Understanding Digital Marketing
ISBN 978 0 7494 7102 6
E-ISBN 978 0 7494 7103 3
Contents
Preface ix
Contributors’ biographies xiv
Acknowledgements xix
01 So... you want to go digital??? 1
In the beginning... 1
The changing face of advertising 2
The technology behind digital marketing 4
Enough technology... let’s talk about people 12
Case study: Harley-Davidson 17
02 @first... think! 21
Why you need a digital marketing strategy 21
Your business and digital marketing 22
Defining your digital marketing strategy 25
Understanding the digital consumer 27
Mind your Ps 33
Eyes on the prize 37
Bringing it all together 39
Case study: MercadoLibre 40
03 Then build your channel 43
Your website – the hub of your digital marketing world 43
Building an effective website 45
The main steps of building your website 46
Before you start 46
Case study: Alpharooms 49
Choosing your domain name 51
Hosting – your website’s home on the internet 53
How to choose a web designer/developer 57
Arranging your information 58
Writing effective web content 60
Case study: Hg2 66
v
vi Contents
04 Is it working? 69
Owned, paid and earned 70
Log files versus page tagging 72
Augmenting information using cookies 73
Test and test again 74
Measuring paid media 76
Attribution modelling 77
Who am I talking to? 79
Making Measurements Make Sense (3MS) 81
The return of GRP 82
The problem of earned media 83
What are you trying to achieve? 84
Why KPIs are important 84
Choosing effective KPIs 85
The need for trust 89
05 Are customers finding you? 103
Search: still the online marketer’s holy grail 103
About the engines 106
Optimizing your site for the engines 108
Advertising on the search engines 128
Mobile search 136
Black hat, the darker side of search 137
Bringing in the pros 141
Universal search – more opportunities to rank 142
Shifting goalposts – search innovation and the quest for
relevance 143
Looking forward 147
Case study: The Entertainer 147
06 Understanding social media 150
Join the conversation 150
What is social media? 151
Different forms of social media 156
Social media dashboards – all your updates in one place 169
The rules of engagement 170
Adding social media to your own site 172
Case study: Bennetts Bike Social 174
Contents vii
07 Understanding e-mail marketing 178
The new direct mail 178
What exactly is e-mail marketing? 180
Before you start 182
Planning your campaign 187
Measuring your success 198
E-mail – a vital component of digital marketing 203
Case study: Help for Heroes 203
08 Understanding mobile marketing 206
Mobile – market size and rate of growth 206
Mobile – Web 2.0 209
Mobile marketing – a game-changing channel, or just another
conduit? 209
Case study: Accor Hotels 216
Location, location, location 218
Mobile gaming 219
Case study: Kiip 221
Mobile applications 222
Measuring mobile 224
Mobile privacy 226
Mobile data 228
Further exploration 231
Building a multichannel marketing strategy 232
Case study: Dubizzle.com 233
09 Understanding performance marketing 236
Recognizing opportunities for strategic partnership 236
What is performance marketing? 239
Case study: Number One Shoes 261
10 Understanding online public relations 264
Google – judge and jury 265
Online – it’s where PR lives now 266
Case study: Royal Mail gold post boxes 270
Case study: Bristol-Myers Squibb 279
Case study: NatWest 282
viii Contents
11 Understanding content marketing 298
Why content? – an overview 298
Case study: East Coast 301
Case study: Littlewoods 305
Content strategy 308
Content production 314
Promoting your content 318
The future of online content 321
Case study: Makino 322
12 Convincing your boss to invest in digital marketing 327
Understanding your objectives 328
Your market and website function 334
Understanding decision making and knowing your decision
makers 336
Budget considerations 339
Key channel benefits 341
The perfect website 350
Further considerations 352
Structuring your proposal 358
Advocacy 365
13 What’s next? 367
Prediction 1 – a new internet 367
Prediction 2 – democratization of marketing knowledge 369
Prediction 3 – natural selection of content 370
Prediction 4 – greater learning and being more competitive 370
Prediction 5 – lessons from the emerging markets 371
Prediction 6 – the case for a circular marketing economy... 372
Prediction 7 – agencies go arbitrage 374
Prediction 8 – fast and super fast 375
Prediction 9 – radio 376
Prediction 10 – your online persona 376
The end bit 377
Case study: UEFA Europa League 378
