Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 2
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 3
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: Getting Started with Digital Marketing 5
Chapter 1: Understanding the Customer Journey 7
Creating a Customer Avatar 8
What to include in your customer avatar 9
Introducing Agency Eric: A customer avatar example 10
Getting clear on goals and values 11
Finding sources of information and entertainment 12
Honing in on demographics 12
Adding challenges and pain points 13
Preparing for objections 14
Getting Clear on the Value You Provide 15
Knowing the Stages of the Customer Journey 16
Step 1: Generating awareness 17
Step 2: Driving engagement 18
Step 3: Building subscribers 19
Step 4: Increasing conversions 20
Step 5: Building excitement 20
Step 6: Making the core offer sale and more 21
Step 7: Developing brand advocates 22
Step 8: Growing brand promoters 23
Preparing Your Customer Journey Road Map 23
Optimizing the Customer Journey 24
Avoiding an Optimization Mistake 25
Chapter 2: Choosing the Right Marketing Campaign 27
Establishing Marketing Objectives 28
Defining a Digital Marketing Campaign 29
Understanding the Three Major Types of Campaigns 32
Campaigns that generate new leads and customers 32
Campaigns that monetize existing leads and customers 34
Campaigns that build engagement 35
Balancing Your Marketing Campaign Calendar 37
Choosing the Campaign You Need Now 37
Viewing Your Digital Marketing through the Campaign Lens 38
Chapter 3: Crafting Winning Offers 39
Offering Value in Advance 40
Designing an Ungated Offer 41
Designing a Gated Offer 42
Zeroing in on what matters 43
Making a specific promise 44
Giving a specific example 44
Offering a specific shortcut 45
Answering a specific question 45
Delivering a specific discount 45
Generating leads with educational content 45
Generating leads with tools 47
Filling out the gated offer checklist 50
Designing Deep-Discount Offers 52
Using physical premiums 52
Employing a book 53
Leveraging the webinar 53
Selling software 54
Splintering a service 54
Brainstorming “little victories” to offer your leads 55
Filling out the deep-discount offer checklist 55
Discovering your deep-discount offer 57
Maximizing Profit 57
Making an upsell or cross-sell offer 58
Building bundles and kits 59
Tacking on a slack adjuster 59
Recurring billing 60
Part 2: Using Content to Generate Fans, Followers, and Customers 61
Chapter 4: Pursuing Content Marketing Perfection 63
Knowing the Dynamics of Content Marketing 64
Finding Your Path to Perfect Content Marketing 65
Understanding the marketing funnel 66
Exploring the prospect’s intent 74
Providing a path to the next step 75
Segmenting your marketing with content 76
Appearing everywhere your customer expects 77
Customizing your content 78
Executing Perfect Content Marketing 78
Step 1: Choosing avatars 79
Step 2: Brainstorming content assets 80
Step 3: Choosing the vehicle and channel 80
Step 4: Planning for ascension 80
Distributing Content to Attract an Audience 81
Marketing through email 81
Capturing leads through search marketing 82
Using social media to drive traffic to your site 82
Paying for traffic 82
Developing a style guide 83
Determine grammar and punctuation rules 84
Document editorial process 85
Document brand voice 85
Determine additional sections 86
Create formal documentation 86
Distribute style guide 86
Chapter 5: Blogging for Business 87
Establishing a Blog Publishing Process 88
Brainstorming blog post ideas 88
Establishing content segments 90
Working with content creators 91
Editing the first draft 95
Copyediting the post 96
Applying Blog Headline Formulas 96
Tapping into self-interest 96
Piquing curiosity 97
Employing urgency and scarcity 97
Issuing a warning 98
Borrowing authority 98
Revealing the new 98
Auditing a Blog Post 99
Presents an exceptional headline 99
Includes a strong introduction 100
Offers easy-to-consume content 101
Satisfies your goal 102
Includes quality media 103
Provides a compelling close 104
Uses search engine optimization 104
Categorizes your topics 105
Completely delivers on the promise 105
Keeps professional consistency 106
Chapter 6: Taking Stock of 65 Blog Post Ideas 107
Defeating Writer’s Block 107
Writing useful content 108
Being generous 114
Entertaining the masses 118
Capitalizing on the timely 119
Showing your humanity 120
Getting promotional 123
Stirring the pot 125
Engaging the audience 127
Creating Stellar Content without All the Fuss 128
Curating and aggregating content 129
Reacting to popular content 130
Crowdsourcing content 132
Part 3: Generating Website Traffic 135
Chapter 7: Building High-Converting Landing Pages 137
Exploring the Types of Landing Pages 138
Creating a Lead Capture Page 140
Creating a Sales Page 140
Writing a sales letter 143
Understanding the elements of a product detail page 149
Grading a Landing Page 152
Chapter 8: Capturing Traffic with Search Marketing 155
Knowing the Three Key Players in Search Marketing 156
Understanding searchers’ needs 156
Knowing what search engines want 156
Targeting Search Queries 158
Defining a search query 159
Choosing the right queries to target 161
Satisfying searchers 163
Optimizing Your Assets for Specific Channels 165
Optimizing for Google 165
Optimizing for YouTube 168
Optimizing for Pinterest 170
Optimizing for Amazon 172
Optimizing for iTunes 174
Optimizing for review sites 175
Optimizing for search engine robots 176
Earning Links 177
Step 1: Cross-link your own content 177
Step 2: Study your competitors’ links 178
Step 3: Create generous content 178
Step 4: Create content worthy of a link 178
Step 5: Publish primary research 178
Step 6: Keep up with the news 179
Chapter 9: Leveraging the Social Web 181
Social Channels 182
Facebook 182
Instagram 184
LinkedIn 185
Twitter 185
The Social Success Cycle 187
Listening to the Social Web 189
Listening by channel 190
Choosing a social listening tool 191
Planning to listen 192
Listening without paid tools 193
Utilizing the feedback loop 194
Handling customer service issues 196
Influencing and Building Brand Authority 197
Influencing by channel 198
Growing your social following 199
Increasing frequency 200
Keeping your content interesting 200
Socializing blog content 201
Networking That Moves the Needle 204
Networking by channel 205
Tapping into niche media 205
Reaching niche media 206
Networking by topic 206
Creating a social media “short list” 207
Flipping the script on media outreach 207
Staying compliant with the law 208
Selling on Social Channels 208
Selling by channel 209
Leading with value 209
Designing “value first” offers 210
Avoiding Social Media Mistakes 212
Knowing When to Automate 212
Chapter 10: Tapping into Paid Traffic 213
Visiting the Traffic Store 214
Understanding Traffic Temperature 214
Choosing the Right Traffic Platform 216
Introducing the Big Six traffic platforms 216
Setting up Boomerang Traffic 232
Defining ad retargeting 232
Setting cookies and pixels 232
Segmenting with content 233
Troubleshooting Paid Traffic Campaigns 233
Strengthening your offer 234
Tweaking your targeting 235
Scrutinizing your ad copy and creative 235
Checking the congruency of your campaign 236
Chapter 11: Following Up with Email Marketing 237
Understanding Marketing Emails 238
Promotional emails 238
Relational emails 239
Transactional emails 239
Sending Broadcast and Follow-Up Emails 241
Broadcast emails 241
Follow-up emails 241
Building a Promotional Calendar 242
Cataloging your products and services 242
Creating an annual promotional plan 244
Developing a marketing plan 245
Creating a 30-day calendar 246
Creating a 90-day rolling calendar 247
Creating Email Campaigns 247
Indoctrination campaigns 248
Engagement campaigns 250
Ascension campaigns 250
Segmentation campaigns 251
Reengagement campaigns 252
Writing and Designing Effective Emails 253
Harvesting proven email copy 253
Answering four questions 254
Knowing why people buy 254
Writing effective email subject lines 255
Writing body copy 256
Cuing the Click 257
Getting More Clicks and Opens 257
Ensuring Email Deliverability 260
List Hygiene 260
Monitoring your reputation 261
Proving subscriber engagement 261
Part 4: Measuring, Analyzing, and Optimizing Campaigns 263
Chapter 12: Crunching Numbers: Running a Data-Driven Business 265
Leveraging the Five Google Analytics Report Suites 266
Understanding Where Your Traffic is Coming From 267
Tracking the Origins of Site Visitors 269
Campaign source (utm_source) 269
Campaign medium (utm_medium) 270
Campaign content (utm_content) 270
Campaign name (utm_campaign) 270
Dissecting a UTM 271
Creating UTM parameters for your URLs 271
Creating Goals to See Who’s Taking Action 272
Segmenting Your Audience with Google Analytics 274
Creating audience segments 275
Honing In on Your Audience 278
Drilling into demographics 279
Drilling into psychographics 281
Putting It All Together 285
Chapter 13: Optimizing Your Campaigns for Maximum ROI 287
Understanding Split Testing 288
Obtaining the tools you need to run split tests 288
Following the split test guidelines 290
Selecting Page Elements to Optimize 293
Considering qualitative data 293
Using qualitative tools 294
Getting Ready to Test 295
Developing an optimization hypothesis 295
Choosing the metrics to track 295
Calculating your test timeline 296
Preparing to Launch 296
Defining goals in Google Analytics 297
Checking that your page renders correctly in all browsers 297
Ensuring that you have no testing conflicts 297
Checking links 297
Keeping variation load times similar or identical 298
Calling a Test 298
Knowing How a Test Performed 298
Analyzing the Test 299
Part 5: The Part of Tens 301
Chapter 14: The Ten Most Common Digital Marketing Mistakes 303
Focusing on Eyeballs Instead of Offers 304
Failing to Talk about Your Customers (and Their Problems) 304
Asking Prospects for Too Much, Too Soon 305
Being Unwilling to Pay for Traffic 305
Being Product Centric 305
Tracking the Wrong Metrics 306
Building Assets on Other People’s Land 307
Focusing on Your Content’s Quantity Instead of Quality 307
Not Aligning Marketing Goals with Sales Goals 307
Allowing “Shiny Objects” to Distract You 308
Chapter 15: Ten Trending Digital Marketing Skills to Add to Your Resume 309
Content Marketing Positions 310
Brand journalist 310
Managing editor 311
Content marketing manager 311
Paid Media Manager 312
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Manager 313
Social Media Marketing 313
Community Management 314
Video Marketing and Production Positions 315
Video production specialist 316
Video marketing manager 316
Web Design and Development Positions 317
Front-end developer 317
Back-end developer 317
Direct-response copywriter 318
Email marketing analyst 318
Data Analysis Positions 318
Data analyst 319
Testing and optimization specialist 319
Chapter 16: Ten Essential Tools for Digital Marketing Success 321
Building a Website 321
WordPress.org 322
Joomla 322
Drupal 323
BigCommerce 323
Shopify 323
Hosting a Website 323
WP Engine 324
HostGator 324
A2 Hosting 325
Rackspace 325
Choosing Email Marketing Software 325
Constant Contact 326
AWeber 326
Mailchimp 326
Considering Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software 326
Keap 327
Salesforce 327
HubSpot 327
Zoho CRM 328
Adding a Payment Solution 328
Stripe 328
Square 329
PayPal 329
Adyen 329
Using Landing Page Software 329
Instapage 330
Leadpages 330
Unbounce 330
HubSpot 330
Sourcing and Editing Images 331
Canva 331
SnagIt 332
Managing Social Media 332
Hootsuite 332
Meet Edgar 333
Mention 333
Measuring Your Performance: Data and Analytics 333
Google Analytics 334
Google Data Studio 334
Google Tag Manager 334
Optimizing Your Marketing 334
Visual Website Optimizer 335
Optimizely 335
TruConversion 335
Index 337
