Digital Marketing & Social Media: Identifying
& Leveraging the Right Channels to Impact
Sales Growth
Ernie Humphrey
CEO, 360 Thought Leadership Consulting

OUR AGENDA
Setting the Stage: Marketing & Digital Marketing (DM)
DM: Identifying the Right Channels for Your Company
DM: Leveraging the Right Channel Vehicles for Your Company
The Business of Social Media: Marketing & Advertising
2
Developing a Digital Marketing Plan for Your Company
Closing Thoughts and 10 Great Resources

THE HUMOR: MARKETING IS FUN!
Top 5 Signs You May Need Digital Marketing 101
5. You think Instagram is a breakfast treat.
4. You think that LinkedIn is a fashion accessory.
3. You are studying up on bird calls so you can
catchup with all of the other who are “tweeting”
out there.
2. You think that blogging is the consequence of
eating too much ice cream.
1. You are worried that you are “it” when someone
says they tagged you in a photo.
3

WHAT IS MARKETING
Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and
processes for creating, communicating,
delivering, and exchanging offerings that have
value for customers, clients, partners, and society
at large.
Direct Marketing generates profitable business
results by using targeted communications to
engage specific audiences through a
combination of relevant messaging and offers
that can be tracked, measured, analyzed, stored
and leveraged to drive future marketing
initiatives.
4

WHERE MARKETING GOES WRONG
SPAM- Not Targeting your Efforts to any
Specific Audience Based on a Perceived
Desire to Learn More about your Products
and/or Services
Continued Outreach after a Specific
Request to stop Receiving Information
Too Much Too Often
Not Enough Information
Not the Right Messaging
No Intent to Inspire Action
Offensive Verbiage in Messaging
Only Treating Potential Customers Like
Transactions
5

WHEN MARKETING GOES RIGHT
Sharing Information that Improves the
lives of Those to Whom You are Marketing
Delivering Thought Leadership
Building Customer Relationships
Inspiring Specific Actions
Invoking Emotional Reactions (Positive)
Inspiring People to Share Information
about Your Products & Services
6

IMPACT THE SALES FUNNEL: KEEP IT SIMPLE (KIS)
AWARENESS
INVOLVEMENT
CLOSE
7

THE SALES FUNNEL
AWARENESS
What is the level of awareness (percentage) of sprayer
quotes of which you are aware in all target markets?
INVOLVEMENT
What is the level of involvement (percentage) of
sprayer quotes in which you are in the game with a
quote in all target markets?
Understand why each quote did not
convert into a sale and assign a cause:
product features (specs), brand
preference, value proposition
perception
CLOSE
8

WHAT IS DIGITAL MARKETING
The use of digital technologies to create
an integrated, targeted and measurable
communications which help to acquire
and retain customers while building
deeper relationships with them.
9

DIGITAL MARKETING CHANNELS
Your Company’s Website
Relevant Industry Websites, Newsletters
Relevant Professional Association
Websites & E-Newsletters
Chamber of Commerce Websites and
E-Newsletters
Relevant College & University Program
Websites and E-Newsletters
Affiliate Websites & Newsletters
(Strategic Partners)
10

DIGITAL MARKETING CHANNELS (CTD.)
Direct E-mail
Affiliate E-mail (Strategic Partners)
Social Media
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Digital Advertising
Google AdWords
Facebook
LinkedIn
11

YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE
5 Critical Considerations
1. Alignment with Company’s Strategic
Objectives (Short & Long Term)
2. Content
3. The User Experience
4. Ease & Functionality of Site Search
5. SEO Friendliness
12

YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE
Alignment with Company’s Strategic Objectives
Structure communicates strategic priorities
Clear, concise, consistent messaging which
conveys company’s objectives
Website content & messaging inspires
clearly-defined actions
Provides the platform for a customer
experience
13

YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE
Content
1. A well-defined content taxonomy
2. Inspires website visits and visitor
engagement (time on site)
3. Conveys thought leadership
4. Dynamic and relevant content
5. Deliver a portfolio of content types
and resources
• Webinars
• Videos
• Infographics
• Blogs
• Templates 14

YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE
Create an Experience for Customers
1. Engaging style and design
2. Deliver what they want in an efficient
manner
3. Understand, meet & exceed
expectations
4. Understand visitor behaviors on your
website and create features,
functionality and messaging to impact it
5. Understand why people visit your site,
what makes them come back, and will
make them come back
15

YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE
Ease of Use & Functionality
1. Clean design
2. Clear action option(s) on each
webpage
3. Features your customer base expects
4. Minimal number of mouse clicks for
users to complete desired actions
5. Site search within and across your
website that keeps visitors on your
website
16

YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Friendly
1. Discover keywords most relevant to your
customer base
• How are people searching to
discover your website
• What Keywords are a focus of your
competitors
• Google Insights
• Google Trends
• Know Your Customers (KYC)
2. Develop a content strategy which aligns
with keywords for which you want to
optimize search relevance
17

YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Friendly
3. Keywords should be specific
4. Don’t forget synonyms and plurals
5. Enhance keywords with modifiers
6. Optimize friendliness on webpages as well
as across your website
• Webpage title tags
• Meta tags
• Header tags
• Content structure
7. Structure webpage URLs to contain
keywords
18

YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Friendly
8. Post articles & blogs that contain
keywords in the title and last
paragraph
9. Structure webpage URLs to contain
keywords
10.Cross link content to related website
content that contains keywords in
webpage URLs
19

FINDING RELEVANT WEBSITES & NEWSLETTERS
Know your Industry (Industries)
Know your Supply Chain
Know your Customers
Know your Competitors
Know where your Customers go for
Professional Development
Associations
Chambers of Commerce
Colleges & Universities
Industry Events
20

E-MAIL MARKETING
Building an Opt-In List
A concise web form that launches when
website visitors click on certain content
on your website
Inclue an opt-in link in your e-mail
signature
Send an e-mail to existing contacts
inviting them to opt-in to your list
Leverage Social Media Vehicles
Collect business cards at industry events and
follow up with an invitation to join your opot-in
list that entitles them to great content and
resources
Host your own webinars and make opting into
your list a requirenent for registering
21

E-MAIL MARKETING
Affiliate E-mail (Strategic Partners)
Rent an e-mail marketing list to reach your
target audience
List Acquisition
Acquire an opt-in e-mail list
Require a specific opt-in to your content
in your initial outreach to an acquired list
BE CAREFUL- companies that offer opt-in
e-mail marketing lists are a dime a dozen
Understand exactly what they do when
their list subscribers opt-in
It is YOUR responsibility to comply with
CAN-SPAM Act e-mail marketing rules.
Note if you are sending e-mails to people
in Canada additional restrictions apply. 22

E-MAIL MARKETING
Managing your Opt-In list
Doing it right takes tame
Consider leveraging an
e-mail marketing solution
MailChimp
Constant Contact
Vertical Response
Campaigner
AWeber
An E-mail marketing automation
solution takes it to the next level
Marketo
HubSpot
Silverpop
Marketo
23

E-MAIL MARKETING PROGRAMS
Newsletters
Often highlight your best website content,
relevant news, and thought leadership
content from strategic partners
Event Marketing
Highlights and invites your target audience
to attend your educational programs
and/or programs you are sponsoring or
have a subject matter speaking
Website Digest
Hightlights website content over a given
period of time--- day, week, month
Introduce or feature new products
and/or services
24

E-MAIL MARKETING TEMPLATES
HTML format
Concise Messaging
Clean & Engaging
Clear, Prominent Action Button (s)
Text format
Concise, more personalized messaging to a
target audience
Often used for follow-up e-mails based
on an open or click thru from an initial
e-mail marketing program
25

E-MAIL MARKETING CONSIDERATIONS
What to Send
When to Send it
To whom, list segmentation or not for
each e-mail
Creating a Compelling E-mail Title
How often do you send e-mails
More than once a week
Once a week
Once a month
Once a quarter or less frequently
26

E-MAIL SUCCESS METRICS
Open Rates
How many people opened your
e-mail
How does this compare with releavnt
industry averages
Click-Thru Rates
How many people clicked on a hyperlink
within your e-mail messages
Unique click-thru rate- accounts for people
who click on more than one link to limit
over-inflated click-thru rates and identifies
the level of engagement by those who
open an e-mail and take an action
27

SOCIAL MEDIA: THE 2014 STATS
28

SOCIAL MEDIA: THE BIZ DEV CHANNEL
A Low Cost Channel to Drive Business Growth
Build & Manage Your Company’s LinkedIn Brand
Identify the Industries you Want to Target
Identify the Companies you Want as Customers
Identify & Engage the Professionals at Target
Companies who Control the Relevant Spend
The Keys to the Candy Store
The Company Search Feature
Joining LinkedIn Groups focused on Your
Target Industries, Customers, and Decision
Makers
Engage LinkedIn Group Leaders & Active
Members
29

SOCIAL MEDIA: THE BIZ DEV CHANNEL
Build & Manage Your Company’s LinkedIn Brand
Create and Manage a Compelling Company
Profile
Helps Define Your Company Brand on LinkedIn
Find competitors and other company profiles
you like, leverage the features you find
compelling, and make your profile stand out
Communicate your company’s value
proposition
Highlight your product and services and what
about them drives your competitive advantage
Highlight Your Employees
Include video customer testimonials
Update your page on a regular basis to engage
those who follow your company on LinkedIn
30

SOCIAL MEDIA: THE BIZ DEV CHANNEL
Build & Manage Your Company’s LinkedIn Brand
Educate Employees how to build compelling
LinkedIn Profiles
Build a Complete Profile
Deliver a Compelling Profile Title
Convey Thought Leadership- Twitter account, Blog
Posts, Personal Website, etc.
Communicate “how you do it” as well as what you
have done
Highlight Soft Skills
Build out and Manage a LinkedIn Group
User Group
A General Group to Offer a Vehicle for Thought
Leaders in Your Industry (ies) to connect and share
knowledge
31

SOCIAL MEDIA: FOR BIZ DEV
The Company Search Feature- Ex. Cloud Computing ERP
32

SOCIAL MEDIA: FOR BIZ DEV
The Company Search Feature- Ex. Cloud Computing ERP
33

SOCIAL MEDIA: FOR BIZ DEV
The Company Search- NetSuite as my Target
34

SOCIAL MEDIA: FOR BIZ DEV
Who do I Know at NetSuite?
35

SOCIAL MEDIA: FOR BIZ DEV
Who do I want to Know at NetSuite?– The COO
36

SOCIAL MEDIA: FOR BIZ DEV
As I scroll down I see The COO is a 2nd Degree Connection-
Whom do the COO and I share as 1st Degree Connections?
37

SOCIAL MEDIA: FOR BIZ DEV
My Shared 1st Degree Connections with NetSuite COO
I identify the best one to introduce me to the COO and ask for it.
38

UNLOCK THE REAL POWER:
I am linked to over
14.5 Million People!!!
39

UNLOCK THE REAL POWER:
Groups = The Keys to the Candy Store
40

UNLOCK THE REAL POWER:
Example: I am a Treasury Professional
41

UNLOCK THE REAL POWER:
Example: The Treasury Management Network Group
42

UNLOCK THE REAL POWER:
Example: The Treasury Management Network Group
43

UNLOCK THE REAL POWER:
Example: The Treasury Management Network Group
- Once a Member you can Access Other Members
44

UNLOCK THE REAL POWER:
Example: The Treasury Management Network Group
- Anyone Interesting in Indiana?
45

SOCIAL MEDIA: FOR BIZ DEV
Making Desired Connections on LinkedIn
You already know the person- Just Ask
Degrees of Separation- Get an
introduction from someone you know
who is connected to them
Cold Call-
Join the Groups in which they are a
member
Send them an InMail
46

SOCIAL MEDIA: THE BIZ DEV CHANNEL
Build & Manage Your Company’s Facebook Brand
Build a Complete & Compelling Profile
Find competitors and other company profiles
you like, and make your profile stand out
Post Content that Inspires Engagement
Experiment with the best days and times to
post on Facebook
Actively Manage Your Company Account
Market Your Educational Programs
Leverage Facebook to build your prospect list
DO NOT HAVE EMPLOYEES MIX COMPANY
BUSINESS WITH THEIR PERSONAL FACEBOOK
ACTIVITY!!!
47

SOCIAL MEDIA: THE BIZ DEV CHANNEL
A Low Cost Channel for Competitive Intelligence
Identify Companies you Want as Customers
Follow the Companies you Want as Customers
Follow & Engage the Professionals at Target
Companies who Control the Relevant Spend
Inspire Target Companies and their Decision
Makers to Follow You or Your Company
Identify Online Groups and Associations where
your Prospects Play
Contribute Thought Leadership around how to
solve the problems your potential customers face
Actively Manage Your Account
Learn to love the hashtag (#)
48

SOCIAL MEDIA: THE BIZ DEV CHANNEL
A Channel to Engage & Entertain Prospective Customers
Post Videos that Inspire Comments
Post Videos to Invoke Actions
Post Videos that Invoke Emotion
Make People Laugh and Smile
Be Creative, Making Videos that Resonate is More
Art than Science
Actively Manage your Account
The More Relevant Videos you Post the Better
49

SOCIAL MEDIA: THE BIZ DEV CHANNEL
Google Plus was to be Google’s answer to Facebook
Users form Google Circles to create groups that share
desired demographics and interests.
Share as many photos as possible that you believe
communicate your brand and thought leadership
Leverage the “recommended links” feature that
allows you to share what your believe are useful to
those within your Google Plus Circles (groups of
connections you define and manage)
Develop a network of evangelists to share your
Google Plus posts and help you grow your Google
Circles.
Measure your success with Google Analytics
50

SOCIAL MEDIA: THE BIZ DEV CHANNEL
Instagram is an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing
and social networking service
Instagram is finally focused on developing tools
for businesses to help them monetize its user base
of over 200 million
Users generally leverage the mobile app and NOT
the website
Follow the Instagram Blog for Business
Connect with your Facebook account to drive
your brand awareness across both platforms
Leverage Videos (Instagram recently added this
feature to combat Vine).
51

SOCIAL MEDIA: THE BIZ DEV CHANNEL
You need to be active an cultivate your following
Leverage the Hashtag (#) to promote the visibility of
your content
Engage Instagrammers (Instagranm users) who have
huge followings and engage them as evangelists for
your company
See what your competitors are doing on Instagram to
generate ideas and avoid mistakes
Follow and engage companies you want as
customers and the relevant decision makers at these
companies.
Measure what’s working and follow trends,
(statigr.com, web.stafram.com
52

SOCIAL MEDIA: THE BIZ DEV CHANNEL
A social networking site that allows users to share
common interests virtually through photo sharing via a
practice called “pinning”.
The goal is to make connections via “things” that both
parties find interesting (including “professional
interests” such as public speaking)
Pinterest has been shown to be as effective as
Facebook in driving website traffic
Pinterest can be a value add to Facebook and
Instagram as a “more socially” driven social media
channel
You need to follow and create compelling Pinboards
(a collection of “pins” with a common theme).
53

SOCIAL MEDIA: THE BIZ DEV CHANNEL
A social networking site that allows users to share
common interests virtually through photo sharing via a
practice called “pinning”.
Engage Pinterest users who have huge followings
and engage them as evangelists for your
company
See what your competitors are doing on
Instagram to generate ideas and avoid mistakes
Follow and engage companies you want as
customers and the relevant decision makers at
these companies.
54

DIGITAL ADVERTISING: GOOGLE ADS
Reaching Your Target Audience via Google Searches
Google AdWords Glossary
Bid- the highest amount of money you are
willing to pay for a click on your ad.
Impressions- the number of times your ad is
viewed
CPM- Your cost of impressions per thousand
Visitor- a person who clicks on your ad and
navigates to the webpage you target using a
hyperlink
CPC (Cost per Click), PPC (Pay per Click)
55

DIGITAL ADVERTISING: GOOGLE ADS
Reaching Your Target Audience via Google Searches
Google AdWords Glossary (Continued)
Conversion- a desired result (signup, lead,
purchase) taken as a result of someone
clicking on your ad
Conversion Rate- the number of times your ad
is viewed
Quality Score- a ranking system used by
Google to measure relevancy of your ads and
pages to which your ad directs those who
click on your ad (landing pages).
56

DIGITAL ADVERTISING: GOOGLE ADS
Google AdWords Campaign Structure*
Campaign Ad Group Keywords Ads
Shoe
s
Tennis Shoes
Dress Shoes
Boat Shoes
* Courtesy of
• [White tennis
shoes]
• [Nike tennis
shoes]
• [Tennis shoes
non-marking]
………….
………….

DIGITAL ADVERTISING: GOOGLE ADS
Reaching Your Target Audience via Google Searches
Google AdWords Glossary (Continued)
Conversion- a desired result (signup, lead,
purchase) taken as a result of someone
clicking on your ad
Conversion Rate- the number of times your ad
is viewed
Quality Score- a ranking system used by
Google to measure relevancy of your ads and
pages to which your ad directs those who
click on your ad (landing pages).
58

DIGITAL ADVERTISING: GOOGLE ADS
Google AdWords Best Practices*
Search advertising, then display
Tightly focus your keyword list for each ad group
Start with at LEAST 3 ads per ad group
Set a daily budget
Appropriate / focused landing pages
Support SEO goals – landing pages and keyword
focus
Review search terms report
add relevant exact matches to keywords lists
Add negative terms
Keep working at it
59
* Courtesy of

DIGITAL ADVERTISING: FACEBOOK
Page Post Engagements
Page Likes
Clicks to Websites
Website Conversions
App Installments
Event Responses
Offer Claims
3 Keys to Facebook Ad Success
60
Types of Facebook Ads
Short and Sweet
Engaging Campaign Specific Photos
Target your Audience with Pinpoint Accuracy

DIGITAL ADVERTISING: FACEBOOK
4 Keys to LinkedIn Ad Success
Short and Sweet
Engaging Content- Clear & Compelling Verbiage
Target your Audience with Pinpoint Accuracy
Test & Optimize
61
LinkedIn Ad Structure
Headline
Image
Copy/Verbiage

BUILDING YOUR DIGITAL MARKETING PLAN
You Need a Detailed Plan with Specific
Goals and Metrics of Success
Identify the Right Channels for Your Company
based on the demographics of Your Addressable
Market (s)
Research and Identify the Right Vehicles to
Leverage
Start Small
Leverage A/B, A/B/C, and A/B/C/D Testing
Define Success for each channel and vehicle
Create a matrix of channels and vehicles
Define Metrics for each Matrix Square
Website visits, event registrations, sales, etc.
62

DIGITAL MARKETING : MAKING YOUR BUSINESS CASE
63

ERNIE’S ABCs OF SUCCESS
People
Your most valuable assets
Internal & Consultants
Process
In Order to Identify & Scale any Successful
Marketing Programs you Need It
Communication
You Need to be able to Sell Investments in
Digital Marketing and Communicate Value
Effectively
Collaboration
There is no “I” in Success
Alignment
Technology
Key for Efficiency, but NOT Magic
64

CLOSING THOUGHTS
6 Keys to Success for any Initiative are: People,
Communication, Collaboration, Process, Alignment,
Technology
There is No “One Size Fits All” Great Digital Marketing
Strategy
The Foundation of Successful Marketing at
any Company is:
Knowing your Company’s Short & Long Term Business
Objectives Inside & Out
Knowing Addressable Markets Inside & Out
Understanding the Behaviors of Decision Makers at
Companies within Your Target Market(s)
Identify the Right Marketing Channels for YOUR
Company
What works in the B2B (business to business) world often
does not translate to the B2C (business to customer)
What works for a Fortune 500 company often does not
work for a start-up 65

CLOSING THOUGHTS
Identify the Right Vehicles within Each Target Market
Channel for YOUR Company
Benchmark Your Company’s Digital Marketing Strategy
Against your Competitors
Engage your target audience where they want to be
engaged and how they want to be engaged virtually.
Digital Marketing Efforts Need to Coordinated-
You Need a Detailed Strategic Marketing Plan
Your Business Case for Why Digital Marketing
Matters for YOUR Company
Metrics of Success for Each Channel & Vehicle
66

ERNIE’S PERSONAL TOP 10 RESOUCES
Slideshare.net- Search and you Shall Find
a Valuable PowerPoint Presentation
YouTube- Search and you Shall Almost
Always find Exactly How to Do Something
LinkedIn – My Social Media Channel
Favorite for Biz Dev
Smart Insights- Free and “Not Free” Digital
Marketing Resources
HubSpot’s Blog- Great Digital Marketing
Thought Leadership
67

ERNIE’S PERSONAL TOP 10 RESOUCES (CTD)
Marketing Profs- Great for all Aspects of
Marketing, including and beyond Digital
Marketing
American Marketing Association- Not Free,
but a Top Notch Professional Association with
Great Content and a Solid Indy Chapter
eMarketer- Shares Valuable Insights from
Large Global Marketing Studies
Dan Zarrella’s Blog- Dan is a Social Media
Legend
Marketo’s Blog- Marketing Automation
Company with a true Commitment to
Thought Leadership
68

THANK YOU!
Ernie Humphrey,
CEO, 360 Thought Leadership Consulting
E-Mail: Ernie@360thoughtleadership.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/erniehumphrey
http://www.360thoughtleadership.com