Engagement MarketingFinding, Connecting, and Converting Profitable Buyers
Evolution of Marketing
B.C. – 1950 1950 - 2000 2000 - present
1:1 1: many Many: many
The New Normal: Engagement
“Are you buying momentary attention or are you investing in a long term asset? Stop renting an audience – build one.” - Seth Godin, best-selling author
“Don’t interrupt what people are interested in – become what people are interested in.” – Jeff Lanctot, Avenue A / Razorfish
Sources of Consumer Trust
Source: Forrester Research, All Rights Reserved.
Consumers trust friends, family, & personal experience more than ads or strangers
Trust is required to acquire buyers
Trust is built through engagement
Paradigm Shift
Old Communications Model: one-way messages, brand dictates topics, infrequent distribution, no feedback, brand finds the audience (push)
New Communications Model: two-way dialogue, patients dictate the topics, frequent distribution, continual feedback, audience finds the brand (pull)
Implications for Marketers
Marketers are now facilitators of conversations
Marketers must “put a face on their brand” and learn to be personable/engaging
Marketers need to build their own platform to deliver relevant content to attract/build loyal followers instead of paying someone else to interrupt their audience with ads (thus, marketers must now think like a publisher)
Digital media is about “who” -- not “how many”
What This Means for Marketers“Business as usual” (interruption) no longer works
Implications for Marketers
Advertising alone does not influence consumer selection of product or service
Word-of-mouth referrals from existing customers is key (however, you want profitable referrals – and that means being able to identify what a profitable customer looks like)
Step 1: BrandingIt’s not what you think – and matters more than you think
Branding: What it is
Branding Basics: Positioning – what you want the brand to be Design – translating positioning into a name / logo / color Meaning – how the brand takes on associations
A name becomes a brand when people link it to other things (it is like a reputation)
Branding: Why it matters
Distinguishing your business from competitors is critical; simply touting “good service” is not enough
You must identify the one thing that makes your business unique (USP) and then become known for it
Climb off the billboard and into the community – put a face / voice on your brand and dialogue with potential buyers
Step 2: Identifying Profitable Buyers
Profile your most profitable customers, and find more of them
Customer Mix Realities
If you advertise to “everyone”, then don’t be surprised when “everyone” shows up at your doorstep (regardless of their ability to pay)
By targeting profitable buyers and connecting with them before your competitors do, you enhance your chances of improving customer mix
Understanding Buyer Personas
Demographic segmentation was invented to create stability so that groups of people could be messaged
Patient “personas” are more complete profiles than segments and reveal clues for connecting with them
Personas include: demographic, behavioral, interests, needs, channels of communication
Tips for creating personas: http://karen-goldfarb.com/marketing-strategy/21-tips-creating-buyer-personas
Identify Topics of Interest
Google Analytics: pages/topics with high page views
SEO: keyword volume
Twitter Search: keyword volume
Linked In / Facebook Groups
Survey buyer personas
Blog search
Forum sites where your personas hang out
Step 3: Engaging Profitable Buyers
New paradigm: you don’t find them – they find you
Why Search & Social Media Matter
20% of searches performed on Google each day have never been performed before (source: Google CTO)
81% of online shoppers read customer reviews prior to purchase (source: Nielson, Dec 2008)
There are more grandparents than high school kids on Facebook (source: ReadWriteWeb, July 2009)
Half of YouTube™ audience is over age 34; and online video viewing averages nearly 20 hours week (2 billion videos streamed each day)
126 million blogs on the Internet (10 billion Tweets since 2006)
Rules of Engagement
Authenticity – resist the urge to “sell” on the first date; you must invest the time to build trust and genuinely interested help the online/offline community
Transparency – you must actually participate in the conversations (instead of hiring an imposter to do it)
Relevancy - remember that you’re joining someone else’s conversation; listen first – then contribute if you have something relevant to say
SEO Ideas (online search visibility)
Tools SEMRush – competitor
word ranking Soribeseo.com Majesticseo (link value) Websitegrader.com SEOmoz.com Google ad manager
(your ads on your site) Google buzz Advanced segmentation
(Google Analytics)
Techniques Embed links in PR Avoid long URL’s 301 & 404 pages Alt text over images Tagging Interview people at
shows for your blog
Mediums for Connecting
Ranked from least-to-most time consuming: Blog (increase inbound leads by 50%) Web pages Video Webinar Case Study White Paper (shared 90% of the time) Comprehensive (complex) methodology
Make all but the most complex content available without forced registration (link sharing, SEO)
Include a compelling call-to-action (triples inbound leads)
Getting the Word Out (online)
Content Distribution Twitter Marketwire Pitch engine Flickr
(animation/illustrations) YouTube Blip.tv Scribd RSS Email Slideshare
Content Aggregation Friend Feed Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Linked In Google / Bing / Yahoo Bing Del.ic.ious
Step 4: Measure Your ResultsYou can’t manage what you can’t measure
Typical Metrics
Financial Campaign ROI Customer LTV CPA
(cost/acquisition)
Behavioral Buyer Actions
Response rates Email/RSS opt-in Seminar attendance Inbound calls Requests for
information RFP/RFQ Referrals Testimonials
Bringing it all TogetherTransforming your marketing from interruption to engagement
Go-to-Market Process
Contact
Steve Patti; (210) 201-3246
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/stevepatti
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @socialexposure6
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