This document outlines four strategies for developing a unified digital experience. It recommends (1) really knowing your audience through personas and visit scenarios, (2) executing content strategically as a publisher, (3) supporting all platforms and connecting experiences across visits, and (4) executing only cross-channel campaigns. The key is measuring everything and testing continuously to refine efforts into a cohesive customer experience across channels.

1. 4 STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING A
UNIFIED DIGITAL EXPERIENCE
2012 FOCUS FOR DIGITAL MARKETING
Mike Osswald
March 2012

2. TODAY’S CONNECTED MARKETING SYSTEM
￭ Your customers are in control and better than ever at
being informed on what they purchase and where to get
the best deal.
￭ Therefore, all of your marketing efforts must be
interconnected...
2

3. If you are still executing in any of these channels independently from
the others, you’re not creating a cohesive customer experience.
Experiential
Local/Retail Television
Print
Mobile
Your Customers Out of Home
Public Relations
Social Engagement Online Channels
Customer Service eCommerce
Product/Service
Development Your Web Sites
Market
Research
3

4. EVERYTHING IS COMING TOGETHER
￭ The last 5 years have seen amazing technological
growth and maturity
￭ Hardware and interfaces are more interconnected
￭ All “content” is now digital
￭ Data is moving ever faster, delivered on-demand
￭ The Internet is delivering the content and
enabling the social experiences people want
4

5. TO CREATE A UNIFIED DIGITAL
EXPERIENCE:
1. Really know your audience
2. Execute content strategically
3. Support all platforms and connect across visits
4. Execute only cross-channel campaigns

6. REALLY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

7. REALLY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
HOW DO YOUR CUSTOMERS SHOP? LIKE THIS?
Project Research Decide on Get Project Share
Purchase
Trigger Options Options Feedback Guidance Results
Their Laptop
Their Tablet
Their Phone
Complete The Project
Social/Forum/
Video/Photo
Retail
eCommerce
Deal Site
Your Site
7

8. REALLY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
OR LIKE THIS?
Project Research Decide on Get Project Share
Purchase
Trigger Options Options Feedback Guidance Results
Their Laptop
Their Tablet
Their Phone
Complete The Project
Social/Forum/
Video/Photo
Retail
eCommerce
Deal Site
Your Site
8

9. REALLY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
OR MAYBE LIKE THIS?
Project Research Decide on Get Project Share
Purchase
Trigger Options Options Feedback Guidance Results
Their Laptop
Their Tablet
Their Phone
Complete The Project
Social/Forum/
Video/Photo
Retail
eCommerce
Deal Site
Your Site
9

10. REALLY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
CREATE PERSONAS
￭ Description
» Fictional characters created to represent the different user
types within a targeted demographic, attitude and/or behavior
set that might use a site, brand or product in a similar way
￭ Purpose
» Gives you a particular role to play in order to more accurately
evaluate the effectiveness of a specific user visit scenario
￭ Elements
» What’s their background, what kind of job do they have,
family life, skills and habits
» What do they know about your product, what don’t they know
» How would they go about researching, purchasing, etc.
10

11. REALLY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
CREATE CROSS-CHANNEL VISIT SCENARIOS
￭ Description
» Visit Scenarios (or use cases) are complete descriptions of what a
person(a) is trying to accomplish
￭ Purpose
» Lets you understand the experience each step of the way,
on different devices and over many visits
» Helps you understand what success is, and how you might
measure it
￭ How To
» Take each persona and start with the end in mind
(e.g. making a purchase, getting support)
» Write out everything that person might do (act like them)
￭ Then: Evaluate where your current initiatives aren’t working
11

12. REALLY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
GET OTHER HELPFUL INPUT
￭ Use Quantcast for audience profiling
￭ Use it to find similar sites your audience also
frequents (based on lifestyles and demographics)
￭ Quantified: If you put a tag on your site, your data
will be directly measured and you can hide it
from view
12

13. TAKEAWAY #1:
THERE IS NO
SINGLE FUNNEL
Translation: There is no single place you can
“fix and be done”

14. TAKEAWAY #2:
YOUR VISITORS
WILL NOT BUY UNTIL
THEY ARE READY
But they will buy when they are ready

15. REALLY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
WHICH MEANS YOU MUST MEASURE EVERYTHING
￭ Combine your data across the channels
￭ Analyze connected experiences,
Web
not space by space Radio
Metrics Paid
Search
￭ Make sessions last weeks, Call
Center
Natural
Search
not minutes
Display
￭ Don’t focus on raw Surveys Media
numbers, focus on trends Integrated
Analytics
» Time on site means PR Email/
Actions SMS
nothing out of context
» Number of pages viewed Online
Social
Conver-
Videos
means nothing sations
Print TV
Mobile
/Local
15

16. REALLY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
MEASURE EVERYTHING YOU CAN
￭ It’s all about Key Performance Indicators
￭ Specifically, what defines success in your
interactions — use your personas and visit scenarios
￭ Start with the end goal in mind — usually a sale,
or maybe a contact form or locator map
￭ Work backward to your original sources —
what value are these Facebook fans?,
what value are these contest participants?
» What is every step they need to take to become a customer?
16

17. REALLY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
HOW? GET MORE FROM GOOGLE ANALYTICS
￭ Virtual Pageviews and Event tracking — behaviors that are important, like viewing
a photo gallery or following a link outside your site can be tracked
￭ Goal Conversions and Segmentation — track the specific activities you find
important, be able to segment the audience by source, by actions taken, by location
￭ Funnels — multi-steps leading up to Goal conversions
» Can even be parts of a form
￭ Multi-Channel Funnels (path length) — not just the last source for that visitor in a
conversion, but understand which connected channels and content are doing the
most work, when understood together
» Social sources, email sources, organic search, banner ads
17

18. REALLY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
TEST AND REFINE CONTINUOUSLY
￭ A/B Testing with Google Website Optimizer (integrates with Analytics)
￭ Automatically serves different versions, even showing different content
to different audiences, like returning vs. new segments
￭ Reports show how each is performing and confidence level over time
WINNING VARIATION: The red box, while clearly contrasting
with the rest of the page visuals and converted better than an
initial design, lost to a more subtle pink, which converted
59% better than the original
Red
Box Original Icon
on
Pink Improvement
62.7% 45.1% 71.8% +59%
18

19. REALLY KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
TEST AND REFINE CONTINUOUSLY
￭ iPerceptions provides a free tool for surveys: 4Q
￭ Integrates with Google Analytics
￭ Two stages:
» An initiation to take a survey (after your visit)
» Users fill out the survey that is in window
￭ Four questions at least:
» Why are you here?
» Did you succeed?
» If not, why not?
» Are you satisfied?
19

20. EXECUTE CONTENT STRATEGICALLY

21. Let’s talk about SEO...

22. ...actually, let’s talk about Content Strategy

23. “CONTENT IS THE NEW PRODUCT”
You do have a content strategy, right?
￭ How often do you introduce new products?
￭ What do you talk about the rest of the year?
23

24. EXECUTE CONTENT STRATEGICALLY
CONTENT STRATEGY
￭ Content is your “social product” — publish your
own words, pictures, video, rich media
￭ Content fuels your website, PR releases, email, all social
activities and specifically with respect to search results
￭ Curate the best content and package it in a useful
platform — provide content to “new publishers,”
AKA your retailers
» Provide richer image assets and any videos you have (and if
you don’t have videos, create some)
» Create brand stores (skinned microsites) for them with
additional content
24

25. EXECUTE CONTENT STRATEGICALLY
THINK LIKE A PUBLISHER
￭ What thought leadership can your
business own?
￭ What content is your audience
interested in? Consider your
multi-channel personas
￭ Plan together with all stakeholders,
agencies and partners
￭ Consistent conversations across
all channels and executions —
US and global
￭ Maintain a shared calendar
» Product/service launches Fresh, strategic content
» Product/service enhancements matters more than simply
» Events, promotions and programs aligning for search results
» Industry knowledge (yes, SEO is important too)
25

26. SUPPORT ALL PLATFORMS
AND CONNECT ACROSS VISITS

27. CONNECT ACROSS DEVICES AND VISITS
FORMAT FOR MOBILE
￭ 19% of adults now own a tablet
￭ Sites need to work in varying
screen size, and with touch
interfaces (menus, sliding
panels)
￭ Get rid of Flash now
Percent of Adults who own Tablets/eReaders
27

28. CONNECT ACROSS DEVICES AND VISITS
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO
Surf your sites on an iPad, an iPhone and on an
Android tablet.
How do they work when you are on a very small screen –
can you zoom in?
Do they support a touch interface – big fingers – proper menu
coding if you use menus?
Do they provide alternate non-Flash content where it is
needed? With the latest HTML specifications you can do a lot
of motion-based graphics, thus Flash is on the decline.
(Also Apple doesn’t support it. Neither does Google’s Chrome
browser for Android.)
28

29. CONNECT ACROSS DEVICES AND VISITS
DO YOU NEED AN APP?
￭ There are now about 560,000 apps in Apple’s US store,
plus those for Android and other platforms.
￭ Should every brand have one?
￭ The answer depends on the context of your business.
Some things to consider:
29

30. CONNECT ACROSS DEVICES AND VISITS
MOBILE APPS VS. MOBILE SITES
￭ Mobile apps are “closer” to the user than a bookmarked link
￭ Apps integrate new forms of “push,” such as update
notifications when new content is available
￭ Apps integrate with the hardware of the device — for example
taking photos, or manipulating content in real-time
￭ Apps need to be interesting and “worthy” of keeping
￭ Apps can work offline if need be (upload data later)
Growth in Apps by Top Brands Top Brand Apps by Platform
100% 3,000 iPhone
75% 2343 2,250 iPad
50% 1631 1,500
Android
25% 1091 750
891 BlackBerry
0% 0
03-2010 09-2010 03-2011 09-2011 0% 23% 45% 68% 90%
avg. of 15 apps each from top 100 brands
30

31. CONNECT ACROSS DEVICES AND VISITS
START WITH APPLE, THEN ANDROID
￭ iOS and Android are about
even market share, but Apple
is gaining faster than Android
￭ Apple iOS is a hardware
+software platform (basically
3 screen resolutions), whereas
Android is an OS that is on
many, many different
hardware devices
￭ Apple owners more likely to
install apps, and pay for apps
31

32. CONNECT ACROSS DEVICES AND VISITS
CROSS-DEVICE EXPERIENCE
Understanding that people want to access your data from
different places and across many visits, give them a reason to
create an account and help them share.
32

33. CONNECT ACROSS DEVICES AND VISITS
SEND TO MOBILE
And make sure they can share data across visits.
33

34. CONNECT ACROSS DEVICES AND VISITS
PERSONALIZE WEB VISITS
￭ Deliver relevant, dynamic content to user based on
defined segments
￭ Show them their shopping cart or recently viewed
products right on the home page
￭ Enhance search results pages with extra offers
and cross-sell
34

35. EXECUTE ONLY CROSS-CHANNEL
CAMPAIGNS

36. CROSS-CHANNEL CAMPAIGNS
The most exciting campaigns out there are
unique and interesting because they connect
multiple channels together.
Experiential
Television
Local/Retail
Print
Mobile
Your Customers Out of Home
Public Relations
Online Channels
Social Engagement
eCommerce
Customer Service
Your Web Sites
36

37. CROSS-CHANNEL CAMPAIGNS
￭ For promotions and activities, always connect channels
» Print+Mobile = QR Codes to Scan
» Social+Web = Coupon Code on Facebook or Twitter
» Social+Web = Showcase user-generated content (installations),
use contests that lead to purchase discounts
» Web+Retail = Content that helps the retail consideration
» Retail+Web = Online warranty registration
» Social+Local+Retail = Shopkick offers Experiential
Television
Local/Retail
» Email+Web = Custom offers, Print
Mobile
custom landing pages
Your Customers Out of Home
Public Relations
Online Channels
Social Engagement
eCommerce
Customer Service
Your Web Sites
37

38. CROSS-CHANNEL CAMPAIGNS
Once you have your house in order, don’t be
afraid to try new things that might be relevant
to your audience.
Experiential
Television
Local/Retail
Print
Mobile
Your Customers Out of Home
Public Relations
Online Channels
Social Engagement
eCommerce
Customer Service
Your Web Sites
38

39. CROSS-CHANNEL CAMPAIGNS
NEW THING: SHOPKICK
Local, social and
coupons in the
form of gaming
Text
39

40. CROSS-CHANNEL CAMPAIGNS
NEW THING: PINTEREST
“because people hate reading”
40

41. CROSS-CHANNEL CAMPAIGNS
NEW THING: PINTEREST
Traffic Referrals to over 200,000 sites
Google
Facebook
StumbleUpon
Pinterest
Bing
Google+
Twitter
0% 13% 25% 38% 50%
“because people hate reading”
41

42. 2012 FOCUS
￭ Major Initiatives
» Make sure you understand your customers
» Make your websites work on tablets and phones
» Make content, and distribute it strategically
» Know how all channels work together and enhance each other
» Measure and test everything
￭ Consider
» An app if you can make it special (with notifications)
» All promotions should be cross-channel
» Try new and unique mash-ups
42

43. THANK YOU
hansoninc.com
Hanson Inc.
1695 Indian Wood Circle, Suite 200
Maumee, Ohio 43537
419.327.6100
bit.ly/HansonGPlus @HansonInc facebook.com/wearehanson