An overview of the process of optimizing marketing by testing, adapting, and automating your marketing tasks. Talk given at NCAD Conference 2014.

1. Internet Marketing
Optimization
Michael Myles, M.B.A.
Active Internet Marketing
mike@activeinternetmarketing.com
@activeim

2. What is Marketing Optimization?
“The analysis and improvement of
the efficiency and effectiveness of
marketing.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_optimization

3. Why Optimize?
• Avoid Wasting Your Advertising
Spend
• Faster Growth
• Improve Scalabilty

4. The Customer Buying Process
Establishing
Criteria
Consideration
Research
Customers

5. The Customer Buying Process
Research
The process through which
they decide that there is an
issue that needs solving.

6. The Customer Buying Process
Establishing
Criteria
Now that there is an
established need, your
prospects will determine
what features and services
they want in their solution.

7. The Customer Buying Process
Consideration
Your prospective clients are now
to the point where they are
looking into which possible
vendors meet their criteria.

8. The Customer Buying Process
Customers
•When your prospects pass
through the Consideration
phase, they are no longer
prospects… They are
customers!

9. The Website Marketing Lifecycle

10. The Website Marketing Lifecycle
Attract
•Visitors to Your
Website

11. The Website Marketing Lifecycle
Connect
•Visitors into
Connections

12. The Website Marketing Lifecycle
Close
•New Business

13. The Marketing Optimization Process
Test
Test Your
Hypotheses
and Analyze
Results
Adapt
Modify Your
Marketing
Process
Automate
Identify and
Implement
Automation
Opportunities

14. The Marketing Optimization Process
Test
Test Your
Hypotheses
and
Analyze
Results

15. The Marketing Optimization Process
Don’t test everything all at once.
Test one page element at a time.

16. The Marketing Optimization Process
This test looked at how button color changed conversion rates.
The red buttons increased
Conversions by 21%

17. The Marketing Optimization Process
Adapt
Modify
Your
Marketing
Process

18. The Marketing Optimization Process
Update template to use the red button CTA

19. The Marketing Optimization Process
Automate
Identify and
Implement
Automation
Opportunities

20. The Marketing Optimization Process
Create and automatically send an email to Top of Funnel
connections promoting the new landing page.

21. Testing and User Feedback
A/B and Split Testing
How to Test
User Feedback
What to Ask

22. A/B and Split Testing
“An A/B test involves testing two versions of a web page — an A version
(the control) and a B version (the variation) — with live traffic and
measuring the effect each version has on your conversion rate.”
https://www.optimizely.com/ab-testing

23. A/B and Split Testing
How to Test
Don’t End Too Soon
Wait for statistical significance before making any decisions or declaring a
winner.

24. A/B and Split Testing
How to Test
Include User Feedback Insights in Your Tests
Use the words that your market uses, and craft offerings that meet their
needs.

25. A/B and Split Testing
How to Test
Test Big Changes for Big Results
Make big changes to your message, imagery, and layout to see big changes
in your marketing results.

26. A/B and Split Testing
How to Test
Always Test Against a Control
Make sure that you are always testing your new marketing against the
existing to ensure that your data is reliable.

27. A/B and Split Testing
How to Test
Prioritize Your Tests
Find those tests that try to improve upon the marketing pieces that have
the most potential for benefit to your business.

28. User Feedback
Understand Your Market to Guide:
• Website Design
• Website Copy
• Sales Pitch

29. User Feedback
What to Ask:
What did you come here to do?
An open ended question to broadly discern what your market expects from
your website.

30. User Feedback
What to Ask:
Were you able to find the information you were looking for?
A ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ question that let’s you know how well your website is
meeting your visitor’s needs.

31. User Feedback
What to Ask:
If you did not contact us today, can you tell us why not?
A freeform question that gives you information on the reasons your visitors
aren’t converting.

32. Testing and User Feedback
Takeaway Tips
• Use the Words Your Market Uses by Gathering User Feedback
• ABT – “Always Be Testing” to Continually Improve Your Marketing

33. Create a Plan
Set Your Goals
Document Value Proposition
Define Your Market
Create a Website

34. Setting Goals: Financial KPIs
How profitable is your marketing?
Return on
Investment
How qualified are your leads and how likely are
they to close?
Cost per
Acquisition
How targeted is your traffic and how well have
you crafted your messages?
Cost per Lead
How effective are you at generating traffic?
Cost per Visit

35. Setting Goals: Conversion KPIs
How trustworthy do you appear, and how qualified
is your traffic?
Purchasing
Actions
How credible is your content, and how valuable
does your market perceive it as being?
Communication
Actions
How sharable and likable is your content?
Engagement
Actions

36. Setting Goals: Other KPIs
How well are you choosing topics and delivering
content.
Average Time
on Site
How much attention and exposure is this content
generating for your business.
Total Traffic
How effectively are you establishing yourself as a
thought-leader.
Total Inbound
Links
How well does your content match your visitors
interests.
Total Read
Time

37. Setting Goals
Your goals should include the KPIs that are
important to your business, with a deadline.
“Goals help you channel your energy into Action” – Les Brown

38. Your Value Proposition
• What Problem are You Solving
• Why Other Solutions Don’t Work
• Why Your Solution Does

39. Your Value Proposition
“Healing addiction with a truly green
treatment experience.
Other providers do not offer a truly
green treatment experience because
they are located in cities polluted by
technology and machinery.
We are truly green because our facility
is located in the backwoods of
Mississippi, where there are no modern
amenities of any kind, at all. Ever.”

40. Define Your Market
Make sure that you are communicating the right
message to the right people.
Analyze Your Current Customers
Analyze Your Competition
Analyze Your Product/Service

41. Create Buyer Personas
“A Single Fictitious Person that Meets the Averages of a Group”
Segment Your Market On:
• The Way They Interact with
Your Business
• Attitude
• Behavior
• Likely Motivators

42. Create a Plan
Takeaway Tips
• Each Goal Should have a KPI and a Deadline
• Create Value Propositions for Your Business and Individual Features
• Look at Your Customers, Competition, and Services to Define Your Market

43. Create a Website
Four Types of Pages

44. Four Types of Pages

45. Thought Leadership Pages
The pages that generate the majority of the
organic traffic to your site, and also establish
credibility with your target audience.

46. Branding Pages
The pages that communicate your
brand message to the visitor.

47. Conversion Pages
Any web page on your website that is
dedicated to simply generating conversions.

48. Post-Conversion Pages
The pages that a visitor lands on
after they have converted.

49. Attracting Visitors
Content Marketing
Social Media Marketing
Pay-per-Click Search Marketing
Display Advertising
Email Marketing

50. Social Media Marketing
A Tactic for Branding
The Benefits
• A Stronger Brand
• More Organic Traffic
• New Business Relationships
• New Market Insight

51. Social Media Marketing
What to Test
• Post Types
• Post Content
• Ad Creatives
• Landing Pages

52. Social Media Marketing
What to Measure
• Standard KPIs
• Total Communication Actions
• Total Engagement Actions
• Total Traffic

53. Social Media Marketing
What to Measure
• Social Media Metrics
• Total Read Time
• Total Inbound Links

54. Pay-per-Click Marketing
A Tactic for Direct Response
The Benefits
• More Sales
• More Connections
• Instant Traffic

55. Pay-per-Click Marketing
What to Test
• Keywords
• Ad Creatives
• Landing Pages

56. Pay-per-Click Marketing
What to Measure
• Standard KPIs
• Return on Investment
• Cost-per-Acquisition
• Cost-per-Lead
• Conversion Rate

57. Pay-per-Click Marketing
What to Measure
• Pay-per-Click Metrics
• Average Click-Through Rate
• Average Cost-per-Click

58. Display Advertising
A Tactic for Branding
The Benefits
• A Stronger Brand
• Top-of-Mind Recognition
• Remarketing
(No longer allowed for
addiction treatment)

59. Display Advertising
What to Test
• Colors and Imagery
• Value Proposition and Offering
• Calls-to-Action

60. Display Advertising
What to Measure
• Standard KPIs
• Return on Investment
• Cost-per-Acquisition
• Cost-per-Lead
• Conversion Rate

61. Display Advertising
What to Measure
• Display Advertising Metrics
• Average Click-Through Rate
• Total Traffic

62. Content Marketing
A Tactic for Direct Response and Branding
The Benefits
• More Sales
• More Connections
• More Organic Traffic
• A Stronger Brand

63. Content Marketing
What to Test
• Headlines
• Topic Choice
• Layout and Design

64. Content Marketing
What to Measure
• Standard KPIs
• Total Communication Actions
• Total Engagement Actions
• Total Traffic

65. Content Marketing
What to Measure
• Content Marketing Metrics
• Total Read Time
• Total Inbound Links

66. Email Advertising
A Tactic for Direct Response and Branding
The Benefits
• More Sales
• A Stronger Brand
• Top-of-Mind Recognition
• More Traffic

67. Email Marketing
What to Test
• Subject Line
• Sender Name and Address
• Email Body

68. Email Marketing
What to Measure
• Email Marketing Metrics
• Click Rate
• Open Rate

69. Attracting Visitors
Takeaway Tips
• By Using Multiple Channels, You Amplify Every Channel
• Plan Your Website Structure Before Beginning Work

70. Connecting with Your Visitors

71. Landing Pages
Types of Landing Pages
• For Lead Generation
• For Click-Through

72. Landing Pages

73. Landing Pages
Define the Objective
• What do you want them to do?
• Why do you want them to do it?
• Where can they do it?
• Who should do it (Persona) ?
• How should they do it?

74. Calls to Action
What to Test
• Design
• Copy
• Placement

75. Calls to Action
What to Measure
• Conversion Rate
• Click-Through-Rate

76. The 3 Types of Actions
How Your Market
Connects with Your
Brand

77. Purchasing Actions
• Phone call
• Form requesting
a personal
response

78. Communication Actions
• An E-book, whitepaper, or other download
• Blog and newsletter subscriptions

79. Engagement Actions
• Time on Site, Depth of
Visit
• Facebook Likes,
Tweets, Becoming part
of your Google Circles

80. Connecting with Your Visitor
Takeaway Tips
• Landing Pages Should Segue Smoothly from the Ad Creative
• Limit Pages to a Single Call-to-Action

81. Nurturing Leads
Turning Connections into Sales-Ready leads

82. The Lead Nurturing Funnel
Match Your
Marketing to the
Visitor and
Where They are
in the Buying
Process
Top
Middle
Bottom
Research
Establishing
Criteria
Consideration

83. Research (Top of Funnel)
Still determining if there is a problem.
Example Content
E-Book The Warning Signs of Drug Abuse
Infographic Social Drinking vs Alcoholic Behavior
Questionnaire Are You Addicted Self-Assessment

84. Establish Criteria (Middle of Funnel)
Looking at ways to solve the problem.
Example Content
E-Book The Effectiveness of Equine Therapy
Infographic Top 10 Reasons CBT Works
E-Book What is Holistic Therapy

85. Consideration (Bottom of Funnel)
Looking at providers that meet their criteria.
Example Content
E-Book Why Choose United States Treatment
Checklist Packing for Treatment Checklist
E-Book Our Philosophy at United States Treatment

86. Measuring Lead Nurturing
What to Test
• Communication Timing
• Communication Frequency
• Content to Funnel Stage Mapping
• Lead to Funnel Stage Mapping

87. Measuring Lead Nurturing
What to Measure
• Standard KPIs
• Total Acquisitions
• Total Sales Ready Leads

88. Measuring Lead Nurturing
What to Measure
• Lead Nurturing Metrics
• Funnel Completion Rate
• Avg Time in Funnel
• Funnel Stage Completion Rate

89. Nurturing Leads
Takeaway Tips
• Automate the Promotion of Content that Matches the Lead’s Funnel
Location
• Don’t Call Leads Until They Are Out of The Lead Nurturing Funnel

90. Sales Ready Leads
The end of the Website Marketing Lifecycle.
The beginning of your internal sales cycle.

91. Questions?
Michael Myles, M.B.A.
Active Internet Marketing
mike@activeinternetmarketing.com
@mylesmg