This page is still being written and will ultimately continue to evolve as eMarketing technologies and methodologies do – digidude
What is holistic eMarketing?
Holistic eMarketing is the nirvana of any and all eMarketing professionals, it is a campaign that isn’t just a broadcast campaign but instead a journey. A journey that the brand begins and that picks up followers, commentators, and contributors along the way with a number of them becoming fans of not just the brand but also the journey!
It employs a well planned eMarketing strategy that encompasses all aspects of eMarketing from creative to media placement, analytics and even outlines campaign optimisation methods for the lifespan of the campaign.
It’s when all aspects of eMarketing come together in synergy to create the ultimate sales tool. One that says what you want to as you want it to, that can be 100% tracked and supply actionable feedback to optimise and increase top of mind awareness and achieve the goal of an ever improving marketing ROI.
One keystone element to effective eMarketing is that of the ‘conversation’ which you will see quite a bit if you scan the web on the topic. This concept of the conversation is that eMarketing, unlike the one way broadcast of traditional marketing, is more than just telling people about your oraganisation, products, services etc… eMarketing is about initiating a conversation in which all participate and foster a long standing relationship through understanding of each other’s needs and wants. It creates loyalty and trust and in the best circumstances makes your market promote you!
Analytics is the base of eMarketing
Without analytics you are wasting your time!
If you don’t have web analytics tracking your website or eMarketng initiatives you must have been hiding under a rock for a couple of years because one of the best (if not the best) web analytics tools, Google Analytics, has been free for years. Google Analytics allows for just about every digital marketing initiative to be tracked… especially when it comes to conversions (leads, sales or actionables) from your website or landing pages. Drop me a line if you have issues getting your free analytics account setup.
Web analytics allow for anyone with a website to track visitors to the website and gather a whole lot of interesting information ranging from where users come from in the world (geographically), what content they like, how they find the site, what keywords they use in search to find it and much more… Advanced configuration allows for tracking results that you can define such as clicks from within emails or on banners that lead users to your website and user segmented results allowing for in depth analysis of a specific group of users of your website.
One of the simplest examples of using the data from web analytics to optimise your website is that of assessing what screen resolution the bulk of the users of your website are using in order to ascertain if it’s time to redesign the layout of your site to take up more space. This example is on the design/usability front but there is so much actionable data from web analytics that is crucial to a successful eMarketing journey.
Your website as employee of the month
I tend to think of a website as the employee of the month if not the millennia. Why? You ask… well put simply it tends to only say exactly what you have told it to say to its users. A website that is well planned, professionally designed, contains comprehensive information and strong calls to action can outperform even your best sales rep because it’s tapped directly into a network of billions of internet users.
Today more advanced websites don’t only say what you want but through the incorporation of user feedback (in the form of blog comments or feedback web apps etc.) allow for your users to speak their mind which although this sounds like marketing suicide can have the complete opposite effect through effective management of the conversation. (see Online Reputation Mangement [coming soon])
Your website is the hub of your eMarketing journey and as such needs to have the right ingredients to draw users in, engage with them and lead them to take the action you want. Via the implementation of website analytics you can gather valuable information about how users interact with your website and use this info optimise it. This means that your website should be developed in such a way that it can be modified without requiring a complete re-build.
Because the majority of internet users find the websites they are looking for via search engines it is imperative that your website be optimised for search engines. Effective Search Engine optimisation (SEO) from the start can lead to masses of free traffic for your site.
Search
Search is a fundamental building block of any eMarketing campaign and can be harnessed in two key ways:
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)There are a number of elements within a website that search engines look for which aid it in understanding the websites relevance to specific search terms. These elements, although crucial to the success of a website, are often not even present on websites as very few web designers fully understand the importance of these and the resulting listing within search results pages (SERPs).Even basic search engine optimisation can have dramatic effects on a websites positioning/ranking within search results.
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM)Paid advertising on search engines which normally takes the form of Pay Per Click (PPC) text adverts within search results.When you search on Google you will often see three prominent links at the top of the search results page and then a row of results down the right of the page on a box called “sponsored Links”, these are paid for adverts.
PPC search campaigns can be up and running with top placement within search results in minutes whereas traditional search engine optimisation relies on search engine indexation which could take weeks.
The Google AdWords search marketing solution allows for penetration of the majority of the search market in most countries and has a number of campaign targeting and optimisation features that allow marketers to target their ads to search users in their specific target market.
There are a number of other considerations around search that will be discussed in more detail throughout this site but one basic thing to understand is that most major search engines although very advanced technologies have some very simple points of initiation. For instance major search engines don’t just find a new website on the internet automatically – you have to submit it to them and whilst you are at it there are sure to be a stack of local and industry specific directories and search engines that you could and should list your site on. (Let me know if you need a hand with search and directory submissions)
I really love email marketing because it creates a direct dialogue with users who generally want to hear what you have to say, and when I talk about email marketing I am not just talking about newsletters and mailing lists I am talking about every email you send.
Modern mail server technologies allow for the branding of every outbound email from your organisation with specific messages and even a succession of messages where the mail server sees that the recipient has seen “offer 1” and it’s now time to send “offer 2”. The potential of this is phenomenal as all marketers know it’s easier to garner more business from existing clients than from new prospects.
Email is direct and can be made personal with minimal effort and put in the simplest terms GETS RESULTS!
MORE OF eMARKETING TO COME….. (Including online advertising, social media, WebPR, Online Reputation Management etc.)
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