SPOTLIGHT: Unraveling Your Marketing Mix Mysteries

by Mark Smith Spotlights

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Sherlock Holmes possessed an inimitable ability to quickly scan a crime scene rapidly, see beyond the obvious and, through his famous deductive reasoning, discover the truth of what had transpired.

What if you had Holmes-like capabilities to crack the mysteries of your search advertising performance? Analytics can help.

As I describe in an article on MarketingProfs, “Five Ways Google Analytics Turns You Into the Sherlock of Paid Search,” basic analytics like those you get with Google AdWords show you how effective your digital marketing efforts are in driving traffic to your website or landing pages.

That’s elementary. Using a dedicated analytics application, you can uncover the behaviors of visitors once they reach your site, providing you with valuable clues about how well your paid search campaigns are working. In other words, you discover the campaigns that turn browsers into buyers.

Read “Five Ways Google Analytics Turns You Into the Sherlock of Paid Search” to learn more.

Donning a checked cap, curved pipe in hand, is optional.s

SPOTLIGHT: Marketers, Learn How to Hit a Mobile Target

SPOTLIGHT: Marketers, Learn How to Hit a Mobile Target

by Mark Smith Spotlights

CommPRO LogoMany action movies entertain us with thrilling chase scenes. We dodge and weave along with the heroes and villains as they leap from a galloping horse to a speeding vehicle – or from vehicle to horse. We marvel at their prowess in hitting that moving target.

As marketers, we need to acquire or develop a similar ability to hit a moving target while operating at high speed. In our case, that “movement” comes not from stallions and V8 Mustangs, but from mobile devices.

Now that the volume of searches conducted on mobile devices has overtaken those on the desktop, marketers must understand the driving factors such as video consumption, the customer experience and content presentation. What’s more, marketers need to know how to apply analytics to improve their ability to reach their target audiences while they’re on the move.

These are the points I covered in an article on CommPRO, “Before Shooting for Video Marketing Success, Learn to Hit a Moving (i.e., Mobile) Target.” Unbuckle your seatbelt and jump over there to learn more.

SPOTLIGHT: Think before Leaping

by Mark Smith Spotlights Video

Chief Marketer logoRight now, in some industries, paid-video search campaigns are hotter than the spark trail of a soaring Roman candle. Several factors are driving digital marketers to explore paid video – from the increase in competitiveness and cost of traditional paid search to the huge growth in mobile viewing.

There’s no question that savvy marketers can capitalize on the opportunity to capture new and larger audiences with video marketing campaigns.

But are they right for you and your business?

In an article on Chief Marketer, “Think Before You Leap Into Paid Video Search,” I suggested three ways you might proceed with paid video:

  • Wait for the right time for you and your customers
  • Proceed slowly and cautiously, at a pace that avoids major gaffes
  • Run campaigns as quickly as possible; the Internet moves so fast any mistakes will be behind you quickly

Without knowing more about your organization’s goals, I can’t advise you on which strategy is best for you right now. However, I can – and do – offer guidance on how you can evaluate which approach to take. Check out the article on Chief Marketer and leave a comment below with your thoughts on the value of paid video search.

Knowing What to Look for to Improve Digital Marketing in Retail

by Mark Smith Analytics Retail Analytics Spotlights

The-Marketing-ScopeYou’ve created a new digital marketing campaign for one of your products, complete with several ads that are driving traffic to a spiffy new landing page. You need a strong conversion rate to boost this quarter’s sales.

Is it working? How can you tell? If it’s not performing as well as you hoped, do you know what elements to tweak? And since mobile devices are now driving more than half of online searches, what is the on-page experience that visitors encounter when they hit your new landing page? Do you need to make different changes for your mobile visitors than people viewing on desktop computers?

In the fast-paced, quarter-to-quarter world of retail, this is a very real scenario. Eric Vidal, Editor & Chief Content Officer of The Marketing Scope, joined me to talk about “Why Digital Marketing Analytics Is Important for Retail Sales.” This video is part of the “Marketing Mash” series produced by Vidal.

We talked about how to use analytics to spot when something is going right, or maybe when something is going wrong. Once you understand what to look for and how to use that information, you can take action to optimize your campaigns from end to end.

Understanding How Retailers Can Use Analytics to Optimize Their Digital Marketing

by Mark Smith Analytics Retail Analytics Spotlights

The-Marketing-ScopeIn 2016, global e-commerce sales are expected to eclipse $1.1 trillion, according to leading consulting firm A.T. Kearney, with annual growth of 15%-20%. When the money is that big, you can bet that competition for wallet share in digital marketing will be stiff.

A competitive advertising space can drive up costs rapidly, so retailers need to make sure they are using analytics fully to optimize their digital marketing campaigns. When you dive into any analytics package, even free ones such as Google Analytics, the options can get complicated and overwhelming quickly. However, understanding the basic key performance indicators (KPIs) and using them correctly can help you optimize your website and improve conversions, which in turn boosts your digital marketing ROI.

I sat down with Eric Vidal, Editor & Chief Content Officer of The Marketing Scope, to discuss “Why Digital Marketing Analytics Is Important for Retail Sales.” This video is part of the “Marketing Mash” series produced by Vidal. We talked about how to understand what you’re looking at when you open your analytics package then, more importantly, how to use the data to optimize your website and drive more conversions from your digital ads.

Best Practices in Applying Analytics to Digital Marketing Campaigns for Retail

by Mark Smith Analytics Retail Analytics Spotlights

The-Marketing-ScopeThe retail industry depends heavily on digital marketing, and consequently, that makes online advertising very competitive. The online marketplace brings additional challenges that don’t exist in the brick-and-mortar world. Products, prices and even competitors change rapidly, sometimes by the minute.

To have any hope of achieving a positive return on advertising expenditures, online retailers must analyze what is working and what isn’t. While most digital marketers have an analytics program, such as Google Analytics, in place, more than half of them aren’t using analytics effectively.

These issues were the focus of a conversation I had with Eric Vidal, an Editor & Chief Content Officer, on this episode of “Marketing Mash,” a video series produced by The Marketing Scope. Watch the video, “Why Digital Marketing Analytics Is Important for Retail Sales,” to learn some best practices in applying analytics to digital marketing campaigns.

Using Analytics to Improve Digital Marketing Performance

by Mark Smith Analytics Spotlights

TargetMarketingMany digital advertisers use Google AdWords to manage their online campaigns. While that is an excellent starting point – and one that we believe helps clients optimize campaigns – it has limited use beyond telling you how someone arrived at your website.

What happens after they arrive? What pages do they visit? How long do they linger and read or watch your content? Where do they get lost or abandon your site?

Those are the types of valuable insights you can gain from an analytics application like Google Analytics. I cover this in “How to Use Analytics to Improve the Performance of Your Digital Marketing Campaigns,” which originally appeared on Target Marketing (May 21, 2015).

If you can learn what works to find and convert prospects, you can optimize your campaigns to find more of them and stop spending money on people who aren’t your target audience.