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A CONSTELLATION OF TACTICS
THE KEY FACETS OF ANY SUCCESSFUL E-COMMERCE MARKETING PLAN IN 2015
If you build it, there is no guarantee they will come.
Especially with an e-commerce site on the web, where well over 90,500 other sites in the U.S. battle
it out each year for market share. How do you make sure your e-commerce site stands out amid the
infinite galaxy of digital clutter?
It starts with some tough questions.
For example, Google’s recent mobile algorithm update—dubbed MOBILEGEDDON by the more
seasoned (and gloomy) observers—should have you questioning the mobile-readiness of your
website. While the experts and pundits are still sorting through the impact of the update, it’s already
clear: if your site isn’t “mobile friendly,” you might just find your online enterprise sinking into the inky
abyss of the Internet, where it may never again bear witness to the brilliant display of active and
engaged mobile traffic.
Since most consumers are probably interacting with your site--and finding it--on mobile devices,
becoming mobile friendly with Google should be a top priority for 2015. Prior to the update, Google
itself warned e-commerce businesses and website owners that this update could affect up to 40% of
the sites in virtual space. If true, this would make it a more seismic update than the Panda, Penguin, or
Hummingbird updates combined.
But while Google is, of course, critical to attracting visitors, it takes more than just a search-marketing
plan to stand out from all the familiar static floating around cyberspace.
What’s your plan for retargeting website visitors? If you don’t have one, you will lose money to more
astute competitors who are light years ahead of you in teeing off retargeted users. Fact: conversions
among retargeted users are significantly better, since these visitors are already prequalified and at the
back end of the sales funnel.
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Do you have a shopping cart abandonment strategy? If no—again—you will lose revenue. Experts
now realize that cart abandonment is often just part of the online sales cycle. Like all sales cycles,
however, it must be carefully cultivated and meticulously managed. If you haven’t thought about cart
abandonment, the countdown should start now.
What about a content marketing plan? Do you have one? If so, how good is it? What helpful
consumer information is on your monthly publishing calendar for the rest of 2015? Will users find
it authoritative, useful, and, most importantly, devoid of all of the annoying traditional sales pitch
rhetoric that most contemporary consumers can’t abide? If you are patient, and view your content
marketing plan as a long-term investment, publishing quality content that’s optimized for online
presentation will deliver targeted traffic to your site in those coveted organic searches.
Are you repurposing your high performing content on social media? Do you have some stale content
that can be tweaked and reposted onto social networking sites to keep your brand, products and
services top of mind? Most modern consumers are spending countless hours on social media
each and every day—just like your competition. Maximizing your social presence, while jettisoning
repurposed content along the way, can help you garner a limitless number of new visitors to your
site—especially if your content is being shot across a vast expanse of the social media landscape and
past the eyeballs of millions of potential consumers.
How often are you sending targeted updates to your various market segments via e-mail? E-mail
is now considered one of the most effective conversion-inducing mechanisms in the modern web
marketer’s arsenal. Not investing in e-mail marketing in 2015 will mean a dramatic decrease in your
number e-commerce sales.
Are you using paid searches? Inbound marketing techniques like paid searches have proven to
increase lead generation by up to 54% while costing significantly less than traditional marketing
methods1
. Meanwhile, e-commerce sites are 75% more likely to see a positive ROI from paid search
over more traditional marketing methods2
. In short, in 2015, Google AdWords will be one of your
e-commerce site’s highest regarded tools.
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E-commerce sites are 75% more likely to
see a positive ROI from paid search over
more traditional marketing methods.
Banner or display advertising is tied into retargeting users and paid search. Display ads can also
give an otherwise pedestrian offering the enhanced attention-arresting aspects of music; visuals,
movement, and interactivity, provided these features are implemented appropriately. Even if these ads
are never clicked through, they still provide excellent exposure by keeping your brand’s image hurtling
across the infobahn. Is banner advertising, graced with non-intrusive, yet attention-grabbing features,
in your online marketing plan for 2015?
Finally, you need to let the general public know about your e-commerce enterprise and any killer deals
or specials it is featuring by using an online promotions calendar. The great news for tech-savvy
executives and e-commerce site owners is that the Web has decentralized traditional public relations
and press release channels, which means you can now optimize your announcements and throw them
right up on the web for consumers to read, digest and share. Not only does this strategy eliminate the
subjective scrutiny of the mass media, it also provides a clever way to attract it.
So, no, unfortunately, if you build an e-commerce site in 2015, there is no guarantee users will
come. But by building a powerful constellation of marketing tactics around your carefully developed
e-commerce site, you can prevent your dreams of a thriving online business from breaking loose and
drifting out aimlessly into the outer reaches of the digital universe.
MOBILEGEDDON
The almighty Google hath spoken! On April 21, 2015, the Big G. rolled out its newest and most hyped
algorithm update to date. As stated above, Google has acknowledged this update could impact up
to 40% of all websites now in operation. Given that most consumers are probably interacting and
finding your site on mobile devices, why would you want to give a leg up to your competition and
stop showing up in organic searches? It’s a fact: mobile traffic has a higher conversion ratio. All
e-commerce sites (and even non-e-commerce sites) should get mobile compliant in 2015, before
Google casts them off into the bleak, deserted ether of a bottomed-out page ranking..
If you are not sure how to become mobile-centric, check out Google’s Guide to Mobile-Friendly
Websites (you can Google it). There, you will find all the information you need.
Go device global by optimizing for mobile!
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Retargeting Visitors
Retargeting the consumers who have visited your website is critical for e-commerce success. Why?
You are essentially guaranteeing that the only ad money you spend is on people who have shown an
interest in your website and your content.
With most traditional advertising, the ad crosses paths with consumers very early in the sales cycle.
This is a major reason traditional ads are less effective than retargeted ads. Visitors who have already
interacted with your site are further down the sales funnel than those who have not. Since they are
now an informed and prequalified consumer, they are ripe for retargeting, which is precisely why
retargeted ads have much higher conversion rates.
If you’ve spent any time online, you’ve probably experienced Amazon retargeting. You’ll know the
moment you do a search online and suddenly see an ad for the very items you were perusing a day or
two earlier on Amazon.com. How the heck did this search engine page know you were interested in
buying the new Black Sabbath album on vinyl? Can Google read your mind?
Not really, but it’s pretty close. The technical gurus at Amazon put a cookie on your PC, laptop, or
mobile device, so that your later surfing activity would activate the cookie and trigger targeted ads.
Presto! The very item you put in your cart a few days ago is now right before you, reminding you of
the item you may have been prepared to buy on impulse … if only you were not at work at the time …
just as your manager was walking past.
Retargeting requires work: crafting effective banner media, generating compelling landing pages, and
maintaining ongoing optimization. As arduous as the work may be, the benefit is huge: your products
or services remain on the minds of pre-targeted users. As any sales person will tell you, brand
awareness is often half the battle.
Another major plus for using retargeted banner ads is that they are relatively unexploited by
many e-commerce sites, which makes them a less competitive option. Banner ads seem to be the
mysterious, final frontier of the retargeted advertising channel, so use your competition’s hesitation to
your advantage.
Cart Abandonment
The metrics on cart abandonment are the stuff of nightmares for e-commerce CEOs: an alarming 7
out of 10 carts are abandoned before a sale is made. Picture, if you will, going to the supermarket and
finding 70% of the shopping carts abandoned like ghostly relics of a forsaken purchasing past. No
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e-commerce site can afford to lose that many sales and hope to stay in business for any meaningful
length of time, which is why a cart abandonment strategies are becoming a powerful tool for
e-commerce sites in 2015.
Part of your cart abandonment strategy should be launching a follow-up e-mail marketing campaign
to guide users back to their discarded carts so they can finally seal the deal. This effort makes for
a nice complement to your retargeted display ads. The mysteries of using what Google calls “re-
marketing” are not difficult to master if you use the Google AdWords tool for your retargeting efforts.
If your time is in short supply, you might want to consider hiring a seasoned, professional digital
marketing agency to manage this process for your e-commerce site. In any case, research suggests
that retargeting cart abandoners can increase conversion rates (by up to 18%, when combined with
mobile3
) which should make having a sound cart abandonment strategy in place for 2015 a high-level
priority for every e-commerce site.
Finally, a key point to remember: e-commerce experts warn against cleaning up carts too soon, and in
fact, recommend letting them sit for at least two months. For many businesses, this seems counter-
intuitive. After all, accurate inventory levels must be maintained, and items forlornly sitting in carts
just throw off the inventory, right? Well, according to those who study cart abandonment analytics,
the longer an item stays in a cart, the more likely it is that the customer will eventually make the
purchase. Don’t let the organizational logic of the warehouse staff dictate how long abandoned items
stay your virtual shopping carts. Many experts now view cart abandonment as just one part of the
unique online sales cycle—the sales that trickle in over time.
Content Marketing
“Traditional marketing talks at people, content marketing talks with them.”
— Doug Kessler, creative director and co-founder Velocity Partners
Traditional marketing concepts continue to haunt the collective unconscious of the e-commerce
industry. Marketers wrestle everyday with the conflict between the proven, reliable methods that have
informed consumers for decades and modern blazing-fast methods that can change a company’s
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7 out of 10 carts are abandoned
before a sale is made.
bottom-line overnight.
The struggle is understandable. The principals behind traditional marketing are proven and reliable,
while the more modern methods can be difficult for a layman to understand and are treacherous
if executed poorly. In 2015, content marketing has emerged as a viable and valuable answer to
dilemma, and has proven to be a profitable hybrid between traditional and modern marketing.
Think of it like this: content marketing is today’s answer to the newspaper of yesteryear. Where paper
routes and store racks once served as the delivery system for these relics of information, today’s
social networks now serve as the distribution channel for the content people desire.
When developing your content marketing plan, you’ll need to approach it in a very similar way to
setting up a traditional newspaper editorial staff. Your team will produce content that will be both
valuable and informative to your target audiences, and like traditional journalism, these pieces won’t
include the sales pitches that often are designed to serve only the interests of the sales staff and
meet the company’s quarterly goals. Today’s content consumers are shrewd, practical and savvy and
can spot a sales pitch immediately. Instead, your content will be comprised of honest and educational
pieces that will speak directly to the most pressing needs of your website visitors. They’ll be pieces
that you’ll want to feature on your company’s blog and then eventually re-use and re-distribute across
your social media channels (and perhaps even feature in targeted e-mail blasts). Social media is
similar to newspaper distribution, in that they both measure value by reach. For newspapers, the
measurement is in the circulation statistics; for content marketing, the measurement is in reach
statistics: shares, likes, comments, etc. But social media takes traditional delivery to a whole new
level by providing content marketers a platform to engage with users, drive them to their e-commerce
sites and convert their visits into sales. That sure beats regurgitating stale, old-school sales pitches,
and hoping for the best.
It is imperative that e-commerce site management teams understand the real value of social media
in 2015, which can be gauged by an enterprise’s ability to connect with individuals and both enlighten
and delight them. On a side note, it is interesting to observe that the Roman poet Horace believed
that quality art should both “teach and delight” the audience. Today, consumers also expect quality
content to deliver the very same characteristics on a very different medium—social media.
Since most consumers visiting your site will also be spending countless hours on social media
platforms, e-commerce sites can continue to stay relevant by using social media. These
sophisticated modern consumers want to feel empowered by the valuable and entertaining knowledge
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social media provides them. And yet, it cannot be stressed enough, these same contemporary
consumers have little time for traditional dog-and-pony rhetoric.
To really understand the importance of content marketing in 2015, observe
these statistics:
•	 Social media content can convert up to 29% more traffic4
•	 Most important business decisions are made due to articles, not ads
•	 Content Marketing generates 3 times more leads, but costs about
30% less than traditional advertising5
•	 79% of companies with a blog see higher ROI from in-bound traffic,
compared to those who don’t have a blog6
Paid Search
Paid search is key to e-commerce, since it has the potential to produce enormous nebulas of targeted
traffic to your site. These users will also be further down the conversion funnel, making it easier
to close more sales. Your e-commerce company will most likely want to work with a professional
Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing team to start out, because the complexities of bidding on words and
generating a promotional calendar might not play to your e-commerce organization’s core strengths.
Anyone who is interested in learning about the specifics of paid search campaigns, however, can
certainly access this information on Google. In fact, consulting Google is probably a good idea either
way. If your organization opts to use an outside agency team, having a frame of reference will help
ensure a meaningful exchange of information and ideas between the hired team and the internal staff.
Paid search is a highly effective form of inbound marketing where the advertiser shows up in a
designated area of the consumer’s search engine result page. To give you an idea of the difference
in click rates between paid search campaigns and organic search results, most come form organic
searches—70% to 30%. This means that if you are only now beginning to invest in Search Engine
Optimization (SEO), it will take a while before those results start showing up organically in Google.
Nevertheless, paid search is a great option when your organic search results are not yet where you
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Paid search is key to e-commerce
would need them to be.
One of the great advantages of paid search is that when your site shows up, you are constantly
alerting consumers that you are a business leader due to your increased presence. Some of the
key elements required to execute a successful paid search campaign involves keyword research, ad
production, and landing page development. When your e-commerce site is just kicking off, PPC ads
are a great option, because you only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad.
Part of the paid search marketing process involves understanding the three-keyword match types:
exact matches, phrase matches, and broad matches. Initially, you will most likely use broad matches
and phrase matches to drive traffic to your e-commerce site. However, you will eventually want to
use the Google Search Terms report to find keywords that covert well, and then set those words to an
exact match setting.
This type of advertising is one that will require experimentation, and some of your keywords will likely
change over time. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of this type of advertising is having the ability
to set daily budgets on Google and to spread this budget out over the day. As with most marketing
processes, be sure keep monitoring the metrics and re-optimizing when deploying your paid search
campaign.
Display Advertising
Though the death of display advertising has been pronounced many times over, these reports are
greatly exaggerated. As noted above, the fact that many of your competitors are not using this
advertising channel will probably be to your competitive advantage. Also as noted above, retargeting
is tied into this type of advertising; so don’t write this marketing channel off as something ancillary to
the success of your e-commerce site in 2015.
Like PPC, one of the key benefits to display advertising is only having to pay when someone actually
clicks on the ad. And, like PPC, this type of advertising tends to produces results that are practically
immediate. And, just like paid search, Google allows you to cap your daily budget, so you don’t have
to worry about a massive supernova of traffic snapping up your entire ad budget and making you a
victim of your own conditional success. Plus, because display ads allow you to target customers with
keywords, you can still generate brand awareness for your e-commerce venture and remain top of
mind even if these ads are not actually clicked. Tracking the success of your display ad investment
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is also pretty easy thanks to Google Analytics. Google’s metrics provide you with all the statistics you
need to make adjustments on the fly and keep your ads relevant over time.
Obviously, you will want to be sure that your ads include a call to action, and you will want to create
landing pages for the ad so that users don’t have to go to too much trouble to find what they are
seeking. This type of advertising also allows for split or A/B testing, so you can see what works via
trial and error by sending ad traffic to different landing pages.
Social Media
Just as they did with traditional methods of content marketing, e-commerce enterprises in 2015 will
need to abandon old-school ideas about like “a single marketing concept.” Instead, multiple, real-time,
content activations in both targeted and mass versions now should strive for engagement—likes,
shares, comments, etc.—in social media.
This means that your content marketing team will have to devise an editorial calendar; just like
traditional newspaper staffs have effectively done since the printing press’s inception. By really
knowing your e-commerce customers and their needs, you will use various SEO tools to build article
ideas around both traditional targeted keywords and more broad contemporary themes.
These pieces should probably be published on your site’s blogroll and distributed across various
social media platforms with the end goal of consumer engagement. You will want to measure three
things: the reach of your social media effort, the actual engagement it produces, and how many
conversions your content is creating. By measuring these critical areas of your social media plan, you
will be able to keep producing the type of content that is working, and then abandon any efforts that
are not generating greater reach, more engagement, or meaningful conversions.
Since the various merits of most social media platforms are probably not all that well known to most
e-commerce staff, here are some basic points to bear in mind when generating your site’s social
media plan in 2015:
Twitter
Twitter is a buzz generator, and it’s also the largest social media platform. Unlike
Facebook, when you produce Twitter posts, these tweets arrive on everyone’s feed.
Tweets can also feature hashtags, which can potentially link your content to hundreds
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A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015
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of thousands of other tweets using the same one. Using pictures on Twitter is key,
since tweets with pictures can produce anywhere from 60 to 200 additional shares.
Facebook
Facebook keeps your company and brand visible, connected and relevant, while also
providing fantastic analytics. Facebook also presents your e-commerce site with
an excellent opportunity to arrest consumer mindshare with posts featuring valued
industry trivia or tips. Like Twitter, you can also use hashtags on Facebook with
similar results. A goal for any e-commerce site on Facebook should include creating
engagement using pictures, questions, or quotes. Key metrics that can be monitored
on Facebook include likes, comments, traffic, and sharing engagement.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn members are more likely to buy from companies that engage with them on
the LinkedIn platform. This might explain why so many businesses use this social
media network for their e-commerce sites. Valuable LinkedIn metrics include reach
analytics, engagement metrics and analytics on how your company compares to
others within the same field or industry.
Google+
Google+ is an amalgamation of communities that relish engagement. Because
Google+ does not apply an algorithm to its users’ feeds, the way Facebook does,
Google+ users have a greater ability to make sure their content is seen. Like Twitter
and Facebook, Google+ also uses hashtags, so your content can show up in related
search results.
Pinterest
With more than 70 million users, Pinterest drives more referral traffic than LinkedIn,
Google+ and YouTube combined. Like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+,
hashtags can be used for topic indexing and assistance in finding relevant pins.7
Instagram
Even more popular for photo sharing than Facebook, Instagram boasts a pool of more
than 150 million users. Like the other social media platforms on this list, Instagram
also uses hashtags for topic indexing. Its platform makes it ideal for marketing events,
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since images of personalities, pictures, and products can be produced and presented
to consumers instantaneously.
Public Relations and Press Releases
Obviously, you need to make sure both your customers and your industry are aware of your
e-commerce site. Consumer and trade oriented public relations practices and press releases
consequently create the necessary brand visibility and cognizance you need to drive traffic to your
e-commerce enterprise. However, e-commerce leaders need to understand the difference between
traditional PR and Internet PR.
Years ago, public relations and press releases were a whole different ball of wax than they are today.
Back then very few people saw company PR materials, saved for a select group of journalists and
feature writers. These journalists would either feature your enterprise content or they wouldn’t. The
media’s subjective selections meant that the general populous only heard or saw PR or press release
news if a journalist chose to write about it. Thanks to the advent of the ‘Net, this entire step in the
process has been removed.
In traditional PR, press releases were only developed when you had major breaking news. Now,
almost anything can serve as an excuse to write an online press release, which keeps your products,
services, and brand at the forefront of your customer journey.
Unlike the old days, PR in 2015 is produced by e-commerce sites with the glee of a publisher and the
zeal of caffeine-addled journalist. Press releases now go right to consumers, without the intermediary
meddling of a traditional journalist. Public relations content can also be formed around keywords,
possess links that direct potential customers to a preselected landing page, or plunge consumers
right into the sales cycle.
In this new Net PR Paradigm, no mainstream media filters exist for public relations, so distribution is
now entirely decentralized. Nevertheless, an e-commerce site will still probably want to use a press
release distribution service for greater amplification.
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What should you expect the PR materials for your e-commerce site to do?
•	 Answer questions
•	 Tell people what they don’t already know
•	 Provide links that will direct customers to you site or landing pages.
Another reason to publish PR is to show that your company is busy. A lack of press releases
suggests your e-commerce site is stagnating. To measure your Public Relations effectiveness,
Google Analytics can provide all the tracking you need.
E-mail Marketing
How many times have those dirty devils at Amazon sent you an e-mail with a host of products you
liked based on your previous purchase history? And how many times were you so excited that
Amazon could just about read your mind that you did not even think twice about clicking on the
proffered e-mail to make sure you were not missing any other wonderful new offerings?
E-mail marketing is a form of highly effective inbound marketing that can be used to educate your
e-commerce users. Likewise, the size of your e-commerce e-mail list indicates the extent of your
reach and your leadership stance within the industry.
The biggest challenge your e-commerce site could face is integrating with data systems such as
your company’s existing Customer Relationship Management database. Overcoming this challenge
is important, because the benefits of e-mail marketing are well known: greater segmentation and
targeted info going out to a community that already loves your product, services, or brand.
Contrary to popular belief, more e-mails sent to users do not negatively impact retention levels.
Useful or valued e-mail content for e-commerce sites includes things like tips, tools, product updates,
and special offers.
One of the great things about a properly executed e-mail marketing campaign is the ease in which you
can track leads from their first interactions all the way to conversion. Such metrics will allow you to
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A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015
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Contrary to popular belief, more emails
sent to users do not negatively impact
retention levels.
better identify the marketing channels that are working for your e-commerce site.
Some of the most popular types of e-mail marketing formats are newsletters, digests, dedicated
e-mails, and lead nurturing communications. E-mail newsletters are fantastic, because they build
brand awareness and provide yet another forum to repurpose content and educate consumers.
Digests are mostly lists and links that users can scan for information that interests them. Dedicated
e-mails are those one-time-only deals or trade show dates that are sent to consumers with the focus
of a solitary event or deal. Lead-nurturing e-mails can be part of an automated process that informs
and qualifies new users over time. E-mail Service Providers should be able to provide the following
key metrics to any e-commerce sites, so they can better track the effectiveness of their e-mail
marketing campaigns: deliverance rates, monthly list growth, social media sharing, conversion rates,
and revenue per e-mail sent.
Conclusion:
Clearly, there is much more to e-commerce success in 2015 than initially meets the eye. If you’ve
invested in a great site, don’t just cross your fingers and hope the site actually proves successful. You
need an insightful and well-thought-out marketing plan to create visibility and awareness by using a
constellation of tactics. The key tactics covered here include:
•	 Becoming mobile-centric
•	 Retargeting visitors
•	 A cart abandonment strategy
•	 Content Marketing
•	 Paid Searches
•	 Display Advertising
•	 Social Media
•	 Public Relations and Press Releases
•	 The many forms of e-mail marketing
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Lead-nurturing emails can
be part of an automated
process that informs and
qualifies new users over time.
As Seen In
Location 322 N. Arch Street, Suite 120 Lancaster, PA 17603 Office (800) 405-2947 Main (717) 989-0130
Email mike@webtalentmarketing.com Website www.webtalentmarketing.com
Important Takeaways From this Study:
•	 Consumers are no longer interested in traditional advertising and sales tactics
•	 Marketing content should now be produced in the same way traditional newspaper content was
produced: with a goal of informing and empowering readers with useful and objective information
•	 Public relations and press releases are no longer vetted by traditional media, so you can now go
right to consumers with your newest products, services, or deals
•	 “Traditional marketing talks at people, content marketing talks with them.” --Doug Kessler, creative
director and co-founder Velocity Partners
•	 Cart abandonment is no reason to panic; it should be viewed as just another part of the natural
online sales cycle
•	 Content marketing is akin to creating a traditional newspaper publication, and should be tied into
social media for distribution and additional amplification
•	 E-mail marketing an ideal form of inbound marketing that provides exceptional segmentation and
targeting
•	 Optimize your site for mobile ASAP
•	 Paid search can help increase your sales if your organic search efforts are still in their infancy
•	 Constantly monitor metrics and re-optimize as the market and market’s needs evolve
1.	 Hubspot.com. “THE ULTIMATE LIST OF MARKETING STATISTICS.” Retrieved April 6 2015 from http://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics
2.	 Yevich, G. OperationROI.com (2014, October 30). “Paid Search Pays Off In A Big Way.” Retrieved April 5, 2015, from http://www.operationroi.com/2014/10/pay-per-click-ppc/paid-
search-pays-big-way
3.	 Mythings.com, Press Release (2014, January 21). “Retargeting Sales Up 18% when Adding Mobile, New Study Finds.” Retrieved April 6, 2015, from http://www.mythings.com/
singlenews/retargeting-sales-increase-by-18-when-adding-mobile-to-mix-new-study-finds/
4.	 Bowden, J. Business2Community.com (2014, May 29). “Build Social Media Traffic – Engaging Top Influencers Is the Key.” Retrieved April 9, 2015, from http://www.business2com-
munity.com/social-media/build-social-media-traffic-engaging-top-influencers-key-0897060
5.	 Kapost.com (2012, June) “Content Marketing ROI” Retrieved April 6, 2015, from http://marketeer.kapost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Content-Marketing-Kapost-Eloqua-
eBook.pdf
6.	 Hubspot.com (ibid)
7.	 Fox, Z. Mashable.com (2012, Feb. 01) “Pinterest Drives More Traffic Than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn Combined [STUDY]” Retrieved April 6, 2015, from http://mashable.
com/2012/02/01/pinterest-traffic-study/

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WTM_magazineCreative_FINAL

  • 1.
  • 2. A CONSTELLATION OF TACTICS THE KEY FACETS OF ANY SUCCESSFUL E-COMMERCE MARKETING PLAN IN 2015 If you build it, there is no guarantee they will come. Especially with an e-commerce site on the web, where well over 90,500 other sites in the U.S. battle it out each year for market share. How do you make sure your e-commerce site stands out amid the infinite galaxy of digital clutter? It starts with some tough questions. For example, Google’s recent mobile algorithm update—dubbed MOBILEGEDDON by the more seasoned (and gloomy) observers—should have you questioning the mobile-readiness of your website. While the experts and pundits are still sorting through the impact of the update, it’s already clear: if your site isn’t “mobile friendly,” you might just find your online enterprise sinking into the inky abyss of the Internet, where it may never again bear witness to the brilliant display of active and engaged mobile traffic. Since most consumers are probably interacting with your site--and finding it--on mobile devices, becoming mobile friendly with Google should be a top priority for 2015. Prior to the update, Google itself warned e-commerce businesses and website owners that this update could affect up to 40% of the sites in virtual space. If true, this would make it a more seismic update than the Panda, Penguin, or Hummingbird updates combined. But while Google is, of course, critical to attracting visitors, it takes more than just a search-marketing plan to stand out from all the familiar static floating around cyberspace. What’s your plan for retargeting website visitors? If you don’t have one, you will lose money to more astute competitors who are light years ahead of you in teeing off retargeted users. Fact: conversions among retargeted users are significantly better, since these visitors are already prequalified and at the back end of the sales funnel. 2 A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015 Web Talent Marketing
  • 3. Do you have a shopping cart abandonment strategy? If no—again—you will lose revenue. Experts now realize that cart abandonment is often just part of the online sales cycle. Like all sales cycles, however, it must be carefully cultivated and meticulously managed. If you haven’t thought about cart abandonment, the countdown should start now. What about a content marketing plan? Do you have one? If so, how good is it? What helpful consumer information is on your monthly publishing calendar for the rest of 2015? Will users find it authoritative, useful, and, most importantly, devoid of all of the annoying traditional sales pitch rhetoric that most contemporary consumers can’t abide? If you are patient, and view your content marketing plan as a long-term investment, publishing quality content that’s optimized for online presentation will deliver targeted traffic to your site in those coveted organic searches. Are you repurposing your high performing content on social media? Do you have some stale content that can be tweaked and reposted onto social networking sites to keep your brand, products and services top of mind? Most modern consumers are spending countless hours on social media each and every day—just like your competition. Maximizing your social presence, while jettisoning repurposed content along the way, can help you garner a limitless number of new visitors to your site—especially if your content is being shot across a vast expanse of the social media landscape and past the eyeballs of millions of potential consumers. How often are you sending targeted updates to your various market segments via e-mail? E-mail is now considered one of the most effective conversion-inducing mechanisms in the modern web marketer’s arsenal. Not investing in e-mail marketing in 2015 will mean a dramatic decrease in your number e-commerce sales. Are you using paid searches? Inbound marketing techniques like paid searches have proven to increase lead generation by up to 54% while costing significantly less than traditional marketing methods1 . Meanwhile, e-commerce sites are 75% more likely to see a positive ROI from paid search over more traditional marketing methods2 . In short, in 2015, Google AdWords will be one of your e-commerce site’s highest regarded tools. 3 A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015 Web Talent Marketing E-commerce sites are 75% more likely to see a positive ROI from paid search over more traditional marketing methods.
  • 4. Banner or display advertising is tied into retargeting users and paid search. Display ads can also give an otherwise pedestrian offering the enhanced attention-arresting aspects of music; visuals, movement, and interactivity, provided these features are implemented appropriately. Even if these ads are never clicked through, they still provide excellent exposure by keeping your brand’s image hurtling across the infobahn. Is banner advertising, graced with non-intrusive, yet attention-grabbing features, in your online marketing plan for 2015? Finally, you need to let the general public know about your e-commerce enterprise and any killer deals or specials it is featuring by using an online promotions calendar. The great news for tech-savvy executives and e-commerce site owners is that the Web has decentralized traditional public relations and press release channels, which means you can now optimize your announcements and throw them right up on the web for consumers to read, digest and share. Not only does this strategy eliminate the subjective scrutiny of the mass media, it also provides a clever way to attract it. So, no, unfortunately, if you build an e-commerce site in 2015, there is no guarantee users will come. But by building a powerful constellation of marketing tactics around your carefully developed e-commerce site, you can prevent your dreams of a thriving online business from breaking loose and drifting out aimlessly into the outer reaches of the digital universe. MOBILEGEDDON The almighty Google hath spoken! On April 21, 2015, the Big G. rolled out its newest and most hyped algorithm update to date. As stated above, Google has acknowledged this update could impact up to 40% of all websites now in operation. Given that most consumers are probably interacting and finding your site on mobile devices, why would you want to give a leg up to your competition and stop showing up in organic searches? It’s a fact: mobile traffic has a higher conversion ratio. All e-commerce sites (and even non-e-commerce sites) should get mobile compliant in 2015, before Google casts them off into the bleak, deserted ether of a bottomed-out page ranking.. If you are not sure how to become mobile-centric, check out Google’s Guide to Mobile-Friendly Websites (you can Google it). There, you will find all the information you need. Go device global by optimizing for mobile! 4 A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015 Web Talent Marketing
  • 5. Retargeting Visitors Retargeting the consumers who have visited your website is critical for e-commerce success. Why? You are essentially guaranteeing that the only ad money you spend is on people who have shown an interest in your website and your content. With most traditional advertising, the ad crosses paths with consumers very early in the sales cycle. This is a major reason traditional ads are less effective than retargeted ads. Visitors who have already interacted with your site are further down the sales funnel than those who have not. Since they are now an informed and prequalified consumer, they are ripe for retargeting, which is precisely why retargeted ads have much higher conversion rates. If you’ve spent any time online, you’ve probably experienced Amazon retargeting. You’ll know the moment you do a search online and suddenly see an ad for the very items you were perusing a day or two earlier on Amazon.com. How the heck did this search engine page know you were interested in buying the new Black Sabbath album on vinyl? Can Google read your mind? Not really, but it’s pretty close. The technical gurus at Amazon put a cookie on your PC, laptop, or mobile device, so that your later surfing activity would activate the cookie and trigger targeted ads. Presto! The very item you put in your cart a few days ago is now right before you, reminding you of the item you may have been prepared to buy on impulse … if only you were not at work at the time … just as your manager was walking past. Retargeting requires work: crafting effective banner media, generating compelling landing pages, and maintaining ongoing optimization. As arduous as the work may be, the benefit is huge: your products or services remain on the minds of pre-targeted users. As any sales person will tell you, brand awareness is often half the battle. Another major plus for using retargeted banner ads is that they are relatively unexploited by many e-commerce sites, which makes them a less competitive option. Banner ads seem to be the mysterious, final frontier of the retargeted advertising channel, so use your competition’s hesitation to your advantage. Cart Abandonment The metrics on cart abandonment are the stuff of nightmares for e-commerce CEOs: an alarming 7 out of 10 carts are abandoned before a sale is made. Picture, if you will, going to the supermarket and finding 70% of the shopping carts abandoned like ghostly relics of a forsaken purchasing past. No 5 A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015 Web Talent Marketing
  • 6. e-commerce site can afford to lose that many sales and hope to stay in business for any meaningful length of time, which is why a cart abandonment strategies are becoming a powerful tool for e-commerce sites in 2015. Part of your cart abandonment strategy should be launching a follow-up e-mail marketing campaign to guide users back to their discarded carts so they can finally seal the deal. This effort makes for a nice complement to your retargeted display ads. The mysteries of using what Google calls “re- marketing” are not difficult to master if you use the Google AdWords tool for your retargeting efforts. If your time is in short supply, you might want to consider hiring a seasoned, professional digital marketing agency to manage this process for your e-commerce site. In any case, research suggests that retargeting cart abandoners can increase conversion rates (by up to 18%, when combined with mobile3 ) which should make having a sound cart abandonment strategy in place for 2015 a high-level priority for every e-commerce site. Finally, a key point to remember: e-commerce experts warn against cleaning up carts too soon, and in fact, recommend letting them sit for at least two months. For many businesses, this seems counter- intuitive. After all, accurate inventory levels must be maintained, and items forlornly sitting in carts just throw off the inventory, right? Well, according to those who study cart abandonment analytics, the longer an item stays in a cart, the more likely it is that the customer will eventually make the purchase. Don’t let the organizational logic of the warehouse staff dictate how long abandoned items stay your virtual shopping carts. Many experts now view cart abandonment as just one part of the unique online sales cycle—the sales that trickle in over time. Content Marketing “Traditional marketing talks at people, content marketing talks with them.” — Doug Kessler, creative director and co-founder Velocity Partners Traditional marketing concepts continue to haunt the collective unconscious of the e-commerce industry. Marketers wrestle everyday with the conflict between the proven, reliable methods that have informed consumers for decades and modern blazing-fast methods that can change a company’s 6 A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015 Web Talent Marketing 7 out of 10 carts are abandoned before a sale is made.
  • 7. bottom-line overnight. The struggle is understandable. The principals behind traditional marketing are proven and reliable, while the more modern methods can be difficult for a layman to understand and are treacherous if executed poorly. In 2015, content marketing has emerged as a viable and valuable answer to dilemma, and has proven to be a profitable hybrid between traditional and modern marketing. Think of it like this: content marketing is today’s answer to the newspaper of yesteryear. Where paper routes and store racks once served as the delivery system for these relics of information, today’s social networks now serve as the distribution channel for the content people desire. When developing your content marketing plan, you’ll need to approach it in a very similar way to setting up a traditional newspaper editorial staff. Your team will produce content that will be both valuable and informative to your target audiences, and like traditional journalism, these pieces won’t include the sales pitches that often are designed to serve only the interests of the sales staff and meet the company’s quarterly goals. Today’s content consumers are shrewd, practical and savvy and can spot a sales pitch immediately. Instead, your content will be comprised of honest and educational pieces that will speak directly to the most pressing needs of your website visitors. They’ll be pieces that you’ll want to feature on your company’s blog and then eventually re-use and re-distribute across your social media channels (and perhaps even feature in targeted e-mail blasts). Social media is similar to newspaper distribution, in that they both measure value by reach. For newspapers, the measurement is in the circulation statistics; for content marketing, the measurement is in reach statistics: shares, likes, comments, etc. But social media takes traditional delivery to a whole new level by providing content marketers a platform to engage with users, drive them to their e-commerce sites and convert their visits into sales. That sure beats regurgitating stale, old-school sales pitches, and hoping for the best. It is imperative that e-commerce site management teams understand the real value of social media in 2015, which can be gauged by an enterprise’s ability to connect with individuals and both enlighten and delight them. On a side note, it is interesting to observe that the Roman poet Horace believed that quality art should both “teach and delight” the audience. Today, consumers also expect quality content to deliver the very same characteristics on a very different medium—social media. Since most consumers visiting your site will also be spending countless hours on social media platforms, e-commerce sites can continue to stay relevant by using social media. These sophisticated modern consumers want to feel empowered by the valuable and entertaining knowledge 7 A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015 Web Talent Marketing
  • 8. social media provides them. And yet, it cannot be stressed enough, these same contemporary consumers have little time for traditional dog-and-pony rhetoric. To really understand the importance of content marketing in 2015, observe these statistics: • Social media content can convert up to 29% more traffic4 • Most important business decisions are made due to articles, not ads • Content Marketing generates 3 times more leads, but costs about 30% less than traditional advertising5 • 79% of companies with a blog see higher ROI from in-bound traffic, compared to those who don’t have a blog6 Paid Search Paid search is key to e-commerce, since it has the potential to produce enormous nebulas of targeted traffic to your site. These users will also be further down the conversion funnel, making it easier to close more sales. Your e-commerce company will most likely want to work with a professional Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing team to start out, because the complexities of bidding on words and generating a promotional calendar might not play to your e-commerce organization’s core strengths. Anyone who is interested in learning about the specifics of paid search campaigns, however, can certainly access this information on Google. In fact, consulting Google is probably a good idea either way. If your organization opts to use an outside agency team, having a frame of reference will help ensure a meaningful exchange of information and ideas between the hired team and the internal staff. Paid search is a highly effective form of inbound marketing where the advertiser shows up in a designated area of the consumer’s search engine result page. To give you an idea of the difference in click rates between paid search campaigns and organic search results, most come form organic searches—70% to 30%. This means that if you are only now beginning to invest in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it will take a while before those results start showing up organically in Google. Nevertheless, paid search is a great option when your organic search results are not yet where you 8 A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015 Web Talent Marketing Paid search is key to e-commerce
  • 9. would need them to be. One of the great advantages of paid search is that when your site shows up, you are constantly alerting consumers that you are a business leader due to your increased presence. Some of the key elements required to execute a successful paid search campaign involves keyword research, ad production, and landing page development. When your e-commerce site is just kicking off, PPC ads are a great option, because you only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad. Part of the paid search marketing process involves understanding the three-keyword match types: exact matches, phrase matches, and broad matches. Initially, you will most likely use broad matches and phrase matches to drive traffic to your e-commerce site. However, you will eventually want to use the Google Search Terms report to find keywords that covert well, and then set those words to an exact match setting. This type of advertising is one that will require experimentation, and some of your keywords will likely change over time. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of this type of advertising is having the ability to set daily budgets on Google and to spread this budget out over the day. As with most marketing processes, be sure keep monitoring the metrics and re-optimizing when deploying your paid search campaign. Display Advertising Though the death of display advertising has been pronounced many times over, these reports are greatly exaggerated. As noted above, the fact that many of your competitors are not using this advertising channel will probably be to your competitive advantage. Also as noted above, retargeting is tied into this type of advertising; so don’t write this marketing channel off as something ancillary to the success of your e-commerce site in 2015. Like PPC, one of the key benefits to display advertising is only having to pay when someone actually clicks on the ad. And, like PPC, this type of advertising tends to produces results that are practically immediate. And, just like paid search, Google allows you to cap your daily budget, so you don’t have to worry about a massive supernova of traffic snapping up your entire ad budget and making you a victim of your own conditional success. Plus, because display ads allow you to target customers with keywords, you can still generate brand awareness for your e-commerce venture and remain top of mind even if these ads are not actually clicked. Tracking the success of your display ad investment 9 A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015 Web Talent Marketing
  • 10. is also pretty easy thanks to Google Analytics. Google’s metrics provide you with all the statistics you need to make adjustments on the fly and keep your ads relevant over time. Obviously, you will want to be sure that your ads include a call to action, and you will want to create landing pages for the ad so that users don’t have to go to too much trouble to find what they are seeking. This type of advertising also allows for split or A/B testing, so you can see what works via trial and error by sending ad traffic to different landing pages. Social Media Just as they did with traditional methods of content marketing, e-commerce enterprises in 2015 will need to abandon old-school ideas about like “a single marketing concept.” Instead, multiple, real-time, content activations in both targeted and mass versions now should strive for engagement—likes, shares, comments, etc.—in social media. This means that your content marketing team will have to devise an editorial calendar; just like traditional newspaper staffs have effectively done since the printing press’s inception. By really knowing your e-commerce customers and their needs, you will use various SEO tools to build article ideas around both traditional targeted keywords and more broad contemporary themes. These pieces should probably be published on your site’s blogroll and distributed across various social media platforms with the end goal of consumer engagement. You will want to measure three things: the reach of your social media effort, the actual engagement it produces, and how many conversions your content is creating. By measuring these critical areas of your social media plan, you will be able to keep producing the type of content that is working, and then abandon any efforts that are not generating greater reach, more engagement, or meaningful conversions. Since the various merits of most social media platforms are probably not all that well known to most e-commerce staff, here are some basic points to bear in mind when generating your site’s social media plan in 2015: Twitter Twitter is a buzz generator, and it’s also the largest social media platform. Unlike Facebook, when you produce Twitter posts, these tweets arrive on everyone’s feed. Tweets can also feature hashtags, which can potentially link your content to hundreds 10 A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015 Web Talent Marketing
  • 11. of thousands of other tweets using the same one. Using pictures on Twitter is key, since tweets with pictures can produce anywhere from 60 to 200 additional shares. Facebook Facebook keeps your company and brand visible, connected and relevant, while also providing fantastic analytics. Facebook also presents your e-commerce site with an excellent opportunity to arrest consumer mindshare with posts featuring valued industry trivia or tips. Like Twitter, you can also use hashtags on Facebook with similar results. A goal for any e-commerce site on Facebook should include creating engagement using pictures, questions, or quotes. Key metrics that can be monitored on Facebook include likes, comments, traffic, and sharing engagement. LinkedIn LinkedIn members are more likely to buy from companies that engage with them on the LinkedIn platform. This might explain why so many businesses use this social media network for their e-commerce sites. Valuable LinkedIn metrics include reach analytics, engagement metrics and analytics on how your company compares to others within the same field or industry. Google+ Google+ is an amalgamation of communities that relish engagement. Because Google+ does not apply an algorithm to its users’ feeds, the way Facebook does, Google+ users have a greater ability to make sure their content is seen. Like Twitter and Facebook, Google+ also uses hashtags, so your content can show up in related search results. Pinterest With more than 70 million users, Pinterest drives more referral traffic than LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube combined. Like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+, hashtags can be used for topic indexing and assistance in finding relevant pins.7 Instagram Even more popular for photo sharing than Facebook, Instagram boasts a pool of more than 150 million users. Like the other social media platforms on this list, Instagram also uses hashtags for topic indexing. Its platform makes it ideal for marketing events, 11 A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015 Web Talent Marketing
  • 12. since images of personalities, pictures, and products can be produced and presented to consumers instantaneously. Public Relations and Press Releases Obviously, you need to make sure both your customers and your industry are aware of your e-commerce site. Consumer and trade oriented public relations practices and press releases consequently create the necessary brand visibility and cognizance you need to drive traffic to your e-commerce enterprise. However, e-commerce leaders need to understand the difference between traditional PR and Internet PR. Years ago, public relations and press releases were a whole different ball of wax than they are today. Back then very few people saw company PR materials, saved for a select group of journalists and feature writers. These journalists would either feature your enterprise content or they wouldn’t. The media’s subjective selections meant that the general populous only heard or saw PR or press release news if a journalist chose to write about it. Thanks to the advent of the ‘Net, this entire step in the process has been removed. In traditional PR, press releases were only developed when you had major breaking news. Now, almost anything can serve as an excuse to write an online press release, which keeps your products, services, and brand at the forefront of your customer journey. Unlike the old days, PR in 2015 is produced by e-commerce sites with the glee of a publisher and the zeal of caffeine-addled journalist. Press releases now go right to consumers, without the intermediary meddling of a traditional journalist. Public relations content can also be formed around keywords, possess links that direct potential customers to a preselected landing page, or plunge consumers right into the sales cycle. In this new Net PR Paradigm, no mainstream media filters exist for public relations, so distribution is now entirely decentralized. Nevertheless, an e-commerce site will still probably want to use a press release distribution service for greater amplification. 12 A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015 Web Talent Marketing
  • 13. What should you expect the PR materials for your e-commerce site to do? • Answer questions • Tell people what they don’t already know • Provide links that will direct customers to you site or landing pages. Another reason to publish PR is to show that your company is busy. A lack of press releases suggests your e-commerce site is stagnating. To measure your Public Relations effectiveness, Google Analytics can provide all the tracking you need. E-mail Marketing How many times have those dirty devils at Amazon sent you an e-mail with a host of products you liked based on your previous purchase history? And how many times were you so excited that Amazon could just about read your mind that you did not even think twice about clicking on the proffered e-mail to make sure you were not missing any other wonderful new offerings? E-mail marketing is a form of highly effective inbound marketing that can be used to educate your e-commerce users. Likewise, the size of your e-commerce e-mail list indicates the extent of your reach and your leadership stance within the industry. The biggest challenge your e-commerce site could face is integrating with data systems such as your company’s existing Customer Relationship Management database. Overcoming this challenge is important, because the benefits of e-mail marketing are well known: greater segmentation and targeted info going out to a community that already loves your product, services, or brand. Contrary to popular belief, more e-mails sent to users do not negatively impact retention levels. Useful or valued e-mail content for e-commerce sites includes things like tips, tools, product updates, and special offers. One of the great things about a properly executed e-mail marketing campaign is the ease in which you can track leads from their first interactions all the way to conversion. Such metrics will allow you to 13 A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015 Web Talent Marketing Contrary to popular belief, more emails sent to users do not negatively impact retention levels.
  • 14. better identify the marketing channels that are working for your e-commerce site. Some of the most popular types of e-mail marketing formats are newsletters, digests, dedicated e-mails, and lead nurturing communications. E-mail newsletters are fantastic, because they build brand awareness and provide yet another forum to repurpose content and educate consumers. Digests are mostly lists and links that users can scan for information that interests them. Dedicated e-mails are those one-time-only deals or trade show dates that are sent to consumers with the focus of a solitary event or deal. Lead-nurturing e-mails can be part of an automated process that informs and qualifies new users over time. E-mail Service Providers should be able to provide the following key metrics to any e-commerce sites, so they can better track the effectiveness of their e-mail marketing campaigns: deliverance rates, monthly list growth, social media sharing, conversion rates, and revenue per e-mail sent. Conclusion: Clearly, there is much more to e-commerce success in 2015 than initially meets the eye. If you’ve invested in a great site, don’t just cross your fingers and hope the site actually proves successful. You need an insightful and well-thought-out marketing plan to create visibility and awareness by using a constellation of tactics. The key tactics covered here include: • Becoming mobile-centric • Retargeting visitors • A cart abandonment strategy • Content Marketing • Paid Searches • Display Advertising • Social Media • Public Relations and Press Releases • The many forms of e-mail marketing 14 A Constellation of Tactics: The Key Facets of any Successful E-Commerce Marketing Plan in 2015 Web Talent Marketing Lead-nurturing emails can be part of an automated process that informs and qualifies new users over time.
  • 15. As Seen In Location 322 N. Arch Street, Suite 120 Lancaster, PA 17603 Office (800) 405-2947 Main (717) 989-0130 Email mike@webtalentmarketing.com Website www.webtalentmarketing.com Important Takeaways From this Study: • Consumers are no longer interested in traditional advertising and sales tactics • Marketing content should now be produced in the same way traditional newspaper content was produced: with a goal of informing and empowering readers with useful and objective information • Public relations and press releases are no longer vetted by traditional media, so you can now go right to consumers with your newest products, services, or deals • “Traditional marketing talks at people, content marketing talks with them.” --Doug Kessler, creative director and co-founder Velocity Partners • Cart abandonment is no reason to panic; it should be viewed as just another part of the natural online sales cycle • Content marketing is akin to creating a traditional newspaper publication, and should be tied into social media for distribution and additional amplification • E-mail marketing an ideal form of inbound marketing that provides exceptional segmentation and targeting • Optimize your site for mobile ASAP • Paid search can help increase your sales if your organic search efforts are still in their infancy • Constantly monitor metrics and re-optimize as the market and market’s needs evolve 1. Hubspot.com. “THE ULTIMATE LIST OF MARKETING STATISTICS.” Retrieved April 6 2015 from http://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics 2. Yevich, G. OperationROI.com (2014, October 30). “Paid Search Pays Off In A Big Way.” Retrieved April 5, 2015, from http://www.operationroi.com/2014/10/pay-per-click-ppc/paid- search-pays-big-way 3. Mythings.com, Press Release (2014, January 21). “Retargeting Sales Up 18% when Adding Mobile, New Study Finds.” Retrieved April 6, 2015, from http://www.mythings.com/ singlenews/retargeting-sales-increase-by-18-when-adding-mobile-to-mix-new-study-finds/ 4. Bowden, J. Business2Community.com (2014, May 29). “Build Social Media Traffic – Engaging Top Influencers Is the Key.” Retrieved April 9, 2015, from http://www.business2com- munity.com/social-media/build-social-media-traffic-engaging-top-influencers-key-0897060 5. Kapost.com (2012, June) “Content Marketing ROI” Retrieved April 6, 2015, from http://marketeer.kapost.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Content-Marketing-Kapost-Eloqua- eBook.pdf 6. Hubspot.com (ibid) 7. Fox, Z. Mashable.com (2012, Feb. 01) “Pinterest Drives More Traffic Than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn Combined [STUDY]” Retrieved April 6, 2015, from http://mashable. com/2012/02/01/pinterest-traffic-study/