The Complete Digital Marketing Guide
Took parts of the course to learn branding and some marketing.
Really straightforward, down to earth and friendly course.
Main outcomes:
- new resources to compare yourself with competitors
- clearer understanding of brand and specifically vision, mission and values and how to set them up
Market analysis
- Find target audience with a buyer persona based on available info you have from:
a. demographics from analytics
b. pain points from competitor’s reviews => that leads to goal => that leads to how we can help - Find marketing channels
a. Find your biggest niched competitors (~10 is best) - as close as you as possible preferably who are bigger than you => google you offer!
b. Find competitor’s marketing channels - similarweb.com
- if 25%+ comes from paid traffic, their used channel is google ads;
- if any social media traffic is 25%+, that is also a channel they use;
c. Select you marketing channels - summarize the popularity of the channels competitors used and take those which are over 5
SEO
keyword can have two intentions:
- curiosity intent => content page
- buy intent => product page
keyword analysis
the longer the kyword, the easier it is generally to rank for it => longer tail keywords
Tools
use GA Keyword Planner to get similar options for keywords
MozBar Chrome extension for getting an idea of how honed the search results are:
we are looking for links that have PA or DA (page and domain authorities) to be below 25. That means it is an underused keyword and we can also get to that place in results.
Your task is to gather potential keywords that you can optimize for
Generic keyword search
search your product in GA keyword planner and pick the most promising ones
turn on the extension and check in relatively high enough are low authority links
if yes - take a note of those keywords and their volume!
Search from our competitors
other way around: google search who is the best link in a generic keyword of your industry and check that page in Keyword planner
content creation
type in a search box the worthy keywords you found and pick the best suggestions from them. That’s your content title!
Tips:
- Only one sentence per paragraph
- add images as much as possible
- use headers
- always have a goal with your content
- 500 or above words is best
use internal links and lat text!
URLS
like post names
not too long
don’t repeat keywords
Speed
Google SEO ranking likes sites that:
- fully load under 3s
- are less than 1MB
- images should not be more than 100-150KB each. if they are - optimize them!
An analytics tool https://gtmetrix.com/ is useful for finding these things out.
Email marketing
Every email should consist of:
- a hook: short bold statement that connects your audience on a personal and emotional level
- a story: biggest part, connects with your audience on a deeper level - you know where they are
- an offer: something actionable. Short for free and small, long for expensive and time-consuming.
Types of emails:
- products/services pitch email
- product launch email
- testimonial/review request email
- discount offer email
- re-engagement email
- newsletter email: expectation
- latest blog post email
scarcity is a great sales technique
It is a good idea to trim your email list and remove those who are inactive to save your space.
Benchmark for email marketing - 20% open rate and 1-2% cilck rate
Like with all email marketing, it’s like throwing spaghetti on a wall and looking what sticks.
Testimonial and review
You are not offering anything, but asking for a favor, so you are leaning towards your customer kindness.
Example
Subject: Could you do us a small favor?
Text: Hi [Name]
In our opinion, you’re a 5-star customer! We truly hope that you
feel the same about [name of the product].
If you enjoyed it, would you like to help us and others who would
like to buy it too, by writing a quick review?
[insert link]
We know your time is valuable and that we’re asking for a lot.
You’d be doing us a huge favor!
We really appreciate your help!
Thank you so much,
[Your signature]
Branding
Branding comes first:
You can’t market a brand you haven’t designed yet.
Branding is the “What” you are going to deliver to your customer:
- what feelings people have for you
- what you are
- what makes you unique
- what people are saying about you
- what you want to achieve
- what you value
- what you are saying
- what you look like
brand is your personality
Marketing is “How” you will deliver:
- how you are communicating
- how you are delivering
- how you are unique
- how you will make money
- how you grow your business
- how you are writing (messages)
how you show your personality
Brand lasts and marketing changes
Brand design
Brand message
Brand personality
Brand positioning
Internal communication
Branding is what keeps the customer
Marketing is how to get a customer
Together it’s a success.
Where are you competitors failing customers? Find out and fill that void.
Purpose
Why are you doing what you are doing? (outside the money)
- what is your belief of positive change
- what adds value outside your customers
- how do you build emotional connections
- what differentiates you from competitors
- your purpose needs to reflect what you are selling
- why do you do what you do?
- who do you want to help?
- What can you help with?
- Would your audience like (your purpose)?
- What does your audience like?
Vision
Vision is somewhere between a dream and a goal, like a moonshot.
Your vision should be big that is a little bit scary to say out loud.
- where do you dream to be?
- what do you dream to achieve?
- when are you achieving that?
- does it feel big and scary but good?
Mission
Brand mission is steps towards future vision.
A goal without a plan is just a dream.
- what are you dedicated to achieve?
- what can you do every day/week/month/year?
Values
what you believe in, talk about and are passionate about
they will guide your brands action and create brand identity
- what do you believe in?
- what are you passionate about?
- what are the topics you do you talk about (with friends)?
Competitors
direct competitors - same service and same market
indirect competitors - same market, but a different service/product
collect around 10 competitors[location] [your service/product] (in)direct competitors
look for honest reviews:
- what is common amongst your competitors (what is common)
- what good are people saying? how does that make them feel?
- what are the most common bad reviews? how does that make them feel?
- is there anything you can do better?
- is there something you can specialize in?
Differentiatior
look for gaps to fill
- who are your competitors?
- how are they naming themselves?
- what products/services re they selling?
- what markets and categories are they in?
- how and where do they market themselves?
- who are their target audience?
- how do they price themselves?
Examples:
- price
- quality
- service level
- delivery
- design
- marketing
- types of customers
Positioning
people want to belong
people want experiences and emotion
Positioning statement ingredients:
- target customers
- benefits your product/service offers
- your competitors
- your differentiator
and formula:To [your target audience], [your brand] is [your differentiating benefit your my customer] by [how you are making it possible].
Personality
identity made of characteristics, thoughts, behaviours and emotions.
Personality is humanizing the brand so it can make it easy for customers to connect and relate to. Just as real human beings, you can’t serve everyone.
But keep it consistent:
- brand message
- social media connection
- product descriptions
- customer conversations
- influencers you are working with
- storytelling
- colors
Clients may come to you because of what you do, but they stay with you of who you are.
To define, look at:
- how do you present yourself?
- how do you dress?
- how do you behave around people?
Voice
Brand voice is the way you are saying what you are saying to connect to your audience.
How does your brand talk to people? (how you greet?)
How does your customers talk to people? (how do they greet?)
What adjectives you use to describe your brand?
Brand story
Storytelling is about getting and keeping attention by creating a story that people can relate to. When we have people’s attention, we can start selling our products and services.
It is about your customer not about your brand.
- The Hero (your target customer)
- Their problem (what’s in the way?)
- CTA (what sparks their action?)
- Meets their guide (your brand)
- Their challenge (their competition)
- The change (the desired result)
- New life (your customers desired life)
Name of your brand
your aim is to be creative with words
good way to start is making a mindmap from collecting words from [product] synonym
go with brand names that are:
- future proof
- easily rememberable (short and sweet)
- available (https://checkuser.org/)
- you like it!
Tagline
tagline - sticks to your brand
slogan - changes by campaign
to create one:
- start by writing what you do and stand for
- trim it down (5 words or less is optimal)
- make it rememberable
- make it relatable
- use emotions to connect
Brand colors
When you choose a color for your brand, choose 3:
- base color (logo and reflects personality)
- accent color (matches and complements your brand, reflects personality)
- neutral (main background)
Colors have meanings and associations.
Blue
- Emotions: trust, responsibility, honesty, loyalty, innner security
- Used to: reduce stress, calmness, relax, secure, create order
- Industry: finance, security, technology, health care, accounting
example: Facebook
Red
- Emotions: energy, passion, courage, love, excitement
- Used to: create urgency, stimulate, caution, encourage, draw attention
- Industry: food, sport, entertainment, toys, fire protection
example: RedBull
Orange
- Emotions: independent, optimistic, adventurous, fun, creativity
- Used to: fascinate, draw attention, express freedom, stimulate, entertain
- Industry: food, art, sport, transportation, entertainment
example: Amazon
Yellow
- Emotions: happiness, positivity, spontaneity, opportunity, enthusiasm
- Used to: affect mood, energize, awake awareness, create relaxation, stimulate
- Industry: food, travel, leisure, sport, transportation
example: McDonalds
Green
- Emotions: safety, stability, harmony, balance, reliability
- Used to: encourage, nurture, balance, relax, possess
- Industry: banking, farming, non profit, real estate, environment
example: SEB bank
Purple
- Emotions: imagination, spirituality, compassion, sensitivity, mystery
- Used to: inspire, creativity, wisdom, luxury, intuition
- Industry: beauty, fashion, woman’s products, religion, humanitarian
example: Curves (gym company)
Black
- Emotions: discipline, power, control, authority, elegance
- Used to: create fear, intimidate, show authority, create mystery, hide feelings
- Industry: all indstries, mostly used in combination with other colors
example: Apple
White
- Emotions: light, goodness, innocence, purity, virginity
- Used to: develop faith, create positivity, show cleanness, spike hope, gives balance
- Industry: all, mostly used in combination with other colors
example: Uber
Brand fonts
- choose one that you can read
- emotions you want to communicate
- more about your personality and emotions than your industry
- for a unique font, you can buy some in You work for them
| font | vs | looks |
|---|---|---|
| modern | vs | vintage |
| sans serif | vs | serif |
Brand fonts:
- logo
- body copy
- headline
- accent (links, buttons)
Brand logos
Brand logo is your face outward
Brand logo types
- icon: more for large corps (Apple, Nike, McDonalds)
- wordmark: your name with a custom font (coca cola, facebook, fedex)
- lettermark: name is hard to pronounce, too long (Under armour, HBO)
- combination: icon with a wordmark (Adobe, Pringles, Burger king, Adidas, Nestle)
- emblem: shield with a text (Harley Davidson, NFL, NHL)
Guidelines for your logo cration:
- choose your type
- make a simple design
- max 4 words or 30 characters
- max 3 colors
- max 1 effect (keep it simple)
It should be:
- simple
- memorable
- versatile: various options for various sizes
- outsource (fiverr, upwork) - you get what you pay for
- or DIY (canva, Adobe)