Strategic Marketing Online Part II

Part II
James Shore
Anthony Verre
Absolute IM, LLC
www.AbsoluteIM.com

Read Part I Here

To continue our conversation...

WHAT IS IT? Strategic marketing intends to provide a company/brand a competitive advantage over others in their marketplace. Overall, strategic marketing is an analysis of the current market in relation to a given product, service, organization or company; which is commissioned for the purpose of implementing specific, and hopefully verifiable, initiatives to maximize capital, growth, and expand company/brand presence. Online, this equates to the building of brand awareness and, as equally important, the development of traffic to the web site.

STEP 5: STRATEGIC BUDGET ALLOCATION.

THE BANNER ADVERTISEMENTS:The question of how to allocate your budget is of obvious importance. Again, the question is where are people looking for your product, service or information? The current buzz on the online media distribution networks is their ability to provide banner ads to targeted audiences. While this may be the case, I strangely recollect reading studies conducted at the turn of the century statistically documenting the overall ineffectiveness of banners, and how most internet users ignore them altogether. The eyes quickly become accustomed to website layouts, as most are very similar, and auto-pilot filtration immediately kicks in. Integrated flash pop-outs can still be effective, but are mostly considered to be annoyances. To be straightforward, banners are worthless for driving traffic to your site. One is lucky to get even 1% click through rates on even the best websites. They do still serve a minor function in building brand awareness, but the sad truth is that we have all been so desensitized to the needy efforts of flashy graphics that they should be considered as nothing more than a peripheral adjunct to any serious online marketing effort.

SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING: The happy truth is that everyone uses the search engines, regardless of what they are looking for. One interface to find it all (whichever your favorite one may be). The magnitude of this is quite astounding, as no single information channel has held such a lofty post throughout history. Today, more than 80% of all retail transaction began with a search, and the same holds true for B2B services, Real Estate, Auto, Luxury items, etc. Even is a purchase is ultimately made locally, the research is first conducted online through the engines. Over 90% of all users find what they seek on the first page of results. This leaves only 20 available positions between the sponsored advertisements and what is known as the "organic" results, for any search term or keyword. Those 20 positions will collect 90% of the engine traffic within a matter of a few seconds. It is critical to be found on page one. Search Engine Marketing is currently defined by the two options mentioned above. The sponsored sections across the top and right column, which charge on a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) basis, and the Organic results found in the middle of the page.

SPONSORED ADVERTISEMENTS are both a blessing and a curse. PPC, as the name implies, means one click through, one charge to the account at the amount you placed your bid. One click could cost $0.10 or $15.00, depending on current market rates. As more businesses get in the game, the higher the cost inflates. I would estimate, based on usage stats, that bid-pricing increases at least 20%/year on the major engines. This translates into potentially very expensive campaigns. Companies with big budgets need not fear, as that money is far better spent online than in the dying print media industry. However, mid-sized and small businesses will find it a tougher pill to swallow. Budgetary issues aside, PPC campaigns are a fantastic avenue to get into the search engine marketing game, quickly. An account can be set up and running your ads within a few hours. From an analytics standpoint, PPC is a fantastic way to test the marketplace, find the keywords people use to not only find your products, but which drive the highest conversion ratios. Daily/Monthly spending limits are created with the account, allowing you to control how much you spend.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) - THE ORGANIC RESULTS: Organic ranking is the ultimate form of search engine marketing. Why? Because the majority of users know that the most relevant results for their search will be found in the ranked listings, not the sponsored ad sections. Organic listings receive 500% more traffic, on average, than PPC listings. There is no click-through charge, and there is an inherent sense of credibility placed on the ranked site/page by the end user. Just like "...as seen on TV" has been an incredible augmentation of authenticity in the past, online users know that the organic results display the most relevant content for their search. SEO is the process one takes to legitimately optimize your web site and web pages for top ranking in the engines. This should not be overlooked or undervalued in any competent strategic marketing online initiative, as positioning your web site within the top 10 results for target keywords is extremely valuable for the following reasons:

• Traffic Driving: the Top 10 organic results receive 5x more traffic than related sponsored ads.
• Authenticity: Studies have shown that there is an inherent transfer of credibility placed on websites chosen by the search engines to be displayed for the end-user's search query.
• Affordability: Ultimately, it is much more affordable to rank your website organically. Once optimized and ranked, you get unlimited traffic.
• SEO entails two primary processes: on-site and off-site optimization.

ONSITE OPTIMIZATION is fairly straightforward. Targeted keywords are strategically placed throughout the site, within all aspects of the content, so that it is easily identifiable by the search engines' algorithms. The search engines cannot define your site unless you do it for them. This is not a process of keyword spam, as seen in the past where uninhibited webmasters would stuff hundreds of keywords into the website in order to rank for every associated keyword in the universe. Real SEO is a strategic marketing technique that takes 5 minutes to understand, and years to master. To achieve full optimization, keywords must go in the following places:

• Page Title
• Page Header (H1)
• Page Content
• Site-wide Navigation (menu)
• URL strings
• Meta keyword field (html coding)
• Meta description field (html coding)
• Sitemap development and posting

OFFSITE OPTIMIZATION is the process of building exposure for the web site through linking strategies. This is arguably the most important factor in developing organic ranking, yet remains the least understood. Google revolutionized the search market by incorporating an evaluation of web site linking into their algorithm. All the others have followed suit. What this means is that how well your web site is linked to other content relevant sites will have the greatest single impact on your ability to rank. This includes links pointing to your site, as well as links pointing off your site to others. Ideally, links will include your targeted keyword as the anchor text - the words used to create the hyperlink. There are numerous, very effective strategies for obtaining good quality links:

• Link trades
• Link purchasing
• Press releases
• Sponsored web reviews (postings on blog and information websites)

All of these linking strategies fill two simultaneous roles. Primarily they are to be used for building search ranking. Secondarily, they are used to drive direct traffic. Some well placed links will result in actual traffic, press releases and articles/reviews in particular; however this is not the immediate objective. In the big picture, the best targeted traffic will come from the search engines, not from other web sites. The role of strategic marketing online is the same as traditional strategic marketing: brand awareness saturation and resultant sales conversion maximization. In Part III of this series, we will explore the actual implementation of internet marketing strategies that have been proven to provide the greatest overall impact online. and The mad rush to oes not have to culminate as a series of terrifying choices So, where are people looking these days? It's easy enough to point to the websites of the News Media conglomerates and other high traffic information portals, Great question. We analyze the company/brand's strengths, weaknesses, and the opportunities within the online marketplace, just like traditional strategic marketing, and then put some top-spin on it.

• Competitive Market Analysis: we analyze what your competitors are doing online and how successful they are at what they do. Chances are your competitor's success is what drove you to get more aggressive and focused on your company's online presence and success.
• Website Usability: is your site consumer-friendly? Can it be easily navigated by web professionals and novices alike? Does your website funnel users to specified goals you want to achieve? Whether this be new promotions, gathering a user sign-ups, or diving into your content.
• Content Optimization: is your content keyword and key-phrase rich? Are you targeting the most optimal words in your content?
• Traditional Media: are your traditional media campaigns being leveraged efficiently online? Are your traditional media campaigns overly-dominating your online presence?
• Search Engine Marketing Analysis: is your website set-up to receive spiders? Is your website using page title tags, meta-tags, and meta-descriptions optimally for search engines? Are you running the most efficient paid advertising campaign based on keywords your consumers are searching for? Do you have relevant off-site links and content?

We then take all of these elements and put them in a blender. Because no single element in this list will solely lead to online success, we build an internet marketing strategy which encompasses all of these factors to ensure we reach all the vertical and horizontal markets you need to be in, effectively creating a global strategic internet marketing plan.