How to Overcome your Marketing Challenges & Improve your Brand's

Visibility

Jenn Barber

Social Media

StrategistFrom startups to large

enterprise brands, Jenn

consults SiteLab’s clients to

connect them with

opportunities to engage with

social media.

The Presenters

Matt Parisi

Online Media

& Search StrategistMatt is a proven search

marketing expert with ROIs on

online marketing campaigns

exceeding 1000%.

Lori Barber

Director of

Business

DevelopmentFiercely committed to helping

her clients make the most of

their online marketing

budgets.

SiteLab Interactive, a full-service digital marketing agency based in La

Jolla, CA. Since 1996, we have been helping clients like Wolfgang

Puck, Sunkist Growers and Chiquita Bananas, build great brands by

creating engaging online experiences. We combine strategic insight

with intelligent design and leading-edge technologies to deliver

solutions that connect people and produce bottom-line results. Our

services include:

•User Experience

•Social Media Marketing

•Search Marketing

•Website

Development

SiteLab Interactive

facebook.com/sitelabtwitter.com/sitelabberssitelab.com/blogs

Follow Us:

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•Graphic Design

•Mobile Marketing

The Agenda

• The Situation & the Challenges – Garbo’s Hummus

• The Approach – Always Starts with the Voice of Audience

• Answer the Question “Who is My Audience “– with Search

• Social Integration

• The Strategy & the Plan

• Measuring Success

Bonus Material: Tips & Tricks for Finding & Optimizing Content

The SituationThe Situation - Garbo’s Hummus

Scenario: Garbo has been in business for 25 years

selling hummus out of a storefront in Portland,

Oregon. They use recipes handed down from

generations of Garbos. In addition they run a

lunchtime Greek catering service for local

businesses. They currently have a website, and a

facebook page with 30 followers where they

occasionally post specials, they don’t know what

else the should be posting about.

Image source: humus101.com

They just hired a part time marketing coordinator to help expand their business who has

reached out to SiteLab to help develop an online marketing strategy. She shared with us

that the owner is reluctant to dive into social marketing. The owner also wants to rank #1

for the term “Garbo” when typed in search engines.

Goals:

1. To become known in the local area for anyone looking for a healthy catering for large parties.

2. Increase sales of the Hummus in other stores (grocery stores, markets, etc)

3. Increase foot traffic in their own store (and in-store sales).  

The Challenges

How does online engagement translate to offline sales?

How can management be convinced that social media marketing should be a part of their overall marketing strategy?

How can we manage an online marketing plan with limited resources: time, money and staff?

Where can we find content ideas?

How can we measure success?

Online Marketing Offline Results

Studies Show Impact of Online

Ads, Offline

Impact of the Web is Only

Growing Over Time

Sources: comScore.com, Forrester Research

The Marketing Ecosystem

Sources: Synotac.com

Search Considerations

Search Audience

SEO 101 – Relevance + Authority

Where is my audience? What language do they use to

search (Relevance)?

What is the intent of these searchers?

Are there any barriers to success?

Do not target internal marketing jargon unless warranted

Competitive Research

Who are Garbo’s competitors? In real life and online in

search?

What is our competitive advantage? How do we compare?

What is the level of difficulty to succeed?

FIRST THINGS FIRSTwho is my audience?

First, check your website analytics

Run an Organic Search Traffic report

Sources: Google Analytics

Then, Brainstorm New Keywords

Brainstorm by keyword or web page

• Refine Keyword List

• Prioritize Based on Volume AND Relevance/Quality

• Consider Keyword Intent

• Different Keywords Represent Different Stages in Buying Cycle – Vary Keywords to Maintain Healthy Funnel

mallardsbaseball.com

Research & Refine Keywords

Brainstorm by keyword or web page

• Refine Keyword List

• Prioritize Based on Volume AND Relevance/Quality

• Consider Keyword Intent

• Different Keywords Represent Different Stages in Buying Cycle – Vary Keywords to Maintain Healthy Funnel

Source: Google Keyword Tool

The Voice of Audience

What is the language of our audience?

Where can we fit into the online landscape?

VoA Research applies to all other marketing tactics

WHAT’S UPwith the competition?

Image source: mallardsbaseball.com

Competitive Analysis

How difficult will it be to rank in the top 10 for prioritized

keywords?

How powerful are the web sites currently ranking?

What kind of content appears to be popular?

Are there any holes or missing information in search results

relating to the keyword?

How is content presented that is ranking well?

(tone/info/language)

What is your competition doing that you aren’t?

Are there any indications on what content might be popular

or unpopular?

What other content (not related to the keyword) appears on

sites that are ranking well?

Keyword Difficulty

• Evaluate Difficulty in Relation to Perceived Keyword Quality

• High Quality Keywords that are Easier to Attain are preferable

• Consider Keyword Intent

• Keep in Mind Natural Advantages for You or Competitors

Where can you fit in the Competitive landscape?Source: SEOMoz

Search Conclusions

Search Audience

Garbo’s Keywords: “hummus recipes”, “portland catering”,

“portland caterers”, “hummus brands”, “how to make

hummus”

Low amount of traffic actually seeking to buy hummus

online, so must strive to become center of hummus

conversation online

Competitive Research

Competitors: Crave Catering (local caterer),

mideastfood.about.com (major web site), hummus101.com

(smaller, more specific web site), Blue Olive (local

Mediterranean restaurant with web site)

HOW DO WEintegrate social?

Social Media Considerations

Social Media Audience

Where is my audience? Which sites?

What do they like / say / do?

How and when do they say it?

Competitive Research

Who are my competitors?

What is our competitive advantage?

FIRST THINGS FIRSTwhere is my audience?

Take a look at your website analytics

Run a referral report in Google AnalyticsSource: Google Analytics

Next, find the party

Search for brand name and product/serviceSource: SocialMention.com

Consider your target demographics

Align current demographics with sites

Source: MediaBistro.com

KNOW WHEREnow, what do they like?

Revisit the voice of audience research

Which keywords are they using?

OUR KEYWORDS MAY BE:“restaurant hummus”“hummus dip”“hummus brand”“hummus products”“homemade hummus”“what is hummus”“hummus ingredients”“healthiest hummus brand”“best brand of hummus”

Then you can see what they’re saying

What are they saying?

Content Ideas:• storage• retail locations• usage / recipes• health benefits• taste test• coupons• samples• snack ideas for kids

• hummus love!

And how and when they’re saying it…

What is their tone? When are they online?

WHAT’S UPwith the competition?

Competitive Analysis

How is your audience engaging with your competition?

What is your competition doing that you aren’t?

Why are they doing such things different?

What type of response are they receiving? Is it different than

how your audience is engaging with you?

Does your competition have a consistent tone, message and

brand?

Is your competition engaging in a way their audience expects

them to?  Casual when they’re expecting professional or

opposite?

What are the weaknesses to how your competition is

engaging and leveraging social media that you can use to

your advantage?

Who is your indirect competition?

And find the influencers

Find and connect with the influencers

Social Media Conclusions

Social Media Audience

Determined target audience demographics – Facebook,

Twitter, YouTube

Love Garbo’s because it’s homemade, family business, fresh

Casual tone, healthy, nutrition-focused, family, online late

morning

Competitive Research

Competitors: Store brands (Abraham’s Natural), Homemade

Hummus (recipes), Local Caterers (Hush Hush Café)

Competitive Advantage: Family business, local presence

LET’S GOlet’s build our strategy

General

Build Content around VoA/Social Research

“Big Idea” Marketing Program

Create Relationships, Enhance Share-ability

Search

Optimize Content around VoA Research

Paid Search to Fill In Organic Gaps/Raise

Visibility for Best Keywords

Social

Monthly Editorial Calendar

Integrate – Facebook, Email Marketing,

Twitter

Harness the power of local influencers

Facebook Advertising to Boost Likes

Stringing it All Together - Garbo’s Strategy

Measure Success & Optimize

Benchmark and measure success!

Define Conversion Events Across Tactics and Strategies

• Based on Likelihood of Converting Lead to Customer

• Assign Values to Different Conversions

• Calculate Return on Investment and Improve That Score

• Doesn’t Necessarily Have to Be Perfect, so Long as It Is

Correlated

Benchmark, Notate & Monitor

• Benchmark Starting Point

• Notate Updates/Events that Could Influence Business

• Use Monitoring Tools to Watch for Issues, See Opportunities

The Plan

Developing & Optimizing Content – 60%

– Organic Search

– Social Media Editorial Calendar

– Email Outreach

Promotions - 30%

– Social Media facebook advertising

– PPC

– Annual “Big Idea” Campaign

Reporting & Tracking - 10%

QUESTIONS?

HOW ABOUTsome tips and tricks

Finding Content

1. Google Alerts 

2. Hootsuite 

3. Your Partners 

4. Cross-Promote 

5. Google Discussions 

6. Internal Team 

7. Reviews 

8. Bizarre Holidays 

9. Marketing Materials 

10.RSS Feeds 

Optimizing Content

1. Identify Keywords 

2. Use Keywords 

3. Trending Topics 

4. Pictures 

5. Video 

6. Tag/Mention Sources 

7. Links to Support 

8. Lead Generation Content 

9. Day of Week/Time 

10.Location, Location, Location