Posts Tagged ‘planning’

It’s planning season, the most wonderful time of the year, and my clients are doubtless sick of me harping again, again, and yet again on the “consistency is key” message.

Confession:  I myself have been guilty of less-than-consistent marketing in 2009, as evidenced by this languishing blog.

The good news:  having confessed and accepted, I’m ready to change.

VOCO has scheduled its own brand strategy retreat for early December and is excited about the launch of its new, improved, more-helpful-than-ever-before (we promise) offerings and site.

In the meantime, what “no-duh” moments have you had lately?  What marketing advice do you know you should follow…but don’t?

Welcome back!  In our first Google Analytics for technophobes, Web stalkers and small business owners, we reviewed how to set up this powerful program.

Now comes the hard part:  actually analyzing your results.  Of course, the longer your code has been around and in business (it is working, right?), the more results you’ll have to analyze.

Though the Google Analytics dashboard is full of exciting stuff, it can feel mighty overwhelming if you don’t know what the heck it is you’re looking at.  Here’s a whirlwind tour and glossary of the site and important terms:

Dashboard – this is the heart of the site and where you’ll find the most important information of all:  visits, pageviews, bounce rates, average time on site, and percentage of new visits.  Note:  the information portrayed on the dashboard is governed by the time perameters you set at the top of the page.  The longer the time you specify, the more visitors, etc. you should see.

• Visits and pageviews:  These are the nuts and bolts of GA.  A visit is essentially a session:  a period in which a user is visiting your website.  Google defines visit as ending when the site is navigated away from or the browser remains inactive for 30 minutes or more.  A pageview is one instance of a browser loading a page on your website.  Important note:  a visit is not a visitor.
• Bounce rate is the rate at which visitors left your site without clicking on any other pages.
• Average time on site:  No-brainer.  The average time  a visitor spends on your site.
• Percentage new visits:  The percentage of visits that were new (i.e. had never visited your site before).

Visitors – this is the section that allows you to analyze visitor behavior:  who they are, which browsers they use, where they are.  Google offers services such as benchmarking (comparing your statistics against others in your industry), trending information to help you find out more about your visitors, loyalty information, and information you can define yourself.

Traffic Sources – this section is the alpha and the omega when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) and understanding more about how people find your site.  It includes subsections on direct traffic (traffic that comes to your site without being referred through another website), referring sites (sites that include links to your site that funnel in traffic), search engines, keywords, Google AdWords, and campaigns you can define yourself.

Content – this section focuses on the content of your site and can show your top content, top landing and exit pages, and even a nifty site overlay that shows who clicks where on your site.

Goals – in this section, you can set and track conversion goals for your site.

Your assignment:  familiarize yourself with the Google Analytics dashboard and interface. Click everything you can to get an idea of what it does.  Never fear…in our next sessions, we’ll talk about creating goals, analyzing traffic and user behavior, and more!

You’ve learned how to assess your brand’s strengths and weaknesses.  What now?

Remember the DEVO song “Freedom of Choice”?  People can get really overwhelmed at the embarrassment of riches that is free choice.  I encourage my clients to start SMALL.  Eensy-weensy, tiny even.  Know why?  Because small = manageable in a real world full of real-world distractions and setbacks.

It can seem like a huge bummer to think small when you’ve just gotten the macro view of your brand health.  However, small steps are what will bring you to your destination.

Example:  You’ve discovered that while your Web presence rates a 95%, your sales is coming in at a mere 25%.  You’ve delved into the details and realized that your sales and marketing need to be better integrated, perhaps through the use of a CRM system, a double sales/marketing plan, or a weekly check-in meeting.

Instead of plunging in and doing all three, prioritize.  Which one looks like it will have the biggest return on investment?  How quickly can you get going?  Can it be broken down into manageable tasks?  Who will take care of each one?  Most importantly, how will you measure and evaluate your success?

If you repeat this process, calendar in hand, you should quickly get a feel for which baby steps you’ll take first.  Voila — a direction for your brand!

This sounds simple, but it’s really as complex as you make it.  Go focus on the here and now…just make sure you check in with reality and strategy on a regular basis.

Happy New Year!

Mulled cider and Santa schemes aren’t the only thing brewing this time of year.  In fact, I find that my clients like to look back at year’s end to see how far they’ve come, where they’re going, and set some financial and business goals in order to head into the new year with confidence.

But how do you even wrap your head around your brand, anyway?  Brand assessment doesn’t have to be daunting…in fact, there are several quick strategies and assessment tools you can use yourself as you close the book on 2008.

Over the next week, VOCO Creative will be offering a fresh new blog series about brand assessment right here.  Check us out Monday, December 8 for the first installment!

“Where do I start?”

“What is social media?”

“Will blogging help?”

“I’m lost!”

If you’re asking yourself these questions –even after years in business– you’re not alone.  My clients ask them every day in their search for the best ways to grow their businesses, reach their goals, and measure their results.

Chris Brogan has a great article entitled “If I Started Today” up on his site.  I love his focus on audience (the most overlooked facet of great marketing). Though he gives a great preliminary road map, I would have loved to see more real-world implementation strategies (but hey, that’s what we specialize in, so you’re covered).

Consider his post to be what it is:  a great road map made of arrows pointing you toward your final destination.  It’s up to you to decide what values and goals need to be served by your marketing plan and what resources you have to help get you there.  Once you’ve made those decisions and are ready to commit, the next step is a phased marketing plan with measurable metrics that you reassess when realistic and are flexible enough to change.

In closing, I’d like to echo Chris’s question.  What have you learned from this year’s marketing efforts? What would you tell someone just starting out?