How To Do SEO For SearchGPT

Face it: AI isn’t leaving – no matter how much we hate it. So, what can we do now? Optimizing your website for ChatGPT is increasingly important these days if you want to stay competitive. With so many people using AI for quick answers, making sure your site is friendly for these tools can boost your visibility big time. By structuring your content clearly and including relevant keywords, you make it easier for ChatGPT to pull accurate information from your site. This means more accurate and helpful responses for users, leading to more traffic to your site. Plus, having well-organized, AI-optimized content can improve your overall search engine ranking. In a nutshell, a little effort in optimization goes a long way in staying ahead of the curve. Direct Online Marketing has even launched AI Marketing Services ourselves. Read on to learn about how you can optimize your content to appear more within AI Search Results.

How To Optimize Your Website For ChatGPT…. And How To Use ChatGPT To Optimize Your Website

As OpenAI preps to launch their own competitor to Google, the concept of optimizing your website for ChatGPT or the OpenAI search engine becomes even more important. Below is our detailed information on how to do SEO for ChatGPT, whether you are a novice or an advanced web user. The most important thing to remember through all of this is:

Why should YOUR website be considered an authority?

On that note, continue on to learn more about how you can optimize your website for ChatGPT and the OpenAI Search Engine competitor to Google.

How Can I Optimize My Website? A Quick Guide

First, The Basics: How To Optimize Your Website?

“But, how do I optimize my website?” you may be asking. If you haven’t even started SEOing your website the old fashioned way, you may be getting ahead of yourself trying to understand SEO for ChatGPT and the new OpenAI search/AI system they are calling 4o.

So, let’s quickly cover How To Optimize Your Website

How Do You Do SEO For Your Website?

Optimizing your website for Google search – and other search engines – involves several key strategies that enhance content and technical aspects through updates to your site’s code, content, and structure.

First, you need to make sure your content is high-quality, relevant, and keyword-optimized. This is key!

Conduct thorough keyword research to understand what terms your target audience is using and incorporate these naturally into your content.

Use compelling titles, meta descriptions, and headers to make your content more appealing to search engines and users.

Regularly updating your content to keep it fresh and relevant also plays a crucial role in maintaining and improving your search rankings.

“How Do I Optimize My Website For SEO?” – Technical Talk:

On the technical side of things, make sure that your website is mobile-friendly and loads quickly, as these factors significantly impact your search rankings. The slower the site – the worse your traffic will be, the worse your rankings will be, and the worse your conversions will be. Speed is essential.

Implementing clean, efficient code and using responsive design principles can improve user experience and search engine visibility.

Additionally, optimize your website’s structure with a clear hierarchy and internal linking, making it easier for search engines to crawl and index your pages.

Using tools like Google Search Console can help you monitor your site’s performance and identify any issues that need addressing.

So, now that you have the basics on how to optimize your website, lets ask the big question… How Do You Do SEO For ChatGPT?

How To Use ChatGPT For SEO?

Using ChatGPT for SEO opens up new ways to streamline content creation and keyword research.

ChatGPT can generate optimized content, such as blog posts, meta descriptions, and product descriptions, that integrate relevant keywords naturally. By inputting prompts with specific topics and target keywords, ChatGPT can deliver content that ranks well while maintaining readability. Additionally, it can assist in ideation by offering suggestions for new content topics based on trending keywords or gaps in existing content. This allows marketers to develop high-quality, SEO-friendly content quickly.

Another powerful way to use ChatGPT in SEO is through automating repetitive tasks like updating title tags or generating variations of content for A/B testing. ChatGPT can create multiple iterations of meta tags, titles, and headings, enabling easy testing to find what works best for SEO performance. It also supports competitive analysis by reviewing content from competitors and providing insights on how to improve your own site’s SEO strategy.

How To Optimize Your Website For ChatGPT

How To Do SEO For ChatGPT?

AI is finally here, and it is named ChatGPT. And it’s smart. Wicked smart.

Gone are the days of AOL Instant Messenger chatbots – today’s AI is intelligent, witty, and well-read. 

Coming up in AI responses to queries, especially those from ChatGPT, is increasingly becoming a focus for SEOs and digital marketers this year. But how do you optimize your website for ChatGPT and other AI bots?

In this article, we will go right to the artificial intelligence engine itself, as well as provide some general tips for search engine optimization that can help future-proof your website for the new advancements in AI that are around the corner.

Where Does ChatGPT Get Its Data?

Currently, ChatGPT does not scour the web on it’s own – it is fed data, and it uses that data to learn. While that data IS from the Internet and many websites, it is currently out of date (it is from 2021), but it is in the process of being updated soon with current 2023 data.

When this happens, it will take the information it was fed and update its answering capabilities, including references to websites within its search and query results. 

“The training data for ChatGPT was cut off in 2021, so it is up to two years outdated as of 2023. However, it still has a vast amount of information on a wide range of topics, and its training data includes text from diverse sources such as websites, books, and articles, which provides a broad base of general knowledge. But it is important to keep in mind that some information and events that have taken place since the training data was cut off might not be reflected in its responses.”

ChatGPT

The current understanding is that if you rank well for various queries in the new set of data and the continuous flow of data following, you will show up more frequently in the results ChatGPT gives to its users.

But how can you do that?

How To Do SEO for ChatGPT

According to the prompt I asked ChatGPT in the development of this article…

“As ChatGPT is an AI language model developed by OpenAI, it is not possible to optimize a website specifically for it. However, here are a few general tips for creating a website that is friendly for language models and search engines:

How To Optimize For ChatGPT

1. Again, just like we said above – use clear, concise, and well-structured content: This will help language models and search engines understand the content on your website and provide more accurate and relevant results.
2. Utilize headings and subheadings: This makes it easier for language models and search engines to understand the structure of your content.
3. Include relevant keywords: Use keywords relevant to your content in your headings, subheadings, and throughout your content to help search engines understand the topic of your website.
4. Provide high-quality, original content: Search engines and language models prefer websites with high-quality, original content over sites with low-quality or duplicate content.
5. Make sure your website is easily accessible: Ensure that your website is easily accessible to both users and search engines by avoiding broken links and fixing technical issues.

These tips can help ensure that your website is well-structured, easily understood, and provides a positive user experience, which can improve its overall visibility and ranking in search engine results.”

ChatGPT, 7/30/2024

Sure, we believe you.

To Optimize For AI, Optimize For Voice Search

One of the clearest understandings we have regarding the information given back by ChatGPT is how much it seems to prefer natural human language, and when questions are both Asked and Answered within the content. This presents strategies akin to how an SEO or webmaster may optimize their website for voice assistants, like Google Home and Amazon Alexa. 

“Optimizing your website for AI tools like ChatGPT is crucial in today’s digital landscape. By structuring content clearly and incorporating relevant keywords, businesses can enhance their online visibility, ensuring that AI-driven platforms accurately represent their information and connect them with the right audience.” – Billy Wright, Lead Digital Marketing Strategist at Direct Online Marketing.

How Do You Optimize Your Website For Voice Search?

Here are some tips on how to best optimize your website for voice search and voice assistants.

Use conversational language: Voice search queries tend to be more conversational and longer than text-based searches, so use language that is natural and easily understood.

Optimize for local search: Voice search is often used for local queries, so make sure your website is optimized for local search by including your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) on your website.

Utilize structured data: Use schema markup to help search engines understand the content on your website, including your business’s NAP and information about products and services.

Provide quick answers: Voice search is often used to find quick answers to questions, so make sure your website provides concise and accurate answers to common queries.

Make sure your website is mobile-friendly: Many voice searches are conducted on mobile devices, so it’s important to make sure your website is mobile-friendly and easily accessible on all devices.

By following these little tips, you can help improve your website’s visibility in voice search results and provide a better user experience for voice search users.

Get more tips from our team on how to optimize for voice search by checking out this resource, How to Optimize for Voice Search.

How Do You Use ChatGPT As A Search Engine? – The Future Of SearchGPT

Will ChatGPT replace Google in the future? It’s the question many webmasters, digital marketers, and SEOs keep asking – but no one really knows what’s in store. ChatGPT has its own canned response to questions about it’s future as a potential search engine, stating, 

“While OpenAI may choose to develop other models with web crawling capabilities in the future, ChatGPT itself is not designed to crawl the web.” 

ChatGPT

For an SEO like me? That’s doublespeak for Coming Soon.

UPDATE: It did come soon.

In fact, ChatGPT Search now exists and it delivers results very similar to Google, but not the same as Google.
And guess what? You can do SEO for it….

A Digital Marketing Agency That Does SEO For SearchGPT

For more information on how you can get your website optimized with AI Marketing Services, contact us today.

Note: This article was updated January 15, 2025 to include new information including a link to Direct Online Marketing’s AI Marketing Services page.

The post How To SEO Your Website For ChatGPT In 2025 appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

This year, AI has quickly gone from “having a moment” to dominating the daily headlines in digital marketing.  

In this webinar, marketing leaders from across the world will gain a better understanding of the remarkable potential artificial intelligence has for improving their digital strategies.

Are you still waiting to open your eyes to the vast number of advantages AI can bring? Are you a marketer looking for ways to be more creative and simultaneously boost your efficiency?

AI can help you come up with more creative campaigns, enabling your business to grow with greater confidence by reaching more customers and increasing audience engagement.

It can also automate some of your tedious, time-consuming tasks. 

The right suite of AI tools can also help you make better data-driven decisions for your company.

Our experts are here to share how they are doing it, and how you can use these tools to your advantage.  

What Can You Expect To Learn In Our Webinar With Semrush

Marketing leaders and emerging professionals interested in attending the webinar should prepare to discover:

• What AI tools should be prevalent in the marketing tech stack of growing companies
• What Semrush’s research tells us about AI’s impact in all digital marketing channels
• How humans-in-the-loop are essential for a productive harmony with AI
• Ways that AI tools can improve your work and marketing strategy

Don’t want to get left behind as a marketing professional who failed to embrace the possibilities presented by working alongside AI? Then the time is now to understand what options AI can provide you to increase your creativity and simultaneously make you more efficient.

The Experts Sharing AI’s Advantages For Digital Marketing

Speaker: Fernando Angulo, Senior Market Research Manager, Semrush

Fernando has been with Semrush since the beginning of the company’s marketing efforts and has built its all-star marketing team.

He specializes in B2B search marketing, e-commerce, influencer marketing, and has trained marketing teams at companies like Expedia, T-mobile, Prestashop, and Bing.

Speaker: Billy Wright, Lead Digital Marketing Strategist, DOM

Billy is a Lead Digital Marketing Strategist specializing in SEO with a background in Local and eCommerce SEO.

He’s optimized the online personas and websites of clients from the Entertainment Industry to the Political world and everything in between.

He’s been in love with The Internet since he built his first website in 1996.

Host: Justin Seibert, President, DOM

DOM President and 20-year digital marketing veteran Justin Seibert started in the field in 2001 as a one-man digital marketing department for an LA-based firm.

In 2006, he founded DOM and has grown it into an Inc. 5000 digital marketing firm who’s worked with clients on every populated continent that is recognized by Google as one of it’s top 3% Premier Partners.

Should You Sign Up For This DOM + Semrush Webinar?

If you are responsible for leading a team of marketing pros but have yet to take the time to figure out the best way to make AI work in your department, this is DOM + Semrush webinar is one you need to attend.

In addition to marketing leaders who are done putting off the AI revolution, you may also be the right person to register if you are responsible for:

• Data-driven decision making
• Using chatbots or AI to increase your productivity
• Tasked with “figuring out this AI stuff”

You don’t want to be a marketing professional who got left behind because you failed to embrace the possibilities presented by working alongside AI. 

This webinar is scheduled for 12:00 PM EST / 9:00 AM PST on Wednesday, June 7 and will broadcast exclusively here at directom.com.

Ready to save your seat? Register here.

The post DOM + Semrush Webinar On June 7 To Share The “AI Advantage” For Digital Marketing appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

First things first: taking on a company rebrand is not a small endeavor. If your rebrand is going to be successful, then it’s going to require a significant investment of your time and resources—money, brainpower, and everything in between.

If you speed through the rebranding process or cut corners, you run the very real risk of damaging your brand image and reputation, rather than improving it. That is exactly the opposite of what you want to achieve. So, it makes sense to arm yourself with as much information as possible before starting down the path of rebranding.

Let’s make sure you’re fully informed on the rebranding process, and what it will all mean, so you’ll know you’re doing it for the right reasons—as well as putting your time, resources, and money to their best use throughout the project. If you’re fully committed to getting it right, a successful rebrand will give you a high return on investment and a boost to your company image and reputation.

What Exactly Is A Business Rebrand?

Rebranding can be defined as “the process of giving a product or organization a new image or look in order to make it more successful or attractive to prospective customers.”

And while that is all significant to the process (and a super technical definition), rebranding isn’t just about changing the logo, the color scheme, or the visual identity of a business. That is all part of the process, and there is so much more. This is a unique opportunity to re-evaluate (or newly establish) a company’s values and ethos. Then that understanding can be applied to develop an entire story and create a cohesive brand that works in harmony with everything a business is and stands for.

Considering where a business has come from, where it is currently, where it is headed, and where it has the potential to go, and then applying all of that to a new brand identity, provides an authentic picture of the company to customers, employees, and stakeholders.

Why Would You Rebrand Your Business?

There are many reasons for taking on a rebranding effort for your business. Some main reasons include:

• Your business has changed focus or direction
• Your business’s existing brand looks outdated or unprofessional
• You need to differentiate your business from the competition
• You need to appeal to a new or different customer demographic or audience
• You need to rebuild a reputation or create distance from past issues
• You want to remarket your business by showcasing a new ethos or new set of values
• Your business has experienced rapid expansion or undergone mergers

There are two types of rebranding. The first is proactive branding. This is where a company recognizes that rebranding will create an opportunity for growth or the ability to tap into new markets or niches.

Reactive branding is where the existing brand is redundant and needs to be updated and changed. This could be for a number of reasons; mergers and acquisitions, new or updated products or services, or the need to rebuild a damaged reputation.

Rebranding vs. Brand Refresh

First, you’ll need to decide whether your business needs a complete rebrand, or if you can get by with a brand refresh. Rebranding is a significant investment, so take the time upfront to consider which would work best for you, and which will have the best long-term results.

A brand refresh is just a polishing that updates, or refreshes, your existing brand elements. This is building on the foundation of what you already have established, so you’ll need to be confident that your existing brand resonates with your audiences, portrays an accurate representation of your business, and is strong enough to withstand the refresh.

A complete rebrand is much more involved. In this case, while you don’t want to lose sight of your entire brand identity or completely rid yourself of what keeps your customers coming back, it’s a serious upgrade and a major change to your company’s status quo. This is an opportunity for a fresh start that reinvigorates your business, establishes a new, fresh, and modern direction, and lets new and existing target audiences know that you care about what motivates them, and the images and messages your company is sharing.

Which one do you need? To read more about both and determine the best fit for your business, Read Rebrand or Brand Refresh? Which is Better for Your Business?

When Is Rebranding A Good Idea?

If you find yourself frequently thinking about rebranding, and considering all of the advantages it can bring, let us be the ones to tell you that it might be time to just go for it.

Consider This:

• Are you embarrassed by your company’s current branding or imagery? Do you hesitate to hand out business cards or refer people to your company’s website?
• When you look at your current branding, do you feel like it’s out of touch and outdated? If you’re still using Comic Sans on any marketing materials, deploy the branding experts ASAP.
• Are you looking to attract new customers and ensure your business stands out from the competition
• Do you want to attract fresh, dynamic talent to work for your business?
• If your answer to any or all of these questions is “yes,” it’s probably time to upgrade your business’s brand.

To understand more about the right time to rebrand, read When is the Best Time to Rebrand Your Business?

How Much Will Rebranding Cost?

Rebranding is an investment. This is not a bottom-of-the-barrel solution to your business’s problems, so it’s important that you’re mindful of this when you’re deciding how much time, money, and resources to put into a rebrand.

If you get a rebrand wrong, fixing it will cost much more in the long run than ensuring you are devoting the right amount of resources to get it right the first time.

A Solid Rebranding Strategy Will Always Contain The Following:

• Deep-dive – Researching everything about your business’s history.
• Ideation and brainstorming – Big concepts and big ideas.
• Brand strategy and roadmap creation – Cultivating messaging, positioning, and campaign objectives.
• Creative work – Turning ideas into reality.
• Copywriting – Putting the high-level messaging into carefully crafted content.

Now you can see there is a high level of work and detail that is required to carry out a rebrand successfully. The size and scope of your business will also impact your budget, as well as your reach.

Keep in mind that you are expecting a high-quality outcome as a result of this process, so the investment you put in will greatly increase the returns.

How To Successfully Rebrand

Rebranding is a journey toward discovering the meaning behind your business, and how to accurately portray that to your audiences. There are many factors you’ll need to consider when carrying out a successful rebranding. Missing one of them out could mean that the process doesn’t go as planned or doesn’t have as big of an impact as you desired.

What To Consider Before Rebranding

• A successful rebrand will resonate with and reflect your customers. It is essential to consider their needs and what they are looking for.
• Take a deep look at your reasoning for rebranding, then consider the risks and how you will minimize them.
• Everyone needs to be on board with the rebrand. Ensure you have essential buy-in from your staff and stakeholders.
• Be open to new ideas. A fresh perspective from someone else can help you see things in a new light.
• Scrutinize your existing brand and decide what works and what doesn’t.
• Decide your expected outcome and what the roadmap looks to get to that point.
• Find the right partner to enhance and expand on your creativity and execute the mission.

For more things to consider before rebranding, read 3 Important Things to Consider Before Rebranding Your Business.

Where To Start – Step-By-Step Rebranding Strategy

Now that you have laid the foundation for your rebrand, it’s time to start the process.

• Audit – Review your current brand performance. This includes marketing, positioning, perception, and business goals.
• Research – This is an in-depth analysis of the industry landscape, including competitors and consumer research.
• Ideation – Generating ideas for brand messages, visual symbolism, and business collateral.
• Strategy – Aligning marketing channels, technology, and collateral alongside your business objectives to create a cohesive strategy.
• Creative – Design and development of brand collateral, digital platforms.
• Deploy – Delivery and launch of your new brand.

To read more on starting your rebrand, read How to Kickoff Your Rebrand on the Right Foot.

Rebranding Research

You need to perform comprehensive research, otherwise, you’re just shooting in the dark. Your research will underline all of your reasons for rebranding, and will help you form the strategy you need to carry it all out.

By gathering intel on your customer base and their needs, you can easily identify your ideal customers and retain your existing ones. And getting the low-down on your competitors lets you understand why people choose them over you.

Some good ways to carry out the necessary research include:

• Gather internal data from your own business
• Carry out customer surveys
• Hold workshops and focus groups
• Obtain social media intelligence

Detailed research will help you build your brand strategy and execute it successfully.

For more information on researching, read Rebranding Research: Explore the Landscape and Develop a Strategy

Give Your Brand A Story

Storytelling is called an art for a reason. A great story captivates and inspires people, especially if it is told with authenticity and passion.

Stories surround us, from books and movies, or conversation we have with friends and family members. Stories bring ideas to life and have a lasting impact.

Your brand story sends a powerful message to your audience. It needs to be genuine and authentic, to convey and inspire emotion, and it needs to reflect the heart of your business.

Here’s How You Can Start Building Your Brand Story:

• Get to know your target audience. What are their values? What attracts them to a product or service? You should be able to visualize and describe them clearly.
• Define your core message. What overall message are you trying to convey through your story?
• Inspire emotion. What verbal and visual elements will you use to inspire the desired reaction from your audience?
• Reveal your personality. Your story needs to be personable and relatable to drive authenticity.
• Keep it simple. Try not to bombard the audience with mixed messages or an overly complicated narrative. Keep it concise and straightforward.

For more on how to tell a great brand story, read How to Give Your Brand a Powerful Story

Rebranding Tip — Involve Your Employees And Customers

Involve your employees and customers in the rebranding process, sooner rather than later.

No one knows your company better than you do but your employees are there for a reason, and they have valuable insight that can help guide the rebrand. Find out why they love to work for you, what they love about the company, and what could use improvement. They are the best way to gain a comprehensive insight on how your company values are perceived internally and how they might be getting pushed out externally.

Gather employees from all areas of the business and assign them to be your “brand champions.” Their job is to help you maintain brand consistency and relevance as well as getting buy-in from their colleagues.

Customers are your company’s life-blood, so find out what makes them loyal to you instead of your competitors. Discover what aspects of your existing brand resonate with them and use that information to improve.

Talk to them about how they feel your products or services can be improved and build those improvements into your brand strategy.

For more great tips, read Best Practices for a Successful Rebranding Campaign

Assess The Risks

No investment is completely without risk and of course, rebranding does carry a few risks of its own. But you can take steps to mitigate them or eliminate them entirely.

Some Of The Main Risks Associated With A Rebrand Are:

• Losing or alienating existing customers: By engaging your customers during the rebranding process, you can understand what they need and want from it. Listen to them and act on their feedback to ensure you maintain their loyalty. Many of us remember the unfortunate situation Weight Watchers found itself in a few years back when the brand changed its name to “WW.” None of us want to put our businesses in a similar situation with the customers we’ve worked so hard to win.
• Lacking transferability: Your rebrand might look great on paper but how does it transfer to other mediums? Television, social media, websites, video, and national advertisement campaigns all need to carry the new brand look, so you need to consider how it will transfer to these other areas.
• Breaking your web assets: We’ve mentioned this before, but it’s really important, so we’re going over it again. Moving over to a new domain and website is a big job, but customers still need to be able to find you. Ensure that all re-direct links work and take people to the right area. It’s also worth having a web page explaining your rebrand and why you did it.
• Forgetting about marketing: You’ve invested in the rebrand but have you thought about how you’re going to launch or market it? Set aside a budget for marketing your exciting new brand or it may not make the impact you want.

To read more about rebranding risk assessment, read Avoid These Common Rebranding Risks.

Potential ROI

When you rebrand, you can reap rewards that will give you a major return on investment. By getting it right the first time, there are many things you can look forward to including:

• Increased brand awareness (or brand recognition)
• Increased sales
• Increased loyalty
• Increased market share
• Lower expenses
• Higher staff retention

With all that in mind, you can’t afford not to rebrand.

To read more about the ROI of rebranding, read Rebranding ROI: Why It’s Worth the Investment.

Rebranding And SEO

SEO (search engine optimization services) is a big beast to tackle and very easy to get wrong, so it’s worth taking the time to learn how it works.

Even if you plan on hiring an SEO expert to do it all for you, it’s still important for you to understand SEO at a basic level. This will enable you to perform a few checks, maintain your website, and keep it running at an optimum level of visibility in internet searches.

Some Tasks To Help You Achieve Great SEO Are:

• Look at your website structure and simplify it. The more complex the layout, the harder it is for SEO to work.
• Keep your hierarchy (how a person moves through your website) simple and plan it early on.
• Invest in great content that keeps people engaged.
• Speed up your page loading times.
• Optimize your website for mobile phone browsers.
• Frequently review and update your site.

If you’re changing your domain name as part of the rebrand, ensure your mapping and re-routing is completed fully. If it isn’t, it will result in broken links and dead pages, which will frustrate your customers, and possibly cause you to lose them.

To read more about rebranding SEO, read How to Improve Your Website’s SEO During Rebranding.

How To Ensure Longevity

Taking the rebranding plunge is a big step. But now you know the resources and investment required to carry it out. Before you go, make sure you note one more vital aspect of a rebrand that must not be overlooked: ensuring your brand has longevity.

• Get it right: You need to craft a brand identity that stands the test of time. That’s why it’s so important to get this right the first time around. Too many changes or constantly going through the rebranding process will confuse your customers and make them question your authenticity.
• Forecast changes: Your business plans will always take forecasts into account, so it’s crucial that your brand does too. How is your business projected to change in the future? Will your brand stay true to these changes?
• Stakeholder input: Your stakeholders and customers are at the heart of what you do. It is important to take their ideas and feedback to heart while ensure you are able to differentiate between what is and is not helpful feedback.
• Brand consistency: Make sure you have a process to ensure branding is consistent across all aspects and areas of your business. Over time, staff and plans change. An established process will enable your brand strategy to stay on track and maintain consistency.

How To Choose A Rebranding Agency

Not all rebranding agencies are created equal. Choosing the right one can seem like a daunting process. Finding an agency that ticks all the boxes can be a project in itself.

You’re going to be working closely with your rebranding partner, so it’s absolutely essential that you pick one that you’re 100% comfortable with.

Here Are A Few Ways To Help The Process Along:

• Research the options and make a shortlist. Agency websites will be a great place to start.
• Review an agency’s case studies for quality of work, such as the successful rebrands we’ve carried out here at C-leveled.
• Don’t be driven only by price.
• After making contact, think about the rapport and ease of conversation. Do you feel you’re being listened to and respected? Do you like the agency’s attitude and approach to work?
• Keep a close eye on response times to calls and emails.
• Ask relevant and meaningful questions that allow you to gain a full insight into their working practices and ethos.

For more on choosing the right agency, read How to Choose the Right Rebranding Partner.

Conclusion

By now, you should have a solid overview of what a rebrand is and what it entails. By diving deeper and learning more about each area of rebranding, you can build a comprehensive strategy that will help you carry out a successful project.

Rebranding is a big decision, but this should also be an exciting time for your business. It’s your chance to take what you, your customers, and your stakeholders love about your company and transform it into an authentic and powerful message for a brighter future. Perhaps the biggest piece of advice we can give you is to enjoy and relish the process. Make this a labor of love. That way, your brand will become an accurate reflection of what you and your business stand for.

Interesting in having a conversation with an agency based in the United States so you can navigate your rebranding process with confidence? Contact us to schedule a consultation.

The post Rebranding Guide: How to Navigate the Rebranding Process appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

While I personally haven’t been a member of the PRSA since 2008 (!!), clicking around their website the last few days made one thing abundantly clear to me:

that they back up their claim as “the preeminent learning organization for PR and communication professionals.”

Why? Because there is a wide variety of events, programs and webinars they provide to those in the profession yearround.

Speaking of which, coming up this December, PRSA is hosting a brand-new, three-session virtual workshop titled “Making SEO Work For You.” The host of the event is pretty obvious, but the featured speakers include our founder and President, Justin Seibert, along with the founder of Cortado Group, Dan Bernoske.

Here’s the important information you need to know:

• Who: The PRSA with Justin Seibert and Dan Bernoske
• What: Hosting a virtual workshop titled “Make SEO Work For You”
• When: December 6, 8, and 13 from 12 PM to 3 PM EST each day
• Where: Virtually on PRSA.org
• Why: To help digital communications professionals understand how Google can be leveraged in your communications plans while also equipping them to establish KPIs that are measurable and aligned with relevant organizational objectives.

Interested in registering? Click here.

Want to learn more about what’s going to be covered in these PRSA workshops before you sign up? Learn more below.

What Will Be Covered In This PRSA Workshop?

This workshop will explain the fundamentals of search engine optimization (SEO) in a digestible format, then provide a framework for how you can build a strategic digital communications plan that supports your organization’s goals and objectives.

Led by Justin Seibert, president of Direct Online Marketing, this highly interactive workshop will cover topics such as buyer persona creation, keyword conceptualization and research, content optimization, how to build time and cost budgets, and how to gain insights into your competition.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Identify how Google can be leveraged in digital communications.
• Create an initial, workable plan that sets measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and objectives tied to organizational goals.

What Is The Schedule Of This PRSA Workshop?

Below is the currently proposed schedule for the workshop as of posting.

Tuesday, December 6

• Digital communications tactical tool kit.
  • Identifying tactics for short-term and long-term results.
• How to set measurable KPIs and objectives tied to organizational goals, and how to measure them.
  • A primer on Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and what you need to know ahead of Google turning off Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023.
  • How to benchmark the competition.
• How to select and build target audience personas.

Thursday, December 8

• Fundamentals of SEO
• A keyword research framework for determining content focus.
• How to optimize content for desired keywords.
  • Including blog posts, press releases, and web pages.
• Leveraging press coverage.

Tuesday, December 13

• How to brainstorm content to meet your goals, speak to your audience and position for Google visibility.
• Resource map creation to highlight needs including skill set, headcount, and budget.
• Advertising options to kick-start learnings and results.
• Geographic targeting options for local, national, and international.

Know Someone Who Has An APR Accreditation?

You may want to share the link to these PRSA workshops with them. Accredited PR pros who attend this workshop can earn 1.5 renewal continuing education units towards their annual requirements.

Have questions about this workshop you think only our team can answer? Drop us a note and we will get back to you in about one business day.

Hope to see you there!

The post Make SEO Work For You: Join Justin For This PRSA Virtual Workshop In December! appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Marketing masters leverage blogging, SEO, branding, and design to captivate their audience and put themselves miles ahead of the competition. But harnessing the many hands of marketing takes a little time and a lot of support. Chances are, you do everything you can to magnify your marketing and stretch its positive effects on your business. However, if your company isn’t in the business of marketing, you might not have the luxury of having a full-fledged marketing team in-house.

Your Marketing Manager might be killing it with your social media strategy, SEO, and keeping up with the company blog, but what happens when you’re ready to take your marketing efforts to the next level? This talented employee is already doing the job of three people! So it might be a bit of a stretch to assume they have the bandwidth and skills to build a new website, shoot and edit a new promo video, design an updated company logo, and so on, so forth.

When you’re daydreaming of keeping up the marketing momentum and continuing to soar in your brand awareness efforts, that dream can suddenly lead to a rude awakening when you realize the lack of marketing bandwidth available within your organization.

It is at this very moment you might consider investigating outsourced marketing services. As you should! No matter which business function or department you’re looking to outsource (marketing, IT, accounting, etc.), getting more hands-on-deck allows your internal employees to continue focusing on what they do best. All the while avoiding the pressure of being stretched too thin. You can also leverage a wider pool of incredible talent and skillsets when it comes to:

• Social Media
• Content Marketing
• Advertising
• Email Marketing
• Paid Ads
• Messaging/Branding
• Graphic Design
• Web Design
• UI/UX Design
• SEO
• Web Development
• HubSpot
• Business Strategy

Let Us Get To Work For You

What Is Outsourced Marketing?

Our workloads are ever-evolving, and there are times when we can barely keep our heads above water. Outsourced marketing is one of the smartest ways companies can expand the temporary marketing power they have under the hood. For instance, if your company only has two graphic designers working on multiple projects that require a hefty illustration workload, you could take on outside help without having to hire another permanent graphic designer. Additionally, outsourced marketing can add some much-needed skills to your teams. None of us are good at everything. So, hiring an outside agency to provide expertise in a particular marketing niche is one of the best ways to get stellar deliverables in front of your clients or customers. Outsourced marketing broadens your horizons. And it allows you to seek more opportunities with a greater project scope. Companies today are adapting to new workflows and a unique talent pool. Luckily our new ways of working have made it easier than ever to hire outside of our companies in a growing pool of freelance, contract, and agency talent. Most simply put, outsourced marketing provides the advantage of temporary and expert help when it comes to working on a variety of difficult marketing tasks.

Why Consider Outsourced Marketing?

Outsourcing marketing efforts is one of the best ways to reduce burnout while helping to maintain an intensely focused workforce. It can bring in knowledgeable new talent to provide fresh insight into your marketing efforts with more specialized experience. If your staff is struggling to service accounts during high-volume seasons, it may be the best idea to start looking for partnerships with marketing agencies that specialize in providing top-notch overflow help. This could be a much more cost-efficient option than taking on more permanent salaried positions.

In-house vs. Outsourced Marketing: Pros and Cons

What are some of the benefits and disadvantages of outsourced marketing? We’ve highlighted some of the main advantages and pain points we’ve experienced ourselves and have heard from our clients over the years.

Pros:

• Can provide specialized and dedicated relief to certain areas of your marketing plan
• Less overhead expenses and baggage than hiring more full-time employees
• Offers the increased flexibility of by-project personnel with fresh insights
• Provides calculated, expert help when you need it, with no strings attached

Cons:

• The marketing agency doesn’t understand your culture or brand as well as a full-time employee. However, with branding guides and project briefs, you can communicate your company message well.
• It can be expensive to hire a reputable marketing agency — expert help comes at a premium. But it is much less expensive than burning out your existing teams and hiring new talent on staff.

Is Outsourcing Just Working with an Advertising Agency?

Outsourced marketing isn’t just a fancy term for hiring an ad agency to take care of the creative customer-facing workload. Although marketing and advertising share a few services like graphic design and copywriting, they are different in a few major ways. Advertising agencies are very good at creating advertisements, jingles, copy, and other creative deliverables. However, they can’t provide the same benefits as a full-service marketing agency. Marketing agencies specializing in outsourced work, like Direct Online Marketing, can deploy specialists to work on email campaigns, paid ads, SEO strategy, web design, and the nitty-gritty details that advertising pros won’t touch. Marketing agencies go beyond providing the loose assets that are a part of marketing campaigns. They build strategies, monitor data, code websites, manage outcomes, and much more.

When is the Best Time to Outsource Your Marketing?

The answer to this question will be different for every company. If your teams have too much on their plates and are struggling to meet project deadlines, it could be time to consider outsourcing a particular task to a marketing agency. Here are some other key indicators that could mean it’s time to hire some outside marketing muscle:

• Your in-house marketing team doesn’t have experience in a niche specialty such as web development or email marketing.

• Your marketing team isn’t able to keep up with the workflow during a particularly busy season.

• You want to hire on a contract basis for projects to keep your company as lean as possible.

However, outsourced marketing can also help keep a consistent marketing effort year-round for companies with smaller in-house teams. The flexibility of outsourcing is one of its key benefits.

What Projects Call for Outsourced Marketing?

When your marketing team has too much work to handle reasonably, it’s time to seek out targeted relief. If you have team members working long hours on SEO and content marketing, but they don’t have the bandwidth to write a series of blogs, it’s time to outsource a content team. The same could be said for website design, UX overhauls, or almost any other time and labor-intensive project. If you aren’t seeing the kind of results you like from a project, it could also be time to hire expert marketing help from the outside. Maybe your staff doesn’t have a decade of SEO experience, and that’s okay. You can hire an outside SEO master that can show them a thing or two while boosting ROI for your business.

Is Outsourcing Cost-Effective?

Outsourcing is not only a smart play when your teams are backed up — it’s a cost-effective solution that you can use to free up your MVPs. Often, marketing agencies will package services in a way that will reduce your costs and provide a more holistic solution. This is a great way to avoid charges for any add-on items that quickly stack up. Of course, you will have a variety of cost options when it comes to choosing a marketing service. You will want to choose a company that provides quality results at the lowest possible price point, but this can be tricky. Not every outfit will be able to handle your project. Chances are, if you are the marketing department for a high-profile tech company, a small-time agency won’t cut it—as much as they would love the opportunity. It’s all about the balance of marketing aptitude and cost savings. Direct Online Marketing has some of the brightest minds in marketing working to bring you marketing solutions. We have competitive pricing for any project and work with you to provide the best mix of time and budget.

Doing Your Research on Outsourced Marketing Providers

It’s important to do your research on outsourced marketing providers to find the best fit. It’s ideal to find an agency that has worked with similar companies in your industry as they will understand some of your unique problems. Perhaps the biggest drawback to outsourced marketing is a lack of product or service understanding. You will want to make sure that if they don’t already have a rock-solid understanding of what you do, they will study up on what your company offers.

• Online searches will be able to tell you a lot about an agency. Their website should be clean, modern, and most importantly, it should include case studies and a portfolio of past experience that should impress you. However, if you are looking for a quick project fix, you might just need an individual freelance marketer.
• Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful marketing tools there is. When marketing agencies do a good (or bad) job, word gets out. Ask around for recommendations from your peers. Chances are they will be able to provide you with help they’ve used in a pinch when it comes to copywriting, graphic and web design, or any other services.
• Social media and review sites like Clutch will sometimes give you a great lead on an outsourced marketing agency. Also, it’s possible someone has already tried to reach out to you via LinkedIn or email with their services! Now could be the time to revisit your inbox to take an agency up on an offer.

Don’t make the mistake of going with the first outfit you find, unless they really are the best fit. The only way to be sure is to consult with a few companies and ensure you get the best deal when it comes to a balance of price, time commitment, and experience.

How Will You Know Good Marketing Help When You See It?

When you know, you know. Good marketing help will fight for your business and show you all the ways that they align with your project. They have all the credentials, experience, and knowledge to run with a briefing and provide excellent deliverables. A good marketing agency will have a portfolio handy of case studies that show how they helped companies like yours in the past, the end results and ROI.

What Should You Look for in an Outsourced Marketing Agency?

You should look for a marketing agency that can provide specialized services that will help you finish marketing projects as soon as possible. Often, marketing departments will come to an agency with a tight deadline. A good agency will be able to take on the project quickly and get deliverables to you as soon as possible. Turnaround times are a big part of projects. There are always drafts and redrafts and edits that need to take place to ensure a finely finished product. You should ensure that the agency you are looking at can work within your time constraints. Of course, you may need to pay a premium for a bump up on their priority list, but that can be expected.

Keeping An Eye On ROI

ROI is one of the biggest terms in marketing. Word coming from above always wants to hear about return on investment. Outsourced marketing teams can provide a better ROI while keeping costs low and providing more insight and expertise than your in-house teams originally had. An outsourced marketing team shouldn’t only be able to provide you with the results you need, they should be able to measure them and give you numbers that reflect the value of your decision. At Direct Online Marketing, we carefully measure project ROI so you can see your results in hard data and plain English. Once you find the stellar ROIs that we offer our clients, we are certain you will come to us again when your projects demand it.

Final Thoughts

Outsourced marketing can be the perfect way to free up your in-house marketing teams to perform at their peak. It is a cost-effective strategy to improve your workload while bringing extra expertise onboard to provide their secret sauce. There are a huge number of projects that are ideal for seeking outsourced marketing. If you have a large marketing department or a small in-house team, outsourced marketing can help you deliver better results faster and more cheaply than hiring on more permanent staff.

Everything You Need To Know About Strategic Marketing

Download Direct Online Marketing’s free guide full of expert, insider advice on everything you need to know about strategic marketing. Use our insight to plan for success and create a lasting impression on your audience.

Download The Ebook

The post Your Guide To Outsourced Marketing appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

That’s why brands must invest considerable time, effort, and resources into creating a solid marketing plan that employs leading tactics to boost business. Strategic marketing can help enterprises of all sizes, and across industries, differentiate themselves from the competition and provide value to their audiences and stakeholders.

Let’s dive into what strategic marketing is, why it’s essential, what trends you need to incorporate, and how strategic marketing benefits businesses (when its executed in the right way!).

CRITICAL COMPONENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN

An effective strategic marketing plan will create brand awareness, generate leads, and ultimately convert qualified leads into customers. But without the right components, your attempts to boost your business could go bust. That’s why you need to understand and incorporate the essential parts of a practical strategic marketing blueprint. 

• Market Analysis – Collect and analyze data on your previous inbound and outbound (or more conventional) marketing efforts to determine the successes and failures of those strategies.
• Organizational Marketing Goals – Make sure that your strategic marketing plan aligns with your organization’s values so that you can promote a more consistent brand image and voice.
• Target Audience – Your strategy should cater to your exact target audience. Research and create buyer personas to target appropriately, gather feedback, address your ideal customers’ wants, needs, and pain points.
• Advertising Strategy – Understand the right platforms and methods to market your products or services to ensure the maximum effectiveness of your plan.
• Monitoring and Measuring – You have to know if your strategic marketing plan is working. That happens by measuring the results. Monitor KPIs and adjust your approaches when efforts aren’t quite hitting the mark.

INBOUND MARKETING VS. OUTBOUND MARKETING: DETERMINING WHAT WORKS WITH YOUR BRAND

There’s intense competition in the marketplace, and your prospects see thousands of advertising messages every day. It can be difficult for businesses to stand out and get the attention of their target audience – but it isn’t impossible.

Marketers have two distinct pathways through which they can communicate their brand’s message: inbound marketing and outbound marketing.

Outbound marketing is a traditional approach to pushing out your product’s information to prospects, hoping that it will reach the right audience and result in sales. It does not necessarily involve technology, but it strives to create brand awareness in very little time. This might happen through conventional advertising, such as print ads or billboards.

On the other hand, inbound marketing works subtly to gain the interest of a prospect. It educates buyers and provides them value–instead of blatantly promoting products in a sea of messages. This approach prioritizes the customer’s best interests, and businesses use it to build stronger relationships with their existing and prospective customers.

Both approaches have their benefits, but ultimately, you’ll need to choose the best marketing strategy that aligns with your business goals.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ADVERTISING OF YOUR STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN

A successful strategic marketing plan includes an effective advertising strategy.

Whether you choose to use digital advertising approaches or more conventional advertising, or a blend of both, what matters most is how audiences are most likely to respond.

When creating your brand’s advertising strategy, your company’s values must be kept in mind. If it’s not on brand, your audiences definitely won’t respond. After that, determine your advertising campaign budget, since that directly influences the channels you’ll use to promote your brand.

Additionally, your budget will also determine the frequency of your ads to extract maximum ROI.

The main goal of your advertising strategy should be to gain as much exposure as possible to your target audience. The more potential customers who see your brand’s message, the more leads you will generate.

SHOULD YOU DIY INBOUND MARKETING OF HIRE AN AGENCY?

Businesses are increasingly adopting inbound marketing strategies. But it can be difficult for managers to decide if they should have an in-house inbound marketing team or hire an agency to execute their campaigns.

Our take: You specialize in what you do for a reason. Keep doing what you’re great at and leave your marketing to the experts!

GAME-CHANGING STRATEGIES FOR CONTENT MARKETING

Content marketing no longer remains an option for businesses. High-quality, original content has become a necessity for brands that want to thrive in the digital space. Content marketing has the power to increase brand awareness, attract organic traffic to your websites, and generate more leads.

The formula for a successful content marketing campaign is to post quality, consistent content through blogs, articles, social media posts, and videos or podcasts that are niche-specific and targets a distinct audience. Then, your content should be promoted through social media channels, digital advertising, and e-newsletters to make sure it’s being read and seen.

HOW TO CALCULATE THE ROI OF YOUR STRATEGIC MARKETING CAMPAIGN

If you do not measure your ROI, you don’t have a good sense of whether your strategic marketing is working. Start the process by clarifying your goals and streamlining your processes; then ensure a successful implementation and execution of your strategic marketing plan. This process is crucial to evaluate its effectiveness through campaign ROI.

Then, you can evaluate your strategic marketing campaign ROI through a simple formula.

(Sales Growth – Marketing Cost) / Marketing Cost = ROI

Add up all the expenditures and revenues for the marketing team, internal expenses, fees, and any other expenses incurred during marketing. Now subtract this number from the sales that occurred due to these marketing efforts.

There are other formulas to calculate marketing ROI. Still, those depend on specific strategic aims of the marketing campaign, such as calculating the increase in sales or determining the value of each customer’s relationship with your business.

GIVE INBOUND MARKETING A CHANCE – HERE’S WHY!

Inbound marketing helps brands enhance their digital footprint by presenting products and services to customers who are already looking for similar offers.

Inbound marketing matters for businesses. Here’s why.

• Inbound Marketing is Cost-Effective. Writing and promoting several SEO-optimized blog posts can be comparatively cheaper than a billboard ad. Research suggests that inbound marketing costs 60% less than outbound marketing methods!
• Inbound Marketing enhances your company’s reputation. Inbound marketing leverages different mediums to educate new and existing customers on why they need your particular product or service.
• Inbound Marketing guides leads through the sales funnel. Inbound marketing can help expedite and simplify the decision-making process for a potential customer, making it easier for them to ‘buy now’ or for you to follow up.
• Inbound Marketing is relevant. Inbound marketing attracts customers by providing them appropriate, timely, relevant, and informative content–rather than bombarding them with unsolicited advertisements.
• Inbound marketing offers better analytics. You can effectively analyze the results of your inbound marketing campaigns and apply that data to help you determine your next strategy.

THE ELEMENTS OF DIGITAL MARKETING

Digital marketing is a form of strategic marketing that helps businesses reach their target audience through mediums that are more effective and impactful than traditional marketing. If your company does not have a digital marketing strategy in place, you are missing out on a broad audience base.

You can take advantage of digital marketing to maximize marketing efforts through the following approaches:

• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Search engine marketing (SEM)
• Email marketing
• Content marketing
• Social media marketing (SMM)
• Mobile marketing
• Pay-per-click advertising

A digital marketing strategy that encompasses some or all of these tactics all is the ultimate way to effectively promote your brand’s products and services to a wide range of audiences.

6 TYPES OF CONTENT TO DRIVE CONVERSIONS

Content marketing is possibly the most effective digital marketing strategy for businesses. There are six main types of content marketing that you can use to engage your targeted audience and boost your brand’s image:

• Blogs
• Videos
• Infographics
• eBooks
• Checklists
• Podcasts (and then consider breaking up podcasts into a series of written articles!)

By using each of these formats, or by repurposing content across these formats in different ways, you can engage leads and boost online activity or sales for your business.

Why SEO and Content Marketing are a Perfect Match

No matter how informative and engaging your blogs are, new customers won’t be able to find you unless your content is ranking on Google. That’s why it is crucial to optimize your content for search engines with appropriate SEO tactics. The only way to attract leads is by leveraging the power of SEO for your website.

SEO and content marketing work hand-in-hand to enhance the effectiveness of your digital market campaigns. Here’s what you can expect.

• Improved user experience – Content that is easy to understand, organized, and SEO-optimized assists in converting quality leads.
• A better understanding of the audience – When you optimize your content for search engines, you are also inevitably understanding how your audience searches for you online. Figure out what pain points you need to target, and you’ll have an extremely effective content marketing campaign.
• Quality content – The combination of powerfully written content and proper SEO can help your audience access content they will appreciate.

While there is no denying the benefits, it is also important to remember that you won’t see the results of your SEO and content integration strategy overnight. Be consistent, continually refine your SEO tactics and content creation, and also keep up-to-date with the latest trends to get the most from this strategy.

HOW CAN INBOUND MARKETING HELP YOUR BUSINESS?

Businesses are deviating from traditional marketing tactics to inbound marketing since it helps them form long-term, mutually-beneficial relationships with their prospects.

But that’s not all–there are numerous benefits of inbound marketing, including:

• Value for money – It is less expensive than other outbound strategies since it requires fewer resources to execute a marketing strategy.
• Better customer relationships – By providing quality content, inbound marketing helps to generate leads that convert to brand advocates.
• Efficient analytics – It helps businesses track their marketing efforts so that they can devise an even better strategy in the future.

Traditional approaches would at-best get them one-off sales, but inbound has the power to deliver loyal, repeat customers.

DIGITAL MARKETING TIPS, TRICKS, AND TRENDS

Digital marketing can be overwhelming for businesses that are turning to it now, after working with more traditional methods for decades. Better late than never, because it is essential to embrace these new tools and strategies if you want to gain an advantage over your competitors.

These are the top digital marketing trends that you can incorporate in your company’s marketing mix.

• Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality – Enable customers to inspect and ‘test-drive’ the product before the actual purchase.
• Voice search optimization – Allow customers user-friendly access to products, services, and your website by speaking into their voice devices.
• Shoppable posts – Help your customers buy a product directly through social media posts featuring the product’s picture, price tag, and a click-through button.

Streamline your digital marketing processes with these tips:

• Produce personalized advertisements – Tailor your ads to align with a defined geographical area, age, sex, and other demographics. Remember, people like to buy when ads are targeted to their specific personality traits or preferences.
• Target Gen Z – Gen Z has the purchasing power and the ability to make your business a success. Show them how your brand aligns with their values!
• Video Integration – Videos relay your brand messages, and they also help you highlight the most promising features in a way that remains etched into the mind of your target consumer.

HOW TO CREATE A BUDGET PLAN FOR STRATEGIC MARKETING

To budget for your strategic marketing efforts, you need to consider all the costs for every marketing effort you plan on implementing. Here are some ways to maximize the budget for your strategic marketing efforts.

• Use social media to streamline your budget – Social media is a cost-effective method of marketing that can add real value to your campaigns, all the while maximizing your budget.
• Recycle your marketing campaigns – Instead of spending money on creating new promotions, you can repurpose your previous successful strategic marketing campaigns. Reuse what worked and add to it for maximum success.
• Use email marketing – Email marketing is more cost-effective and helps generates more ROI than direct mail.
• Encourage word-of-mouth marketing – Encourage your customers to share their love for your brand on social media to create engagement, which attracts new leads.
• Create quality content – To increase your brand’s visibility, you need to create high-quality content through blogs and social media, which costs less than traditional marketing.

TELLING YOUR BRAND STORY THROUGH CONTENT MARKETING

Stories help customers to relate to a brand, and when it comes to strategic marketing, businesses are maximizing on this opportunity to create content marketing campaigns that, ultimately, convert customers.

Content marketing is, by far, the best opportunity to write a captivating brand story that aligns with your customers’ values and touches their lives in meaningful ways.

Leverage different content marketing platforms and keep the following elements in mind when creating an engaging brand story.

• Prioritize audience preferences – Research what your target audience wants to read, and then convey your brand message to solve their problems effectively.
• Purposeful messaging – Your story must have a purpose behind it to show your audience that you value their time and attention.
• Include visual content – People process images faster than text, so by incorporating visual aids in your content marketing strategy, you can increase customer interaction with your brand.
• Incorporate videos – Use videos to tell your brand story and show your customers that are more than a business.
• Deliver authentic content – The digital marketplace is saturated with so many brands, so your business must create trustworthy and reliable marketing messages to reach out to your target audiences.

THE MOST COMMON STRATEGIC MARKETING PROBLEMS–AND THEIR SOLUTIONS

The road to an effective strategic marketing strategy is full of challenges that can derail your efforts if ignored. These marketing problems include generating new leads, limitations of a marketing budget, attracting the wrong customer base, intense competition, or mixing your marketing approach.

But these difficulties can be diminished by precise strategic marketing solutions that involve improving the quality and reach of your content to grow and nurture leads.

It’s also a good idea to use a combination of outbound and inbound marketing campaigns to balance the budget. Creating a specific buyer persona and appealing to the individual needs of a customer will also help you solve these marketing problems.

CREATING A STRATEGIC MARKETING APPROACH FOR 2023

Here are some of the leading strategic marketing trends for 2023!

• Improved customer experiences – Buyers are tired of traditional marketing tactics, which is why they have learned to ignore the never-ending messaging. To gain their attention this year, create more personalized campaigns that deliver high-quality experiences.
• Creating purpose-driven brands – Customers prefer brands that create an emotional connection with them–instead of bombarding them with promotional offers.
• Enhanced customer service – Responsive and efficient customer service will help in attracting and retaining your customers.
• AI integration – Artificial Intelligence provides a competitive edge. It saves costs, time, and generates higher ROI to create better customer experiences.
• Social media communities – Get micro-influencers to work with your brand instead of celebrity endorsements to build a more relatable connection with your customers.

CONVERTING LEADS WITH STRATEGIC MARKETING

Strategic marketing plays a vital role in lead generation and conversions. Getting this right means leveraging social media marketing platforms to engage customers and build your brand’s credibility.

Google Ads is also an excellent way to re-engage visitors by introducing your product ads whenever they search online.

And, another useful tool is email marketing. Email marketing plays a vital role in lead generation and conversion. Send promotional emails with a call-to-action button that appeals to the customer to take immediate action.

KEEP THIS IN MIND WHEN CHOOSING THE BEST STRATEGIC MARKETING AGENCY

Many brands are confused about how to choose the best strategic marketing agency. It is essential to understand that the right agency perfectly aligns with the values and culture of your company, and that is crucial for your brand’s success.

Before signing a contract, make sure that you can communicate your goals with them. Furthermore, you must check references provided by other clients they have worked with and assess if they are the right fit for your business and marketing goals.

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN YOUR STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN

Social media offers an effective platform for brands to build long-term relationships with their customers, enhance their brand’s image, and increase their credibility.

Social media marketing can also increase customer interaction, augmenting the effectiveness of business marketing strategies and boosting sales for a brand.

STRATEGIC MARKETING TRENDS – THE NEXT BIG THING

When it comes to strategic marketing trends, the future belongs to businesses that are invested in creating more personalized and enhanced customer experiences. This should help them establish a genuine connection and reduces client acquisition costs.

Moreover, AI and automation technology will continue to further enhance the marketing tactics this year with increased improvements in customer retention strategy.

CREATING A BALANCE BETWEEN STORY-TELLING AND SEO IN CONTENT MARKETING

By integrating SEO tactics in your content marketing strategy, you get to tell an engaging brand story that is visible to the customers who search for you online. It is imperative to strike a balance between the two to produce an effective and comprehensive content marketing strategy.

Avoid generating content that is keyword-loaded and bland. Instead, tell your brand story in a way that creates an emotional appeal with your customers to give you a competitive edge. Then, your content should reflect the values of the company and leave a lasting impact on customers’ minds.

To make these strategies work, you need to analyze and understand your audience and encourage them to engage with the brand.

DETERMINING YOUR STRATEGIC MARKETING GOALS

The success of a strategic marketing campaign requires achieving essential objectives. Here are some of the top strategic marketing goals to keep in mind.

• Increase in sales – Start working toward an increase in sales by increasing your brand’s credibility.
• Brand awareness – Promote your products and services to create awareness, which will drive more purchases and an increase in sales.
• Customer retention – A loyal customer base buys more from your business than new customers. To expand your business, you must deploy strategies to retain them.
• Web traffic – Increased traffic leads to the increased conversion rate of new leads.
• Conversion rate optimization – Improving the conversion rate through CRO programs help in enhancing a business’s revenue

COMPANIES EXECUTING STRATEGIC MARKETING TRENDS THE RIGHT WAY

Successful businesses utilize multiple marketing platforms to create a solid strategic marketing plan that actually works. Here are some brands that got it right:

• Evernote, by leveraging customer stories as a content marketing strategy to engage with their audiences.
• Nike, by producing motivational videos as part of its strategic marketing plan.
• Ford, by creating opportunities for customer engagement through mobile marketing to increase their conversion rate.
• Pampers, by creating an emotional appeal for its consumer base through social media marketing.

EXPECTATIONS VS. REALITIES IN STRATEGIC MARKETING

Businesses need to realize that not every strategy works for everyone.

Most businesses expect to come up with innovative ideas quickly – they also believe that lead generation can happen automatically when they spread awareness about their products.

What they fail to realize is that no one can reap overnight results with an out-of-the-box idea or by generating vast amounts of content on all marketing platforms. It takes a strategy to ensure the success of a brand or business.

That’s why it is crucial to invest in customer-centric strategic marketing solutions to solve the problems of their businesses.

IN A NUTSHELL

Strategic marketing helps businesses achieve their target revenues by enhancing customer experiences and ensuring consistency in their campaigns.

This definitive guide offers you in-depth guidance on how to wield the power of strategic marketing and use it to reach new audiences and boost your brand’s image.

For more advice on creating an effective strategic marketing plan that gives you a competitive edge, download our free e-book,  Everything You Need to Know About Strategic Marketing. This free resource is full of expert, insider advice on everything you need to know about strategic marketing. Use our insight to plan for success and create a lasting impression on your audience. Download it now or reach out to C-leveled today!

Everything You Need To Know About Strategic Marketing

Download C-leveled’s free guide full of expert, insider advice on everything you need to know about strategic marketing. Use our insight to plan for success and create a lasting impression on your audience.

Download The Ebook

The post Your Complete Guide to Strategic Marketing appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Over the last decade-plus since it was published, the strategies outlined here as “SEO tips” have simply become “SEO best practices,” so we have expanded the list from 9 to the more than 30 you see listed below today. Enjoy these SEO tips and good luck this season with your eCommerce holiday planning!

There are many SEO opportunities during the holidays. Taking advantage of them not only increases holiday traffic and sales, but can benefit an ecommerce store year round.

When you have a short time period, picking the correct SEO tactics are essential to being successful when you’re trying to make a last ditch effort to positively impact your holiday sales. Besides, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are coming up in a little over a month… and Christmas is less than a month away from them.

At this time of year, the time to start optimizing your shopping experience for organic searchers is NOW!

Below, we’ve compiled over 30 of our favorite SEO tips for ecommerce businesses looking to make an impact during their holiday shopping seasons.

1. Use Google Trends To Find Products With Increasing Popularity

Google Trends provides the search volume for any keyword that you enter. You can filter the results by type of search, location, time period or even a category. We recommend that you compare multiple keywords at once.

Google Trends provides a projection for how many searches Google expects over the next few months if there is enough search data. Focus your holiday SEO efforts on those keywords that tend to trend upwards at the end of the year or are trending upwards steadily over time.

Popular searches related to a specific product indicate that traffic should convert well.

2. Find Low Hanging Fruit

How many pages do you have on the second or third page of Google for top keyword terms? It may be more than you think.

For one luxury retailer that we work with, we recently found 1,200 search terms for which their website was ranking on the second or third page. By restructuring some of the site’s navigation, implementing some simple link building, and writing some unique product copy, their traffic doubled within a month.

You can start digging by using a service like SEMrush to see what pages they have identified on the second or third pages of Google.

To get an extensive list, export all the keyword phrases that sent you traffic over the last 12 months. Once you have the list, run ranking reports on those keywords. Compile the data into a spreadsheet and filter out all keywords except for those that rank between 11 and 30.

See How We Helped This Luxury Retailer
Grow Revenue By 95%
In 2 Years. 

3. Get Some Quick Backlinks From Web Directories

If you have a long list of keywords on the second page of Google, it’s time to focus your SEO efforts on pushing the rankings of those pages onto the first page. One way to do that is to get some quick links from a couple of places that allow you to add links to pages deep inside of your site.

Aboutus.org is a free authoritative website that simply wants you to put together a nice looking “About Us” page about your website on their domain. With over 770,000 inbound links according to Majestic, it carries some authority, will give you a few quick backlinks to deeper pages on your site, and provide you with a web listing on another platform you can freely control to assist your SEO goals.

Once you have your page fixed up, go here and ask them to remove the nofollow attribute from the links. If they do not approve your submission they are very helpful and will walk you through their standards. Make sure you link to your top five or ten products sitting on the second page of the SERPS.

There are hundreds of web directories out there that regularly accept listings, either for a fee or in exchange for a reciprocal link. We recommend prioritizing directories that specifically focus on the niche of your online store, but general sites like Directory Journal and Ally both allow deep links and seem to pass good link authority.

Both are also reasonably priced.

4. Get Your Products Reviewed By Publishers And Influencers

In the earlier history of online marketing, it was a very common practice for eCommerce business owners and product manufacturers to find bloggers in their niche, send them a free product, and hope that they would give it a favorable review.

Publishers needed the content. Retailers needed the coverage and mentions. And there wasn’t always a lot of budget to be spent on digital advertising… but companies could pay shipping and sacrifice a little bit of inventory in exchange for coverage.

Most of the time, this strategy worked the best if you did not ask for many specifics (such as a link), and just let the blogger do what he or she does naturally.

Today, the marketing strategy behind finding the best websites and influencers in your niche to send products to for review haven’t really changed. For instance, any site you are going to consider sending product to should have:

• A blog (or part of their site where they regularly publish content) with a strong count of followers and/or subscribers
• An active Twitter account with a high follower count
• A solid reputation on another social media platform, like Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok

What has changed? Getting influencers to market your products is now most often a “pay to play” engagement.

If you are going to engage with an influencer, make sure they can also provide you some sort of SEO benefit by having an actual website to link to your store when they do their review.

Even if they give you a nofollow link, if they are influential enough you should get traffic and links from their followers.

It’s a natural expectation that when someone popular mentions your product or website, your product and website will get mentioned again.

Interested in giving influencer marketing a try, but not sure where to get started? Check out our Beginner’s Guide To Influencer Marketing.

5. Give Something For Free To Build Some Links

People love free stuff. A cool little gift for all orders over $30 should inspire conversions as well as garner inbound links.

If you actually want to give something away for free (even if you make the customer cover shipping), you can also list your site at TheFreeSite.com with a link to the page detailing your offer.

Similar to TheFreeSite.com, there is a wide niche of free giveaway sites around the web that will pick up on your offer – especially if you support it with a press release announcement.

Before you do this, however, prepare your eCommerce store to have an abundant inventory of whatever you are offering as a freebie.

You will get links. You will get traffic. You will get orders. So make sure you are prepared to handle the order volume for free items you are going to receive.

Being prepared to handle an influx of traffic to your site and orders placed feels like one of those “no brainer” holiday eCommerce tips that many business owners give lip service too, but then find themselves overwhelmed by when they are actually faced with the benefits of a successful marketing campaign.

6. Organize A Contest Or Giveaway

Having a holiday contest or giveaway is also a great way to build some link authority. Depending on the time of year you start the contest or giveaway, you may not realize the full impact until after the holiday season. Perhaps you could give away a prize worth $100, or some high demand tech product for the “Best Christmas Morning Photo” or “Most Extreme Christmas Decorations.”

The possibilities for this are almost endless if you have the right prize at the right time of year.

The bigger the prize the more attention and links you will garner. Make sure to link to some product pages from your holiday contest landing pages to pass on the link authority built. Ranking improvements gained from links placed on pages that earn links is one of our sneaky good holiday eCommerce tips.

7. Create Custom Holiday Coupon Codes

Can you offer your customers a 15% discount? If you can, contact several coupon websites and offer them unique 10% coupons. If one of the 10% discount coupons are used, share 5% of the sale with the coupon site.

Can’t afford a 15% site wide discount? No worries – think about creating coupon codes for specific items. Even though you might not make much money on that initial sale, you can present related products or upsell during the checkout process to make a profit and increase the average order value.

True story… We bought a printer one year on black Friday below retail, and then spent an insane amount of money on the USB cords and a print server. The store we bought from more than made a profit.

But even in the event that the shopping scenario presented above isn’t something you can relate to, the links you earn from coupon sites like RetailMeNot will be worth it to your SEO efforts and send you a quality amount of referral traffic.

8. Sell Holiday Gift Certificates Through Partners And Gift Card Sites

This works much like the coupons, except you contact online stores that actively sell gift certificates. Review their terms, or work out a commission or affiliate deal to compensate them for their sales. Keep in mind, even if they never sell a gift certificate to benefit your store, they will be linking to your store and passing over some link authority.

Free awareness building is one of our often overlooked holiday eCommerce tips.

You could also approach other store owners who sell products related to your niche, but are not in direct competition with them. Ask them to sell your gift certificates and link to your site. Setting up mutually beneficial marketing campaigns like this can lead to short-term sales growth as well as long term business impacts.

9. Update Your Meta Descriptions

Do you pay attention to radio ads, television commercials, and other forms of advertising to see how big manufacturers or retailers are advertising specific products?

If not, then that might be one of the top holiday ecommerce tips we can suggest you should probably start.

If yes, then use that information to your advantage. Rewrite your meta descriptions for popular products in the mainstream media to reflect the voice and messaging they project.

Even if an online shopper is not familiar with your business, doing this can create instant familiarity, increase click through rates from search engines, and ultimately improve your conversion rates, too.

10. Create Homepage Link Lists

The homepage is usually the most authoritative page of the site. Research has shown that the further away a page is from the home page, the less domain authority and trust that page is given.

Linking to popular product pages from the home page increases their authority, trust and ranking opportunity. Here are a few ideas for product lists you should include on the home page during the holidays:

• The Best Gifts Under ($100, $50, $30, etc.)
• Our Holiday Best Sellers
• His/Her Gift Wishlists
• Trending Items
• Today’s Top Picks

11. Create Holiday Gift Guides

Why let media outlets like The Today Show or publishers in your niche get all of the traffic benefits from shoppers looking for holiday gift guides for friends and family who are “tough to buy for” during the holidays?

Instead of paying a referral fee or affiliate commission to get included in these guides, create guides like this on your own site.

Pro holiday eCommerce tips: if you already have content like this on your site from a previous year, don’t create a new one for the current year. Instead, update the original post with new products, update any mentions of previous year’s with the current year, and republish with an “updated on” date.

12. Create Detailed Pages For Your Varied Payment Options

Do you offer alternative payment methods to credit or debit cards? Keyword search popularity has greatly increased in recent years for alternative payment methods like cryptocurrency and “buy now, pay later” platforms like Affirm.

On the Shopify platform, there are over 100 payment provider integrations. It makes sense that the more payment options you can provide your customers, the more likely they are to purchase from you.

If you have a wide variety of payment options for your customers, creating landing pages on your site optimized for terms like “buy [product] with crypto” or “can i buy [product] with affirm?” will help your brand stand out where other stores are unable to compete with you.

Only Have 15 Minutes A Day To Improve Your Holiday Ecommerce SEO? Here’s A Checklist Of 20 Action Items!

1. Identify any broken internal links on your site and make sure they get updated to point to some destination.
2. Make sure all of your products and categories have at least 2 internal links.
3. Review your Google Analytics. Do you have any orphaned pages? If yes, link to those from somewhere on your site.
4. Add links to any holiday-related categories, products, and informational content to the footer of your site.
5. Audit your incoming external backlinks. Do they point to a product page or product category that you no longer sell or feature? Add redirects pointing to the most relevant corresponding product or category.
6. Check out links on your site that point off of your site. If you have any that are broken, update them to link to the correct destination (or find a new page to link to instead).
7. Sell the same product in different variations (colors, sizes, volumes) on individual product pages? Make sure the title tags for each variation indicate those differences.
8. Add model numbers, part numbers, or other specific identification numbers to your title tags so people using Google to find a product out of stock on sites like Amazon can discover the product on your site as an alternative purchase destination.
9. Use duplicated product copy on pages that feature different variations of the same item? Make sure the copy is at least 20% different on each product page.
10. Add any special offers you provide for shipping (“free 5-day shipping on orders over $50”) or guarantees you provide for orders (“100% authentic” or “free returns”) to your meta description content.
11. All images and media files should be linked to using a secure URL (https://) not an unsecure URL (http://).
12. Images linking to product or category pages? Add an alt tag to the link anchor with some descriptive keyword text.
13. Every product page or category page should have an H1 tag. If you can’t update your template, review your CMS and add a CTA to buy at the bottom of your product description or category page formatted as an H1.
14. Find content on your site with multiple H1 level subheadings? Update the second one on the page to be tagged as an H2 or use normal paragraph text.
15. Is your logo wrapped in an H1 tag in your site theme? Remove that tag.
16. Add product review schema markup to your website to showcase star ratings for your business and your individual products in search results.
17. Active with email marketing? Copy and paste the contents of your email newsletters on your site as blog content. Just make sure you update any tracking links placed by your email marketing solution to be direct internal links for maximum SEO benefits.
18. Compile reddit reviews about your top products on your site in a blog post.
19. Do you have named authors on your blog or informational content? If no, add one and include a brief author bio to explain why the person who produced the content is credible.
20. Don’t have any video content that you have created directly for your products? Find a relevant YouTube review from an influencer or an ad from the product maker and embed that into your product page.

We hope you find this list of SEO-friendly holiday eCommerce tips helpful for your upcoming planning. Interested in having an experienced digital marketing strategist review your plan for your holiday marketing efforts to make sure you meet, achieve, or exceed your goals?

Request a no-obligation consultation with one of our experienced digital marketing experts today!

The post 30+ SEO Tips for Holiday Ecommerce appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

That’s because a landing page is the first thing that your visitors see when they arrive on your website, so it’s important that it is designed to capture their attention and persuade them to take action. After all, you’re ultimately trying to drive conversions, and your landing page quality is a key part of making that happen.

But what is it that makes a landing page effective? What are the essential elements that are certain to win over your audience and drive them to action? What is the one secret to creating a powerful landing page every time?

Well, the truth is that there is no one secret. Every landing page is a totally unique case in terms of its ability to drive conversions. It needs to be tailored to the audience and the conversion goal.

But don’t panic yet. Just because there is no quantifiable hack for making your campaigns more effective, there are some general tips and landing page best practices that can help you produce the best possible results.

For instance…

Landing Page Best Practice #1: Clean Design and Removal of Distractions

The way your site looks, feels, and is structured will have a significant impact on the effectiveness of your landing page and how well it converts.

The primary purpose of your landing page should be to make it as simple as possible for a visitor to do the thing you want them to do; therefore, all elements of your page should work toward that objective. Whether it’s filling out a form, downloading a white paper, or contacting a rep, you want all elements of your landing page driving people toward taking that action.

A well-designed landing page is going to make smart use of color and design elements. You’re also going to want to use eye-catching images where it makes sense.

Button colors like red or green are said to enhance landing page conversions, but more than anything, make sure there is a clear contrast between your button color and the background. There are several different characteristics of buttons that you should test for each landing page. Experiment with color, position, and size to see which landing page layout works best for you.

Some elements to avoid in your landing page are:

• External links and buttons that direct away from the landing page
• Multiple CTAs
• Page navigation
• Links to your homepage

Keeping your landing page clear of distractions will help visitors focus on the conversion action.

Landing Page Best Practice #2: Talk About the Offer in Your Heading and Place Content Strategically

We can’t reiterate enough how important it is to make every element of your landing page focus users on the intended conversion. And the best place to start with that is the headline.

As far as general landing page best practices go, your headline should contain your value proposition. After all, it’s the first thing the visitor will see. Your headline will likely determine whether they stick around long enough to look at anything else.

Let’s say you’re a financial firm that specializes in retirement savings. You have a white paper that is filled with great tips for saving. You want people to visit your landing page and download the white paper.

A bad headline for this would be: Financial Services for Retirement Time!

A more appropriate headline might be something like: Unlock Your Retirement Potential With This White Paper

The second headline includes the desired action for the visitor as well as a value proposition for why they should do it.

For a lot of us writers out there, it’s not always easy to take a direct approach to headlines. We like to be clever and, well, more “writer-ish.” But landing pages are not the place to be clever with headlines. You want to catch attention by offering something of value, that thing being the conversion.

Some content that will absolutely need to be present is:

• The call to action (simply the most important component of your landing page)
• A headline that catches the viewer’s attention
• A unique sales proposition

Also be sure that all of the important information is visible on the upper half of the page. You don’t want the visitor to have to scroll to see it.

Best Practice #3: Use Authentic Social Proof

You also definitely want people to know that you’re the real deal. If a visitor hasn’t heard of you, they might be skeptical about your legitimacy or expertise. That’s where social proof comes in.

How many people has your service helped? How many things have you sold? Where might people know you from?

Even something as simple as a graphic of a world map with dots and numbers on it to show you’ve had customers in 14 different countries can help. It establishes your company as trustworthy.

You can even mention your social media following in there. Just put the count of your Facebook followers below the “follow us” button. Every little thing helps.

Here are some more ideas for social proof to put on your landing page:

• Testimonials and reviews. Include names, job titles, and images or portraits if you can.
• Supporting partner logos. These are especially helpful in establishing trustworthiness if your company has worked with other recognizable brands.

Best Practice #4: Keep the Form Fields Simplified

If you’re asking visitors to fill in a form, make sure that it’s a short one. This is one of those landing page best practices that gets a lot of debate. From our perspective, every second longer that you’re asking a visitor to stay on your landing page, you’re fighting the inevitable waning of their interest. Every extra field that you ask somebody to fill out decreases the chance that the form will get filled out at all.

So really think about what kind of information you need from your audience, and then keep the form to those essential fields.

Here are some general tips for keeping your form shorter:

• Only ask for what information is required
• Logically order the form so that it makes sense
• Group related information together
• Adding a question field generally improves conversion rates
• Use a single column rather than multiple columns

Best Practice #5: A/B Testing, or Always Be Testing

If you’re not making decisions based on data, you’re making educated guesses. While a lot of landing page creation is going to be based on educated guesses, A/B testing will give you some real-world data that can point you in the right direction.

Essentially, you’ll want to create multiple versions of your landing pages and test which version performs the best in real world practice. Then, you simply remove the other versions.

While A/B testing won’t tell you why people prefer one over the other, it will provide you with quantifiable numbers that show which landing page version will work best.

So what sort of things can you test on a landing page? Well, anything you want, though there are some areas that we find to be pretty useful.

Here are some tests to consider:

• Headlines
• CTAs
• Form fields
• Imagery, colors, and other design elements

You can dive much deeper into this topic by checking out our post filled with landing page optimization tips or reviewing C-leveled’s must have elements of an effective landing page.

We Can Help You Make Killer Landing Pages

Before telling you how effective we can be at helping you create killer landing pages… do you have a specific need in mind for building a new landing page? For instance, is it holiday themed?

If yes, then please check this out – 5 Ways to Make Your Holiday Landing Pages Stand Out – your revenue numbers at the end of the holiday rush will thank you!

Part of what we do at Direct Online Marketing is craft landing pages that get results.

We’ll work with you to create ad campaigns that drive traffic. Then we’ll complement those campaigns with conversion-driving designs that follow all of the landing page best practices.

If you or your business are struggling with making landing pages that meet your goals, contact us and find out how DOM can help. We’ll start you off with a free audit to identify any areas of concern in your digital marketing efforts.

The post Our Best Practices For Creating an Effective Landing Page appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Learn more about your new go-to Analytics platform – featuring insights and commentary straight from experts inside Google – in our upcoming webinar on July 14, 2022.

Maybe you’re someone who already has strong Google Analytics muscles, or you’re at least comfortable with the platform. Are you sure that there’s nothing you could possibly learn from DOM’s analytics experts?

Are you willing to bet your data on that? All of your data?

It’s not like the last few years. The moment the clock strikes midnight on July 1, 2023, your beloved Universal Analytics won’t work anymore. You’d better have your analytics ducks in a row or you’ll be staring at a whole new events-based data model.

If you just try to recreate everything in GA4 that you’ve come to expect from Universal Analytics, you’ll be missing out on a whole heaping helping of new ways to analyze about your website’s data.

Don’t you want to be ready? Don’t you want to know what you’re getting into?

From seasoned pro to analytics newbie, if you have a website or somebody up the org chart expects you to know how it works, you’d better be prepared.

Do you have a couple of hours to spend on a free Google Analytics 4 training webinar?

Can you afford not to?

If you just answered “yes” to the first question and “no” to the second, please click the banner below to get registered for our next webinar.

Regardless of whether or not you’ve already implemented GA4, are you ready to use it to provide your marketing team with meaningful insights?

You don’t have to dread the day when you need to use GA4 to get the same insights you’ve come to expect from Universal Google Analytics.

You need to invest in careful planning and strategy to get meaningful insights from your data. This upcoming webinar is the perfect starting point for you to reimagine your measurement strategy for digital campaigns.

Meet The Speakers For Our Google Analytics 4 Training Webinar:

Speaker: Dan Walsh
Agency Development Manager, Google

Dan is an Agency Development Manager at Google and focuses on supporting digital agencies and their clients to get the most out of the Google Ads ecosystem. With more than 15 years in the media industry across Fortune 500 companies as well as scrappy startups, Dan enjoys helping clients of all sizes to get the best out of their advertising investments.

Featured Analyst: Steve D’Angelo
Senior Digital Analyst, DOM

DOM Senior Digital Advertising Analyst Steve D’Angelo is certified in multiple disciplines of digital marketing and advertising from Google (including Google Analytics) and HubSpot. He has spent his entire career helping growing and enterprise companies in data-driven industries like healthcare, technology, and insurance create actionable measurement strategies so they can fully utilize their complex analytics setups.

Featured Analyst: Dana Schumacher
Senior Digital Analyst, DOM

DOM Senior Digital Analyst Dana Schumacher is a Google Analytics Qualified Individual who was one of the first hires at DOM specifically dedicated to campaign analysis. Prior to joining our team to help our clients grow their SEO and social media campaigns with greater confidence, Dana spent over a decade serving as an in-house analyst for publicly traded enterprises, eCommerce companies, and software development firms.

Speaker: Justin Seibert
President, DOM

DOM President and 20-year digital marketing veteran Justin Seibert started in the field in 2001 as a one-man digital marketing department for an LA-based firm; in 2006 he founded DOM and has grown it into a top 200 Premier Google Partner who’s worked with clients on every populated continent.

Ready To Sign Up
After Seeing The Speaker Lineup?
Click Here To Get Registered.

The post Begin Your Google Analytics 4 Training In Our Upcoming Webinar appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.

Your previous content marketing strategy is outdated. The unexpected COVID-19 crisis has thrown the world upside down while creating a new normal. The most direct impact is the drastic change in consumer behaviors and consumer expectations, which naturally calls for an updated content marketing strategy.

The Post-Pandemic Consumer Psychology

Priorities changed as our stable life shattered upon the COVID-19 crisis. Consumers are frustrated, concerned, and thus more sensitive than ever. An urgency regarding the environment and human rights, combined with recent social incidents, has driven consumers to seek different online content narratives.

For example, a recent article posted by Neil Patel illustrated how consumer focus has shifted due to the COVID-19. The graphic shows it’s clear that people are focusing more on essential categories, such as personal finance, food, and healthcare. In the meantime, interests in travel, entertainment, and B2B niches all showed an apparent decrease.

Surviving Covid-19 with Content Marketing

When face-to-face interactions dropped to a historic low, content, especially online content, is all you have to reach and stay connected to your audience. However, appropriate content marketing can do more than help your brand survive. It will be the fuel that brings you forward in this challenging time.

Getting on the Consumers’ Level

The first thing a business needs to do is to get on the consumers’ level. Try to understand what your audience is genuinely concerned about: is it your service or pricing? Accessibility and deliverability? Or the value behind your company?

There are plenty of businesses already adapting to COVID-19. We have distilleries who are now making hand sanitizer, clothing companies sewing face masks, and museums offering virtual tours.

To grow with content marketing in this unusual time, it is vital to respond to consumer needs. If something was lost due to the pandemic, recreate that experience through creative content marketing.

Balancing Optimism and Sensitivity

There’s nothing wrong with being optimistic during harsh times, but be careful not to fall into the toxic positivity realm. Denialism and escapism are typical results from forcing your content marketing strategy to focus only on the positive during difficult times.

Therefore, it is important to acknowledge emotions, sentiments, and even struggles in your content marketing strategy. Connect with your audience on a human level. Tell them that you are with them, and you understand what they are going through.

Be a part of the struggle and then thrive beyond it, together.

Update KPIs for Accurate Analytics

When the marketing environment shifts, so do KPIs and analytics. If you’ve been chasing quantitative data, now is an excellent time to shift towards qualitative ones. 

According to Meghan Keaney Anderson, VP of marketing at HubSpot, focusing on qualitative data has allowed the company to gain deeper insights on content acceptance and thus helped them to make rapid adjustments on subsequent social media content.

Adapting a content scoring system focusing on relevancy and engagement is a great way to start optimizing your content marketing ROI analytics. In the meantime, many industries, such as the manufacturing industry, are actively building thought leadership that puts a heavier emphasis on content marketing.

With Change, Comes Opportunity

Every story has two sides. With challenges, there always come opportunities. Therefore, now is the perfect time to establish a partnership with a content marketing agency.

While we are social distancing physically, don’t social distance your brand from an audience that’s more active digitally than ever. Utilize the latest technologies to stay visible and engaging with your target audience and put additional effort into SEO as people are continually searching for new information.

The world will never be 100% the same after COVID-19. Therefore, your content marketing strategy must adjust to the new normal for you to survive and thrive.

The post Adjusting Your Content Marketing Strategy for a COVID-19 World appeared first on Direct Online Marketing.