web marketing campaign. Segmented business units We often hear: We know search marketing is important, but our enterprise is comprised of many separate business units. We need help getting everyone on the same page. Lack of in-house capabilities We often hear: We need help with training and rolling out our program globally. We do not have the in-house expertise to do this on our own. Inconsistent online marketing We often hear: Some business units currently run search-marketing programs on their own, but each reports on a different set of metrics and key performance indicators. Which ones matter and which ones don t?

4 3 DEFINE WHO WILL LEAD & PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM Levels of Necessary Support As with any large initiative, you ll need to craft a compelling and organized strategy to gather full buy-in from all participating members. Since crossdepartmental communication can be difficult, this initiative needs support from high enough in the organization to command attention across all business units. We see the most successful outcomes occurring when a leading executive has signed off on the project. Although it s not necessary or even practical for this executive to be involved in the day-to-day details, endorsement at this level provides the momentum necessary to drive exceptional results. Typically, a president or vice president will be responsible for the company s search marketing results. He or she will work directly with team members at the tertiary level to push action items through to completion. Getting Everyone On-Board Training for all participants is key. Regardless of whether an employee is a stakeholder, each needs to understand the importance of their participation in achieving the company s search marketing goals. If you can develop internal advocates, the program will spread like wildfire and sell itself internally. Most of all, make it clear why search marketing matters. Everyone must understand SEO s impact on the business and how their participation is essential to making it a success. BUSINESS UNIT LEADERS PRODUCT MANAGERS CXO SPONSOR PROGRAM OWNER/CHAMPION MARKETING MANAGERS WEB TEAM

5 4 TRAIN KEY STAKEHOLDERS Each stakeholder will need training tailored specifically to their responsibilities. Management Managers need to know how search marketing will impact their revenue goals, using key metrics to determine brand vs. non-brand campaigns, seasonal factors, keyword rankings and conversions. IT Team The IT team will need training on effective SEO techniques, including how to set accurate web-page redirects, site maps and tracking. Marketing Team & Product Managers These groups will be responsible for building keywords into marketing activities and website content in order to achieve high search-page ranking, promote lead generation and build the brand. Public Relations & Content Teams As with the marketing team, PR teams must know which keywords are being targeted on the site so they can include them in press releases and other content to provide continuity and consistency in the company s message, and to help the business rank highly in customers searches.

6 5 DEVELOP STANDARD METRICS Standardizing What Will Be Measured There are several reasons why most enterprise search marketing metrics don t tell the true story. First, data may be interpreted in ways that aren t measured on a universal scale. Business units tend to present their metrics in a manner that looks positive but is most likely not standardized across the board. Enterprise marketers are often not fully accustomed to web marketing and therefore don t know what good looks like. With a set of standardized metrics in place for all business units, you can make comparisons that have true meaning. Common metrics we use to measure program success include: The percent of search terms that rank on page 1 of a Google search Total website visits Organic (natural, algorithm-driven) search visits Organic, non-branded search visits The number of leads generated Cost per lead DATA CONTINUITY MOST MARKETERS ARE NOT DIGITAL NATIVES A reporting system based on these metrics gives upper management a method to accurately and effectively measure each business unit s results and to make comparisons in order to reward successful units and judge whether improvements are needed in others. Keeping up with each unit s vital statistics will increase visibility and insight into each sector s performance.

7 6 BUILD A PROJECT ACTION PLAN Plot a Timeline Once you know what needs to be done, put your plans in action. Define key milestones, deliverables and owners. Here s a good list of milestones: Deliverables Owners Due dates Status Key milestones Make these items track-able and hold owners accountable for their assignments. Set a regular meeting schedule to keep all members on track. Check for updates, any blocking items and timing. This will improve accountability and the overall outcome of the project. LAUNCH AN ACCELERATOR PROGRAM An Enterprise-Wide Workshop Consider launching a specialized workshop to create better results and tighter alignment within the company. This concept stems from a six-sigma quality-management method designed to deliver business value with greater speed and higher-quality results. Getting all your stakeholders into one room at the same time can facilitate decision-making and compress launch time dramatically. A major benefit of this style of program start-up is that complete buy-in will be established at the very beginning.

8 7 CONCLUSION So there you have it. To set the stage for an effective SEO campaign throughout the enterprise, you ll need to first define your organization s strengths and needs. Then, build and coordinate effective search marketing teams across the company, with buy-in at the top. A consistent evaluation-and-reporting structure tailored to your business goals is another key component. Now you are ready to execute a unified, scalable and evolving search-marketing campaign across the company. For more about how to do that including how to manage a large-scale paid search campaign, select the most effective keywords and optimize them for your website, how to leverage social media, and more please see Part Two of this ebook [link to Part Two ebook]. To learn more about how Webmarketing123 can help you achieve high quality results, reach out to us at contact@webmarketing123.com. CONNECT WITH US Webmarketing123.com Twitter.com/webmarketing123 Facebook.com/webmarketing123 Linkedin.com/webmarketing123 Request A Free, Customized Site Analysis Request Now >