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The word “cohort” can be scary to those unfamiliar with the term. It may sound like something out of a medical journal or statistics class. But, I promise you, there’s nothing to be afraid of. And, if you’re a marketer, it’s pretty important to understand cohorts if you want to get into and benefit from marketing analytics. So, what is a cohort? Wikipedia defines it as:
Pretty simple, right? And, if you’re one those left-brained people who love to analyze data, then cohorts are perfect for you. Cohorts are frequently used in studies to compare groups of people. They’re useful because, in a cohort study, you track the cohorts over a period of time to see what kind of data each one brings. To use one of the examples from above, you could study truck drivers who smoked between age 30 and 40 compared with those who didn’t smoke at all and/or those who smoked earlier or later in life. You would then look at various test results for each cohort and compare the data. Now, we’re not going to be talking about truck drivers who smoked. Since we’re marketers, we’re going to run through how we can apply cohorts to optimize our marketing. We’ll also examine a couple of tools that offer cohort analysis. How Can Marketers Use Cohorts?There are literally hundreds of cohorts marketers can create. But, the question here is not how many they can create. It’s which cohorts will produce the most insightful data. When thinking about which cohorts to track, ask yourself these questions:
Here are three cohorts marketers may find useful: 1. Signed Up / Purchased, Organized by TimeYou’re a marketer, so it’s critical for you to deliver leads and signups to your sales team. Create a cohort that tracks people who visited your site and signed up. You’ll see when they first visited your site and how long it took them to sign up after their first visit. This can essentially tell you if your marketing campaigns lead people to take immediate action. Let’s break it down. The new year begins, along with your new marketing campaign. You’ve spent the past 2 months planning it, designing it, and setting targets. Now it’s prime time, and you’re ready to see how it performs. Your campaign runs from January – March. You get 100k visitors to your site, and your signup rate during this time remains at .5%. You start a new campaign in April. Fast forward a few months, and you’re looking at a Cohort Report. You’re viewing the people who visited your site and signed up. For the people who visited your site sometime in the period January – March, you notice a slight increase in signups in the months following. You see that 1.0% of the people who visited your site in February came back in June and signed up. This means that the January – March campaign was more effective than initially thought. As marketers, we often expect people to sign up right away. In our minds, we think they come to our site and either sign up or don’t. But the truth is, it’s not that binary. It’s not a yes or no at that very moment. Sometimes it’s a “wait and see.” People might visit our site, browse around, but then not sign up until later. This is why it’s a useful cohort. Signups don’t always occur right away, and a cohort reporting tool can track signups over a long period of time. 2. Your Most Loyal CustomersEvery marketer wants to acquire customers. But, as we know, not all customers are created equal. Some spend more than others, and some may require more “help” than others. There are also customers who sign up for your service and cancel a few months later (which doesn’t help your Cost to Acquire a Customer (CAC)). Most important, there are customers who sign up, stay engaged with your product, and tell their friends about it. You need to know who these customers are, where they came from, and how you can get more of them. With a sophisticated Cohort Report, marketers can create a cohort of users who frequently login, and then they can segment (aka group) those users by the marketing channel they came from. Here’s a way to think about it: Your marketing challenge is finding loyal customers. You have no problem delivering signups, but 80% of them cancel their accounts after a few months. What about the other 20%? Where do they come from and how do you get more of them? This is where a Cohort Report can help you. This is the Kissmetrics Cohort Report. It’s one of the best places to get this kind of data. On the left, we see the marketing channel users came from. Move to the right, and you’ll see how well each channel performed. The darker the shade of blue, the higher the login retention. With this information, we can see which channels are sending us the most valuable customers and then spend more money and energy on them and less on the ones that aren’t delivering. 3. Repurchase RatesEvery business needs loyal customers. That includes retail stores, SaaS companies, subscription-based companies, you name it. They need customers who come back and make purchases on a recurring basis. There’s no getting around it. So how do you, as a marketer, find and acquire these loyal customers? Use a cohort. Here’s what you’ll want to do: Find the people who have repurchased. This can be for any business, but let’s use e-commerce as an example. Then segment the purchases by product categories, marketing channels, or marketing campaigns. Here’s what you’ll learn:
The Value of Cohorts for MarketersAs you can see, there are many insights you can gather by grouping people together and tracking their behavior over time. Each business and marketing challenge is unique. I’ve listed a few ways marketers can use cohorts to help optimize their marketing. But your challenges are unique, and only you will be able to create cohorts that garner valuable insight. Where to Get This DataThere are two tools we’ll focus on that provide cohort reporting. The first is Google Analytics and the other is Kissmetrics. Let’s start by examining Google Analytics. Google Analytics Cohort AnalysisGoogle Analytics has a feature called Cohort Analysis. Here it is: You have four choices in setting up your cohort analysis: Cohort Type Cohort Size Metric Date Range Underneath these options, the Cohort Analysis presents the data visualization. Users can see how well the cohort is performing over time. The bottom part contains the raw numbers and the retention afterward. The darker the shade of blue, the higher the percentage (i.e., better retention). The Cohort Analysis is still in its early stages. Some of the more advanced things you’ll want to do may be a little more difficult to set up in Google Analytics. It is, of course, free and does not inherently come with support. You can get support through a partner. Kissmetrics Cohort ReportThis report is one of the most customizable out there. You can track any event and property across a custom date range. Using this report, you’ll be able to measure how your marketing campaigns are performing and refine them based on the data. The report’s usefulness can also extend beyond the marketing department. Here are a couple of other departments that could use it: Product Team
Sales Team
Here’s a video demo of the Cohort Report: If the video embed is not showing up, you can click here to view the video on the Wistia page. RecapWe’ve gone through a lot. Here are the takeaways:
See How Cohorts Can Impact Your MarketingWant to learn how the Cohort Report can help you optimize your marketing? Request a personal demo today! About the Author: Zach Bulygo (Twitter) is a Content Writer for Kissmetrics. from The Kissmetrics Marketing Blog http://ift.tt/1N4I5mA via http://ift.tt/1k9TeBg http://bit.ly/2VcbRje
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http://bit.ly/2KVT73H We all know that no user is the same. Aside from the very basics such as age, gender, socio-economic background and so on–every person differs in their life experiences, interests, and preferences. Since this is the case, why do Marketers continue to use the same tired methodology to reach a diverse customer base? There are lots of excuses: Little man power, not enough resources, and of course—time constraints. But, with today’s technology, customization, segmentation and individualized targeting can be done efficiently without utilizing too many resources. The importance of individualized messaging for your website cannot be overlooked. After all, there is a strong psychological basis behind the practice. This generation has seen tremendous breakthroughs in terms of promoting the interests of people on a personal level and while it has proven tremendously advantageous in the social arena, it has also lead to higher expectations in terms of customer experience, marketing and sales. People want their needs to be met right here, right now. As a result, your messaging needs to be in tune with your users specific problems, provide viable solutions and give them maximum bang for their buck in terms of information provided and personal appeal. In other words, your users don’t want to feel like they are being spoken at. Instead, they want to feel valued as an important part of a community. In order to arrive at the information necessary for individualized website marketing to be successful, you should first consider analyzing your users accordingly. DemographicsUser demographics tell you who they are on the most basic level. This includes information such as age, gender, socio-economic level, location, profession, education level, and marital status. In certain marketing contexts, these elements would be extremely important to note. For example, if you are creating a landing page meant to increase your jewelry sales, it would be a bad idea to target single people about buying your jewelry as a gift for their spouse. Not only can this be a slap in the face for some, but it also makes people subconsciously feel discluded from your brand’s messaging and by extension, your community as a whole. To avoid such disasters, you can obtain your users’ demographics in a few different ways. First of all, your website should always be set up to be a two-way conversation. This way, you can casually ask users this information either through conversation or asking them to fill out a short survey. Some great survey tools include SurveyMonkey, Typeform, and Zoho Survey. Using surveys is highly beneficial since you get the personal information you need while simultaneously empowering your customers and showing them you care about being relevant in their lives. If surveys don’t cut it, use analytics tools such as Google Analytics Demographics Report along with Facebook Insights. Additionally, products such as Demographics Pro and Quantcast are able to easily provide great insights to classify your customers. To demonstrate how demographics can make significant impact on a Marketing campaign, check out this great infographic about using demographics for social media marketing: As you can see, by gaining knowledge of which social media sites are more popular based on age, income, and other factors, marketers are better equipped to decide which social media campaigns to use where. Obviously, the same type of information can be used for websites in general in order to run the right campaigns and write appealing website content. Psychographic SegmentationPsychographic segmentation digs deeper. This type of data focuses more on people’s lifestyles, behavior, and belief systems. While this type of information is more difficult to attain, it is by far the most valuable way of appealing to your customers. Going back to the psychological level, appealing to a person’s intrinsic, emotional beliefs is generally extremely effective. For example, you can appeal to a targeted segment of say– young mothers based on the ideal of providing quick, healthy meals that children love. In contrast, the exact same message will likely not be a significant core belief of a college aged male and will therefore fail to make a deep impression on his buying habits. Selling people on beliefs and lifestyles rather than products have been a key strategy in marketing for years. As seen in the ad below, Tiffany and Co. builds an emotional connection with their audience by connecting the emotion of love with their brand. Through this strategy, they as a brand resonate with individuals that identify with this emotion. At this point, it is important to note that connecting emotionally is not the only way to utilize psychographic data. Often times humor, hobbies, and other motivations are just as effective – if not more so. Check out this landing page by Awesometalk for example. Its messaging is simple and funny, while making a valid point which almost everyone can relate to. While the data needed to come up with messaging that resonates with your target audience can be obtained through surveys, keyword searches, and your previous effective content – in order to put the values into practice for your marketing efforts, you need to put these beliefs into words. So design landing pages, content, and social campaigns that communicate such themes and messages, and watch your users grow to love your site. Prior PurchasesDeriving information about previous buys can help you gain insights on the types of products and services that interest a particular person. For example, if a person has previously bought a new comforter for their bed, they may be interested in buying pillows as well. Therefore, using website features that sell complementary products or services can make your customers’ lives easier. Even prior to purchase, you can give your customers smart options. Many ecommerce sites such as Amazon show similar products that others have looked at so users can compare products and make a purchase. Thankfully, there are a variety of tools and plugins that will allow you to instantly install this intuitive sales feature. For example, Retail Rocket specializes in real-time ecommerce personalization and product recommendation based on previous purchases and products that have been clicked on. By installing features such as this, your users feel that your site understands their needs and cares about their ease of use. Eventually, this will lead to increased sales and greater customer loyalty. Previous BehaviorEach browser’s behavior online can show you a lot about their interests and what information is relevant to their lives. Answers (or lack thereof) to email newsletters or taking into account what they’ve clicked, Liked or read on your website can help indicate an individual’s interests and/or place in the buying cycle. Heatmaps such as Crazy Egg as well as Google Analytics In-Page Analytics can show you where your customers are clicking, scrolling, and reading, which can help you get a feel for how to best approach them. Obviously, if you see on a heatmap that a person has already watched a demo of your product, they may be more inclined to purchase than someone who is just reading your blog. However, if you notice that a user is constantly coming to your site to read blogs posts on growth hacking, writing more content on the topic and informing them about that content could give that user an extra push. In addition, getting information about the searches your users are making and how they arrived at your site can help you to figure out messaging that is tailored to their needs. What’s Next?So now that you have gotten all the data needed to understand your customer’s needs, how do you actually follow through with your site’s customization? Here are some tips: Individualize Your Newsfeed, Updates, and NotificationsThere’s a reason people keep coming back to Facebook– and there’s no reason your site can’t capitalize from their understanding of targeted website marketing. They came up with the newsfeed so people get a glimpse at what’s happening in their friends’ lives. They then altered the newsfeed and notifications according to their users’ preferences and stories they wanted to see most. The same with Netflix – each users homepage is different. Each user sees different suggestions and recommendations based on their previous viewing history and ratings. You can do the same. Think about installing updates and notifications based on the type of content specific users want to see. For example, if you have users who repeatedly read content related to growth hacking, display those stories in a special section and ensure they get notifications when a new story on that topic goes up. You can also employ a comments section where your users can converse amongst themselves about topics that interest them. In this scenario, user’s conversations about growth hacking should also appear on this individual’s newsfeed so he or she is instantly informed and can participate in the conversation. Targeted Landing PagesAs we have established, your users interests vary. Therefore, creating landing pages that appeal to specific keywords and niche subjects is a great strategy for reeling in segmented audiences. Landing pages work great because they bring people to your site based on specific interests. For example, you may have users that love gardening. To bring them in initially, you would place an ad about growing beautiful flowers on a different site, targeting these specific individuals. Once the ad is clicked on, they get to an entire page elaborating on how your product can help make a beautiful garden. This eventually guides them to perform a specific action. So now that we know why landing pages are great for targeting users, here’s how to write one that is sure to convert: First decide which key messages, subjects, and topics are most relevant to various user-types. Then develop short, concise headlines for each topic along with information that elaborates the main points of what you can offer your customers. Make sure there is one call-to-action in order to ensure users are more likely to actually follow through with what you want them to do. Finally, design it, and watch it do its magic. For further guidance, check out Kissmetrics’s comprehensive guide to creating an effective landing page. Power to The PeopleAs we mentioned earlier, your users are not interested in a one-way conversation. They want to feel you are open to their suggestions, input, and knowledge. Therefore, adding a comments section or another area where your users can communicate and discuss ideals is a great way to make them feel you geared their site to fulfill their needs. Not only does it help them to use your site for a social means, but it also helps them to solve their problems and share their beliefs in a manner that is both educational and informal. Of course, since nothing is more individualistic than voicing an opinion, so by installing such features, you are definitely scoring points with your users. Individualized ContentLike many sites, your content might cover a variety of different topics. However, not all of these topics have the same meaning to everyone. This is where individualized content comes in. By guiding your users toward information that’s of specific interest to them, you provide them with useful intellectual tools that are relevant to their lives while also enticing them with more reasons they should continue to visit your site. To take this to the next level, install tools that suggest new content to read at the bottom of each article. This way, you get greater loyalty and user retention by keeping their interests at heart. Get PersonalFinally, don’t be afraid to take your site to a personal level. Allow your users to have usernames pictures and even gravatars. This way, they can feel they are talking to real people on the other side of the screen and feel that their comments are being noticed and attributed to them. Individualizing your site is extremely important for creating personal relationships with your users. Your users want to feel that they are valued as people and not just as potential leads. By paying attention to their individual characteristics, you grab their attention and make them feel like a valued, dynamic member of a community. About the Author: Nadav Shoval is the CEO & Co-Founder of Spot.IM, an on-site community that brings the power back to the publisher. Prior to Spot.IM, Nadav has developed and founded 4 technology startups. Spot.IM is his fifth venture. Nadav is a technology erudite and a sports addict. from The Kissmetrics Marketing Blog http://ift.tt/1Lk9sso via http://ift.tt/1k9TeBg http://bit.ly/2KVSY09 As fellow analytics fans, we’d like to ask for your feedback in a short 15-question survey. Not surprisingly, it’s about analytics tools and what you as marketers need the most from your systems. We promise this is not entirely self-serving. Not only will the results inform the topics we consider for upcoming blog posts, we’ll share the results with you as soon as they’re in. After all, what’s the point of insights if you don’t share them? Participate in the survey here: http://ift.tt/1L2FVBt And of course, sound off in the comments with any stream of consciousness thoughts on analytics tools, data exhaustion, how marketing budgets are determined, and so on. About the Author: Maura Ginty is the VP of Marketing at Kissmetrics. from The Kissmetrics Marketing Blog http://ift.tt/1RepcMz via http://ift.tt/1k9TeBg http://bit.ly/2VigpV8 As a marketer, you’re always trying to move the needle in the right direction. Everyday you work to increase conversions and nudge visitors towards action on your website. That’s why we built Engage, where you can create notifications on your website to increase conversions and move the needle in the right direction.. Marketers around the world are using it to convert inactive users into valuable users. Engage optimizes every interaction on your website and does not require IT or design resources. After you install the JavaScript code on your website, you can optimize every conversion goal on your website and launch without IT or design resources. Today’s infographic outlines what Engage is, how it’s used, and why it’s the best CRO tool available. Click on the infographic below to view a larger image: Want to display this infographic on your site?Watch a DemoWe’ve created a video demo for Engage: You can also learn more about Engage on our website. Get Started With EngageReady to harness the power of Engage? Click the button below to request a demo of Kissmetrics! // About the Author: Zach Bulygo (Twitter) is a Content Writer for Kissmetrics. from The Kissmetrics Marketing Blog http://ift.tt/1OEgMzs via http://ift.tt/1k9TeBg http://bit.ly/2KW7Qvd Online retail sales are growing by the day, with U.S. revenues already exceeding $300 billion in 2014, a figure expected to double by 2018. The steady annual rise in e-commerce revenue and scope seems unstoppable, but what does that mean for those old barriers that once held back many from converting online, mainly personal information security? As you may have deduced, these figures hardly represent the full potential of online and/or mobile consumption. Google changed their algorithm to favor sites with secured URLs, and a MarketWatch survey found that security is the leading barrier to conversion amongst users, with only one third stating they do not shop online in fear of personal data breach. Moreover, in a different survey a staggering figure of more than 80 percent of U.S. shoppers who searched for a product online expressed interest in finding products nearby — indicating that there’s still a strong preference for shopping in person, but also clues us into a very basic level of mistrust in both the online presentation of items, and more importantly a hesitance to input personal information. High profile user data hacks such as the one eBay faced in 2015 do more to deter already-fearful Web users from handing over their details. It almost doesn’t matter how quickly and effectively the company dealt with the breach, or how much (if any) damage was incurred by the users whose data was leaked. Establishing or recuperating trust is one of the main barriers to conversion from existing and future consumers. This is doubly true when it comes to lesser known, new, or online-only retailers. The fact of the matter is, if you own, operate, or promote a website, your information — and your users’ information — is exposed to a certain level of risk. While not all businesses can afford to enlist a team whose role would be to monitor their site’s cybersecurity, it may be beneficial for you (as a web marketer professional) to consider training someone among existing staff to deal with security at least at the basic level. As business owners, we all know we get a myriad of “lookie-loo leads” — prospects that are just price shopping with no intention of ever committing — and there are dozens of reasons why a potential client would legitimately say “no” to your proposal. Even when dealing with a site that’s been found relatively secure, you or your potential client may be soon parting ways due to the failure of showcasing efforts to secure data. Read on to learn how you can polish any site’s security to improve consumer trust and ultimately, revenue. This post covers how to use security as another piece of your sales funnel and as a pitch to prospective clients. Some NumbersWhen conjuring up an image of a hesitant online user, we often think of the elderly. After all, relative to the younger crowd, they’re likely inexperienced in completing Web tasks, and generally used to doing things a certain (offline) way. Yet, according to the MarketWatch survey referenced above, the fear of personal data being possessed by malicious sources is most prevalent among the 35-and-older crowd, which is probably a much younger cut-off than you anticipated. Moreover, it’s not as though everyone younger than 34 is completely comfortable with sharing and managing information online. In fact, two thirds of consumers say they believe they will fall victim of a data breach in the coming year, and the same percentage say they’re more worried about their information in cyberspace now than they ever were before. Finally, there’s one new and important factor making nearly all online consumers uneasy: fear of breach is common in all age groups when it comes to completing purchases on mobile devices — a figure we should be mindful of in light of the steady increase in mobile usage for e-commerce purposes, reaching nearly 40 percent of all online sales in the U.S. on Black Friday 2013 alone. While barriers to conversion are virtually endless, security is one that’s consistently cited by Internet users as a deterrent from completing online purchases. If you own or promote a long-established giant retail chain with well-distributed brick-and-mortar stores and an online store, your reputation is likely doing more than half of the work. If the above doesn’t apply to you, below are some tried and true tips that are essential to strengthening a site’s security. Audit and Take ActionAs with all journeys, the road to safety begins with one major step — figuring out where you are on the safety spectrum. This step should be as thorough as possible; consider involving one or more professionals who can closely examine the site and assess it as whole. Depending on the size of the company, these professionals can either be one-time consultants or full-time team members paid to have their eye on the ball at all times. The following three areas are where you’ll most likely find security gaps during your inspection, so focusing on them is a great start:
Don’t Keep Security a SecretPreventing a potentially financially devastating attack is an end in and of itself. Studies have found that prominent trust signs, such as conspicuous SSL layers actively boost customer trust and thus positively impact sales. Any reputable site should display trust signs proudly, including accreditations, encryptions, and verifications. These symbols subconsciously — but powerfully — indicate to clients that the business is serious and concerned about their online safety, helping them feel comfortable completing a purchase or handing over precious information. It shouldn’t end there, however. Consumers know security is also in their hands, so any help provided to them in order to understand how to protect themselves online is beneficial and works to establish the site as an authority on online security — not a bad place to be. For instance, you can be more transparent by giving clients access to their stored account details and teaching them about the importance of having a unique password by raising the minimum level of complexity; making real time automated recommendations. When all parties are well informed about what constitutes as unsafe behavior and make a conscious effort to be safe, it’ll make fraud easier to detect. Stay Ahead of the Next AttackUnfortunately, hackers are just as sophisticated and creative as cybersecurity experts. For site owners, this means living in a never-ending arms race where an attack may always be just around the corner. Assuming your client is already keeping their security software consistently up-to-date, their best bet to stay safe is to test the network occasionally by running cyberattack simulations. This can be carried out by a cybersecurity professional, and it should be a regular protocol — especially before important sales or promotions when system overflow may make data more susceptible to real time attacks. In severe cases, Google may dole out a manual action and send an alert to Web Master Tools (Search Console), indicating that the reason for the penalty is Malware or third party hacking. Though often enlightening, periodic attacks should not be relied on as the only measure of site security on an ongoing basis. The best way to monitor suspicious activity is by setting up real-time alerts and consequences for suspicious activity. Depending on the niche you’re dealing with, that could mean denying registration or checkout completion for any of the following cases: a foreign IP, multiple attempts at registration / login / checkout completion, suspicious telephone number input (e.g. 111-111-1111), multiple identical orders placed, or if an order is placed that differs greatly from typical new client projections. By being able to identify these behaviors real time, you could stop attempts at fraud in their tracks. You’re on your way to becoming an online safety expert. Use the above information as a starting point, and lay the foundation for advanced cybersecurity. It can and will pay off in revenue and trust. Once you become aware of the risks that loom, you may be surprised to realize how many close calls you and your clients have had — and how effective security measures need to be. About the Author: Asher Elran is a practical software engineer and a marketing specialist. He is the CEO at Dynamic Search and founder of Web Ethics. from The Kissmetrics Marketing Blog http://ift.tt/1Vms1vo via http://ift.tt/1k9TeBg http://bit.ly/2VgDLdT Content marketers beware:
What’s a content hub?If you were to search the phrase “content hub” and begin scouring the results for its definition, you may get confused fast. The term gets thrown around quite a bit and is interpreted in various ways. The definition for “content hub” we’re going to use (and the proven approach I’m going to tell you about) is: A content hub is a destination where website visitors can find branded, curated, social media, user generated, or any type of content related to a topic. You might think… Isn’t that a website? Or isn’t that a blog? It could be. However, a content hub is generally smaller than a website and bigger than a blog. The best ones—and I’ll show you examples—are microsites or branded resource centers published to help visitors find the information they seek in the form they prefer. 6 benefits of content hubsIt’s awfully hard to create a sustainable business today if you’re not pulling people into your website. It’s your main medium—your connection center. Is your website magnetic? A value-packed content hub is your best bet for creating a digital media magnet. Let’s examine the benefits (as explained in a blog post and free ebook about content hubs from ScoopIt) 1. AuthorityOnline buyers put their trust in authorities. Consistently publishing trustworthy content is a proven route to building thought leadership and is amongst the most important benefits of hosting a stellar content hub. 2. Visibility and trafficSucceeding with search, the largest source of traffic on the web, calls for having great content. Search engines index billions of pages and are very good at determining the quality of content on them. If you want traffic, you need your content hub to be a collection of attractive pages. 3. EngagementYour website could be ultra-magnetic, but not all that successful. Great sites do more than generate traffic; they inspire engagement. Content hubs foster engagement (as in reading, sharing, signing-up, trying, buying, attending, and so on) more than sales pages ever could—or can. 4. ControlSocial networks are ever-changing and the changes don’t always benefit members who rely on them for content distribution. Traffic on your content hub is far more meaningful because you control the experience. You tailor the experience. Your objectives come first. 5. LeadsContent hubs enable you to generate leads and sales. When visitors find value in the information you offer, they’ll invest more time there. You’ll create opportunities to “feed the funnel” with tactics such as lead capture, progressive 6. Marketing insightsYour content hub will give your company detailed analytics reports. The metrics you’ll gather inform your content creation team as to what does and doesn’t excite readers. With more insights into what users deem valuable, you’ll become a more effective publisher. House a more appealing media mixYour hub can be 100% blog-based, but a diverse media mix—from a variety of sources—will raise the bar and appeal to a wider range of media consumers. A content hub is a flexible forum where you can publish whatever you like (or more importantly, whatever your audience likes). The media mix may include video, audio, infographics, slides, articles, papers, or any digital media. Your hub centralizes all that you publish to provide its visitors a more interactive and valuable experience. Content may be:
Content hubs look sharpContent hubs often take a cue from websites like ultra-popular mega-hubs on the social web such as Pinterest and SlideShare. They’re presented “tile style” or magazine-like. They’re highly graphic with a simple structural form, which makes them easy on the eyes and easy to skim. Content hubs usually present social media share stats at a glance, which tends to promote sharing. Create an effective content hubContent Hubs Are Here: The Secret to a Long and Prosperous Life in Publishing, a recently published eBook from ScoopIt, reveals important details for creating a killer content hub. Here’s the short version. Establish objectives and a mission statementGet your marketing and sales leaders together to agree on the primary objective. Prioritize secondary objectives and document them. Document a content marketing mission to clearly articulate:
Create a publishing planAssess your prospects’ needs—The foundation of your editorial plan is to create content to deliver the answers to your prospects’ questions. Examine the competition—Dive into the content your competition delivers to determine how you can do things better or differently. Audit existing content—Closely review existing assets such as email, FAQs, presentations, webinars, RFPs, case studies, research, sales pages, and brochures. Look to find what might be revisited and turned into helpful articles, blog posts, infographics, videos, eBooks, podcasts, etc. Tap search and social—Focus on things your target market does and says online. Try the following:
Hire the right talent—Consider hiring a content strategist to take the lead and a managing editor. Hiring freelancers is a practical strategy to fill voids, round out the team and maintain a steady publishing schedule. With a content hub, a single person with editorial skills may be capable of writing, editing and curating content to manage all your needs. Design an attractive hub—Your content hub should be user-friendly and smartly branded. Bring a graphic design professional onboard to give your content hub a branded look and feel and serve its audience well. Create promotion plans—Make distribution and promotion part of your plan from the get-go considering paid, earned and owned channels. Get the tools you need—To host a content hub, you’ll need a couple of tools:
Feeling like toast?I should now confess (or disclose), I wrote the ScoopIt eBook I’ve mentioned a few times. In it I wrote a dedication to every content marketer who feels like toast. See, every day thousands of companies join the content marketing parade and thousands more bail. Do you know why? They don’t have the resources to stay the course. Like most, they understood if they consistently published the valuable content readers actually want to read, watch, listen to and look at, the content marketing dream would be realized. And like most, after awhile they’re toast. Burnt. You don’t want to suffer the same fate. Consider creating a content hub and populating it regularly not only with blog posts or homegrown content, but with curated, user generated, co-created and various types of media your prospects find relevant and useful. Want to learn more about content hubs? Content Hubs Are Here features a detailed explanation of the ingredients of a killer content hub and 13 examples of the hottest content hubs on the web. About the Author: Barry Feldman operates Feldman Creative and provides clients content marketing strategies that rock and creative that rolls. Barry has recently been named a Top 40 Digital Strategist by Online Marketing Institute and one of 25 Social Media Marketing Experts You Need to Know by LinkedIn. Visit Feldman Creative and his blog, The Point. from The Kissmetrics Marketing Blog http://ift.tt/1gUCS1W via http://ift.tt/1k9TeBg http://bit.ly/2KROYh3 Editor’s Note: For any issues or questions regarding the law, please contact an attorney. Marketing can be extremely beneficial for your business. It consolidates already-existing client relationships and builds new ones. However, there are several key legal issues you need to be aware of before you start contacting customers or potential customers. The three main legal areas you need to consider are privacy and data collection, intellectual property issues, and rules and regulations of the FTC and other consumer protection bodies. Let’s begin by looking at privacy and the online collection and storage of data. 1. Privacy and Data CollectionIt may seem simplistic to point out that before you can send marketing emails or messages, you need to collect the contact information of your customers or potential customers. Yet, the actual process of collecting the information is far more complex than it seems, particularly if you’re trying to collect it in a legally compliant manner. Laws and Your Privacy PolicyMost jurisdictions around the world have privacy legislation in place that requires you to notify people before you collect their personal information. This includes someone who is already a customer, although the UK has some slightly more permissive laws for people who have already purchased something from you. In the US, there is no overarching privacy law that applies to the collection of data, but California has a piece of legislation that covers online privacy – the California Online Privacy Protection Act (OPPA). It requires that you need to disclose:
If you have an online store or if you’re marketing to people online in the US, you’re quite likely to have customers or potential customers in California, so you should take care to comply with this law. The easiest way to comply is to set up a Privacy Policy on your website and require your customers or website users to agree to it when you collect information from them. To make sure your customer’s or user’s agreement will stand up legally, use a clickwrap method. A clickwrap method is where your customer or user has to click “I Agree” to your Privacy Policy in some way. This could be when they sign up to receive your marketing messages or when they make a purchase on your website. Here’s an example of what a clickwrap method looks like: In this example, the customer or user is required to tick the box to agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of The Weather Channel before they can receive the newsletter. Security and Cloud StorageIt’s also important to reassure your customers that once you’ve collected their information, you will keep it secure. Your users need to feel they can trust you. You can show them you are trustworthy by informing them about how you will protect and store their information. Take a look at this example from Google that lists the protection mechanisms they have in place: One simple way to protect customer privacy when you collect information is to use security mechanisms such as SSL. SSL means that the connection between your website and the user’s browser is secure when data is transmitted. Ensure that any websites you use with your customers have SSL enabled. Another potential security issue is the storage of customer data. A popular way for many online businesses and marketing companies to store data is to use cloud storage providers. To reassure your customers that you are keeping their data safe, always choose a reputable provider. And, preferably, choose a reputable provider within your own jurisdiction. This is because some jurisdictions have legal requirements that data should either not be transferred out (or must be accessible even if it is stored overseas) or should be transferred only to jurisdictions with similar legal protections for the data in place. If you overlook this fact and store data with a cloud storage provider in another jurisdiction that has inadequate protections, you may be in breach of your local laws. If you use a cloud storage provider, you need to ensure that your Privacy Policy and/or your website Terms of Use cover the situation in which a cloud storage provider has a privacy breach and your customer data is released. Here’s an example from Amazon of that type of clause: You can see that the clause limits Amazon’s liability and includes no liability for loss to any files. You want to ensure that you are not liable if a third party (the cloud storage provider) has a data leak. To maintain customer trust, use only reputable providers and be transparent about whom your customer data is stored with. How to Comply
2. Intellectual Property IssuesThe next legal issue to consider as a marketer is intellectual property. First, you want to protect your own intellectual property, such as trademarks and copyright. Second, you want to ensure that you don’t infringe on the intellectual property of others. Let’s take a look at the main types of intellectual property protection you may need. TrademarkIf you are sending out marketing emails or contacting people with flyers or advertisements, the first thing you will need to protect is your brand or logo. Registering a trademark gives you the exclusive right to use a specific word or words, name, design, or logo in connection with specific goods or services. It is valid for 10 years and is renewable if certain requirements are met. Before you register yours, check that you are not infringing on anyone else’s trademark and that your logo is not too similar to someone else’s. The easiest way to do this is to have your lawyer check whether your proposed mark is similar to any other marks. The lawyer will search an intellectual property register, namely the US Trademark Database. They may also search international registers or registers in other jurisdictions, depending on how broadly you plan to market using your mark. You can search the US Trademark Database yourself, but an intellectual property lawyer will have a better idea of what you need to search for. Sometimes you need to search for the same trademark in multiple categories of goods; for example, a trademark that you want to register for marketing relating to a supermarket roadshow may come under categories relating to food, alcohol, other beverages, supermarkets and retail stores, marketing, and many more. When you’re ready to file your trademark application online, in the US, you can use the Trademark Electronic Application System. CopyrightIf you use original marketing language on your website or text in emails, you may want to copyright that text. Copyright relates to authorship of original works, including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, architectural, and a broad range of other works. If you work with any third parties who write your marketing copy or text for you, ensure that their work is checked for plagiarism. You don’t want to infringe on someone else’s copyrighted work when sending out your emails or newsletters. Here’s an example from Ads Direct of what you might include in your Terms of Service to protect your intellectual property: You can see that they list a number of different types of intellectual property (names, graphics, logos, etc.) and that they also claim they do not own any third-party names, trademarks, or service marks that may appear on their website. If you partner with any other organizations or use quality assurance marks on your marketing materials, this may also be worth covering in your clause. How to Comply
Rules and Regulations of the FTC and Other Consumer Protection BodiesThe Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has dominion over several key areas relevant to marketers: privacy, anti-spam legislation, and truth in advertising. We’ve already covered privacy above, so let’s take a look at some of the FTC’s rules on advertising and anti-spam practices. 3. AdvertisingThe FTC requires that advertisements and marketing messages must not mislead consumers or unfairly affect consumers’ behavior or decisions about the product or service. Unfair or deceptive advertising is prohibited, which means that any marketing must tell the truth and not leave out any relevant information that a consumer would be interested in. Be careful with any comparative advertising or marketing. If you don’t compare products fairly and transparently, you may be breaching advertising standards. Check the wording of your marketing messages carefully and ensure that someone outside of your marketing team (such as someone from your legal team) has a quick look at what your message is saying. A fresh pair of eyes may notice claims that aren’t quite true or descriptions that overemphasize a product’s abilities. Other regulators on the advertising front that you may need to keep in mind are the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council, which governs the National Advertising Review Board and the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU). If any of your marketing is targeted at children, ensure that you are fully aware of CARU’s guidelines. Anti-Spam LawThe main anti-spam law in the US is called CAN-SPAM. The FTC enforces CAN-SPAM and has issued guidance on how to comply. We’ve covered this previously. To recap, CAN-SPAM requires that you:
The FTC also has a great guide that provides a checklist and guidelines to help you make your business “consumer friendly” overall for international ecommerce. Before you begin marketing your business, be sure that you’ve incorporated some consumer friendly business tips so that you don’t run into trouble further down the line. If you get into trouble with the FTC or any other consumer protection body, be prompt and clear in your communication with them. Aim to work together toward a solution right away, as it may help you avoid prosecution. How to Comply
ConclusionTo comply with the law, the key things to remember are: get consent to send your marketing material; ensure that your customers are aware of and sign up to your Privacy Policy when you originally obtain their information; protect your intellectual property and don’t infringe on that of others; be honest and clear with all marketing messages; and allow your customers to opt out of your messages if they wish. As a marketer, you may be wary of legal pitfalls, but by keeping the issues of privacy and data protection, intellectual property, and consumer protection laws and regulations in the forefront of your mind, you can ensure that you won’t run into any problems. About the Author: Leah Hamilton is a qualified Solicitor and writer working at TermsFeed, where businesses can create their Privacy Policies and Terms and Conditions in minutes. from The Kissmetrics Marketing Blog http://ift.tt/1VdsKPC via http://ift.tt/1k9TeBg http://bit.ly/2VlA4nd Data is the most valuable tool in your business. Based on a Gartner survey, 73% of organizations have invested or plan to invest in big data within the next two years. It’s now the responsibility of both marketing and IT departments to translate data into profitable insights. How your team integrates data into a strategy will help determine your business’s growth. Equipped with a dash of business acumen and a pinch of creativity, companies can persuade buyers to purchase their products and services. Compelling statements backed by credible data will lead to an increase in conversion rates and ROIs. Nedra Klein Weinreich, the president and founder of Weinreich Communications, agrees that storytelling is essential in our fast-paced society. “I believe that the age of the 30-second spot and interruption marketing is just about over. It’s so easy now to skip over TV commercials with our DVRs, block online banner ads, and tune out the pitches being thrown at us constantly,” she says. Right now, the marketer’s challenge is to create a data-driven recipe to drive sales growth, while presenting a consistent brand messages to customers. It’s a great opportunity for organizations to transcend traditional norms. Companies that embrace this new way of thinking can separate themselves from competitors and gain an undeniable spot in the marketplace. Explore these five ways to align data and storytelling into your business strategy: 1. Revamp Your Buyer PersonasTo target the most influential consumers, data identifies which buyer personas have the most impact on lead generation. Teams then can create focused messaging to grab the customers’ attention. Plus, research shows that by adopting marketing personas websites are two to five times more effective and easier to use. For personas to be helpful, the data must be accurate. The information can be gathered from interviews with sales representatives, customer service interactions, and even customer complaints. For B2B companies, conversations are concentrated on the client’s expected outcomes. Ardath Albee, a B2B marketing strategist, suggests gaining intel on the following:
In essence, personas assist your team in effectively meeting the buyers’ needs. Here’s an example: With properly researched buyer personas, you can now craft an intentional brand message. Cohesive content will offer your business as the solution to your clients’ problems. It nurtures prospects’ trust and converts leads. Here’s a good example by Rain Castle. The creative agency built a CTA library based on solid messaging for the Jim Stengel Company. 2. Influence Your Customer Service TeamWith analytics, the goal is to change how we make decisions. Empowering customer service teams with proper data can prepare them for consumer interactions. It really doesn’t pay to lose a customer. NewVoiceMedia found that the cost of poor customer service in America is $41 billion per year. Moreover, disappointed people tend to share their experiences with family and friends, which leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of both the disgruntled buyer and prospective customers. Data helps your team fulfill the customer’s interests. For example, a simple analysis report may pinpoint that startups founded by millennials prefer discussing product details over lunch, instead of dinner. Once the data is sorted, start generating scripts or messages for your customer service teams. Remember that a good story will influence your audience to care. Your story toolbox should contain a promise and resolution for the client. Connect the story to their needs and focus on your company’s strengths. Farnell element14, one of the world’s largest distributors of electronic components, tackled a customer perception issue. In a customer satisfaction survey, the company learned that consumers disliked their pricing, despite their competitively priced items. Working with their pricing, analytics and marketing teams, they created a campaign to show customers “the products they had bought, what they paid last time, what the cost would be now and what the line saving was.” As a result of their initial campaign efforts, Farnell element14 achieved a 13% conversion rate. 3. Reevaluate Your Loyalty ProgramsThe 2015 Loyalty Report states that 76% of Americans think that loyalty programs are part of their relationships with brands. A well-run rewards system is paramount to your customer retention rate. Similar to interacting with your friends, loyal followers want you to communicate with them regularly. Give them the latest news and tips to better their endeavors. Social media and the occasional phone call are great ways for your customers to connect with your business. Be sincere and transparent about your loyalty program’s intentions. Never abuse your customers’ data, like selling it to a third-party without their permission. When you truly understand your customers, you understand their values and can build a story behind it. Offering a loyalty program centered around those particular values may offer more meaning to your customers than discounts. Eco-friendly outdoor apparel company Patagonia decided to offer more than coupons to their loyal following. With help from eBay, it launched the Common Threads Initiative to aid customers with the reselling of their Patagonia clothing. The program reflected Patagonia’s brand of sustainability and gave their target audience an opportunity to participate in this shared mission. 4. Freshen Your Content StrategyContent marketing is transforming how organizations attract and retain consumers. The Content Marketing Institute reported that 70% of B2B marketers are creating more content than they did a year ago. With the help of analytics, your team can use data to evaluate how the reader reacts (or doesn’t react) to specific content, which gives your team the power to create strategic messaging. Social data is readily available and will aid your team in learning your audience’s interests. Focus your efforts on the topics and keywords your consumers use. Answer these questions:
Data without a story results in a lack of interest. Good stories compel people to change. Whether you desire to spark interest amongst your clients or inspire them to take action, your content marketing strategy should appeal to people’s feelings. Contently leads the industry in offering great content with powerful data. Their online magazine The Content Strategist offers better ways for businesses to connect to their consumers. Even their marketing includes the perfect ingredients‐data and storytelling. 5. Renew Your Email CampaignsEmail campaigns are effective tools when they convey the human experience. Aligning data with storytelling to send personalized campaigns will increase clickthroughs and convert prospects. Marketers can use storytelling to tie in the emotion of the brand to the email recipient’s passions. Rich customer data gives businesses a sneak peak into every subscriber’s email activity, including when they opened the email and what they clicked. Customer behaviors should influence how you tell your business’s story. The most engaging stories are sweet, spicy, and everything in-between. They are creative and relevant to the buyer. When the right story is told, sales resistance is lowered. Anecdotes wrap a healthy sales pitch into something delicious for the prospect. This personalized LinkedIn message applies data-centered storytelling with a relatable twist. Transcend the CompetitionData is valuable, but most people seek a connection, too. Encourage your team to build customer relationships by weaving data within storytelling. Buyers gain personalized services, while your business can increase its customer lifetime value. Leverage the power of statistics and stories. When you satisfy your customer’s appetite, your company will experience growth. About the Author: Shayla Price lives at the intersection of digital marketing, technology and social responsibility. Connect with her on Twitter: @shaylaprice from The Kissmetrics Marketing Blog http://ift.tt/1L8EMKE via http://ift.tt/1k9TeBg http://bit.ly/2KSpVdG This content is for members of webmaster forum. In order to become a member please sign up using the link below. SIGN UP NOW This content is for members of webmaster forum. In order to become a member please sign up using the link below. SIGN UP NOW The post RankWyz Tutorial Part 1 appeared first on Webmaster Forum. from Webmaster Forum | RSS Feed http://ift.tt/1kE4jPR via http://ift.tt/1k9TeBg http://ift.tt/1PjzTjb I have been a user of Jonathan Ledgers The Best Spinner for a number of years now. This tool has proved extremely valuable when it comes to generating content. Check out my The Best Spinner Review if you would like more information. When I found out Jonathan had his own keyword research tool I thought I […] The post Keyword Canine 3.0 – Review appeared first on Webmaster Forum. from Webmaster Forum | RSS Feed http://ift.tt/1K1Kozg via http://ift.tt/1k9TeBg http://ift.tt/1LHrAg6 RankWyz is a monster of an SEO Tool and has everything you need in order to rank your money sites pages on the first page of the SERPS. The biggest issue that people have is understanding how to use this tool, which is why we have put together a RankWyz tutorial. ×Proofread Part 1 - […] The post RankWyz Tutorial appeared first on Webmaster Forum. from Webmaster Forum | RSS Feed http://ift.tt/1L9mOWs via http://ift.tt/1k9TeBg http://ift.tt/1M75Gx2
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