An Internet Marketing Optimization Primer

Internet Marketing Optimization

Michael Myles, M.B.A.

Active Internet Marketing

mike@activeinternetmarketing.com

@activeim

What is Marketing Optimization?

“The analysis and improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of

marketing.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_optimization

Why Optimize?

•Avoid Wasting Your Advertising Spend•Faster Growth• Improve Scalabilty

The Customer Buying Process

Consideration

Establishing Criteria

Research

Customers

The Customer Buying Process

The process through which they decide that there is an issue that needs solving.

Research

The Customer Buying Process

Now that there is an established need, your prospects will determine what features and services they want in their solution.

Establishing Criteria

The Customer Buying Process

Your prospective clients are now to the point where they are looking into which possible vendors meet their criteria.

Consideration

The Customer Buying Process

Customers

• When your prospects pass through the Consideration phase, they are no longer prospects… They are customers!

The Website Marketing Lifecycle

The Website Marketing Lifecycle

Attract

• Visitors to Your Website

The Website Marketing Lifecycle

Connect

• Visitors into Connections

The Website Marketing Lifecycle

Close

• New Business

The Marketing Optimization Process

Test

Test Your Hypotheses and Analyze Results

Adapt

Modify Your Marketing Process

Auto

mate

Identify and Implement Automation Opportunities

The Marketing Optimization Process

Test

Test Your Hypotheses and Analyze Results

The Marketing Optimization Process

Don’t test everything all at once.

Test one page element at a time.

The Marketing Optimization Process

This test looked at how button color changed conversion rates.

The red buttons increasedConversions by 21%

The Marketing Optimization Process

Adapt

Modify Your Marketing Process

The Marketing Optimization Process

Update template to use the red button CTA

The Marketing Optimization Process

Automate

Identify and Implement Automation Opportunities

The Marketing Optimization Process

Create and automatically send an email to Top of Funnel connections promoting the new landing

page.

Testing and User Feedback

A/B and Split Testing

How to Test

User Feedback

What to Ask

A/B and Split Testing

“An A/B test involves testing two versions of a web page — an A version (the control) and a B version (the variation) — with live

traffic and measuring the effect each version has on your conversion rate.”

https://www.optimizely.com/ab-testing

A/B and Split Testing

Don’t End Too Soon

How to Test

Wait for statistical significance before making any decisions or declaring a winner.

A/B and Split Testing

Include User Feedback Insights in Your Tests

How to Test

Use the words that your market uses, and craft offerings that meet their needs.

A/B and Split Testing

Test Big Changes for Big Results

How to Test

Make big changes to your message, imagery, and layout to see big changes in your marketing results.

A/B and Split Testing

Always Test Against a Control

How to Test

Make sure that you are always testing your new marketing against the existing to ensure that your data is reliable.

A/B and Split Testing

Prioritize Your Tests

How to Test

Find those tests that try to improve upon the marketing pieces that have the most potential for benefit to your business.

User Feedback

• Website Design

• Website Copy

• Sales Pitch

Understand Your Market to Guide:

User Feedback

What to Ask:

What did you come here to do?

An open ended question to broadly discern what your market expects from your website.

User Feedback

What to Ask:

Were you able to find the information you were looking for?

A ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ question that let’s you know how well your website is meeting your visitor’s needs.

User Feedback

What to Ask:

If you did not contact us today, can you tell us why not?

A freeform question that gives you information on the reasons your visitors aren’t converting.

Testing and User Feedback

Takeaway Tips

• Use the Words Your Market Uses by Gathering User Feedback• ABT – “Always Be Testing” to Continually Improve Your

Marketing

Create a Plan

Set Your Goals

Document Value Proposition

Define Your Market

Create a Website

Setting Goals: Financial KPIs

How profitable is your marketing?Return on

Investment

How qualified are your leads and how likely are they to close?

Cost per Acquisition

How targeted is your traffic and how well have you crafted your messages?

Cost per Lead

How effective are you at generating traffic?Cost per

Visit

Setting Goals: Conversion KPIs

How trustworthy do you appear, and how qualified is your traffic?

Purchasing Actions

How credible is your content, and how valuable does your market perceive it as being?

Communication

Actions

How sharable and likable is your content?

Engagement Actions

Setting Goals: Other KPIs

How well are you choosing topics and delivering content.

Average Time on

Site

How much attention and exposure is this content generating for your business.

Total Traffic

How effectively are you establishing yourself as a thought-leader.

Total Inbound

Links

How well does your content match your visitors interests.

Total Read Time

Setting Goals

Your goals should include the KPIs that are important to your business, with a

deadline.

“Goals help you channel your energy into Action” – Les Brown

Your Value Proposition

• What Problem are You Solving

• Why Other Solutions Don’t Work

• Why Your Solution Does

Your Value Proposition

“Healing addiction with a truly green treatment experience.

Other providers do not offer a truly green treatment experience because they are located in cities polluted by technology and machinery.

We are truly green because our facility is located in the backwoods of Mississippi, where there are no modern amenities of any kind, at all. Ever.”

Define Your Market

Make sure that you are communicating the right message to the right people.

Analyze Your Current CustomersAnalyze Your CompetitionAnalyze Your Product/Service

Create Buyer Personas

• The Way They Interact with Your Business

• Attitude

• Behavior

• Likely Motivators

“A Single Fictitious Person that Meets the Averages of a Group”

Segment Your Market On:

Create a Plan

• Each Goal Should have a KPI and a Deadline

• Create Value Propositions for Your Business and Individual Features

• Look at Your Customers, Competition, and Services to Define Your Market

Takeaway Tips

Create a Website

Four Types of Pages

Four Types of Pages

Thought Leadership Pages

The pages that generate the majority of the organic traffic to your site, and also establish credibility with your target audience.

Branding Pages

The pages that communicate your brand message to the visitor.

Conversion Pages

Any web page on your website that is dedicated to simply generating conversions.

Post-Conversion Pages

The pages that a visitor lands on after they have converted.

Attracting Visitors

Content Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Pay-per-Click Search Marketing

Display Advertising

Email Marketing

Social Media Marketing

• A Stronger Brand

• More Organic Traffic

• New Business Relationships

• New Market Insight

The Benefits

A Tactic for Branding

Social Media Marketing

What to Test• Post Types

• Post Content

• Ad Creatives

• Landing Pages

Social Media Marketing

What to Measure• Standard KPIs• Total Communication Actions• Total Engagement Actions• Total Traffic

Social Media Marketing

What to Measure• Social Media Metrics • Total Read Time• Total Inbound Links

Pay-per-Click Marketing

• More Sales

• More Connections

• Instant Traffic

The Benefits

A Tactic for Direct Response

Pay-per-Click Marketing

What to Test• Keywords

• Ad Creatives

• Landing Pages

Pay-per-Click Marketing

What to Measure• Standard KPIs

• Return on Investment• Cost-per-Acquisition• Cost-per-Lead• Conversion Rate

Pay-per-Click Marketing

What to Measure• Pay-per-Click Metrics

• Average Click-Through Rate• Average Cost-per-Click

Display Advertising

• A Stronger Brand

• Top-of-Mind Recognition

• Remarketing (No longer allowed for addiction treatment)

The Benefits

A Tactic for Branding

Display Advertising

What to Test• Colors and Imagery

• Value Proposition and Offering

• Calls-to-Action

Display Advertising

What to Measure• Standard KPIs

• Return on Investment• Cost-per-Acquisition• Cost-per-Lead• Conversion Rate

Display Advertising

What to Measure• Display Advertising Metrics

• Average Click-Through Rate• Total Traffic

Content Marketing

• More Sales

• More Connections

• More Organic Traffic

• A Stronger Brand

The Benefits

A Tactic for Direct Response and Branding

Content Marketing

What to Test• Headlines

• Topic Choice

• Layout and Design

Content Marketing

What to Measure• Standard KPIs

• Total Communication Actions• Total Engagement Actions• Total Traffic

Content Marketing

What to Measure• Content Marketing Metrics

• Total Read Time• Total Inbound Links

Email Advertising

• More Sales

• A Stronger Brand

• Top-of-Mind Recognition

• More Traffic

The Benefits

A Tactic for Direct Response and Branding

Email Marketing

What to Test• Subject Line

• Sender Name and Address

• Email Body

Email Marketing

What to Measure

• Email Marketing Metrics• Click Rate• Open Rate

Attracting Visitors

Takeaway Tips• By Using Multiple Channels, You Amplify Every Channel

• Plan Your Website Structure Before Beginning Work

Connecting with Your Visitors

Landing Pages

• For Lead Generation

• For Click-Through

Types of Landing Pages

Landing Pages

Landing Pages

• What do you want them to do?

• Why do you want them to do it?

• Where can they do it?

• Who should do it (Persona) ?

• How should they do it?

Define the Objective

Calls to Action

• Design

• Copy

• Placement

What to Test

Calls to Action

What to Measure• Conversion Rate

• Click-Through-Rate

The 3 Types of Actions

How Your Market Connects with Your Brand

Purchasing Actions

• Phone call

• Form requesting a personal response

Communication Actions

• An E-book, whitepaper, or other download

• Blog and newsletter subscriptions

Engagement Actions

• Time on Site, Depth of Visit

• Facebook Likes, Tweets, Becoming part of your Google Circles

Connecting with Your Visitor

Takeaway Tips• Landing Pages Should Segue Smoothly from the Ad

Creative

• Limit Pages to a Single Call-to-Action

Nurturing Leads

Turning Connections into Sales-Ready leads

The Lead Nurturing Funnel

Match Your Marketing to

the Visitor and Where They are in the

Buying Process

Top

Middle

Consideration

Establishing Criteria

Research

Research (Top of Funnel)

Still determining if there is a problem.

The Warning Signs of Drug AbuseE-Book

Social Drinking vs Alcoholic BehaviorInfographic

Are You Addicted Self-AssessmentQuestionnai

re

Example Content

Establish Criteria (Middle of Funnel)

Looking at ways to solve the problem.

The Effectiveness of Equine TherapyE-Book

Top 10 Reasons CBT WorksInfographic

What is Holistic TherapyE-Book

Example Content

Consideration (Bottom of Funnel)

Looking at providers that meet their criteria.

Why Choose United States TreatmentE-Book

Packing for Treatment ChecklistChecklist

Our Philosophy at United States TreatmentE-Book

Example Content

Measuring Lead Nurturing

• Communication Timing

• Communication Frequency

• Content to Funnel Stage Mapping

• Lead to Funnel Stage Mapping

What to Test

Measuring Lead Nurturing

• Standard KPIs• Total Acquisitions• Total Sales Ready Leads

What to Measure

Measuring Lead Nurturing

• Lead Nurturing Metrics • Funnel Completion Rate• Avg Time in Funnel• Funnel Stage Completion Rate

What to Measure

Nurturing Leads

• Automate the Promotion of Content that Matches the Lead’s Funnel Location

• Don’t Call Leads Until They Are Out of The Lead Nurturing Funnel

Takeaway Tips

Sales Ready Leads

The end of the Website Marketing Lifecycle.

The beginning of your internal sales cycle.

Questions?

Michael Myles, M.B.A.

Active Internet Marketing

mike@activeinternetmarketing.com

@mylesmg