the 7 deadly sins of web marketing... and how to avoid them shari l.s. worthington, president...
TRANSCRIPT
The 7 Deadly Sins of Web Marketing...and How to Avoid Them
Shari L.S. Worthington, PresidentTelesian Technology Inc. Marketing, Web, & e-Business Services for the Technology & Manufacturing Markets
Author, e-Business in Manufacturing: Putting the Internet to Work in the Industrial Enterprise
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
To Reach 50 Million People... Radio took 34 years Television took 13 years Internet took 4 years
2005: Google indexed 8 billion pages of information
So why can’t you just run some PPCs…?
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Sin #1:
A Dead-End Web Site
People rely on web for product and service information (nielsen/netratings)
83% of businesspeople start online US broadband reaches 72% at home 136 million adults researched medical
info 2006 Corporate web site must be focal
point of marketing program
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
The Data Speaks for Itself
Driven by content and interaction Compelling & differentiated Updated frequently
Engage site visitors Actively pull prospects along buying
cycle Integrate marketing, sales, customer
service
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Speak to customer needs and desires “Cosmetics at a discount” OR “You could buy a new wardrobe with the
money you’ll save on our cosmetics” Develop rich content
How to articles, top 10 lists, podcasts Provide interaction
Webinars, discussion lists, blogs
Move Beyond “Me-Me-Me”
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Sin #2Ignoring the Search Engines Online search hit 5.7 billion in
January 2006 (nielsen/netratings)
Businesspeople & consumers rely on search engines
Natural search is very different from pay per click advertising
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
NaturalSearchRankings
Pay Per Click Ads
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Search Share Rankings, January 2007Search Engine Searches
(000)Share
Google 3,862,374 53.7%
Yahoo! 1,629,995 22.7%
MSN 642,694 8.9%
AOL 388,966 5.4%
Ask.com 132,800 1.8%
My Web 65,819 0.9%
Dogpile.com 41,991 0.6%
Source: Nielsen/NetRatings
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Use of Search Engines
64% of businesspeople start research for new products & services on a search engine Budget items of $50,000 and more
53.7% of purchasers start 3-6 months out Smaller purchases of $500-$1000
77.4% of purchasers start 1 week – 1 month out
Source: Google
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Search Engine Marketing:Challenges Weak web site Confusion and deception
Search engine marketing SEO: Search engine optimization PPC: Pay per click advertising Paid inclusion Sponsored links Sponsored ads
Illegal tactics: “spamdexing”
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Search Engines: Who’s Who?
YAHOO!
Overture Inktomi
AltaVista
FAST
ASK JEEVES
TeomaGOOGLE
Pyra (blogs)VNU
Reed Publishing
MSN
LOOKSMART
AOL
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Natural Search vs PPC Ads
Natural search listings are chosen more often than sponsored listings 70% choose natural search listing prior to a paid
advertisement, but depends on search engine Bid position counts
For natural search, 59.7% of respondents chose one of the top 3 links
For paid search, 51% of respondents chose the top link.
Source: Google
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Search Engine Marketing:Best Practices Create a solid system architecture
that’s user & search engine friendly Fill with relevant content Start with SEO: optimize site code
and avoid illegal tactics Add Pay Per Click ad program to get
rankings fast
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Avoid Illegal SEO Tactics:BMW Blacklisted
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Sin #3
Not Targeting Your PPC Dollars Pay for performance, aka “pay per
click,” is target marketing at its best Not the place to push for volume Target the message
“Buy Gift Cards” OR “Motivate Employees with Gift Cards”
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Sin #4
Wasting Your PPC Efforts The price is right
Direct mail: $1-3 per impression PPC advertising: $0 per impression, $1-3 per
click Combined SEO & PPC: 6x response
Buy your way into the right search engine partnerships Overture & MSN Google & partner network
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
B2B Search: Impact of Rank on Clicks
Source: Millward Brown for Google
05
101520253035404550
Rank 1 Rank 2 Rank 3 Rank 4 Rank 5 Rank 6
% Paid Search% Organic
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
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Impact of Text Ad Elements
Source: Millward Brown for Google
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Brand in URL Call to Action Benefit Brand in Title
% Enterprise Apps
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Web Marketing Power Tips
Landing pages matter – a lot Know your objectives, then write copy Provide alternative actions: learn more,
register, buy Make pages skimmable, scannable Cross-sell Test different screen resolutions,
browsers Provide interaction options: phone, chat
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Target:largecompany
Source: MarketingSherpa 2005
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Target: mid-size company
Source: MarketingSherpa 2005
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Target: small company
Source: MarketingSherpa 2005
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Sin #5
E-mail Caught in Spam Filters
& Firewalls Spammers have created a huge
problem for legitimate e-mail marketers E-marketing’s enemy #1: Spammers E-marketing’s enemy #2: IT
IT’s best friends Firewall filters Anti-spam software
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
e-Mail Marketing: Challenges “If it walks and talks like spam, it
must be spam” Minimize graphics Avoid attachments Know thy spam Don’t overdo the HTML Consider text-only & track click-throughs
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
e-Mail Marketing:Best Practices Only use highly targeted, opt-in lists Nurture in-house lists with e-
newsletter Push to microsites for customized
content Be educational & compelling
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
e-Newsletters Performance Metrics Average open rate: 30% Average click rate: 3-6% E-mail/direct mail combination can
lift rates by 3-10%
Source: MarketingSherpa 2005
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Sin #6
Forgetting Lead Generation Basics Mail lists and message count for
most of direct marketing success Don’t let creative get in the way of
the message Determine campaign goal up-front:
quantity vs quality
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Quantity vs Quality: Likelihood of “Leads” Low
Company PR & events Banner ads, static web
Medium-Low Brand & product ads in print E-mail to purchased lists Industry trade shows
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Quantity vs Quality: Likelihood of “Leads” Medium-High
Product ads on search engines New product PR Highly targeted direct mail
High E-mail to in-house permission list Telemarketing
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Test Your Offers
Low: No offer (PR, brand ads) “For more info”
Medium-Low: Soft offer (related to USP) Low risk/high perceived value “Free flow calculator”
Medium-High: Lead development offer Free white paper (info of value)
High: Hard/closing offer Presentation, demo, audit
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Sin #7Forgetting the Back End
Capture qualified inquiries Nurture in-house database of
contacts Integrate online & offline
promotions Use technology to empower sales
channel
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Assortment of Reply Vehicles Web site forms
Request more information Sign-up for e-newsletter or RSS feed Register for event Download podcast
E-mail promotions E-newsletter offers
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Sell to No Lead Before Its Time Stop annoying the sales team Sort inquiries by buying stage
10-20% just curious or unqualified 30-40% early buying process 20-30% actively engaged in evaluation
and will buy soon 10-20% close to buying decision and
should be handed off to sales NOW
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Drip Marketing
Lead conversion process must nurture inquiry and match needs with appropriate information
Direct marketing strategy that involves sending out a number of promotional pieces over a period of time to a subset of sales leads Avoids sell-produce curve Grow best prospects with one-to-one messaging
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Drip Marketing Vehicles
Consistently send something every month to customers and prospects Postcards Newsletters, e-newsletters Customized letters & brochures Case histories
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Integrating Online & Offline Fundamentals remain the same
Segment the market based on product, service, channel
Customize the message to address specific segment needs
Measure and test…measure and test… Use technology to empower sales
Coordinate in-depth attacks “Push-button” sales tools
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.comSource: MarketingSherpa 2005
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.comSource: MarketingSherpa 2005
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
What Works in e-Marketing?
Digital Marketing Tactic
Great Moderate Poor
Email to in-house lists
50% 41% 8%
Paid search engine ads
49% 40% 12%
SEO 25% 60% 15%
Ads in enews 10% 52% 37%
Ads on web sites 12% 49% 39%
Text-link ads 30% 44% 26%
Email to rented lists 7% 40% 53%Source: MarketingSherpa 2005
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Moving Beyond the “7 Deadly Sins of Web Marketing”1. Create an active, engaging web site
that is the focal point of your marketing programs
2. Embrace the search engines: SEO, PPC
3. Target your PPC $$ on the right prospects
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Moving Beyond the “7 Deadly Sins of Web Marketing”4. Capture contact information with
landing pages, attractive offers, and forms
5. Understand e-mail technology to avoid spam filters and firewalls
6. Remember lead generation basics7. Integrate the back-end
© 2007 Telesian Technology Inc.
www.telesian.com
Shari L.S. Worthington, PresidentTelesian Technology Inc.Marketing, Web, & e-Business Services for the Technology & Manufacturing [email protected]://www.telesian.com
Author, “e-Business in Manufacturing: Putting the Internet to Work in the Industrial Enterprise,” ISA Press