Digital Marketing For Dummies

Ryan Deiss is founder and CEO of Idea Incubator and creator of Traffic & Conversion Summit. He has consulted with more than 200,000 businesses in 68 countries. Russ Henneberry is founder of theCLIKK.com, a free daily email newsletter about digital business. He has trained and certified thousands of professionals in SEO, social media marketing and content marketing through his coaching, courses, and stage presentations.

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