What is Six Sigma, and what does it mean for marketers?
Originally developed by Motorola in the 1980s, Six Sigma is set of techniques and tools for process improvement, conceived as a means to improve production and ensure that everything remains high quality.
2. What is Six Sigma, and what does it mean for marketers?
Originally developed by Motorola in the 1980s, Six
Sigma is set of techniques and tools for process
improvement, conceived as a means to improve
production and ensure that everything remains high
quality.
It has since been used to help companies in dozens of
industries, from the military to IT, improve their efficiency
and optimize how improvements and progress are made.
The principles that make it successful can even be applied
to SEO and can help drive you and your organization
forward.
3. The Six Sigma uses a DMAIC methodology —
Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control —
to provide a framework that will help you improve your
processes and see strong returns.
Define
During the definition stage, there are three main things
you need to identify: Your main problem, your main
audience, and the demand for your products and services.
Your existing customers. Speak with them and learn
about their pain points, budgets, motivating factors, and
why they choose you.
Market research. Uncover the types of people most
likely to be interested in your industry and brand.
4.
5. Measure
Once you have finished your definitions, you need to
look into your analytics to see exactly where you
currently stand.
Note your current rank for big keywords, your share
of voice, your positioning against competitors, and
other metrics that will help you measure your goals.
This information will provide you with your baseline
from which you can then improve.
You will be able to use these numbers to measure your
growth and judge the success you are having.
6. Analyze
Now it is time to move into the analysis stage. Brands
must now uncover the problems that have caused their
shortcomings.
For example, a content audit might reveal that you
have significant content gaps and that your material is
not effectively moving people from one stage of the
buyer’s journey to the next.
You might also find that your material has been poorly
optimized or that your domain itself does not carry the
authority needed to achieve the highest rankings, for
example.
7. Improve
In the fourth stage of this Six Sigma model, it is time
to improve upon your initial measurements and take
steps towards your goals.
Take the information you learned during your
definition phase about who your target audience is and
what their intent is, what they want to see, and what
you want to accomplish.
Use this information to begin improving your current
SEO strategy.
8. Control
Once you begin to see results, you then want to
use measurements and analysis to gauge your
progress and ensure that you stay on track.
You will be able to use numbers to guide your
outcomes, rather than hunches or guesses.
Implementing these more efficient policies will
provide you with more control over the
outcomes.
9. Final thoughts
As the digital marketing industry and SEO
become increasingly competitive and saturated,
brands are going to be forced to improve their
processes and maximize their efficiencies.
The Six Sigma method can be an excellent way
to handle this problem and help brands find
their way forward.